Complexity Digest 2008.19

8-May-2008

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Previous issue 2008.18

Content

  1. S Kauffman: Rethink Evo, Self-Organization Is Real, Scoop.co.nz
    1. Can You Become a Creature of New Habits?, NY Times
  2. Extracting The Structure Of Networks, ZDNet
    1. Networks: Teasing Out The Missing Links, Nature
    2. Scientists Develop Technique For Extracting Hierarchical Structure Of Networks, ScienceDaily
    3. Hierarchical Structure And The Prediction Of Missing Links In Networks, Nature
  3. A General Model for Food Web Structure, Science
  4. Network Structure and Dynamics, and Emergence of Robustness by Stabilizing Selection in an Artificial Genome, arXiv
  5. Science Teaching Must Evolve, Nature
  6. Head In The Clouds, GlobeandMail.com
  7. Pursuing the Next Level of Artificial Intelligence, NY Times
    1. Piecing Together The Next Generation Of Cognitive Robots, Science Daily
    2. Robobug Goes To War: Troops To Use Electronic Insects To Spot Enemy 'By End Of The Year', Daily Mail
  8. Quantitative Genetic Studies Of Antisocial Behaviour, Phil. Tran. Biol. Sc.
    1. United We Stand: When Cooperation Butts Heads With Competition, ScienceDaily
    2. Neurocognitive Inefficacy Of The Strategy Process, Ann NY Acad Sci
  9. Gene Therapy: Two Teams Report Progress in Reversing Loss of Sight, Science
    1. UC San Diego Researchers Target Tumors with Tiny 'Nanoworms', UCSD News Release
  10. Neurobiology: Pecking Order, Nature
  11. A Specialized Forebrain Circuit for Vocal Babbling in the Juvenile Songbird, Science
    1. Birds Can 'See' The Earth's Magnetic Field, New Scientist
    2. Birds Can Tell If You Are Watching Them -- Because They Are Watching You, ScienceDaily
  12. Single-Celled Bacterium Works 24-7: Converting Light To Energy By Day, Moonlighting At Night, Innovations-report
  13. Platypus Genome Reveals Secrets of Mammal Evolution, National Geographic News
  14. A Striped Ocean Hiding In Plain Sight, Ars Technica
    1. Stationary Mesoscale Jet-Like Features In The Ocean, Geophysical Research Letters
    2. Global Warming: Mother Nature Cools the Greenhouse, but Hotter Times Still Lie Ahead, Science
    3. 'Smart' Power Meters Herald Future Of Our Electricity Use, AP,Physorg.com
  15. Electronics: The Fourth Element, Nature
    1. The Missing Memristor Found, Nature
  16. Chemistry: Synchronized Self-Assembly, Science
    1. Self-Perfection In Nanomanufacturing, Nanowerk Spotlight
  17. Insights Into Symmetry, Science News
  18. Physics: Quantum All The Way, Nature
    1. Coherent Control of Decoherence, Science
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. What Terrorists Really Want: Terrorist Motives And Counterterrorism Strategy, Int. Security
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Webcast Announcements
    3. Conference Announcements
    4. Other Announcements

  1. S Kauffman: Rethink Evo, Self-Organization Is Real, Scoop.co.nz Next Article

    Excerpts: True to his research roots in self-organization, Kauffman says life is not based on the replication of DNA and RNA. He also questions whether biology can be reduced to physics, writing that lovers walking along the Seine are not just particles in motion.

    He thinks the biosphere constructs itself using sunlight and free energy and that the universe is "ceaselessly creative." And because the future is not really predictable, Kauffman (writing from the Canadian Rockies) recommends we all calm down, remix science with the ancient Greek model of "the good life, well lived," and treat ALL in our global culture as sacred.

    Stuart Kauffman draws on 40 years of work for the book, from his investigation of snowflakes to "coherence-decoherence" of the conscious mind.

    Kauffman tackles evolution of the economy as well. Yes, it's ceaselessly creative.

    1. Can You Become a Creature of New Habits?, NY Times Next Article

      Excerpts:
      Christophe Vorlet
      So it seems antithetical to talk about habits in the same context as creativity and innovation. But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.

      Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try - the more we step outside our comfort zone - the more inherently creative we become, both in the workplace and in our personal lives.

