Complexity Digest 2007.02

08-Jan-2007

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Content

  1. Collective Intelligence for Decision Support in Very Large Stakeholder Networks: The Future US Energy System, SFI Working Papers
    1. Self-Organization and Hierarchy in Open Source Social Networks, SFI Working Papers
  2. Constructive Memory: The Ghosts Of Past And Future, Nature
    1. Time Past, Time Future Intricately Connected In The Brain: Study, Physorg.com
    2. Imaging Pinpoints Brain Regions That 'See The Future', Innovations-report
  3. What Memories Are Made Of: Researcher Studies Plasticity Of Recall, ScienceDaily
  4. Brain Scans Predict When People Will Buy Products, ScienceDaily
    1. Brain Studies Reveal Mechanisms Of Voluntary Control Of Visual Attention, ScienceDaily
  5. Social Sciences: Life's A Game, Nature
  6. Attack of the Zombie Computers Is Growing Threat, NY Times
    1. Researchers Use Wikipedia To Make Computers Smarter, Physorg.com
  7. Humanoid Avatar Plays A Competitive Game Of Table Tennis, Physorg.com
    1. Giving Robots Human Qualities, Mercedsun-Star.Com
  8. Developmental Biology: This Worm Is Not For Turning, Nature
    1. Darwin's Last Idea Is More Important Than Ever Thought: Reworking The Sediment Mixed/s Up The Earth, Innovations-report
    2. Big-Brained Birds Survive Better In Nature, Proc. Biol. Sc.
  9. Evolutionary Biology: Oxygen At Life's Boundaries, Nature
  10. Insects, Trees, and Climate: The Bioacoustic Ecology of Deforestation and Entomogenic Climate Change, SFI Working Papers
    1. Most Bees Live Alone - No Hives, No Honey, But Maybe Help For Crops, Science News
    2. Neurobiology: Scent Secrets Of Insects, Nature
  11. The DNA So Dangerous It Does Not Exist, New Scientist
  12. Energy: That's oil, folks..., Nature
  13. The Dark Side Of E. Coli, Nature
  14. Evolutionary Self-Organization in Complex Fluids, SFI Working Papers
  15. Physics: Negative Refractive Index At Optical Wavelengths, Science
    1. Light In Tiny Holes, Nature
  16. First 3D Map Of The Universe's Dark Matter Scaffolding, ESA Space Science
    1. Hubble Makes 3D Dark Matter Map, BBC News
    2. The Universe's Invisible Hand, Scientific American Magazine
  17. Atom Interferometer Measurement of the Newtonian Constant of Gravity, Science
  18. U.S. Bars Lab From Testing Electronic Voting, NY Times
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. Getting the Middle East Back on Our Side, NY Times
    2. Why Terrorism Does Not Work, Int. Security
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Webcast Announcements
    3. Conference Announcements
    4. Call for Papers - Course/Book Announcements

  1. Collective Intelligence for Decision Support in Very Large Stakeholder Networks: The Future US Energy System, SFI Working Papers Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Pick your favorite complex societal issue. For example, how could the US government, its citizens, and its energy companies reach an acceptable future national US energy plan? How could such a complex problem even be approached in a rational and transparent manner? We discuss a recently developed Internet-based method for clarifying issues, providing insights into understanding causes of conflict in large stakeholder groups facing complex issues, and reaching consent (...)

    1. Self-Organization and Hierarchy in Open Source Social Networks, SFI Working Papers Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Complex networks emerge under different conditions including design (i.e., top-down decisions) through simple rules of growth and evolution. Such rules are typically local when dealing with biological systems and most social webs. An important deviation from such scenario is provided by communities of agents engaged in technology development, such as open source (OS) communities. Here we analyze their network structure, showing that it defines a complex weighted network with scaling laws at different levels, as measured by looking at e-mail exchanges. We also present a simple model of network growth involving non-local rules based on betweenness centrality. Our analysis suggests that a well-defined interplay between the overall goals of the community and the underlying hierarchical organization play a key role in shaping its dynamics.

  2. Constructive Memory: The Ghosts Of Past And Future, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: A memory that works by piecing together bits of the past may be better suited to simulating future events than one that is a store of perfect records.(...)

