Soft matter physics can set biological clock of industrial food science and (bio)technology

Abstract

Tom McLeash (2005), Professor of Natural Philosophy, says that “in science nothing stays the same. This is true not only at the level of discoveries, experiments, and theories, but also for the coherent structures and disciplines of the scientific community itself. A fascinating recent example has been the emergence of the field of ‘soft matter’ from a recognition that problems in polymer science, colloid science, liquid crystals, surfactant systems, foams, and even biological materials must draw on the same experimental and theoretical tools to make progress.” In this paper, we aim to highlight the concept of soft (condensed) matter physics and its association with industrial food science and (bio)technology within the scope of a new term “food physics”.