Complexity Digest 2008.12

20-Mar-2008

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Content

  1. Archaeology: Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants, Science
    1. The Late Pleistocene Dispersal Of Modern Humans In The Americas, Science
  2. Genetic Basis Of Fitness Differences In Natural Populations, Nature
  3. The Natural Selection Of Business, Innovations-report
    1. To Bet Or Not To Bet: How The Brain Learns To Estimate Risk, ScienceDaily
  4. Altruistic Twist In Market Economies, Science News
    1. Markets Can Save Forests, Nature
  5. Six Degrees of Messaging, News@Nature
  6. Stem-Cell Claim Gets Cold Reception - Carbon Nanotubes Used To Reprogramme Adult Human Cells?, Nature
    1. Systems Biology: Customized Signaling Circuits, Science
    2. Direct Visualization of Horizontal Gene Transfer, Science
    3. 'Tumour Factory' To Accelerate Cancer Drug Development, New Scientist
  7. Tomorrow's Stars: Intel Science Talent Search Honors High Achievers, Science News
  8. Neuroscience: A Quiescent Working Memory, Science
    1. Synaptic Theory of Working Memory, Science
    2. Dual Role: Painkiller May Affect Brain, Science News
    3. Towards Understanding Of The Cortical Network Underlying Associative Memory, Phil. Tran. Biol. Sc.
  9. Neuroscience: Hiding From Biting Insects in Plain Scent, Science
  10. Biochemistry: Radicals By Reduction, Nature
    1. Nanotubes Measure DNA Conductivity, Physics World
  11. Weather Maker, Science News
    1. The Next Ocean - Humanity's Extra CO2 Could Brew A New Kind Of Sea, Science News
  12. How Alligators Rock And Roll: Reptiles' Muscles Move Lungs For Sneaky Maneuvers In Water, Innovations-report
  13. Biodiversity Inhibits Species' Evolutionary Responses To Changing Environments, Ecol. Lett.
    1. Evolution of Complex Modular Biological Networks, PLoS Comput Biol
  14. The Ultimate Future of Artificial Life: Towards Artificial Cosmogenesis, arXiv
  15. State Of The Universe: Microwave Glow Powers Cosmic Insights, Science News
  16. Computer Science: Hash of the Future?, Science
    1. Sensors For Bat-Inspired Spy Plane Under Development, Physorg.com
  17. Communicating Science: Fresh Renderings Of Physics, Science
  18. Spoil-Proofing Elections, Science News
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. U.S. Adapts Cold-War Idea to Fight Terrorists, NY Times
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Webcast Announcements
    3. Conference Announcements
    4. Other Announcements

  1. Archaeology: Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Archaeological studies are helping to understand how humans acquired the ability for cultural transmission. (...)

    The extent to which human behaviors and knowledge are culturally transmitted within and between generations has long been considered a defining feature of our species. Parts of the behavioral repertoires of many other animals--from ants to dolphins--are neither determined by genetics nor individually acquired but learned from members of the same species. For example, the manufacture and/or use of material objects among some of our closest primate relatives are group-specific and persist between generations (1, 2).

    1. The Late Pleistocene Dispersal Of Modern Humans In The Americas, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: When did humans colonize the Americas? From where did they come and what routes did they take? These questions have gripped scientists for decades, but until recently answers have proven difficult to find. Current genetic evidence implies dispersal from a single Siberian population toward the Bering Land Bridge no earlier than about 30,000 years ago (and possibly after 22,000 years ago), then migration from Beringia to the Americas sometime after 16,500 years ago.

  2. Genetic Basis Of Fitness Differences In Natural Populations, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Genomics profoundly influences current biology. One of many exciting consequences of this revolution is the potential for identifying and studying the genetic basis of those traits affecting fitness that are key to natural selection. Recent studies using a multitude of genomic approaches have established such genotype-phenotype relationships in natural populations, giving new insight into the genetic architecture of quantitative variation. In parallel, an emerging understanding of the quantitative genetics of fitness variation in the wild means that we are poised to see a synthesis of ecological and molecular approaches in evolutionary biology.