    For example, consider the following words: tired, bed, awake, rest, dream, night, blanket, doze, slumber, snore, pillow, peace, yawn and drowsy. When asked whether 'blanket'; was on the list (a few minutes after seeing the words), most people correctly recognize that it was; (...). When asked about 'sleep';, most people confidently remember having seen it - but they are wrong.

    1. Time Past, Time Future Intricately Connected In The Brain: Study, Physorg.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: (...) have used advanced brain imaging techniques to show that remembering the past and envisioning the future may go hand-in-hand, with each process sparking strikingly similar patterns of activity within precisely the same broad network of brain regions. (...)

      First, the study clearly demonstrates that the neural network underlying future thought is not isolated in the brain's frontal cortex, as some have speculated. Although the frontal lobes play a well-documented role in carrying out future-oriented executive operations, such as anticipation, planning and monitoring, (...)

    2. Imaging Pinpoints Brain Regions That 'See The Future', Innovations-report Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Human memory, the ability to recall vivid mental images of past experiences, has been studied extensively for more than a hundred years. But until recently, there's been surprisingly little research into cognitive processes underlying another form of mental time travel -- the ability to clearly imagine or "see" oneself participating in a future event. Now, researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have used advanced brain imaging techniques to show that remembering the past and envisioning the future may go hand-in-hand, with each process sparking strikingly similar patterns of activity within precisely the same broad network of brain regions. (...)

  3. What Memories Are Made Of: Researcher Studies Plasticity Of Recall, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Why is it that amnesia patients can't remember their names or addresses, but they do remember how to hold a fork? It's because memories come in many flavors, says (...). Remembering what is not the same as remembering how. "Different circuits in the brain are activated when you remember what you had for breakfast this morning versus when you fell off a bicycle in second grade," says Helmstetter, (...). And it's those distinctive connections in the brain's communication network that differentiate between the "aware," or conscious, memories and the unconscious ones, some of which Helmstetter calls "emotional memories." (...)

  4. Brain Scans Predict When People Will Buy Products, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: For the first time, researchers have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine what parts of the brain are active when people consider whether to purchase a product and to predict whether or not they ultimately choose to buy the product. (...) This paper is the latest from the emerging field of neuroeconomics, which investigates the mental and neural processes that drive economic decision-making. (...) believed that distinct brain regions would be activated when people were presented with products they wish to purchase (representing a potential gain) and when they were presented with those products' prices (representing a potential loss). (...)

    1. Brain Studies Reveal Mechanisms Of Voluntary Control Of Visual Attention, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Neuroscientists at Duke University have mapped the timing and sequence of neural activations that unfold in the brain when people focus their attention on specific locations in their visual fields. (...) "There are a number of clinical syndromes where attention is dysfunctional, including schizophrenia, autism and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder," Woldorff said. "Moreover, attentional capabilities change during normal and abnormal aging." (...) In this study, the researchers combined information from two different technologies for measuring brain activity in order to provide insight into the basic mechanisms by which humans orient and focus their visual spatial attention. (...)

  5. Social Sciences: Life's A Game, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Manipulating society has traditionally been the preserve of politicians and the gods. Does the current boom in virtual worlds give social scientists and economists an opportunity to join them? (...)

    His vision is nothing if not ambitious: to create societies with the intention of experimenting on them. The societies will exist only inside computers, with real people living some of their lives through characters (avatars) in these virtual worlds. (...) He and other researchers want to tweak the rules of those worlds so they can study everything from democracy to monetary policy.

  6. Attack of the Zombie Computers Is Growing Threat, NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: In their persistent quest to breach the Internet's defenses, the bad guys are honing their weapons and increasing their firepower.

    With growing sophistication, they are taking advantage of programs that secretly install themselves on thousands or even millions of personal computers, band these computers together into an unwitting army of zombies, and use the collective power of the dragooned network to commit Internet crimes.

    These systems, called botnets, are being blamed for the huge spike in spam that bedeviled the Internet in recent months, as well as fraud and data theft.

    1. Researchers Use Wikipedia To Make Computers Smarter, Physorg.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Using Wikipedia, Technion researchers have developed a way to give computers knowledge of the world to help them ˇ§think smarter,ˇ¨ making common sense and broad-based connections between topics just as the human mind does. The new method will help computers filter e-mail spam, perform Web searches and even conduct intelligence gathering at more sophisticated levels than current programs.

      Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have found a way to give computers encyclopedic knowledge of the world to help them ˇ§think smarter,ˇ¨ making common sense and broad-based connections between topics just as the human mind does.

  7. Humanoid Avatar Plays A Competitive Game Of Table Tennis, Physorg.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    A user plays the table tennis game at the Virtual Reality 2005 event in Bonn, Germany. Image Credit: Rusdorf, Stephan, et al. ? 2006 IEEE.
    Recently, scientists have designed and built an immersive table tennis (or ˇ§ping-pongˇ¨) simulation that allows a human to compete against a computer. While most virtual reality environments support slow- or medium-speed user interaction, the new table tennis simulation can realistically respond to the top ball speed of most non-professionalsˇXup to 15 meters per second. (...)

    Synchronizing the avatar's responding movements to the human player's movements presented a large challenge in this fast-paced simulation.

    1. Giving Robots Human Qualities, Mercedsun-Star.Com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: (...) researching ways to enhance the artificial intelligence of computers to include mimicking humanlike movements. He refers to those functions a "intelligent motion." "What I mean by intelligent motion is all the kind of motions that (humans) do so easily," Kallmann said. (...)

      "The problem is how (to) modify the motion to new environments and situations."

  8. Developmental Biology: This Worm Is Not For Turning, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Molecular investigations of the origin of the dorso-ventral axis in an obscure marine invertebrate illuminate one of the longest-running debates in evolutionary biology - that over the origin of vertebrates.

    Vertebrates are so different from other creatures that discovering their origins within the animal kingdom has always been problematic. But molecular, developmental and genomic work on the sometimes obscure invertebrate relatives of vertebrates is prompting a reevaluation of this vexed topic.

    1. Darwin's Last Idea Is More Important Than Ever Thought: Reworking The Sediment Mixed/s Up The Earth, Innovations-report Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: We all know Charles Darwin as the founder of the theory of evolution. Less known is that 125 years ago, he was the first to show the importance of burrowing earthworms. He himself thought of this as a nice, but not very important subject. Researchers (...) now provide proof of the contrary. Burrowing organisms are not only real "ecosystem engineers", but the digging has also played a crucial role in the evolution of the modern animal forms. (...)

    2. Big-Brained Birds Survive Better In Nature, Proc. Biol. Sc. Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: Big brains are hypothesized to enhance survival of animals by facilitating flexible cognitive responses that buffer individuals against environmental stresses. Although this theory receives partial support from the finding that brain size limits the capacity of animals to behaviourally respond to environmental challenges, the hypothesis that large brains are associated with reduced mortality has never been empirically tested. Using extensive information on avian adult mortality from natural populations, we show here that species with larger brains, relative to their body size, experience lower mortality than species with smaller brains, (...).
      • Source: Big-Brained Birds Survive Better In Nature, D. Sol, T. Székely, A. Liker, L. Lefebvre, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2006.3765, Proceedings: Biological Sciences, 2007/01/02
      • Contributed by Atin Das - dasatinayahoo.co.in

  9. Evolutionary Biology: Oxygen At Life's Boundaries, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Proteins are made of amino acids. But amino acids are made of atoms. Exploration of this self-evident principle opens up fresh perspectives on the evolution of biological membranes and multicellular life.

    (...) the cell (...) is invariably delineated by a membrane - the plasma membrane - that is a selective barrier separating the inside from the outside. Some cells may also contain compartments, which are bounded by further membranes. Communication between intracellular compartments, or between cells and their environment, relies on transmembrane proteins that span the entire biological membrane.

  10. Insects, Trees, and Climate: The Bioacoustic Ecology of Deforestation and Entomogenic Climate Change, SFI Working Papers Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Accumulating observational evidence suggests an intimate connection between rapidly expanding insect populations, deforestation, and global climate change. We review the evidence, emphasizing the vulnerability of key planetary carbon pools, especially the Earth's forests that link the micro-ecology of insect infestation to climate. We survey current research regimes and insect control strategies, concluding that at present they are insufficient to cope with the problem's present regional scale and its likely future global scale. We propose novel bioacoustic interactions between insects and trees as key drivers of infestation population dynamics and the resulting wide-scale deforestation. The bioacoustic mechanisms suggest new, nontoxic control interventions and detection strategies.