  2. Extracting The Structure Of Networks, ZDNet Next Article

    Excerpts:
    Here is an excerpt from the SFI news release about this work. "Unlike much previous work in this area, Clauset, Moore, and Newman propose a direct but flexible model of hierarchical structure, which they apply to networks using the tools of statistical physics and machine learning. To demonstrate the practical utility of their model, they analyze networks from three disparate fields: the metabolic network of the spirochete Treponema pallidum (the bacteria that causes syphilis), a network of associations between terrorists, and a food web of grassland species. Even when only half of the connections in these networks were shown to their algorithm, the researchers found that hierarchical structure can predict missing connections with an accuracy of up to 80 percent."

    1. Networks: Teasing Out The Missing Links, Nature Next Article

      Excerpts: Focusing on the hierarchical structure inherent in social and biological networks might provide a smart way to find missing connections that are not revealed in the raw data - which could be useful in a range of contexts.

    2. Scientists Develop Technique For Extracting Hierarchical Structure Of Networks, ScienceDaily Next Article

      Excerpts: Networks -- used throughout the sciences in the study of biological, technological, and social complexity -- can often be too complex to visualize or understand. (...)

      (...) many real-world networks can be understood as a hierarchy of modules, where nodes cluster together to form modules, which themselves cluster into larger modules -- arrangements similar to the organization of sports players into teams, teams into conferences, and conferences into leagues, for example. This hierarchical organization, the researchers show, can simultaneously explain a number of patterns previously discovered in networks, such as the surprising heterogeneity in the number of connections some nodes have, or the prevalence of triangles in a network diagram. Their discovery suggests that hierarchy may, in fact, be a fundamental organizational principle for complex networks.

    3. Hierarchical Structure And The Prediction Of Missing Links In Networks, Nature Next Article

      Excerpts: Networks have in recent years emerged as an invaluable tool for describing and quantifying complex systems in many branches of science. (...)

      We further show that knowledge of hierarchical structure can be used to predict missing connections in partly known networks with high accuracy, and for more general network structures than competing techniques. Taken together, our results suggest that hierarchy is a central organizing principle of complex networks, capable of offering insight into many network phenomena.

  3. A General Model for Food Web Structure, Science Next Article

    Excerpts: A central problem in ecology is determining the processes that shape the complex networks known as food webs formed by species and their feeding relationships. The topology of these networks is a major determinant of ecosystems' dynamics and is ultimately responsible for their responses to human impacts. Several simple models have been proposed for the intricate food webs observed in nature. We show that the three main models proposed so far fail to fully replicate the empirical data, and we develop a likelihood-based approach for the direct comparison of alternative models based on the full structure of the network.

  4. Network Structure and Dynamics, and Emergence of Robustness by Stabilizing Selection in an Artificial Genome, arXiv Next Article

    Excerpt: Genetic regulation is a key component in development, but a clear understanding of the structure and dynamics of genetic networks is not yet at hand. In this work we investigate these properties within an artificial genome model originally introduced by Reil. We analyze statistical properties of randomly generated genomes both on the sequence- and network level, and show that this model correctly predicts the frequency of genes in genomes as found in experimental data.

  5. Science Teaching Must Evolve, Nature Next Article

    Excerpts: Speculations on the chemical origins of life are almost universally covered in school curricula under 'Evolution', despite the questionable relevance of the topic for evolution, and its rather uncertain scientific basis. (...)

    Mice are generally good models for human disease because their genes, and hence gene products, are closely related to ours. This knowledge results from genomewide sequence comparisons between mouse and man. Bioinformatics and genomics give us predictive power and the knowledge that the mouse is an invaluable model in biomedicine. In short, the use of animal models could be an excellent entry point for teachers, provided they have the right material.

  6. Head In The Clouds, GlobeandMail.com Next Article

    Excerpts: The next giant leap in technology is here: selling power and server space like a metered utility. Everyone expected Google to be the first to pull it off, but it's being trounced by an unexpected player: Amazon. (...)

    Most people think of Amazon as just an online retailer, selling books and music. But for the past year or so, the company has also been selling something else: computing power and server space. And the impact of that business is potentially much farther reaching, particularly for small, and even medium-sized and larger, companies.

  7. Pursuing the Next Level of Artificial Intelligence, NY Times Next Article

    Excerpts: Ms. Koller is part of a revival of interest in artificial intelligence. After three decades of disappointments, artificial intelligence researchers are making progress. Recent developments made possible spam filters, Microsoft's new ClearFlow traffic maps and the driverless robotic cars that Stanford teams have built for competitions sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

    Since arriving at Stanford as a professor in 1995, Ms. Koller has led a group of researchers who have reinvented the discipline of artificial intelligence. Pioneered during the 1960s, the field was originally dominated by efforts to build reasoning systems from logic and rules.

