Explaining Wildfires Through Curvature

Dr. Valentina Wheeler of University of Wollongong, Australia,
shares how her work influences efforts to understand wildfires and
red blood cells. In Australia, where bushfires are a concern
year-round, researchers have long tried to model these wildfires,
hoping to learn information that can help with firefighting policy.
Mathematician Valentina Wheeler and colleagues began studying a
particularly dangerous phenomenon: When two wildfires meet, they
create a new, V-shaped fire whose pointed tip races along to catch
up with the two branches of the V, moving faster than either of the
fires alone. This is exactly what happens in a mathematical process
known as mean curvature flow. Mean curvature flow is a process in
which a shape smooths out its boundaries over time. Just as with
wildfires, pointed corners and sharp bumps will change the fastest.