Mainz Materials Simulation Days (MMSD) 2021-"What Precision is Needed to Create Function: Roles of Defects and Disorder in Hierarchical Structure Formation of Soft Matter”

MMSD by now is a traditional biannual discussion meeting. While so far mostly focusing on a specific field of computational science, this year we would like to discuss an overarching theme which is equally important in biology as in materials science. Namely, we would like to discuss the problem of the precision needed on the molecular/system level in order to achieve a specific property/function. Biology on the one hand requires perfect precision e.g. in sequence and on the other hand is extremely fault tolerant. On a much simpler level a perfectly monodisperse polymer systems typically gives very poor quality dispersion paints or plastic films. MMSD-2021 should try to shed some light on these questions discussing examples from chemistry, physics and beyond.