    1. Piecing Together The Next Generation Of Cognitive Robots, Science Daily Next Article

      Excerpts:
      European researchers are making progress on piecing together a new generation of machines that are more aware of their environment and better able to interact with humans. (Credit: Image courtesy of ICT Results)
      "The integration of different components in an ACS ["Artificial Cognitive System", Ed.] is one of the greatest challenges in robotics," Kruijff says. "Getting robots to understand their environment from visual inputs and to interact with humans from spoken commands and relate what is said to their environment is enormously complex."

      Because of the complexity most robots developed to date have tended to be reactive. They simply react to their environment rather than act in it autonomously. Similar to a beetle that scuttles away when prodded, many mobile robots back off when they collide with an object, but have little self-awareness or understanding of the space around them and what they can do there.

    2. Robobug Goes To War: Troops To Use Electronic Insects To Spot Enemy 'By End Of The Year', Daily Mail Next Article

      Excerpts: British defence giant BAE Systems is creating a series of tiny electronic spiders, insects and snakes that could become the eyes and ears of soldiers on the battlefield, helping to save thousands of lives.

      Prototypes could be on the front line by the end of the year, scuttling into potential danger areas such as booby-trapped buildings or enemy hideouts to relay images back to troops safely positioned nearby.

      Soldiers will carry the robots into combat and use a small tracked vehicle to transport them closer to their targets.

  8. Quantitative Genetic Studies Of Antisocial Behaviour, Phil. Tran. Biol. Sc. Next Article

    Excerpt: This paper will broadly review the currently available twin and adoption data on antisocial behaviour (AB). It is argued that quantitative genetic research can make a significant contribution to further the understanding of how AB develops. Genetically informative study designs are particularly useful for investigating several important questions such as whether: the heritability estimates vary as a function of assessment method or gender; the relative importance of genetic and environmental influences varies for different types of AB; the environmental risk factors are truly environmental; and genetic vulnerability influences susceptibility to environmental risk. (...)

    1. United We Stand: When Cooperation Butts Heads With Competition, ScienceDaily Next Article

      Excerpts: Phrases such as "survival of the fittest" and "every man for himself" may seem to accentuate the presence of political and social competition in American culture; however, there obviously are similar instances of inter- and intra-group conflict across almost all known organisms. So what makes competition so prevalent for life and why does it sometimes seem to be preferred over cooperation? (...) have taken a step closer to answering those questions with a recent study exploring individual preferences for inter-group conflict or intra-group cohesiveness in humans. (...)

    2. Neurocognitive Inefficacy Of The Strategy Process, Ann NY Acad Sci Next Article

      Excerpts: The most widely used (and taught) protocols for strategic analysis - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) and Porter's (1980) Five Force Framework for industry analysis - have been found to be insufficient as stimuli for strategy creation or even as a basis for further strategy development. We approach this problem from a neurocognitive perspective. We see profound incompatibilities between the cognitive process - deductive reasoning - channeled into the collective mind of strategists within the formal planning process through its tools of strategic analysis (i.e., rational technologies) and the essentially inductive reasoning process actually needed to address ill-defined, complex strategic situations.

  9. Gene Therapy: Two Teams Report Progress in Reversing Loss of Sight, Science Next Article

    Excerpts: The first safety trials of gene therapy for a degenerative eye disease produced good results in adults; researchers now intend to treat children. (...)

    After receiving a single injection of a solution containing a curative gene months ago, the patients can see more light. Some of them can now read several lines of an eye chart. And two who had previously stumbled through an obstacle course can now navigate through it. The patients are still legally blind; they cannot read even a large-print book. Still, researchers are calling this first-ever test of gene therapy to treat a retinal disease a major advance.

    1. UC San Diego Researchers Target Tumors with Tiny 'Nanoworms', UCSD News Release Next Article

      Excerpts:
      Segmented "nanoworms" composed of magnetic iron oxide and coated with a polymer are able to find and attach to tumors. Credit: Ji-Ho Park, UCSD
      Scientists at UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and MIT have developed nanometer-sized "nanoworms" that can cruise through the bloodstream without significant interference from the body's immune defense system and - like tiny anti-cancer missiles - home in on tumors. (...)

      "The reason these worms work so well is due to a combination of their shape and to a polymer coating on their surfaces that allows the nanoworms to evade these natural elimination processes. As a result, our nanoworms can circulate in the body of a mouse for many hours."

  10. Neurobiology: Pecking Order, Nature Next Article

    Excerpts: Social hierarchy is a major determinant of health and mortality, yet how the brain processes group position has been shrouded in mystery. By monitoring blood flow in gamers' brains, Caroline Zink, Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg and their colleagues at the US National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, have revealed distinct brain activity patterns that form in response to status cues.

