Speaker: Orit Peleg (University of Colorado Boulder)Title: Emergent Spatiotemporal Patterns in Insect SwarmsAbstract:For the overwhelming majority of organisms, effective communication and coordination are critical in the quest to survive and reproduce. A better understanding of these processes can benefit from physics, mathematics, and computer science – via the application of concepts like energetic cost, compression (minimization of bits to represent information), and detectability (high signal-to-noise-ratio). My lab's goal is to formulate and test phenomenological theories about natural signal design principles and their emergent spatiotemporal patterns. To that end, we adopted insect swarms as a model system for identifying how organisms harness the dynamics of communication signals, perform spatiotemporal integration of these signals, and propagate those signals to neighboring organisms. In this talk, I will focus on two types of communication in insect swarms: visual communication, in which fireflies communicate over long distances using light signals, and chemical communication, in which bees serve as signal amplifiers to propagate pheromone-based information about the queen's location. Through a combination of behavioral assays and computational techniques, we develop and test model-driven hypotheses to gain a deeper understanding of these communication processes and contribute to the broader understanding of animal communication.

Ten minutes for your mind@2:50 every day at 2:50 pm in multiple time zones:Europa@2:50, EET, Athens, Helsinki (UTC+2) (7:50 am EST) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88298032734Atlantica@2:50, EST, New York, Toronto (UTC-4) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85349851047Pacifica@2:50, PST, Los Angeles, Vancouver (UTC=7) (5:50 pm EST) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85743543699Almost everything works better again if you unplug it for a bit, including your mind. Stop by and unplug. Get the benefits of mindfulness without the fuss.@2:50 meets at the same time every single day for ten minutes of quiet together.No pre-requisite, no registration needed.Visit the website to view all @2:50 time zones each day.at250.org or at250.mit.edu

Speaker: Avner Kiro (Weizmann Institute of Science)Title: Integer-valued polynomials under growth constraintsAbstract: We study integer-valued polynomials that grow at most exponentially on the integers, a question originally raised by Dimitrov. A result of Elkies and Speyer shows a sharp threshold: below a certain growth rate only finitely many such polynomials exist, while above it there are infinitely many. In joint work with Alon Nishry, we obtained quantitative asymptotic estimates for how many such polynomials of large degree exist at or above this threshold. Our approach uses convex-geometric volume estimates together with potential theory and orthogonal polynomials. We also extend the framework to allow different growth bounds on the positive and negative integers, where the threshold is again determined by the logarithmic capacity of an explicit planar set.

Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PMSpeaker: Ananth Shankar (IAS and Northwestern University)Title: $p$-adic hyperbolicity for Shimura varieties and period imagesAbstract: Borel proved that every holomorphic map from a product of punctured unit discs to a complex Shimura variety extends to a map from a product of discs to its Bailey-Borel compactification. In joint work with Oswal, Zhu, and Patel, we proved a p-adic version of this theorem over discretely valued fields for Shimura varieties of abelian type. I will speak about work with Bakker, Oswal, and Yao, where we prove the analogous $p$-adic extension theorem for compact non-abelian Shimura varieties and geometric period images for large primes $p$.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Time: 5:00 PM - 6:00 PMSpeaker: Tony Feng (UC Berkeley)Title: Mirror symmetry and the Breuil—Mezard Conjecture: an updateAbstract: The Breuil—Mezard Conjecture predicts a precise indexing of cycles in moduli spaces of local Galois representations by modular representations of finite groups of Lie type. A couple years ago, Bao Le Hung and I introduced a new approach to the Breuil—Mezard Conjecture based on a connection to an instance of mirror symmetry, which in that instance predicts a precise indexing of Lagrangians in a symplectic variety by representations of a quantum group. Recently, we used this to prove the Breuil—Mezard Conjecture in the generic range for arbitrary unramified groups, including exceptional groups. My intent is to review this and also work-in-progress with Le Hung and Zhongyipan Lin, which aims to extend the result to ramified groups. The key new aspect of the ramified case is a nascent theory of "Spectral Langlands functoriality", an analogue of Langlands functoriality for the spectral (i.e., "Galois") side of the Langlands correspondence.

Speaker: Jeffrey Ratmell, University of ChicagoHost: Alison RingelTitle: TBDThe Biology Colloquium is a weekly seminar held throughout the academic year — featuring distinguished speakers in many areas of the biological sciences from universities and institutions worldwide. More information on speakers, their affiliations, and titles of their talks will be added as available. Unless otherwise stated, the Colloquium will be held live in Stata 32-123 (Kirsch auditorium) Contact Margaret Cabral with questions.

Cristina Arellano (FRB Minneapolis)