    1. Most Bees Live Alone - No Hives, No Honey, But Maybe Help For Crops, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Loner bees may seem unusual, but honeybees are actually the oddballs. At least 75 percent of the 4,500 bee species in the United States and Canada live solitary lives.

      This unsung majority has attracted new attention as concern rises that populations of honeybees, and perhaps other pollinators, may be declining. In October 2006, a National Research Council report on pollinators called for new attention to solitary bees. They may offer alternatives to honeybees as pollinators for crops. And research is starting to reveal their importance in the wild.

    2. Neurobiology: Scent Secrets Of Insects, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The perception of carbon dioxide provides insects with sensory data on their environment, and informs many insect behaviours. It seems that this sense relies on two dedicated neural receptors.

      We inhabit a different sensory universe from that of many of the animals around us. We are deaf to high-pitched sounds that dogs perceive, blind to ultraviolet light that honeybees see, and numb to electric fields that sharks feel. And there is a world of chemicals swirling around us that we cannot smell, but that carry pungent signals for other species.

  11. The DNA So Dangerous It Does Not Exist, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Could there be forbidden sequences in the genome - ones so harmful that they are not compatible with life? One group of researchers thinks so. Unlike most genome sequencing projects which set out to search for genes that are conserved within and between species, their goal is to identify "primes": DNA sequences and chains of amino acids so dangerous to life that they do not exist.

    "It's like looking for a needle that's not actually in the haystack," (...).


  12. Energy: That's oil, folks..., Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Optimists see oil gushing for decades; pessimists see the planet's energy future already drying up. (...)

    Both sides issue regular, well-referenced reports that come to opposite conclusions on whether the world is running out of oil. "There's just no middle ground," says Kenneth Deffeyes, a geologist (...), and is a leading supporter of the peak-oil theory. His personal belief is that we are already a year past the peak. If he's wrong, though, he's sure that it will prove not to be by much: the peak is imminent, and unavoidable.

  13. The Dark Side Of E. Coli, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: How can we prevent more food poisoning outbreaks?(...)

    There are now some promising research leads that might help prevent future outbreaks. At a meeting earlier this year on pathogenic E. coli, veterinary researcher David Smith of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and his colleagues reported that a vaccine containing proteins from O157 cut the number of cows shedding bacteria by 60-70%. Canadian company Bioniche Life Sciences, based in Belleville, Ontario, has submitted the vaccine for regulatory approval in Canada, and plans to do so in the United States.

  14. Evolutionary Self-Organization in Complex Fluids, SFI Working Papers Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: This paper explores the ability of molecular evolution to take control of collective physical phases, making the first decisive step from independent replicators towards cell-like collective structures. We develop a physical model of replicating combinatorial molecules in a ternary fluid of hydrocarbons, amphiphiles, and water. (...)

  15. Physics: Negative Refractive Index At Optical Wavelengths, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Although discovered only 6 years ago, negative refractive index materials (NIMs) have been the target of intense study, drawing researchers from physics, engineering, materials science, optics, and chemistry. These artificial "metamaterials" are fascinating because they allow the design of substances with optical properties that simply do not occur in nature. Such materials make possible a wide range of new applications as varied as cloaking devices and ultrahigh-resolution imaging systems. The variety of possible applications would be even greater if such materials could be engineered to work at optical wavelengths.

    1. Light In Tiny Holes, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The presence of tiny holes in an opaque metal film, with sizes smaller than the wavelength of incident light, leads to a wide variety of unexpected optical properties such as strongly enhanced transmission of light through the holes and wavelength filtering. These intriguing effects are now known to be due to the interaction of the light with electronic resonances in the surface of the metal film, and they can be controlled by adjusting the size and geometry of the holes.
      • Source: Light In Tiny Holes, C. Genet, T. W. Ebbesen, DOI: 10.1038/nature05350, Nature 445, 39-46, 07/01/04

  16. First 3D Map Of The Universe's Dark Matter Scaffolding, ESA Space Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    This composite shows three different components of the Hubble COSMOS survey: The normal matter (in red) determined mainly by the European Space Agency's XMM/Newton telescope, the dark matter (in blue) and the stars and galaxies (in grey) observed in visible light with Hubble.