    The researchers set artificial hierarchies by assigning 72 volunteers a skill rank in a computer game that flagged onscreen opponents as superior or inferior players.

  11. A Specialized Forebrain Circuit for Vocal Babbling in the Juvenile Songbird, Science Next Article

    Excerpts: Young animals engage in variable exploratory behaviors essential for the development of neural circuitry and adult motor control, yet the neural basis of these behaviors is largely unknown. Juvenile songbirds produce subsong - a succession of primitive vocalizations akin to human babbling. We found that subsong production in zebra finches does not require HVC (high vocal center), a key premotor area for singing in adult birds, but does require LMAN (lateral magnocellular nucleus of the nidopallium), a forebrain nucleus involved in learning but not in adult singing.

    1. Birds Can 'See' The Earth's Magnetic Field, New Scientist Next Article

      Excerpts: It has been debated for nearly four decades but no one has yet been able to prove it is chemically possible. Now good evidence suggests that birds can actually "see" the lines of the Earth's magnetic field.

      Klaus Schulten of the University of Illinois, proposed forty years ago that some animals - including migratory birds - must have molecules in their eyes or brains which respond to magnetism. The problem has been that no one has been able to find a chemical sensitive enough to be influenced by Earth's weak geomagnetic field.

    2. Birds Can Tell If You Are Watching Them -- Because They Are Watching You, ScienceDaily Next Article

      Excerpts: In humans, the eyes are said to be the 'window to the soul', conveying much about a person's emotions and intentions. New research demonstrates for the first time that birds also respond to a human's gaze. Predators tend to look at their prey when they attack, so direct eye-gaze can predict imminent danger. (...) set up experiments that showed starlings will keep away from their food dish if a human is looking at it. However, if the person is just as close, but their eyes are turned away, the birds resumed feeding earlier and consumed more food overall. (...)

  12. Single-Celled Bacterium Works 24-7: Converting Light To Energy By Day, Moonlighting At Night, Innovations-report Next Article

    Excerpts: Researchers (...) have gained the first detailed insight into the way circadian rhythms govern global gene expression in Cyanothece, a type of cyanobacterium (blue-green algae) known to cycle between photosynthesis during the day and nitrogen fixation at night. In general, this study shows that during the day, Cyanothece increases expression of genes governing photosynthesis and sugar production, as expected. At night, however, Cyanothece ramps up the expression of genes governing a surprising number of vital processes, including energy metabolism, nitrogen fixation, respiration, the translation of messenger RNA (mRNA) to proteins and the folding of these proteins into proper configurations. (...)

  13. Platypus Genome Reveals Secrets of Mammal Evolution, National Geographic News Next Article

    Excerpts:
    A graphic illustrates the traits that the platypus shares with reptiles, birds, and mammals. The genome of the platypus - our most distant mammal relative - has been decoded, revealing traces of mammals' evolutionary break from reptiles hundreds of millions of years ago. Illustration courtesy NSF/Nature
    Decoding the platypus genome has long been an important goal for biologists seeking to understand the origins of mammal evolution.

    The study, appearing in today's edition of the journal Nature, gives scientists a new window into the genetic architecture of the earliest mammals.

    "The platypus genome, like the animal itself, is an amazing amalgam of reptile-like and mammal-like features," said project co-leader Jennifer Graves, of the Australian National University in Canberra.

    The analysis confirms that the platypus was the earliest offshoot of the mammalian family tree, Graves noted.

  14. A Striped Ocean Hiding In Plain Sight, Ars Technica Next Article

    Excerpts:
    Global east-west ocean velocities (cm/s) Image: Maximenko et. al
    It may seem hard to believe, but the oceans have stripes. These stripes are not visible without looking very closely, but they are visible through their effect on currents, temperatures, and sea surface heights. They were first spotted in a careful analysis of the Mean Dynamic Ocean Topography (MDOT) dataset, but had to be confirmed by looking directly at ocean buoy and vertical temperature profile data.

    1. Stationary Mesoscale Jet-Like Features In The Ocean, Geophysical Research Letters Next Article

      Excerpts: XBT and float data of the World Ocean Database 2005 are used to validate new stationary jet-like features (striations) recently found in the high-resolution mean dynamic ocean topography (MDOT). Two study areas were selected in the eastern parts of the North and South Pacific subtropical gyres free of any strong currents. Appropriate horizontal high-pass filtering applied to the ensemble-mean temperature at 100 m depth revealed the striation signal coherent with MDOT. The features are also distinct in the data of depth of 12 deg C isotherm lying close to the thermocline.

