How Specific Interactions Drive the Complex Organisation of Building Blocks

Can artificial materials be developed that rival nature's ability to self-assemble and self-replicate? Zorana Zeravcic, lecturer and researcher at the Ecole Superieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University in Paris, outlines investigations on the subject being carried out by her department and by counterparts at Harvard University in the US. Drawing on methodologies and knowledge from across the sciences, their simulations have yielded previously unenvisioned complex functionalities that could transform the way we build.