Tue 30 Apr 11:15: Radio observations of extra-galactic transients with the AMI-LA telescope
The Arcminute Microkelvin Imager – Large Array has been instrumental in the study of radio transients. In this talk I will give an overview of the current extragalactic transients monitoring program which is running on AMI -LA. To demonstrate the power of AMI -LA in improving our shock physics in extragalactic transients I will go through two examples of events where AMI -LA has been instrumental. Starting with the most relativistic systems: GRBs have been observed by AMI -LA from as early as 2012 with the ALARRM rapid follow up system. GRB 221009A , also known as the brightest of all time, has demonstrated the unparalleled temporal coverage achievable with AMI -LA from a few hours to over 100 days post burst. AMI -LA has also enabled us to draw conclusions that wouldn’t be possible with other facilities such as the jetted tidal disruption event AT2022cmc that was first reported in 2022. Due to the high cadence light curve with AMI -LA, we were able to prove for the first time, in a model independent manner that the radio emission originated from a highly relativistic outflow. Such a result has been vital in terms of our understand of tidal disruption events and can now infer the presence of off-axis jets such as AT2018hyz.
- Speaker: Dr. Lauren Rhodes (University of Oxford)
- Tuesday 30 April 2024, 11:15-12:00
- Venue: Coffee area, Battcock Centre.
- Series: Hills Coffee Talks; organiser: Charles Walker.
Wed 01 May 14:30: Sequence-Based Determinants of Aggregation within Protein Condensates
Complex cellular landscapes of proteins include the dense, liquid-like droplet state and the solid-like amyloid state, in addition to the native state. The amyloid state, which is often pathological, can be formed through the deposition pathway from the native state and through the condensation pathway from the droplet state. I present a uniform framework to describe both pathways and identify mutations biasing towards these aggregation mechanisms. The droplet landscape model is a sequence-based, generic approach that simultaneously estimates the probability of droplet formation and the likelihood of state conversion. The method exploits that the interactions driving the droplet state sample disordered binding modes, whereas those governing the amyloid state sample ordered binding modes, which can simultaneously be estimated from sequence without information on the interaction partners. In addition, we predict the multiplicity of binding modes, that a given protein region can sample under different cellular conditions. I will demonstrate the application of the droplet landscape approach to both pathological and functional aggregates, in particular predicting mutations associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and those facilitating muscle lineage development.
References M. Vendruscolo, M Fuxreiter (2022) Protein Condensation Diseases: Therapeutic Opportunities. Nat Commun 13, 5500, doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-32940-7 Hatos A, Tosatto SCE , Vendruscolo M, Fuxreiter M. (2022) FuzDrop on AlphaFold: visualizing the sequence-dependent propensity of liquid-liquid phase separation and aggregation of proteins. Nucleic Acids Res. 50(W1), W337 -44 Gönczi M., Teixeira JMC , Barrera-Vilarmau S., Mediani L. , Antoniani F. , Nagy TM, Fehér K., Ráduly Z., Ambrus V., Tőzsér J., Barta E., Kövér KE., Csernoch L., Carra S. , Fuxreiter M. (2023) Alternatively spliced exon regulates context-dependent MEF2D higher-order assembly during myogenesis Nature Communications 14, 1329. Horvath A, Vendruscolo M, Fuxreiter M. (2022) Sequence-based Prediction of the Cellular Toxicity Associated with Amyloid Aggregation within Protein Condensates Biochemistry 61, 2461-2469.
- Speaker: Professor Monika Fuxreiter, University of Padova
- Wednesday 01 May 2024, 14:30-15:30
- Venue: Unilever Lecture Theatre, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry.
- Series: Theory - Chemistry Research Interest Group; organiser: Lisa Masters.
Wed 01 May 14:00: Ocean, ice, and the spherical cow
“Consider a spherical cow in the vacuum…” – that’s how most physics problems start. A very simplified version of the real world that we can wrap our heads around and find answers using pencil and paper. Numerical models that simulate the components of the climate system are no different: we start simple and build it up as scientific knowledge of the system advances and technology allows us to explore smaller-scale processes. My research focuses on understanding ice-ocean interactions, focusing on the behaviour of icebergs and their impacts in the polar oceans, using said models. Join me as I explain my journey towards drawing a cow that looks less like a balloon and more like a quadruped.
