We have introduced the ideas of surfaces and membranes as essentially 2 dimensional objects.
Membranes composed of amphiphilic molecules occur both in soap solutions and in biological cells.
The properties of the membranes are controlled largely by the energies involved in bending and stretching them. We have seen that some of the same physics is used to understand some very different systems such as soap films and cell membranes. These are all areas of current research which often uses computers to simulate models of the system. These computer simulations involve extremely long calculations and require very powerful computers.