    Credits: NASA, ESA and R. Massey (California Institute of Technology)

    By analysing the COSMOS survey - the largest ever survey undertaken with Hubble - an international team of scientists has assembled a three-dimensional map that offers a first look at the web-like large-scale distribution of dark matter in the Universe. This historic achievement, one of the most important results in cosmology, accurately confirms standard theories of structure formation. ?

    For astronomers, the challenge of mapping the Universe has been similar to mapping a city from night-time aerial snapshots showing only streetlights.

    1. Hubble Makes 3D Dark Matter Map, BBC News Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      The map stretches halfway back to the beginning of the Universe
      Astronomers have mapped the cosmic "scaffold" of dark matter upon which stars and galaxies are assembled. (...)

      The map of mass distribution is based on measurements of about half a million distant galaxies.

      Lead author Richard Massey and his colleagues used a technique called weak gravitational lensing to detect the dark matter. (...)

      To add 3D distance information, the Hubble observations were combined with multi-colour data from powerful ground-based telescopes.

      The map of dark matter distribution confirms that galaxy clusters are located within clumps of this invisible material.

    2. The Universe's Invisible Hand, Scientific American Magazine Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: What took us so long? Only in 1998 did astronomers discover we had been missing nearly three quarters of the contents of the universe, the so-called dark energy--an unknown form of energy that surrounds each of us, tugging at us ever so slightly, holding the fate of the cosmos in its grip, but to which we are almost totally blind. Some researchers, to be sure, had anticipated that such energy existed, but even they will tell you that its detection ranks among the most revolutionary discoveries in 20th-century cosmology.

  17. Atom Interferometer Measurement of the Newtonian Constant of Gravity, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: We measured the Newtonian constant of gravity, G, using a gravity gradiometer based on atom interferometry. The gradiometer measures the differential acceleration of two samples of laser-cooled Cs atoms. The change in gravitational field along one dimension is measured when a well-characterized Pb mass is displaced. Here, we report a value of G = 6.693 x 10-11 cubic meters per kilogram second squared, with a standard error of the mean of 0.027 x 10-11 and a systematic error of 0.021 x 10-11 cubic meters per kilogram second squared.

  18. U.S. Bars Lab From Testing Electronic Voting, NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    Amy Sancetta/Associated Press Electronic voting machines in use on Nov. 7 in Cleveland. The Election Assistance Commission certifies laboratories to test the systems.
    The company, Ciber Inc. of Greenwood Village, Colo., has also come under fire from analysts hired by New York State over its plans to test new voting machines for the state. New York could eventually spend $200 million to replace its aging lever devices.

    Experts on voting systems say the Ciber problems underscore longstanding worries about lax inspections in the secretive world of voting-machine testing. The action by the federal Election Assistance Commission seems certain to fan growing concerns about the reliability and security of the devices.

  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Getting the Middle East Back on Our Side, NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      David Suter
      THE Iraq Study Group report was released into a sea of unrealistic expectations. Inevitably, it disappointed hopes for a clear path through the morass of Iraq, because there is no ˇ§silver bulletˇ¨ solution to the difficulties in which we find ourselves.

      But the report accomplished a great deal. It brought together some of America's best minds across party lines, and it outlined with clarity and precision the key factors at issue in Iraq.

    2. Why Terrorism Does Not Work, Int. Security Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: This is the first article to analyze a large sample of terrorist groups in terms of their policy effectiveness. It includes every foreign terrorist organization (FTO) designated by the U.S. Department of State since 2001. The key variable for FTO success is a tactical one: target selection. Terrorist groups whose attacks on civilian targets outnumber attacks on military targets do not tend to achieve their policy objectives, regardless of their nature. Contrary to the prevailing view that terrorism is an effective means of political coercion, the universe of cases suggests that, first, contemporary terrorist groups rarely achieve their policy objectives (...).
      • Source: Why Terrorism Does Not Work, M. Abrahms, DOI: 10.1162/isec.2006.31.2.42, International Security, Fall 2006, Online 2006/10/11
      • Contributed by Pritha Das - prithadas01ayahoo.com