- Speaker: Juliana Marson, University of Manitoba
- Wednesday 01 May 2024, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: BAS Seminar Room 1; https://bas-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/93676773793.
- Series: British Antarctic Survey - Polar Oceans seminar series; organiser: Dr Birgit Rogalla.
Wed 22 May 13:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Hannah Dawson, University of Tasmania
- Wednesday 22 May 2024, 13:00-14:00
- Venue: BAS Seminar Room 1; https://bas-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/91268978510.
- Series: British Antarctic Survey - Polar Oceans seminar series; organiser: Dr Birgit Rogalla.
Thu 16 May 12:00: A Mathematician’s Journey into Biology: Collaboration, Creativity & Opportunities
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Professor Rachel Bearon, Professor of Mathematical Biology and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences, KCL
- Thursday 16 May 2024, 12:00-13:00
- Venue: Centre for Mathematical Sciences MR2, CMS.
- Series: Rouse Ball Lectures; organiser: Sarah Jefferys.
Tue 30 Apr 13:10: Rethinking Development from the Ethics of Care
My dissertation project, ‘Rethinking Development from the Ethics of Care’, explores how the widely accepted narrative around human nature as homo economicus sustains development as capitalism. Yet, the climate emergency urges us to search for alternatives to our current developmental model. Therefore, by exploring an alternative understanding of human nature, as homo curans, which translates to caring people, I engage with the ethics of care as a theoretical challenge to the development of capitalism.
- Speaker: Blanche Tardif-De-Moidrey
- Tuesday 30 April 2024, 13:10-14:00
- Venue: Richard King room, Darwin College.
- Series: Darwin College Humanities and Social Sciences Seminars; organiser: Dr Stefanie Ullmann.
Wed 01 May 14:00: Ocean, ice, and the spherical cow
“Consider a spherical cow in the vacuum…” – that’s how most physics problems start. A very simplified version of the real world that we can wrap our heads around and find answers using pencil and paper. Numerical models that simulate the components of the climate system are no different: we start simple and build it up as scientific knowledge of the system advances and technology allows us to explore smaller-scale processes. My research focuses on understanding ice-ocean interactions, focusing on the behaviour of icebergs and their impacts in the polar oceans, using said models. Join me as I explain my journey towards drawing a cow that looks less like a balloon and more like a quadruped.
- Speaker: Juliana Marson, University of Manitoba
- Wednesday 01 May 2024, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: BAS Seminar Room 1; zoom.
- Series: British Antarctic Survey - Polar Oceans seminar series; organiser: Dr Birgit Rogalla.
Fri 17 May 14:00: PhD students' talks
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Speakers to be confirmed
- Friday 17 May 2024, 14:00-17:00
- Venue: MR2.
- Series: Fluid Mechanics (DAMTP); organiser: Professor Grae Worster.
Tue 30 Apr 13:00: The UK AI Safety Institute
This talk will present an overview of efforts the UK government has been taking on AI over the past year, including the AI Research Resource, the AI Safety Summit, and with a focus on the AI Safety Institute (AISI). AISI is the world’s first state-backed organization focused on advanced AI safety for the public benefit, and is working towards this by bringing together world-class experts to understand the risks of advanced AI and enable its governance.
- Speaker: Nitarshan Rajkumar (University of Cambridge & UK AI Safety Institute)
- Tuesday 30 April 2024, 13:00-14:00
- Venue: Lecture Theatre 2, Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building.
- Series: Artificial Intelligence Research Group Talks (Computer Laboratory); organiser: Mateja Jamnik.
Tue 11 Jun 14:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Sagnik Mukhopadhyay (Sheffield)
- Tuesday 11 June 2024, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building, Room SS03.
- Series: Algorithms and Complexity Seminar; organiser: Tom Gur.
Tue 28 May 14:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Laszlo Vegh (London School of Economics)
- Tuesday 28 May 2024, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building, Room SS03.
- Series: Algorithms and Complexity Seminar; organiser: Tom Gur.
Tue 07 May 16:00: TBA
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Jan Gutowski (Surrey)
- Tuesday 07 May 2024, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: CMS, MR9.