  3. The Natural Selection Of Business, Innovations-report Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Many gamblers claim to have a "system", whether they're shooting craps, backing horses, or punting on the stock market. Now, researchers in Taiwan have devised an approach to spotting when a company is likely to fail based on the principles of natural selection. (...) explain how the financial status of any company can be of interest not only to its owners and employees but to a range of creditors, stockholders, banks, and individual investors. However, there are so many changing and interconnected factors that can lead to success or failure that it is usually considered an impossible task to predict whether a company will fail. (...)

    1. To Bet Or Not To Bet: How The Brain Learns To Estimate Risk, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Researchers (...) have made an important neurobiological discovery of how humans learn to predict risk. The research (...) will shed light on why certain kinds of risk, notably financial risk, are often underestimated, and whether abnormal behavior such as addiction (e.g. to gambling or drugs) could be caused by an erroneous evaluation of risk. Planning entails making predictions. In an uncertain environment, however, our predictions often don't pan out. And erroneous prediction of risk often leads to unusual behaviour: euphoria or excessive gambling when risk is underestimated, and panic attacks or depression when we predict that things are riskier than they really are. (...)

  4. Altruistic Twist In Market Economies, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Democratic societies with market economies have a reputation as cauldrons of competition, materialism, and greed. There's another side to that coin, though. These societies also foster cooperation among strangers in order to achieve a common financial goal, say economist Benedikt Herrmann of the University of Nottingham, England, and his colleagues.

    In contrast, nondemocratic and other societies without market economies - marked by low civic involvement and distrust of public authorities - promote an ethic of punishing strangers who demand cooperation in a joint economic effort, (...).

    1. Markets Can Save Forests, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: With the right infrastructure, the forces threatening to destroy the world's trees could be their salvation.

      Trees are worth more dead than alive on the international market - a stark economic fact that has undermined countless programmes to protect rainforests over the years. It is a lesson that should not be forgotten as the international community explores ways to reduce global-warming emissions from deforestation. Conventional programmes involving incentives, laws and enforcement may prove useful, or even necessary - as highlighted by Brazil's approach to the issue (see page 134) - but to solve the problem completely, the international community will need to design a better market that recognizes the value of standing trees, forests and the less tangible services they provide.

  5. Six Degrees of Messaging, News@Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: The resulting figures produced a neat map of communication hotspots across the world, and allowed Horvitz and Leskovec to trace the extent of separation between Microsoft Messenger users. They found that the average shortest number of jumps to get from one random user to another was 6.6; spookily close to the infamous six degrees of separation demonstrated practically in a group of 64 people by Stanley Milgram, at Harvard University, in the 1960s.

  6. Stem-Cell Claim Gets Cold Reception - Carbon Nanotubes Used To Reprogramme Adult Human Cells?, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: But to insert the genes into the cells, researchers have had to use viral vectors, which can turn the cells cancerous.

    PrimeGen, based in Irvine, claims to have got around this problem by using single-walled carbon nanotubes - cylinders of carbon molecules only a few nanometers in diameter - to introduce a complex of around a dozen proteins, including the ones coded for by the four genes used by Yamanaka, plus a fifth called Nanog. The researchers used the nanotube delivery system to introduce genes into human testicular and retinal cells, and PrimeGen reports that they were quickly taken up by an impressive 80% of the cells.

    1. Systems Biology: Customized Signaling Circuits, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Altering cellular behaviors can be achieved through a synthetic approach by refashioning signaling circuitry.

      For nearly three decades, cell biologists have labored to identify and dissect the elaborate intracellular signaling pathways that control cellular responses to external stimuli. The emerging field of "synthetic biology" now seeks to move beyond mere understanding of these existing biological systems, and to begin exploiting the acquired knowledge for new purposes such as creating custom-configured signal transduction pathways (1-3).

    2. Direct Visualization of Horizontal Gene Transfer, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Visualization of DNA exchange between two bacteria reveals that the process is highly efficient, is mediated by the pilus, and occurs about once per replication cycle.

