Lecture: “What Lies Behind Synchronization: From Neurons to Individuals, Between Performance and Pathology” UM Thursdays

Thursday, April 5, 2018, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Institute of Botany – University of Montpellier
Tram Line 1 – Albert 1er Stop
Free admission

Lecture led by Julien Lagarde, Associate Professor at the School of Physical Education and Sports Science (STAPS) – Euromov Laboratory – University of Montpellier.
When a ballet achieves this exquisite harmony, the movements seem to merge into a single wave, and the dancers disappear. When the wave breaks, the individuals resume their paths and diverge, perhaps only to come together again later. Here, spatial and temporal relationships come and go, exploring that famous duality between things and the relationships between them.
At the heart of this story lies synchronization, which refers to a temporal order (chronos: the god of time), its emergence, its disappearance, and a whole spectrum of rich variations. Synchronization remains a subject of ever-renewed curiosity. Physicists, chemists, biologists, urban planners, and architects regularly encounter it in their research. Mathematicians have isolated its fundamental components. The latest development in this research has been named “chimera”—again, from Greek mythology—referring to a complex state that is part synchronization and part free electron.
This lecture will explore synchronization in various contexts, including the field of human movement science and other disciplines. In particular, it will discuss the benefits and limitations of synchronization for good health.

“UM Thursdays”: a new series of lectures

With its eight faculties, two schools, and six institutes, the University of Montpellier boasts a wealth of instructors andProfessors a wide range of academic disciplines. The university sought to highlight their work and make it accessible to as many people as possible by offering a unique lecture series, with one event per month from October 2017 to May 2018.