Professor @MIT_Physics @MIT
Cambridge, MA
Joined November 2015
- Tweets556
- Following648
- Followers5.3K
- Likes2.4K
Pinned Tweet
We made the cover of PRX!!
Our work on nonreciprocal living matter is on the cover of @PhysRevX!
Very proud of this work and this amazing team!
journals.aps.org/prx/abstrac…
Cover credit: APS/Ella Maru
What an honor! So grateful to my wonderful group members (alumni & current) @MIT, colleagues & mentors who have been part of my scientific journey.
I am thrilled to be named an @APSphysics Fellow!
🎉 Congratulations to the 2026 APS Fellows! DSNP extends its heartfelt congratulations to the newly elected Fellows of the @APSphysics recognized for outstanding contributions to physics, original research and exceptional service to the cause of science. #APS #Physics #DSNP
Nikta Fakhri retweeted
A new framework maps the collective movement of starfish embryos as topological “flowscapes,” revealing circulating flows, irreversible pathways, and structural transitions that emerge as they self-organize.
Read more in @physrevx: go.aps.org/4r3NH71
ALT Microscopy video of starfish embryos moving in coordinated, swirling patterns, with red and blue arrows overlaid to show the direction of movement.
Nikta Fakhri retweeted
By applying dynamic topological landscapes to a mixture of starfish embryos, scientists developed a flowstate framework that quantifies how nonreciprocal transitions sculpt the architecture of active and living matter.
Read more: go.aps.org/4r3NH71
ALT A video showing a binary mixture of starfish embryos moving about under a microscope, with overlaid arrows denoting their two-minute trajectories. E1 embryos are colored blue and E2 embryos are colored red.
Nikta Fakhri retweeted
A coordinated flock doesn't always stay coordinated.
When two groups follow conflicting rules — one aligning, the other antialigning — the flock can spontaneously rotate. But beyond a certain size, that coherent motion breaks down into chaos.
Read more: go.aps.org/4hf71Lc
ALT Two-panel figure. The first is a swirling red-and-blue pattern showing chaotic motion in a simulated two-species flocking model. The second, a microscope image of starfish embryos with blue and red arrows indicating the differing movement directions of young versus old embryos.
Very excited to see our work out today in @PhysRevX with a wonderful feature in @PhysicsMagazine!
Using starfish embryos, we uncover how nonreciprocal interactions reshape collective states, from crystals to flocking to fragmentation.
We introduce topological flowscapes to capture not just the landscape of collective states, but the dynamics of transitions between them.
And the part I am excited about is that the flowscapes reveal an informational rate shift and emergent proofreading at the experimental state transition.
A step toward a question we are fascinated by: how information, irreversibility & nonreciprocity can shape the dynamics & thermodynamics of living collectives.
Congrats to all the amazing coauthors.
journals.aps.org/prx/abstrac…
physics.aps.org/articles/v19…
ALIVE is alive!
Very excited to launch the Center for Active Living Matter: Information, Vitality & Emergence, with support from the @novonordiskfond.
Our ambition: to uncover the physical principles of multicellularity, from origins to health and disease.
From the arrow of time to the arrow of life. w/ Amin Doostmohammadi
@PhysOfLifeLMU @XavierTrepat – at Copenhagen, Denmark
Happy to share a new paper in @PhysRevLett with the “Odd” team!
We find that geometry can pattern activity, open spectral gaps & reshape exceptional points…. Excited to put these ideas to the test in living multicellular collectives (my current obsession!) & active metamaterials!
With Piotr Surówka @CorentinCoulais @jackbinysh et al.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=GJJTn0…
journals.aps.org/prl/abstrac…
Thrilled that ALIVE: Center for Active Living Matter – Information, Vitality, and Emergence has received a @novonordiskfond Challenge Programme grant. Excited to continue our work on the thermodynamic arrow of time & information to understand emergence of multicellularity, from evolutionary origins to disease. Looking forward to this exciting collaboration with Amin Doostmohammadi @XavierTrepat @PhysOfLifeLMU.
Nine new Challenge Programme grants from the Novo Nordisk Foundation will support ambitious research across fungal diseases, cardiometabolic disease, soil health and non-equilibrium biological systems. With a European expansion, the 2026 awards unite strong research groups and diverse expertise across Europe in the pursuit of novel knowledge addressing major scientific challenges.
Read more about the 2026 recipients: novonordiskfonden.dk/en/news…
Nikta Fakhri retweeted
Science is Curiosity on a Mission: It includes all of us who ask "why" and make it our mission to find out. These are the discoveries that move the country forward. The pursuit of ideas that seemed impossible until they weren’t. #CuriosityOnAMission
Nikta Fakhri retweeted
“Curiosity is the force that transforms deadly cancers into treatable conditions… that turns fusion energy from a dream to a reality…that uncovers new ways to grow more food using less of every resource,” says MIT President Sally Kornbluth. #CuriosityOnAMission
