“El Niño as a Topological Insulator: A Surprising Connection Between Climate & Quantum Physics,” presented by Brad Marston, Brown University.

Symmetries and topology play central roles in our understanding of physics. Topology, for instance, explains the precise quantization of the Hall effect and the protection of surface states in topological insulators against scattering from disorder or bumps. However discrete symmetries and topology have so far played little role in thinking about the fluid dynamics of oceans and atmospheres.