      Conjugation allows bacteria to acquire genes for antibiotic resistance, novel virulence attributes, and alternative metabolic pathways. Using a fluorescent protein fusion, SeqA-YFP, we have visualized this process in real time and in single cells of Escherichia coli. We found that the F pilus mediates DNA transfer at considerable cell-to-cell distances.

    3. 'Tumour Factory' To Accelerate Cancer Drug Development, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      The device contains U-shaped traps in which can grow identical artificial tumours for drug testing (Image: Luke Lee)
      A machine that churns out three-dimensional artificial tumours could help improve anti-cancer drug testing, researchers say. The "tumour factory" offers a better alternative to the flat cultured cells currently used to test new anticancer drugs.

      "Cells grown in a monolayer are very useful in many studies," (...) . "But they cannot represent a three-dimensional tumour."

      In a real cancer, different parts of a tumour are fed different amounts of oxygen.

  7. Tomorrow's Stars: Intel Science Talent Search Honors High Achievers, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: As is fitting for a member of the MySpace generation, Shivani Sud has the individual in mind. She developed a model for assessing a person's genetic profile, first to determine individual risk for recurrence of colon cancer and then to tailor a treatment regime. Sud's research won her the top prize Tuesday in the Intel Science Talent Search: a $100,000 scholarship from the Intel Foundation. (...)

    Inspired by working in his grandmother's garden, Van Schaik investigated the persistence of pyrethroids, a class of pesticides, on tomatoes. He also designed two experiments tracking effects of the pesticides on breast cancer cells and nerve cells.

  8. Neuroscience: A Quiescent Working Memory, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Many of our actions or decisions are guided by what we experienced in the recent past.

    When we perform a complex task like driving a car, we need to retain important information that will affect our behavior later on. For example, when we see a yield traffic sign, the image is not merely stored in our memory, but it is also "actively" held in mind so that we can react appropriately at the next crossroad. In such a case, we make use of what is known as "working memory" (1).

    1. Synaptic Theory of Working Memory, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Stronger synapses induced by calcium currents are responsible for working memory rather than the more metabolically expensive action potential firing, as had been thought.

      It is usually assumed that enhanced spiking activity in the form of persistent reverberation for several seconds is the neural correlate of working memory. Here, we propose that working memory is sustained by calcium-mediated synaptic facilitation in the recurrent connections of neocortical networks. In this account, the presynaptic residual calcium is used as a buffer that is loaded, refreshed, and read out by spiking activity

    2. Dual Role: Painkiller May Affect Brain, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: A class of drugs being developed to stop pain could also obstruct memory formation. The new painkillers aim to block molecules that respond to burning sensations, like those delivered by chili peppers, camphor, and heat from a fire. Those molecules, found on sensory nerve endings, are known as TRPV1 receptors. Blocking those receptors could help with everything from migraines to dental agony.

      But TRPV1 blockers could also affect the brain, researchers report in the March 13 Neuron. TRPV1 receptors are also found in the hippocampus, a brain region critical for learning and forming habits.

    3. Towards Understanding Of The Cortical Network Underlying Associative Memory, Phil. Tran. Biol. Sc. Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Declarative knowledge and experiences are represented in the association cortex and are recalled by reactivation of the neural representation. Electrophysiological experiments have revealed that associations between semantically linked visual objects are formed in neural representations in the temporal and limbic cortices. Memory traces are created by the reorganization of neural circuits. These regions are reactivated during retrieval and contribute to the contents of a memory. Two different types of retrieval signals are suggested as follows: automatic and active. (...) To further understand the neural mechanism of memory, the following two complementary views are needed: how the multiple cortical areas in the brain-wide network interact (...).

  9. Neuroscience: Hiding From Biting Insects in Plain Scent, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: For backpackers, the insect repellent DEET makes hikes bearable by protecting against mosquitoes and other blood-sucking pests. For people who live in malaria-prone areas, it can be a lifesaver. Although people have been spraying and dabbing DEET on for more than 50 years, nobody knew exactly how it works until now. Researchers report online in Science this week (www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1153121) that instead of driving away biting bugs, DEET actually conceals us from them. The compound dulls the insects' sensitivity to certain body odors, explains co-author Leslie Vosshall, a molecular neurobiologist at Rockefeller University in New York City.