    2. Global Warming: Mother Nature Cools the Greenhouse, but Hotter Times Still Lie Ahead, Science Next Article

      Excerpts: A new paper shows that regional and even global temperatures are being temporarily held down by a natural jostling of the climate system, driven in large part by vacillating ocean currents. (...)

      The added observations did in fact improve simulations of past climate variations. Looking into the future, the model forecasts a slowing of heat-carrying Atlantic currents and thus a cooling over the North Atlantic, North America, and western Europe in the next decade. It even predicts a slight cooling of the globe. But by 2030, forecast global temperatures bounce back up to the warming predicted with greenhouse gases alone.

    3. 'Smart' Power Meters Herald Future Of Our Electricity Use, AP,Physorg.com Next Article

      Excerpts:
      A new Smart Meter is seen at the home of Darrell Brubaker in Elizabethtown, Pa., Thursday, March 20, 2008. Brubaker saved money almost every month, up to about 6 percent off his regular electric bill, after volunteering for a PPL Corp. pilot program made possible by a "smart" meter. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
      Various kinds of smart meters are available and in use around the country. Depending on its capabilities, a smart meter - at a cost of about $200 per home - also can play a role in how much information about energy use is made available to customers and how much money can be saved. The most advanced ones allow the utility and the customer to gauge usage and cost immediately, instead of once a month after a meter reader makes the rounds.

  15. Electronics: The Fourth Element, Nature Next Article

    Excerpts: Almost four decades since its existence was first proposed, a fourth basic circuit element joins the canonical three. The 'memristor' might herald a step-change in the march towards ever more powerful circuitry. (...)

    Strukov et al. use a simple model to show how memristance arises naturally in a nanoscale system when electronic and atomic transport are coupled under an external voltage. The authors realize this memristive system by fabricating a layered platinum-titanium-oxide-platinum nanocell device.

    1. The Missing Memristor Found, Nature Next Article

      Excerpts: Anyone who ever took an electronics laboratory class will be familiar with the fundamental passive circuit elements: the resistor, the capacitor and the inductor. However, in 1971 Leon Chua reasoned from symmetry arguments that there should be a fourth fundamental element, which he called a memristor (short for memory resistor). (...) Here we show, using a simple analytical example, that memristance arises naturally in nanoscale systems in which solid-state electronic and ionic transport are coupled under an external bias voltage.
      • Source: The Missing Memristor Found, Dmitri B. Strukov, Gregory S. Snider, Duncan R. Stewart, R. Stanley Williams, DOI: 10.1038/nature06932, Nature 453, 80-83, 08/05/01

  16. Chemistry: Synchronized Self-Assembly, Science Next Article

    Excerpts: Building macroscopic containers from porous membranes may be easier because of advances in controlling the kinetics of self-assembly. (...)

    Dynamic self-assembly, on the other hand, is a non-equilibrium process in which energy is supplied to the system to maintain a steady-state population of ordered structures. Because dynamic self-assembly involves the added complexity of a sustainable driving force, only limited progress has been made in this area (6). Recognizing that nonequilibrium self-assembly may organize matter differently from that which occurs at thermodynamic equilibrium, chemists are challenged to bring kinetic control into their repertoire of methods. This is what the two recent studies achieved.

    1. Self-Perfection In Nanomanufacturing, Nanowerk Spotlight Next Article

      Excerpts:
      SEM images of nanoscale silicon lines before (left) and after (right) treatment with open-SPEL with a single excimer laser pulse. (Reprinted with permission from Nature Publishing Group)
      Rather than perfecting a nanostructure by improving its original fabrication method, researchers at Princeton University have demonstrated a new method, known as self-perfection by liquefaction (SPEL), which removes nanostructure fabrication defects and improves nanostructures after fabrication. (...)

      "Our process removes defects after fabrication rather than in the fabrication. As structures become very small, conventional fabrications will be limited by intrinsic noise, and improving the fabrication technology becomes fruitless."

  17. Insights Into Symmetry, Science News Next Article

    Excerpts:
    The Gossett Polytope, an eight-dimensional crystal depicted here, is the skeleton of the Tits building of the most complex of Tits' geometries. It is closely related to The Monster, the largest of the "sporadic groups" -- isolated simple groups that don't belong to a family of groups.
    From time to time, a new one of these strange groups was discovered, but mathematicians were making little progress on the problem as a whole. "Nobody really had a clue of what to do," says Ronald Solomon of Ohio State University in Columbus.

