Speaker
Description
Biological systems show a curious interplay between symmetry and its violation: bodies are bilaterally symmetric, yet robust chirality emerges in internal organs. I will discuss two recent studies along this theme. The first views the mammalian heart as a chiral nematic material, where topological defects and coherent transmural twist organize its contractile mechanics. The second turns to the opposite question, why body plans are so often symmetric, through a hydrodynamic analysis of deformable microswimmers, where we find a dynamical duality within symmetric strokes that uniquely achieves optimal efficiency in viscous fluids. Together, these suggest that the symmetries we see in biology, both broken and preserved, reflect physical principles alongside developmental constraints.