  10. Biochemistry: Radicals By Reduction, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Many enzymes convert their substrates into organic radicals to allow challenging reactions to occur. A microbial enzyme does so by simple electron transfer, casting fresh light on enzyme evolution.

    The harmful effects of free radicals have been widely publicized over the past two decades. As a result, pharmacists are now well stocked with vitamins and nutritional supplements purported to combat the damage caused by these chemical bogeymen. Less attention has been given to the many beneficial uses of radicals in biology, where they are often generated by enzymes to overcome chemically difficult problems.

    1. Nanotubes Measure DNA Conductivity, Physics World Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The team first measured the conductivity of a well matched strand and then exchanged it for a strand with a single mismatch. This single mismatch boosted the resistance of the DNA by a factor of 300. According to Jacqueline Barton "this highlights the need to make measurements on duplex DNA that is well-matched, undamaged, and in its native conformation."

      An important implication of this sensitivity to small changes in structure is that DNA by itself might not be an ideal component for future electronic devices.

  11. Weather Maker, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    F. Araki and S. Kawahara/ESC JAMSTEC
    The North Atlantic's Gulf Stream affects the overlying atmosphere more strongly than previously suspected. Surface waters of the 100-kilometer-wide current (white, with Florida bottom left) can be significantly warmer than those nearby, says Shoshiro Minobe, a climate scientist at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. (...)

    High-resolution satellite images reveal that the atmosphere over the Gulf Stream hosts thunderstorms and stronger convection more often than the surrounding ocean, Minobe's team reports in the March 13 Nature.

    1. The Next Ocean - Humanity's Extra CO2 Could Brew A New Kind Of Sea, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      MATTERS OF SCALE. A phytoplankton bloom (lighter turquoise waters) in the Bering Sea offshore of the Aleutian Islands is visible in this July 1998 satellite image. Relatively small changes in ocean chemistry may have big effects on such small creatures. Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS)/NASA/GSFC, GeoEye
      Terrie Klinger is starting to wonder about the future of kelp sex. It's a delicate business in the best of times, and the 21st century is putting marine life to the acid test. (...)

      Increased CO2 also means the corals will have to contend with temperature increases. Depending on the coral species and the place, 3 to 4 weeks of temperatures a degree or two Celsius above current summer peaks can turn a reef into a spooky white sculpture of itself.

  12. How Alligators Rock And Roll: Reptiles' Muscles Move Lungs For Sneaky Maneuvers In Water, Innovations-report Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Without a ripple in the water, alligators dive, surface or roll sideways, even though they lack flippers or fins. University of Utah biologists discovered gators maneuver silently by using their diaphragm, pelvic, abdominal and rib muscles to shift their lungs like internal floatation devices: toward the tail when they dive, toward the head when they surface and sideways when they roll. "It allows them to navigate a watery environment without creating a lot of disturbance," says doctoral student T.J. Uriona. "This is probably really important while they are trying to sneak up on an animal but don't want to create ripples." (...)

  13. Biodiversity Inhibits Species' Evolutionary Responses To Changing Environments, Ecol. Lett. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Despite growing interplay between ecological and evolutionary studies, the question of how biodiversity influences evolutionary dynamics within species remains understudied. Here, using a classical model of phenotypic evolution in species occupying a patchy environment, but introducing global change affecting patch conditions, we show that biodiversity can inhibit species' evolution during global change. The presence of several species increases the chance that one or more species are pre-adapted to new conditions, which restricts the ecological opportunity for evolutionary responses in all the species. Consequently, environmental change tends to select for changes in species abundances rather than for changing phenotypes within each species. (...)