    "Then Thompson arrived on the scene in the 1950s," Solomon says, "and completely revolutionized the field." Thompson introduced a powerful set of techniques to analyze the structure of groups like the "signalizer method" and "Thompson factorization."

  18. Physics: Quantum All The Way, Nature Next Article

    Excerpts: How does our classical world emerge from the counterintuitive principles of quantum theory? Can we even be sure that the world doesn't 'go quantum' when no one is watching? (...)

    "If in the process of building a large-scale quantum computer we find that decoherence always sets in at some level of complexity - a universal law that says quantum mechanics only goes so far - then that would be very interesting," says Monroe.

    1. Coherent Control of Decoherence, Science Next Article

      Excerpts: Iterative shaping of a laser pulse using feedback from a fluorescence signal extends the phase stability of a molecular vibration in the face of rotational jostling. (...)

      The optimal pulse increased the beat amplitude from below the noise level to well above it, and thereby increased the coherence life time as compared with the beats produced by a transform-limited pulse. Closed-loop methods can thus effectively identify states that are robust against dephasing without any previous information about the system-environment interaction.

      • Source: Coherent Control of Decoherence, Matthijs P. A. Branderhorst, Pablo Londero, Piotr Wasylczyk, Constantin Brif, Robert L. Kosut, Herschel Rabitz, Ian A. Walmsley, Science: 638-643., 08/05/02

  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks Next Article

    1. What Terrorists Really Want: Terrorist Motives And Counterterrorism Strategy, Int. Security Next Article

      Excerpt: What do terrorists want? No question is more fundamental for devising an effective counterterrorism strategy. The international community cannot expect to make terrorism unprofitable and thus scarce without knowing the incentive structure of its practitioners. The strategic model-the dominant paradigm in terrorism studies-posits that terrorists are political utility maximizers. According to this view, individuals resort to terrorism when the expected political gains minus the expected costs outweigh the net expected benefits of alternative forms of protest. The strategic model has widespread currency in the policy community; extant counterterrorism strategies seek to defeat terrorism by reducing its political utility. (...)

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article

    1. Other Publications Next Article

      1. Silica-on-Silicon Waveguide Quantum Circuits, Alberto Politi, Martin J. Cryan, John G. Rarity, Siyuan Yu, Jeremy L. O'Brien, 08/05/02, Science: 646-649. Published online 27 March 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1155441] (in Science Express Reports) Quantum circuits—in which individual photons interfere, entangle, and form logic gates—have been realized on silicon chips.
      2. When Correlations Matter - Response of Dynamical Networks to Small Perturbations, Thimo Rohlf, Natali Gulbahce and Christof Teuscher, 2008/04/28, arXiv, DOI: 0804.4498
      3. Variation In Contributions To Teaching By Meerkats, A. Thornton, 2008/04/29, Proceedings B: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2008.0268
      4. Adaptive Dynamics With A Single Two-State Protein, A. C.-Nagy, O. S. Soyer, 2008/04/29, Interface, DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2008.0099.focus
      5. Decoding The Dictionary: Lexicon Evolved To Fit In The Brain, Study Suggests, 2008/05/01, ScienceDaily & Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
      6. White House 'Loses' Five Million Emails: Learning The Lessons Of Watergate, I. Thomson, 2008/05/02, vnunet.com
      7. Will Global Warming Take A Short Break? Improved Climate Predictions Suggest A Reduced Warming Trend During The Next 10 Years, 2008/05/02, Innovations-report
      8. Lasers And Milk: The Common Denominator, 2008/05/02, Innovations-report
      9. How Some Bacteria Survive Antibiotics, 2008/05/02, ScienceDaily & University of Illinois at Chicago
      10. Roaring Bats: New Scientific Results Show Bats Emitting More Decibels Than A Rock Concert, 2008/05/03, ScienceDaily & Public Library of Science
      11. Dynamic Complexities Of A Chemostat Model With Pulsed Input And Washout At Different Times, S. Zhang - anzsw_123a163.com, D. Tan, H. Gu, Feb. 2008, Advances in Complex Systems, DOI: 10.1063/1.2903843
      12. Scaling Laws In The Macroeconomy, D. Delli Gatti, C. Di Guilmi, M. Gallegati - gallegatiadea.unian.it, E. Gaffeo - edoardo.gaffeoaunitn.it, G. Giulioni, A. Palestrini, Feb. 2008, Advances in Complex Systems, DOI: 10.1063/1.2903843
      13. Partitioning To Peace: Sovereignty, Demography, And Ethnic Civil Wars, C. Johnson, Spring 2008, Online 2008/04/22, International Security, DOI: 10.1162/isec.2008.32.4.140