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Topology and Evolution of Technology Innovation Networks, Sergi Valverde, Ricard V. Solé, Mark Bedau, Norman Packard, SFI Working Papers, DOI: SFI-WP 06-12-054
      2. Unanimity Rule on Networks, Renaud Lambiotte, Stefan Thurner, Rudolf Hanel, SFI Working Papers, DOI: SFI-WP 06-12-052
      3. Adaptive Dynamics for Interacting Markovian Processes, Yuzuru Sato, Nihat Ay, SFI Working Papers, DOI: SFI-WP 06-12-051
      4. Life Cycle of a Minimal Protocell -- A Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD) Study, Harold Fellermann, Steen Rasmussen, Hans Ziock, Ricard Solé, SFI Working Papers, DOI: SFI-WP 06-12-050
      5. Metabolic Photo-Fragmentation Kinetics for a Minimal Protocell: Rate Limiting Factors, Efficiency, and Implications for Evolution, Chad Knutson, Gil Benko, Tristan Rocheleau, Fouzi Mouffouk, Jerzy Maselko, Liaohai Chen, Andrew Shreve, Steen Rasmussen, SFI Working Papers, DOI: SFI-WP 06-12-047
      6. Language Diversity of Measured Quantum Processes, Karoline Wiesner, James P. Crutchfield, SFI Working Papers, DOI: SFI-WP 06-11-046
      7. Intrinsic Quantum Computation, James P. Crutchfield, Karoline Wiesner, SFI Working Papers, DOI: SFI-WP 06-11-045
      8. College To Teach Happiness Degree, 06/12/13, BBC News, A London college is going to teach people how to be happy and contented as a study found that happier people live at least 10 years longer than others.
      9. Communication Using Eye Roll Reflective Signalling, I. N. Flamarique, G. A. Mueller, C. L. Cheng, C. R. Figiel, 2007/01/02, Proceedings: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2006.0246
      10. Towards Electrically Conductive, Self-Healing Materials, K. A. Williams, A. J. Boydston, C. W. Bielawski, 2007/01/03, Journal of The Royal Society Interface, DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2006.0202
      11. How Appetite-Stimulating Brain Cells Work Overtime During Fasting, 2007/01/05, Innovations-report
      12. Queen Bees Shown To Pass Viruses To Their Offspring, 2007/01/05, ScienceDaily & USDA/Agricultural Research Service
      13. Boffins Discover Next-Gen Optical Molecules: Researchers From Three Countries Uncover Fastest Ever Optical Reactions, M. Chapman, 2007/01/05, vnunet.com & Computing
      14. Friends Like These: Counterinsurgency And The War On Terrorism, D. L. Byman, Fall 2006, Online 2006/10/11, International Security, DOI: 10.1162/isec.2006.31.2.79
      15. The Road To Chaos By Time-Asymmetric Hebbian Learning In Recurrent Neural Networks, C. Molter, U. Salihoglu, H. Bersini, Jan. 2007, Online 2006/11/29, Neural Computation vnunet.com, DOI: 10.1162/neco.2007.19.1.80
      16. The Next Tsunami? Preparing For A Disorderly Correction Of Global Imbalances, B. Eichengreen - eichengraecon.berkeley.edu, Spring/Summer 2006, Online 2006/11/20, Asian Economic Papers, DOI: 10.1162/asep.2006.5.2.1
      17. Are Virtual Reference Services Color Blind?, P. Shachaf - shachafaindiana.edu, S. Horowitz - smhorowiaindiana.edu, Winter 2006, online 2006/11/01, Library & Information Science Research, DOI: 10.1016/j.lisr.2006.08.009