    1. Evolution of Complex Modular Biological Networks, PLoS Comput Biol Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: Biological networks have evolved to be highly functional within uncertain environments while remaining extremely adaptable. One of the main contributors to the robustness and evolvability of biological networks is believed to be their modularity of function, with modules defined as sets of genes that are strongly interconnected but whose function is separable from those of other modules. Here, we investigate the in silico evolution of modularity and robustness in complex artificial metabolic networks that encode an increasing amount of information about their environment while acquiring ubiquitous features of biological, social, and engineering networks, such as scale-free edge distribution, small-world property, and fault-tolerance.

  14. The Ultimate Future of Artificial Life: Towards Artificial Cosmogenesis, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: This philosophical paper tries to tackle the question of what could be the ultimate future of ALife from a cosmic viewpoint. We first argue that the natural direction of ALife is a simulation of an entire universe. Two new challenges naturally arise. (...) Assuming that intelligent life would indeed simulate an entire universe, this leads to two tentative hypotheses. Following the soft-ALife program, some authors argued that we could be in a simulation run by an intelligent entity. Following the hard/wet-ALife program, this would lead to an artificial cosmogenesis. This last direction is argued with a careful speculative philosophical approach, emphasizing the imperative to find a solution to the heat death problem.

  15. State Of The Universe: Microwave Glow Powers Cosmic Insights, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    MICRO MAP. Temperature fluctuations (red denotes hottest, blue coldest) in the remnant radiation from the Big Bang reveal density variations that were seeds of galaxies. A scheduled launch of the Planck mission will hone the resolution of this WMAP picture. WMAP Science Team
    New observations of the oldest light in the universe have enabled astronomers to determine the age of the cosmos with unprecedented precision, infer the existence of a vast sea of neutrinos, and better gauge the start and duration of the long-ago era when the first stars switched on. (...)

    By using WMAP to measure the size of the hot and cold spots as they appear on the sky today, along with knowledge of their size when the radiation was first released, researchers have pegged the age of the universe to 13.73 billion years, give or take 0.12 billion.

  16. Computer Science: Hash of the Future?, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Have you ever struggled to solve a maze? Then imagine trying to find a path through a tangled, three-dimensional maze as large as the Milky Way. By incorporating such a maze into a hash function, Kristin Lauter of Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington, is betting that neither you nor anyone else will solve that problem.

    Technically, Lauter's maze is called an "expander graph" (...). Nodes in the graph correspond to elliptic curves, or equations of the form y2 = x3+ ax + b. Each curve leads to three other curves by a mathematical relation, now called isogeny, that Pierre de Fermat discovered while trying to prove his famous Last Theorem.

    1. Sensors For Bat-Inspired Spy Plane Under Development, Physorg.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      Engineers envision a six-inch, robotic spy plane modeled after a bat that could gather data and send it back to soldiers in real time. Credit: Eric Maslowski, research computer specialist in the University of Michigan 3D Lab
      The bat robot's body would be about six inches long. It would weigh about a quarter of a pound and use about 1 W of power.

      U-M researchers intend to improve on current technologies. They'll work to develop quantum dot solar cells that double the efficiency of current cells. They expect their autonomous navigation system, which would allow the robot to direct its own movements, to be 1,000 times smaller and more energy efficient than systems being used now. They believe they can deliver a communication system that's 10 times smaller, lighter and more energy efficient than today's technologies.

  17. Communicating Science: Fresh Renderings Of Physics, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Viewing popular science as the presentation of science content through the techniques of literature, the author explores popular presentations of quantum mechanics, the big bang, chaos, and complexity. (...)

    She produces lovely parallels between the tone and even specific word choices and colloquialisms in James Gleick's Chaos (5), M. Mitchell Waldrop's Complexity (6), and the hard-boiled noir detective fiction of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Like the gumshoe private investigators, the characters in the popularizations are depicted as working alone, outside society, and immune to its superficialities and cultural codes of conduct.

  18. Spoil-Proofing Elections, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Complaints about the obscure Electoral College system are common, but the mathematicians' objection is even more basic. Presidential elections in the United States are decided using a variation of a method known as plurality voting: each person votes for one candidate, and the candidate with the most votes wins. (...)