    2. Webcast Announcements Next Article

      1. 7th Intl Conf on Complex Systems (ICCS), Boston, MA, 07/10/28-11/02
      2. Reseau Nationale des Systemes Complexes , (in French), 2007
      3. World Economic Forum , Davos, Switzerland, 08/01/22-27
      4. TED Talks, TED Conferences LLC , since 2006
      5. Talking Robots: The PodCast on Robotics and AI, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland, 06/11/03
      6. Potentials of Complexity Science for Business, Governments, and the Media 2006, Budapest, Hungary, 06/08/03-05
      7. 6th Intl Conf on Complex Systems (ICCS), Boston, MA, 06/06/25-30
      8. Artificial Life X, 10th Intl Conf on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems, Bloomington, IN, USA. 2006/06/03-07
      9. 6th Understanding Complex Systems Symposium, Urbana-Champaign, Il, 06/05/15-18
      10. Ralph Abraham on Complexity Digest, , Calcutta, India, 05/12/27
      11. An Afternoon with Michael Crichton, Washington, 05/11/06
      12. Illuminating the Shadow of the Future, Ann Arbor, Mi 05/09/23-25
      13. Open Network of Centres of Excellence in Complex Systems - Brainstorming Meeting, Paris, France 05/09/19-23
      14. Complexity, Science & Society Conference 2005, U. Liverpool, UK 2005/09/11-14
      15. ECAL 2005 - VIIIth European Conference on Artificial Life, Canterbury, Kent, UK 2005/09/5-9
      16. T. Irene Sanders, Executive Director and Founder, The Washington Center for Complexity & Public Policy, 05/08/27, QuickTime video (10:38 min), Podcast
      17. North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity 2005 Conference, Virtual Conference Network, St. Pete's Beach, Florida, 05/06/09-11
      18. Understanding Complex Systems - Computational Complexity and Bioinformatics, Virtual Conference Network, Urbana-Champaign, Il, UIUC, 05/05/16-19
      19. Nonlinearity, Fluctuations, and Complexity, with a celebration of the 65th birthday of Gregoire Nicolis. , Complexity Session, Universite' Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium, 05/03/16
      20. 1st European Conference on Complex Systems, Torino, Italy, 04/12/5-7
      21. From Autopoiesis to Neurophenomenology: A Tribute to Francisco Varela (1946-2001), Paris, France, 2004/06/18-20
      22. Evolutionary Epistemology, Language, and Culture, Brussels, Belgium, 04/05/26-28
      23. International Conference on Complex Systems 2004, Boston, 04/05/16-21
      24. Nonlinear Dynamics And Chaos: Lab Demonstrations, Strogatz, Steven H., Internet-First University Press, 1994
      25. CERN Webcast Service, Streamed videos of Archived Lectures and Live Events
      26. Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since February 1998
      27. Edge Videos

