Frontiers in Science lecture series continues with talk on life - its simplicity and complexity

Contact: Shelley Thompson, sthompson@lanl.gov, (505) 665-7778 (02-122)

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Nov. 7, 2002 -- The Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory continues its Frontiers in Science Public Lecture Series on Nov. 13 with a talk titled "The Complexity, Simplicity and Unity of Living Systems." This talk will be given by Geoffrey West of Los Alamos' Elementary Particles and Field Theory Group.

According to West, "life" is the most complex physical system in the universe. West will discuss how life manifests an extraordinary diversity of forms, functions and behaviors ranging over an enormous scale, although based on the same fundamental physics and chemistry: the largest animals (whales) and plants (sequoias) weigh a remarkable billion trillion times more than the smallest microbes. But, in spite of these apparent differences, many of life's most fundamental and seemingly most complex phenomena scale with size in a surprisingly simple fashion.

The public lecture series is intended to inform the neighboring communities about the broad range of scientific and engineering research being conducted at the Laboratory.

Sponsored by the Laboratory fellows and presented by Laboratory scientists, five lectures a year are planned. Each lecture will be presented in Los Alamos, Santa Fe, Española and Taos to ensure that Northern New Mexico residents can attend. All lectures are free and scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

"We want to make people aware that the Lab researches global warming, AIDS, astrophysics, biophysics, materials, nuclear and particle physics and a number of important scientific and engineering issues facing the world," said Joseph Ginocchio of Los Alamos' Nuclear Physics Group, coordinator of the lecture series and Laboratory Fellow.

On Nov. 13, West will discuss his work on the complexity and simplicity of living systems in the James A. Little Theater at the New Mexico School for the Deaf in Santa Fe. He will repeat his discussion on Thursday, Nov. 14 in the Taos Convention Center, on Wednesday, Nov.20, at the Center for the Arts Theater at Northern New Mexico Community College in Española and Thursday, Nov. 21 in the Duane W. Smith Auditorium at Los Alamos High School.

West will talk about universal characteristics that determine many of the generic properties of living organisms. He will discuss the scaling laws that exhibit a universal mathematical behavior that reflect the fundamental unifying principles that have crafted and constrained the way life functions and is organized from molecules and cells to whales and ecosystems.

West is a Laboratory fellow and has worked at the Laboratory for 28 years. Prior to coming to Los Alamos, West received his bachelor's degree from Cambridge University in England and his doctoral degree in physics from Stanford University in California. He was a research associate at Cornell University, a research fellow and lecturer at Harvard University and an assistant professor at Stanford University.

For more information, visit the public lecture series Web site at http://stb.lanl.gov/fellows/fellows.html online. Directions to the lecture locations also are available on the Web site.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the U.S. Department of Energy and works in partnership with NNSA's Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories to support NNSA in its mission.

Los Alamos enhances global security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health and national security concerns.