Physics of Life conferences

The conference examines how probabilistic physical descriptions can explain complex living systems. Themes include reduced-dimensional models, self-assembly, biological cycles, and the exchange and use of energy and information. Minimal models of life, inverse problems and systems with many interacting components are used to seek common theoretical principles. Introductory perspectives and contributed short talks connect physics with biology and learning. Attendance requires a bachelor’s degree in science or engineering, or an accepted equivalent. Applications are subject to selection and available capacity.

The 71st Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, held Saturday, February 20 through Wednesday, February 24, 2027 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA, convening the international biophysics community.

The 90th Annual Conference of the German Physical Society (DPG) is held together with the spring meeting of its Condensed Matter Section (SKM), with Poland, represented by the Polish Physical Society (PTF), as guest country. Divisions taking part include biological physics, chemical and polymer physics, dynamics and statistical physics, functional materials, low temperature physics, magnetism, metal and material physics, physics of socio-economic systems, semiconductor physics, surface science, thin films, vacuum science and technology, and theoretical and mathematical physics, together with working groups on energy, industry and business, information, physics and disarmament, and physics, modern IT and artificial intelligence. Tutorials on current scientific topics take place on the afternoon of 14 March 2027 and are free of charge; the main programme of contributed talks, posters, plenary talks, symposia and an award ceremony runs from 15 to 19 March 2027 at the University of Regensburg as a face-to-face conference. Abstracts for contributed talks and posters can be submitted until 1 December 2026, and the programme is published on 3 February 2027. Travel grants from the WE-Heraeus Communication Programme support early-career physicists from European countries outside Germany (deadline 15 December 2026) and young DPG members working in Germany (deadline 8 February 2027).

The conference connects classical soft-matter questions about deformation, flow and assembly with sensing, learning, adaptation and control. Complex fluids, liquid crystals, phase separation and soft-solid mechanics are considered alongside active and living matter in cells, tissues and organisms. Sessions examine exchanges with machine learning and hard condensed matter, biological design principles, and applications to sustainability and health. Research talks, posters and discussion bring together physics, chemistry, engineering and the life sciences. Attendance applications are reviewed and capacity may fill before the application deadline.

This conference examines temperature across biological scales. Researchers connect changes in reaction rates, molecular stability, metabolism and mechanics with adaptation, development and physiological responses, including heat-shock pathways and temperature compensation in biological clocks.

Mechanical instabilities in soft matter generate both form and function from the nanoscale to the macroscale. Current research uses them to understand growth and morphogenesis in nature and to design soft robots, mechanical computing, morphing materials, adaptive locomotion and reconfigurable architectures. The conference gathers researchers studying instability-driven phenomena in fluids, solids and living matter, uniting physics, mechanics, applied mathematics, materials science and biology to present recent advances and identify the open questions shaping soft mechanics.