    3. Conference Announcements Next Article

      1. Chaos And Dynamics In Biological Networks, Cargese, Corsica, France, 08/05/05-09
      2. 8th Understanding Complex Systems Conf , Urbana-Champaign, Il, 08/05/12-15
      3. NICO Complexity Conference, Evanston, IL, 08/05/19-21
      4. Brittle Fracture and Plastic Slip: from the Atomistic to the Engineering Scale, Udine, Italy, 08/05/26-30
      5. CHAOS2008 Chaotic Modeling and Simulation International Conference, Chania, Crete, Greece, 08/06/03-06
      6. International Conference on Chaos, Complexity & Conflict, Omaha, NE, 08/06/05-07
      7. 4th Organization Studies Summer Workshop: "Embracing Complexity: Advancing Ecological Understanding in Organization Studies", Pissouri, Cyprus, 08/06/05-07
      8. Cambridge Healthtech Institute's Tenth Annual... Applying Systems Biology, San Francisco, CA, 08/06/09-11
      9. AUTOMATA 2008, EPSRC Workshop Cellular Automata Theory and Applications, Bristol, UK, 08/06/12-14
      10. Intl Summer School on "Modelling and Optimization in Micro- and Nano- Electronics" - MOMINE 2008, Ragusa, Sicily, Italy, 08/06/14-28
      11. NECSI Summer School, Cambridge, MA, 08/06/16-07/04, Early Registration Deadline: 08/05/02
      12. 9th Intl Mathematica Symposium, Maastricht, The Netherlands, 08/06/20-24
      13. The 14th Intl Conf on Auditory Display (ICAD), Paris, France, 08/06/24-27
      14. 8th Intl Conf of Sociocybernetics - Complex Social Systems, Interdisciplinarity And World Futures, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico, 08/06/24-28
      15. "Is complexity the new framework for management and public policy in the 21st century?" Complexity Society Workshop, Manchester, UK, 08/06/26
      16. The 3rd Intl Symp on Knowledge Communication and Peer Reviewing: KCPR 2008, Orlando, Florida, USA, 08/06/29-07/02
      17. The 3rd Intl Symp on Knowledge Communication and Conferences: KCC 2008, Orlando, Florida, USA, 08/06/29-07/02
      18. 7th Intl Summer School and Conf "Let's Face Chaos through Nonlinear Dynamics", Maribor, Slovenia, 08/06/29-07/13
      19. The 12th World Multi-Conf on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics: WMSCI 2008, Orlando, Florida, USA, 08/06/29-07/02
      20. From Animals To Animats 10 - The 10th Intl Conf on the Simulation Of Adaptive Behavior (SAB'08), Osaka, Japan, 08/07/07-12
      21. Complex Systems and Social Simulations, CEU Summer University, Budapest, Hungary, 08/07/07-18
      22. 2008 Gordon Research Conf on Oscillations & Dynamic Instabilities in Chemical Systems, Waterville, ME, 08/07/13-18
      23. Nonlinear Fracture Mechanics Models, Udine, Italy, 08/07/14-18
      24. 1st Intl Workshop on Nonlinear Dynamics and Synchronization (INDS'08), Klagenfurt, Austria, 08/07/18-19
      25. Scratch@MIT,Cambridge, MA, 08/07/24-26
      26. 8th Intl Conf on Epigenetic Robotics: Modeling Cognitive Development in Robotic Systems, Brighton, UK, 08/07/31-08/02
      27. On the Edge: Healthcare in the Age of Complexity, Kansas City, MO, 08/08/03-05
      28. Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology & Life Sciences 18th Annl Intl Conf, Richmond, Virginia, USA, 08/08/08-10
      29. Stochastic Resonance 2008, Perugia, Italy, 08/08/17-21
      30. 4th Intl Conf on Natural Computation (ICNC'08) - 5th Intl Conf on Fuzzy Systems and Knowledge Discovery (FSKD'08), Jinan, China, 08/08/25-27
      31. Intl Conf DEscribing COmplex Systems (DECOS), Zadar, Croatia, 08/09/03-07
      32. 5th European Conference on Complex Systems, Jerusalem, Israel, 08/09/14-19
      33. EPOS 2008, III Edition of Epistemological Perspectives on Simulation, Lisbon, Portugal, 08/10/02-03
      34. 2nd Intl Congress of Complex Systems in Sport (2nd ICCSS) and 10th European Workshop of Ecological Psychology. (10th EWEP), Funchal, in Madeira Island, Portugal, 08/11/05-08

    4. Other Announcements

      1. A short notice from Dean LeBaron

        Dear ComDig Readers,

        Our editor, Dr. Gottfried Mayer, is affectionately esteemed by many of you -- as readers, you know he devotes himself unselfishly to widening our knowledge of complexity science. He was recently diagnosed with advanced colon cancer and given a timetable of a very few years. Knowing Gottfried, you can imagine that, in addition to the customary processes of chemotherapy, he would explore other frontier therapies, especially those arising out of interdisciplinary applications of complexity. These are expensive ... if he can find them.

        Many of you have sent your good wishes and indicated your desire to assist. With Gottfried's permission, I am posting this note with information, below, about how to send contributions to him. Please indicate the source since Gottfried will want to express his warm gratitude.

        I know that Gottfried, the good scientist that he is, will explain from time to time what he is doing and what the results are ... and we will follow his progress with great interest and hope.

        Dean LeBaron
        Publisher, Complexity Digest

        Bank Information:

        If your contribution is made by check:
        Please mail the check, payable to "Gottfried Mayer", to:
        Manufacturers & Traders Trust
        2080 Western Avenue
        20 Mall
        Guilderland, NY 12084 USA
        (on the back of the check, please write: "For Deposit Only: Account # 983 338 3814")

        If your contribution is made by wire:
        Manufacturers & Traders Trust
        2080 Western Avenue
        20 Mall

        Guilderland, NY 12084 USA
        SWIFT Code# MANTUS33
        UID: 209 791
        ABA routing # 022 00 00 46 [for US wire transfers]
        Account # 983 338 3814
        Ref. Gottfried Mayer


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