From growing bubbles and dendrites to biological forms

Abstract

We first describe how some ingenious experiments performed by Yves Couder illuminated the physics of viscous fingering and dendritic growth in solidification. We then recall the analogy he stressed between leaf venation and fractures in drying gels and how this and other results obtained by Yves, greatly contributed to highlight the role of mechanical forces in biological development. Finally, we briefly describe the recently appreciated role of phase separation, a topic with many important contributions of Yves, for the description of membraneless intracellular organelles.

Keywords

• Diffusion-controlled growth
• Viscous fingering
• Solidification
• Phase condensation
• Synapses