- Series: Mathematical Physics Seminar; organiser: Professor Maciej Dunajski.
Tue 14 May 16:00: TBA
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Lionel Mason (Oxford)
- Tuesday 14 May 2024, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: CMS, MR9.
- Series: Mathematical Physics Seminar; organiser: Professor Maciej Dunajski.
Tue 14 May 16:00: TBA
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Lionel Mason (Oxford)
- Tuesday 14 May 2024, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: CMS, MR9.
- Series: Mathematical Physics Seminar; organiser: Professor Maciej Dunajski.
Tue 14 May 14:00: Perfect Zero-Knowledge PCPs for #P
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Jack O'Connor (University of Cambridge)
- Tuesday 14 May 2024, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building, Room SS03.
- Series: Algorithms and Complexity Seminar; organiser: Tom Gur.
Tue 30 Apr 14:00: Polynomial-Time Pseudodeterministic Construction of Primes
A randomized algorithm for a search problem is pseudodeterministic if it produces a fixed canonical solution to the search problem with high probability. In their seminal work on the topic, Gat and Goldwasser posed as their main open problem whether prime numbers can be pseudodeterministically constructed in polynomial time.
We provide a positive solution to this question in the infinitely-often regime. In more detail, we give an unconditional polynomial-time randomized algorithm B such that, for infinitely many values of n, B(1^n) outputs a canonical n-bit prime p_n with high probability. More generally, we prove that for every dense property Q of strings that can be decided in polynomial time, there is an infinitely-often pseudodeterministic polynomial-time construction of strings satisfying Q. This improves upon a subexponential-time construction of Oliveira and Santhanam.
Our construction uses several new ideas, including a novel bootstrapping technique for pseudodeterministic constructions, and a quantitative optimization of the uniform hardness-randomness framework of Chen and Tell, using a variant of the Shaltiel-Umans generator.
Reference: https://eccc.weizmann.ac.il/report/2023/076/
- Speaker: Igor Carboni Oliveira (University of Warwick)
- Tuesday 30 April 2024, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building, Room SS03.
- Series: Algorithms and Complexity Seminar; organiser: Tom Gur.
Fri 24 May 16:00: Biomedical Fluid Mechanics: applications in urology and regenerative medicine
In this talk, I will discuss two applications of biomedical fluid mechanics in urology and regenerative medicine, and present new theoretical models developed alongside complementary experimental approaches. Throughout the talk, I will highlight how the derivation and exploitation of reduced models that retain the essential physics, while remaining tractable, can provide mechanistic insights into these biomedical fluid flows, and discuss how the resulting insights can be exploited to drive new healthcare innovations. The first application will show how a detailed understanding of the fluid mechanics associated with medical devices used to treat kidney stones can be exploited to guide innovations in device operation and design with enhanced mass transport properties. The second application in regenerative medicine considers the complex interplay of cells, biomaterials, and bioreactors and microfluidic systems required for tissue growth, repair and regeneration. I will show how insights into the wealth of fluid mechanics challenges encountered in regenerative medicine, including fluid-structure interactions, reactive multiphase flows, and advective transport, can guide the development of new regenerative medicine therapies and protocols.
- Speaker: Sarah Waters, University of Oxford
- Friday 24 May 2024, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: MR2.
- Series: Fluid Mechanics (DAMTP); organiser: Professor Grae Worster.
Fri 26 Apr 17:00: A biography of Tor - a cultural and technological history of power, privacy, and global politics at the internet's core
In the seminar, Dr Ben Collier will introduce the new book, Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy (MIT Press, 2024).
SPEAKERS- Chair: Prof Alice Hutchings
- Speaker 1: Dr Ben Collier
- Speaker 2: Professor Steven Murdoch
5:00pm, 26th April 2024 LT2 - William Gates Building 15 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0FD
A biography of Tor – a cultural and technological history of power, privacy, and global politics at the internet’s core. Tor, one of the most important and misunderstood technologies of the digital age, is best known as the infrastructure underpinning the so-called Dark Web. But the real ‘dark web,’ when it comes to Tor, is the hidden history brought to light in this book: where this complex and contested infrastructure came from, why it exists, and how it connects with global power in intricate and intimate ways. In Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy, Ben Collier has written, in essence, a biography of Tor – a cultural and technological history of power, privacy, politics, and empire in the deepest reaches of the internet.
