@Mahadevan_Lab profile picture
Soft Math Lab @Mahadevan_Lab

Always at a junction ...

Joined December 2014
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  • Followers 1,871
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Soft Math Lab@Mahadevan_Lab
20 Sep 2025
quantamagazine.org/does-form…

Does Form Really Shape Function? | Quanta Magazine

From brain folds to insect architecture, L. Mahadevan explains how complex biological forms and behaviors emerge through the interplay of physical forces, environment and embodiment.

quantamagazine.org
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youtu.be/1kRAtbUjeIk

Harvard Professor L. Mahadevan on Changing the Probability of a Coin...

Can we use physics to rig a coin toss? L. Mahadevan, de Valpine Pro...

youtube.com
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Articulating Paper cuts into art forms Tells stories quietly. For more, see nature.com/articles/s43588-0…

ALT hearty namaste - created by Kait Becker @kaitpb, designed by Gary Choi @@garyptchoi and Levi Dudte

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and now onto bodies - starting with the experimental exploration of vertebrate gastrulation modes: tinyurl.com/m94b4zhu, and continuing by recreating a gastrulation morphospace: tinyurl.com/y86u9xsb

Reconstruction of distinct vertebrate gastrulation modes via modulation of key cell behaviors in...

Manipulation of mesendoderm territory and cell behavior recreates distinct vertebrate gastrulation morphologies in the chick.

science.org
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and then continuing with - the beak of the finch - tinyurl.com/yc6uxcj9 followed by a broader study of beaks across other avian radiations: royalsocietypublishing.org/d… ...
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At last we are at the beginning! Linking natural history and natural philosophy, an evolutionary approach to developmental questions starts with the ... egg (which did come before the chick!): tinyurl.com/2cdtjrkm
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"It is not birth, marriage or death, but gastrulation which is truly the most important time in your life'," said Lewis Wolpert. Can one create a gastrulation phase-diagram linking natural history and natural philosophy?... see seas.harvard.edu/news/2023/1…

Can you change a chicken into a frog, a fish or a chameleon?

Researchers show how changes in cellular activity can drive changes in embryonic development

seas.harvard.edu
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Shining steelpan songs, 2d xylophone rhythms, sunsets on islands! Localization landscapes for elliptic operators -> confined eigenmodes -> melodious percussion! Read royalsocietypublishing.org/d… or hear youtu.be/j-_LHVn6RHE
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What is the cognitive basis for visual image categorization into small/large, animate/inanimate, faces/places etc.? Robustness -> invariant measures combining geometry statistics -> contour curvature histograms that are neurally plausible! For more, see tinyurl.com/2p97pbfk
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Continuing the story of growth, form, and function of avian beaks, linking natural history to natural philosophy, from finches to honeycreepers ... tinyurl.com/3397xs35
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In multi-agent societies, excessive cooperation -> senescence/aging, while excessive competition -> cheating/cancer. So is there an optimal level of competition to delay (the inevitability of) aging? Yes! For more, see tinyurl.com/mvap8e28
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Tenure Track position in Harvard Organismic and Evolutionary Biology - focus on Evolution, including experimental, theoretical, or computational approaches - details here tinyurl.com/e7cehdpb

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Tenure Track positions in (i) Harvard Physics - foci include Theory of Soft/Living Matter, Quantum Information Theory - details here tinyurl.com/2sae64tt (ii) Harvard Applied Math - foci include Generative AI, Deep Learning - details here tinyurl.com/va582efz
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Artists and scientists of different minds, Studied coiling jets of similar kinds, In helices and spirals they'd both prance, Via a fluidically reinforced romance, Writing and painting through learning that binds. For more, see seas.harvard.edu/news/2023/1…
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Postdoc position. Aim: Quantify consumption and waste production in a 450 person residential community. Approach: design/deploy sensors, statistical analysis and math modeling, outreach. Goal: guiding policy for climate change adaptation. Apply here academicpositions.harvard.ed…
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Physical intelligence? Emergence of cooperative excavation in ants and r(obotic)ants follows from simple local rules and a malleable environment that is a dynamic communication channel. See elifesciences.org/articles/7…

Dynamics of cooperative excavation in ant and robot collectives

Observations of ant excavation from a confining corral, along with theoretical models and synthetic robot experiments show the emergence of cooperation induced by pheromones in a malleable environm...

elifesciences.org
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A saw bent into a J sounds dull. But shape it into an S and it can sing! Why? Because of an inflection line in curvature associated with broken (inversion) symmetry - leading to topologically protected modes. For more, see here pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.21…

Geometric control of topological dynamics in a singing saw | PNAS

The common handsaw can be converted into a bowed musical instrument capable of producing exquisitely sustained notes when its blade is appropriatel...

pnas.org
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Brushing a hair curl links topology, geometry, mechanics and some pain (hopefully not too much!). A minimal model of the process is that of a single tine combing a double helix. For more, see pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/Arti…
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How can one reconfigure a compact planar shape into another ? And do so without changing any lengths/angles? Kirigami shows a new way ... and also solves an old problem by cutting a circle to square it. See journals.aps.org/prresearch/…
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Simple neutrally stable structures can be stitched together into assemblies to create (almost) any shape - totimorphs! See pnas.org/content/118/42/e210… and seas.harvard.edu/news/2021/1…
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