    "The plurality vote is pretty much the worst voting system there is," (...).

    The 2000 election gave a vivid demonstration of plurality voting's limitations. Polls indicated that most people who voted for Nader would have preferred Gore to Bush.

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

    1. U.S. Adapts Cold-War Idea to Fight Terrorists, NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: A primary focus has become cyberspace, which is the global safe haven of terrorist networks. To counter efforts by terrorists to plot attacks, raise money and recruit new members on the Internet, the government has mounted a secret campaign to plant bogus e-mail messages and Web site postings, with the intent to sow confusion, dissent and distrust among militant organizations, officials confirm.

      At the same time, American diplomats are quietly working behind the scenes with Middle Eastern partners to amplify the speeches and writings of prominent Islamic clerics who are renouncing terrorist violence.

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Physics: This Coincidence Cannot Be Accidental, Douglas J. Scalapino, 08/03/14, Science : 1492-1493. Metal superconductors such as lead and niobium were thought fully understood 40 years ago, but they have now presented some fresh puzzles.
      2. Predators Induce Cloning in Echinoderm Larvae, Dawn Vaughn, Richard R. Strathmann, 08/03/14, Science : 1503. Sand dollar larvae respond to mucus from fish predators by rapid asexual reproduction, producing an increased number of smaller individuals that may be less visible.
      3. On the Process of Becoming a Great Scientist, Morgan C. Giddings, 2008/02/15, PLoS Comput Biol 4(2): e33, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.0040033
      4. Fast Unfolding of Community Hierarchies in Large Networks, Vincent D. Blondel, Jean-Loup Guillaume, Renaud Lambiotte and Etienne Lefebvre, 2008/03/04, arXiv, DOI: 0803.0476
      5. Geometry Explains The Benefits Of Division Of Labour In A Leafcutter Ant, H. Helanterä, F. L.W. Ratnieks, 2008/03/04, Proceedings B: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2008.0024
      6. Top-Down Causation By Information Control: From A Philosophical Problem To A Scientific Research Programme, G. Auletta, G.F.R. Ellis, L. Jaeger, 2008/03/04, Interface, DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2008.0018
      7. Oscillatory Dynamics in Evolutionary Games Are Suppressed by Heterogeneous Adaptation Rates of Players, Naoki Masuda, 2008/03/07, arXiv [Journal of Theoretical Biology, 251, 181-189 (2008)], DOI: 0803.1023
      8. On the Need for a Global Academic Internet Platform, Nadja Kutz, 2008/03/10, arXiv, DOI: 0803.1360
      9. Simple Learning Rules To Cope With Changing Environments, R Groß, A. I. Houston, E. J. Collins, J. M. McNamara, F.-X. D-Moncharmont, N. R. Franks, 2008/03/12, Interface, DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2007.1348
      10. Single Molecule Measurements And Molecular Motors, T. Yanagida, M. Iwaki, Y. Ishii, 2008/03/13, Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2008.2265
      11. Short-term Stress Can Affect Learning And Memory, 2008/03/13, ScienceDaily & University of California - Irvine
      12. 10 Questions Shaping 21st-Century Earth Science Identified, 2008/03/14, Innovations-report
      13. Bird Brains Suggest How Vocal Learning Evolved, 2008/03/14, ScienceDaily & Public Library of Science
      14. Do Meteors Create Life? Explosion Of New Life Coincided With Hundreds Of Meteorite Impacts, 2008/03/14, ScienceDaily & University of Copenhagen
      15. The Myth Of Plant Species Saturation, T. J. Stohlgren - tom_stohlgrenausgs.gov, D. T. Barnett, C. S. Jarnevich, C. Flather, J. Kartesz, Apr. 2008, online 2008/01/31, Ecology Letters, DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2008.01153.x
      16. A Tale Of Two Effects, P. Evans, X. Wang, Feb. 2008, Online 2008/02/01, Review of Economics and Statistics, DOI: 10.1162/rest.90.1.147
      17. Education, Growth, And Income Inequality, C. Teulings, T. van Rens, Feb. 2008, Online 2008/02/01, Review of Economics and Statistics, DOI: 10.1162/rest.90.1.89

