Life at small scale (OPEN UNI)

Life exists at different scales from single cell organisms to large societies. In this course, we will look into some of the fundamental principles of life at microscopic scale. The mechanisms effective at small scale are the building blocks of life and hierarchical gathering of those structures lead to the macroscopic world we experience and the complex networks, cities and societies that we live in. We will explore some fundamental laws of the universe with a nice blend of biology, chemistry and physics. Syllabus: 1: A brief of history of science. Chemistry, biology, physics: are they really different disciplines? 2: Scale: from sub-microscopic organisms to galaxies. Any common rules that govern all of them? 3: Our understanding today at the microscale. The evolution of microsystem technologies from the first transistor to quantum computers 4: Motion at micro/nanoscale. Fluid flow behavior at micro scale. 5: The next revolution in biotechology