The story of Tor begins in the 1990s with its creation by the US Navy’s Naval Research Lab, from a convergence of different cultural worlds. Drawing on in-depth interviews with designers, developers, activists, and users, along with twenty years of mailing lists, design documents, reporting, and legal papers, Collier traces Tor’s evolution from those early days to its current operation on the frontlines of global digital power – including the strange collaboration between US military scientists and a group of freewheeling hackers called the Cypherpunks. As Collier charts the rise and fall of three different cultures in Tor’s diverse community – the engineers, the maintainers, and the activists, each with a distinct understanding of and vision for Tor – he reckons with Tor’s complicated, changing relationship with contemporary US empire. Ultimately, the book reveals how different groups of users have repurposed Tor and built new technologies and worlds of their own around it, with profound implications for the future of the Internet.
The link for registration is (essential for those attending online) is: https://forms.gle/3o5Mjz8MevwEcbpc9
- Speaker: Ben Collier, University of Edinburgh
- Friday 26 April 2024, 17:00-18:00
- Venue: Online & LT2, Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building..
- Series: Computer Laboratory Security Seminar; organiser: Hridoy Sankar Dutta.
Fri 26 Apr 17:00: A biography of Tor—a cultural and technological history of power, privacy, and global politics at the internet's core
In the seminar, Dr Ben Collier will introduce the new book, Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy (MIT Press, 2024).
SPEAKERS- Chair: Prof Alice Hutchings
- Speaker 1: Dr Ben Collier
- Speaker 2: Professor Steven Murdoch
5:00pm, 26th April 2024 LT2 - William Gates Building 15 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0FD
A biography of Tor—a cultural and technological history of power, privacy, and global politics at the internet’s core. Tor, one of the most important and misunderstood technologies of the digital age, is best known as the infrastructure underpinning the so-called Dark Web. But the real ‘dark web,’ when it comes to Tor, is the hidden history brought to light in this book: where this complex and contested infrastructure came from, why it exists, and how it connects with global power in intricate and intimate ways. In Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy, Ben Collier has written, in essence, a biography of Tor—a cultural and technological history of power, privacy, politics, and empire in the deepest reaches of the internet.
The story of Tor begins in the 1990s with its creation by the US Navy’s Naval Research Lab, from a convergence of different cultural worlds. Drawing on in-depth interviews with designers, developers, activists, and users, along with twenty years of mailing lists, design documents, reporting, and legal papers, Collier traces Tor’s evolution from those early days to its current operation on the frontlines of global digital power—including the strange collaboration between US military scientists and a group of freewheeling hackers called the Cypherpunks. As Collier charts the rise and fall of three different cultures in Tor’s diverse community—the engineers, the maintainers, and the activists, each with a distinct understanding of and vision for Tor—he reckons with Tor’s complicated, changing relationship with contemporary US empire. Ultimately, the book reveals how different groups of users have repurposed Tor and built new technologies and worlds of their own around it, with profound implications for the future of the Internet.
The link for registration is (essential for those attending online) is: https://forms.gle/3o5Mjz8MevwEcbpc9
- Speaker: Ben Collier, University of Edinburgh
- Friday 26 April 2024, 17:00-18:00
- Venue: Online & LT2, Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building..
- Series: Computer Laboratory Security Seminar; organiser: Hridoy Sankar Dutta.
Tue 07 May 14:00: Two new results on random matrices
In this talk we will discuss two results on symmetric random matrices. The first deals with a cross-over regime for the largest eigenvalue: when matrix tails are at a transition point from Tracy-Widom to Poisson law for the top eigenvalue, we can uncover a new deformed Poisson point process structure and eigenvector localization beyond spectral edge. This applies to Wigner, Wishart and other ensembles. In the second part the author discusses joint small ball estimates on multiple smallest singular values at different locations in the spectrum, under a natural entry density assumption, highlighting a quantitative version of independence.
- Speaker: Yi Han (Statslab)
- Tuesday 07 May 2024, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: MR12.
- Series: Probability; organiser: Perla Sousi.