    2. Webcast Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

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

    3. Conference Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Logic, Computability and Randomness 2007 , Buenos Aires, Argentina, 07/01/10-13
      2. Symposium on Biological Complexity Diseases of Transcription, La Jolla, CA, 07/01/11-14
      3. The Atlas of Ideas, London, United Kingdom, 07/01/17-18
      4. Managing Complex Organizations in a Complex World, Cambridge, MA, 07/01/25-26
      5. Intl Wkshp Complex Dynamics Of Physiological Systems: From Heart To Brain, Kolkata, India, 07/02/12-14
      6. 2007 Complexity and Educational Research Conference, Vancouver, BC, 07/02/18-20
      7. Coordination Dynamics 2007: Coordination: Neural, Behavioral and Social Dynamics, Boca Raton, Florida, 07/02/22-25
      8. 2nd Transdisciplinary Workshop on the Complexity Approach Complejidad Camagüey-2007, Camagüey, Cuba, 07/02/20-22
      9. 3rd International Workshop on Complexity and Philisophy, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 07/02/22-23
      10. Intl Conf on Morphological Computation, Venice, Italy, 07/03/26-28
      11. Unconventional Computation: Quo Vadis?, Santa Fe, NM, 07/03/20-23
      12. Complex Social Systems Course at the London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom, 07/03/20-28
      13. NEXUS for Change, Bowling Green, Ohio, 07/03/22-23
      14. 4th Lake Arrowhead Conference on Human Complex Systems, Lake Arrowhead, CA, 07/04/25-29
      15. Intl Conf on Morphological Computation, Venice Italy, 07/03/26-28
      16. Capturing Business Complexity with Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation Useful, Usable, and Used Techniques - A Course on Business Applications, Argonne Natl Lab, Woodridge, IL, 07/04/16-20
      17. Complexity and Organizational Resilience The Village, Pohnpei, Micronesia, 07/05
      18. 2nd Intl Conf on Built Environment Complexity - Embracing complexity thinking in built environments, Cape Town South Africa, 07/05/21-25
      19. ECO 2007 Summit: Ecological Complexity and Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities for 21st-Century Ecology, Beijing, China, 07/05/22-27
      20. 2007 IEEE/ICME Intl Conf on Complex Medical Engineering-CME2007, Beijing, China, 07/05/23-27
      21. The 7th Intl Workshop on Meta-Synthesis and Complex Systems, Beijing, 07/05/27-30
      22. 2nd Intl Wkshp on Engineering Emergence in Decentralised Autonomic Systems EEDAS 2007, Jacksonville, Fl, 07/06/11-15
      23. 7th conf SYMMETRY IN NONLINEAR MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS, Kiev, Ukraine, 07/06/24-30
      24. Summer School In Complexity Science, London, UK, 07/07/08-17
      25. 2007 Genetic And Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-2007), London, UK, 07/07/07-11
      26. Natural Complexity: Data and Theory in Dialogue, Cambridge, UK, 07/08/13-17
      27. ECAL 2oo7 - 9th European Conference on Artificial Life , Lisbon, Portugal, 07/09/10-14
      28. European Conference on Complex Systems 2007 (ECCS'07) , Dresden, Germany, 07/10/01-05

    4. Call for Papers - Course/Book Announcements Bookmark and Share

      1. The international journal Emergence: Complexity & Organization (E:CO) is now available. The issue contains:

        Volume 8 Number 4, 2006 Special Issue: Complexity & Leadership Editors: Jeffrey A. Goldstein & James K. Hazy

      2. EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION IN PRACTICE Series in Studies in Computational Intelligence, Springer Verlag, Chapter proposal due 07/02/04
      3. Call for Submissions: The Journal of Developmental Processes will publish its first issue in fall 2006. , The JDP recognizes that complex developmental processes characterize the growth of living organisms. In humans, this complexity is highly elaborated, so that developmental change is affected by many interrelated factors of the body, the mind, family, society and the environment. New discoveries continually add to our understanding of these processes and demonstrate the inadequacy of reductionist approaches.
      4. Call for Papers: Special Issue of the Artificial Life journal on the Evolution of Complexity,
      5. Digital Graphics for Quantitative Finance, Lineplot Productions, 2006

        Why create movies of financial models? Because key stakeholders often don't understand them. The mathematical, data-intensive sphere of quantitative financial analysis can be a black box even for many in the industry. It is vital for users of this analysis to appreciate, understand and buy into, often literally, these difficult and important concepts.

      6. Life: An Introduction to Complex Systems Biology, Kunihiko Kaneko, Springer Series: Understanding Complex Systems, 2006

        What is life? Has molecular biology given us a satisfactory answer to this question? And if not, why, and how to carry on from there? This book examines life not from the reductionist point of view, but rather asks the question: what are the universal properties of living systems and how can one construct from there a phenomenological theory of life that leads naturally to complex processes such as reproductive cellular systems, evolution and differentiation? The presentation has been deliberately kept fairly non-technical so as to address a broad spectrum of students and researchers from the natural sciences and informatics.

      7. Chaos and Complexity Resources for Students and Teachers, 06/03/01

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