ATG Interviews Leslie Straus

Evolvability LESLIE

Living organisms function in accordance with complex mechanisms that operate in different ways depending on conditions. Darwin’s theory of evolution suggests that such mechanisms evolved through variation guided by natural selection. However, there has existed no theory that would explain quantitatively which mechanisms can so evolve in realistic population sizes within realistic time periods, ...

Leslie Matthews

On a Problem of Straus

Throughout this paper we use the following notation: {x} denotes the fractional part of x. The distance from x to the nearest integer is denoted by ‖x‖: ‖x‖ = min({x}, 1 − {x}). The cardinality of the finite set S is denoted by |S|. The counting functions of the finite sets A,B, . . . of nonnegative integers are denoted by A(x), B(x), . . . so that, e.g., A(x) = |A ∩ {1, 2, . . . , [x]}|. If A ...

Einstein Straus Problem in Higher Dimensions

Years ago Einstein and Straus (ES) showed that it is possible to match a static Schwarzschild region to an external expanding Friedmann universe. This model is extended in this work to a spacetime of arbitrary dimensions. Frequency shift of radiation coming from the boundary of the two spacetimes is calculated. Depending on the relative magnitude of gravitational and doppler effects our model g...

Leslie B. Vosshall

adhesion. We used urushiol, the active ingredient in poison ivy, as an agonist for aggregation. Of course, I never wore anything practical like pants or a lab coat and got a raging urushiol rash all over my legs. When I wasn’t tampering with sea urchin reproduction or dripping urushiol on my thighs, I hung out with students and faculty in the legendary MBL summer courses and went to a lot of gr...