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SUMMARY:How the jay bird got its stripes: what nanotechnology and photonic
 s can learn from biology. - Prof. Richard A.L. Jones FRS\, University of S
 heffield
DTSTART:20161109T190000Z
DTEND:20161109T203000Z
UID:TALK64880@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Andrew Clarke
DESCRIPTION:The striking appearance of the Eurasian Jay owes much to its b
 eautiful striped feathers.  What’s interesting about these is that the c
 olours of the feathers are not produced by a pigment – instead they are 
 a result of an optical interference effect arising from the sub-micron str
 ucture created in the cells that form the feather.  We’ve studied this s
 tructure using synchtrotron x-ray radiation\, and we find that the structu
 re is characteristic of a process of controlled phase separation.  This is
  one example of the way biological systems create order and structure out 
 of the random\, Brownian environment of the cell\; the question we now nee
 d to answer is to what extent can we learn from these very different desig
 n principles in making synthetic systems?\n\nRichard Jones is a Professor 
 of Physics at the University of Sheffield.  His first degree and PhD in Ph
 ysics both come from Cambridge University\, and following postdoctoral wor
 k at Cornell University\, U.S.A.\, he was a lecturer at the University of 
 Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory.  In 1998 he moved to the University of
  Sheffield.  He is an experimental physicist who specialises in elucidatin
 g the nanoscale structure and properties of polymers and biological macrom
 olecules at interfaces.  \n\nHe is the author of more than 190 research pa
 pers\, and three books\, including Soft Machines: nanotechnology and life\
 , published by Oxford University Press in 2004.  He was the Senior Strateg
 ic Advisor for Nanotechnology for the UK’s Engineering and Physical Scie
 nces Research Council from 2007 to 2009\, and is currently a member of EPS
 RC Council.  In 2006 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society\, and in
  2009 he won the Tabor Medal of the UK’s Institute of Physics for his co
 ntributions to nanoscience. \n
LOCATION:Schlumberger Cambridge Research\, High Cross\, Madingley Road\, C
 B3 0EL
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