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SUMMARY:A story in shells - Derek Moulton (University of Oxford)
DTSTART:20170921T103000Z
DTEND:20170921T111000Z
UID:TALK80431@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:INI IT
DESCRIPTION:In every seashell there is a story. It is the story of the cre
 ature &ndash\;&nbsp\;a mollusc &ndash\; that lived in and built the shell.
  Through an incremental growth process\, the mollusc builds its own house\
 , one layer at a time. It is a process that generates a shell surface with
  geometrical precision\, regularity\, and self-similarity\, properties tha
 t have been observed and appreciated by palaeontologists and geometers ali
 ke for centuries\, and formed a focus point in D&#39\;Arcy Thompson&#39\;s
  famous book.    In that process\, there is a mechanical story as well: th
 e form of the shell is driven by the mechanical interaction of a soft body
  and the rigid shell which it is itself secreting. We hypothesise that thi
 s interaction underlies a wide array of secondary patterns termed ornament
 ations\, including ribs\, needle sharp spines\, travelling waves\, and fra
 ctal-like structures.   With such an abundance of shapes generated through
  a relatively simple growth process\, the mollusc shell thus provides an e
 xcellent case study for morphomechanical pattern formation. And with a fos
 sil record over 500 million years old and 100\,000 extant species of shell
  building mollusc\, mollusc shells all together tell a story of change and
  increasing complexity\, making an excellent case study for evolution and 
 the physical processes that govern it.  In this talk I will present severa
 l chapters of the mollusc&rsquo\;s story and progress we have made in tryi
 ng to understand the role of solid mechanics in their unique form.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Newton Institute
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