Public Lecture: Electricity in Biology

Monday, Oct. 1, 2007, 4 p.m.
McNamara Alumni Center, Memorial Hall
Event is free and open to the public.

Living organisms are electrical. Our brains instruct our muscles to move by transmitting information, which is encoded in the form of electrical impulses that travel along nerve fibers. Our ability to experience our world through vision, smell, taste, hearing and touch depends upon the transmission of electrical signals. Even our ability to think is based upon the complex electrical interactions of neurons in our central nervous system. How does ‘animal electricity’ work? How does it relate to inanimate electrical devices such as electric toasters, televisions and computers?

In this lecture, 2003 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Dr. Roderick MacKinnon will highlight the history of "animal electricity" and why scientists view this topic as so interesting. MacKinnon will explore how it not only leads to an understanding of the subject, but also exemplifies the strange and unexpected manner in which scientific ideas evolve.

MacKinnon will describe from a historical perspective how studies of ‘animal electricity’ actually advanced the understanding of electricity in physics. He will also explain our modern understanding of life’s electrical system by describing ion channels as the conductors of electricity in living cells.