Learning the emergent order of living matter from bacteria

Self-organization is a hallmark of living matter ranging from sub-cellular constituents to multicellular organisms. In recent decades bacteria have served as the premier model system for studying the self-organization of living and active matter. In particular, the behavior and interaction of bacteria can be manipulated by a variety of physical, chemical and biological means, allowing for the exploration of self-organized behavior in a broad parameter space and for timely examination of theories. In this talk we will introduce several physical mechanisms that give rise to spatiotemporal order in diverse bacterial populations, including bacterial colonies, biofilms, and generic bacterial suspensions. The potential biological functions of these forms and mechanisms of ordering in bacterial communities and in other living systems will be discussed. These mechanisms may fuel the development of non-equilibrium physics and provide new strategies to engineer living materials.