    2. Webcast Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      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 Bookmark and Share

      1. 19th European Meeting On Cybernetics And Systems Research, (EMCSR 2008), Vienna, Austria, 08/03/25-28
      2. 2nd KES Intl Symp on Agent and Multi-Agent Systems : Technologies and Applications, Incheon, Korea, 08/03/26-28
      3. Nexus for Change II, Bowling Green, OH, 08/03/29-04/01
      4. 2nd Applied Neuroscience Meeting, Monterrey, Mexico, 08/04/03-06
      5. Fumee 1 - 1St Futures Meeting - Understanding Anticipatory Systems, Rovereto (Italy), 08/04/10-12
      6. 1st Intl Conf on Social Entrepreneurship & Complexity, Garden City, NY, USA, 08/04/10-12
      7. Emergence In The Physical And Biological World: A Notion In Search Of Clarification, Erice (Italy), 08/04/12-16
      8. BIO_IT World Conf & Expo, Boston, MA, 08/04/28/30
      9. Chaos And Dynamics In Biological Networks, Cargese, Corsica, France, 08/05/05-09
      10. Brittle Fracture and Plastic Slip: from the Atomistic to the Engineering Scale, Udine, Italy, 08/05/26-30
      11. CHAOS2008 Chaotic Modeling and Simulation International Conference, Chania, Crete, Greece, 08/06/03-06
      12. International Conference on Chaos, Complexity & Conflict, Omaha, NE, 08/06/05-07
      13. 4th Organization Studies Summer Workshop: "Embracing Complexity: Advancing Ecological Understanding in Organization Studies", Pissouri, Cyprus, 08/06/05-07
      14. Cambridge Healthtech Institute's Tenth Annual... Applying Systems Biology, San Francisco, CA, 08/06/09-11
      15. AUTOMATA 2008, EPSRC Workshop Cellular Automata Theory and Applications, Bristol, UK, 08/06/12-14
      16. 9th Intl Mathematica Symposium, Maastricht, The Netherlands, 08/06/20-24
      17. The 14th Intl Conf on Auditory Display (ICAD), Paris, France, 08/06/24-27
      18. The 3rd Intl Symp on Knowledge Communication and Peer Reviewing: KCPR 2008, Orlando, Florida, USA, 08/06/29-07/02
      19. The 3rd Intl Symp on Knowledge Communication and Conferences: KCC 2008, Orlando, Florida, USA, 08/06/29-07/02
      20. 7th Intl Summer School and Conf "Let's Face Chaos through Nonlinear Dynamics", Maribor, Slovenia, 08/06/29-07/13
      21. The 12th World Multi-Conf on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics: WMSCI 2008, Orlando, Florida, USA, 08/06/29-07/02
      22. From Animals To Animats 10 - The 10th Intl Conf on the Simulation Of Adaptive Behavior (SAB'08), Osaka, Japan, 08/07/07-12
      23. Complex Systems and Social Simulations, CEU Summer University, Budapest, Hungary, 08/07/07-18
      24. 2008 Gordon Research Conf on Oscillations & Dynamic Instabilities in Chemical Systems, Waterville, ME, 08/07/13-18
      25. Nonlinear Fracture Mechanics Models, Udine, Italy, 08/07/14-18
      26. Stochastic Resonance 2008, Perugia, Italy, 08/08/17-21
      27. 1st Intl Workshop on Nonlinear Dynamics and Synchronization (INDS'08), Klagenfurt, Austria, 08/07/18-19
      28. Scratch@MIT,Cambridge, MA, 08/07/24-26
      29. 8th Intl Conf on Epigenetic Robotics: Modeling Cognitive Development in Robotic Systems, Brighton, UK, 08/07/31-08/02
      30. Intl Conf DEscribing COmplex Systems (DECOS), Zadar, Croatia, 08/09/03-07

    4. Other Announcements Bookmark and Share

      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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