Complexity Digest 2008.16

17-Apr-2008

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Content

  1. Rise Of The Digital Machine, Nature
    1. He Wrote 200,000 Books (but Computers Did Some of the Work), NY Times
  2. Traders' Raging Hormones Cause Stock Market Swings, New Scientist
    1. Anticipating A Laugh Reduces Our Stress Hormones, ScienceDaily
  3. The Virtues and Vices of Equilibrium and the Future of Financial Economics, SFI Working Papers
    1. The Market Organism: Long Run Survival in Markets with Heterogeneous Traders, SFI Working Papers
  4. Emerging Markets in an Anxious Global Economy, SFI Working Papers
  5. Social Preferences and Public Economics: Mechanism design when social preferences depend on incentives, SFI Working Papers
    1. Physicists Model How We Form Opinions, PhysOrg.com
  6. Neanderthals Speak Out After 30,000 Years, New Scientist
  7. Brain Scanner Predicts Your Future Moves, New Scientist
  8. Ten Weirdest Computers, New Scientist
    1. Novel Living System Recreates Predator-Prey Interaction, EurekAlert
  9. All In The Family - For Some Animals, The Ideal Mate Is A Brother, Sister Or Cousin, Science News
  10. Medicine: Drug Bestows Radiation Resistance On Mice And Monkeys, Science
    1. Immunology: Blood Lines Redrawn, Nature
  11. Out Of Thin Air - Scientists Pursue Nitrogen Fixers With An Aim To Harness Their Secrets - And Feed The World, Science News
  12. Macrophysiology For A Changing World, Proc. Biol. Sc.
    1. The Volcano That Changed the World, News@Nature
  13. Amplification of Cretaceous Warmth by Biological Cloud Feedbacks, Science
    1. Curious Cloud Formations Linked To Quakes, New Scientist
    2. Shooting Clouds With Lasers Triggers Electrical Discharge, New Scientist
  14. Beyond Robins: Aerodynamic Analyses Of Animal Flight, Interface
    1. Golden Hamsters Are Nocturnal In Captivity But Diurnal In Nature, Biol. Lett.
  15. Nanoshuttle On the Right Track, News@Nature
    1. Researchers Create The First Thermal Nanomotor In The World, EurekAlert
  16. Gauging a Collider's Odds of Creating a Black Hole, NY Times
  17. Quantum Physics: Observations Turn Up The Heat, Nature
  18. The Arms Trade And States' Duty To Ensure Respect For Humanitarian And Human Rights Law, J. Conflict & Security Law
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. Smith Invites Moderate Imams Into UK To Help Muslim Communities Fight Extremism, The Guardian
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Webcast Announcements
    3. Conference Announcements
    4. Other Announcements

  1. Rise Of The Digital Machine, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Genomes and language suggest that biological and social complexity emerge from how information is used, (...) not from how much of it there is. (...) Similarly, the emergence of digital regulation derived from unused stretches of junk DNA may have precipitated the transition from single cells to complex multicellular organisms. Long runs of the four chemical bases that make up DNA can easily act like binary strings. How these stretches bind to a gene can regulate exquisitely the degree and timing of that gene's expression. Tellingly, bacteria and some other single-celled organisms have negligible amounts of junk DNA.

    1. He Wrote 200,000 Books (but Computers Did Some of the Work), NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      Philip Parker says he has computers do the substantial amount of repetitive work that is required in the writing of so many books.
      Mr. Parker has generated more than 200,000 books, as an advanced search on Amazon.com under his publishing company shows, making him, in his own words, "the most published author in the history of the planet." And he makes money doing it. (...)

      But these are not conventional books, and it is perhaps more accurate to call Mr. Parker a compiler than an author. Mr. Parker, (...), has developed computer algorithms that collect publicly available information on a subject - broad or obscure - and, aided by his 60 to 70 computers and six or seven programmers, (...)

  2. Traders' Raging Hormones Cause Stock Market Swings, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Research from the University of Cambridge suggests that the movements of money in the financial markets are correlated to stock traders' levels of two hormones: the steroids testosterone and cortisol.

    John Coates and Joe Herbert took saliva samples from 17 male traders on a London stock trading floor twice daily over the course of eight days. (...)

    They tracked those levels against the amount of money that a trader made or lost, and against the variation in the market.

    1. Anticipating A Laugh Reduces Our Stress Hormones, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: In 2006 researchers investigating the interaction between the brain, behavior, and the immune system found that simply anticipating a mirthful laughter experience boosted health-protecting hormones. Now, two years later, the same researchers have found that the anticipation of a positive humorous laughter experience also reduces potentially detrimental stress hormones. (...) "Our findings lead us to believe that by seeking out positive experiences that make us laugh we can do a lot with our physiology to stay well." (...) the current research found that the same anticipation of laughter also reduced the levels of three stress hormones. (...)

  3. The Virtues and Vices of Equilibrium and the Future of Financial Economics, SFI Working Papers Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: The use of equilibrium models in economics springs from the desire for parsimonious models of economic phenomena that take human reasoning into account. This approach has been the cornerstone of modern economic theory. We explain why this is so, extolling the virtues of equilibrium theory; then we present a critique and describe why this approach is inherently limited, and why economics needs to move in new directions if it is to continue to make progress. We stress that this shouldn't be a question of dogma, but should be resolved empirically. (...)

    1. The Market Organism: Long Run Survival in Markets with Heterogeneous Traders, SFI Working Papers Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: The information content of prices is a central problem in the general equilibrium analysis of competitive markets. Rational expectations equilibrium identifies conditioning simultaneously on contemporaneous prices and private information as the mechanism by which information enters prices. Here we look to the ecology of markets for an explanation of the information content of prices. Markets could select across traders with different beliefs, or, reminiscent of "the wisdom of crowds", markets could balance the diverse information of many participants. We provide theoretical support in favor of the first mechanism, and against the second. Along the way we demonstrate that the necessary condition for long-run survival in complete markets found in Sandroni (2000) and Blume and Easley (2006) is not sufficient for long run survival. We also demonstrate some surprising behavior of market prices when several trader types with different beliefs survive.

  4. Emerging Markets in an Anxious Global Economy, SFI Working Papers Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: We provide a theory of pricing for emerging asset classes, like emerging markets, that are not yet mature enough to be attractive to the general public. Our model provides an explanation for the volatile access of emerging economies to international financial markets and for several stylized facts we identify in the data during the 1990's. We present a general equilibrium model with incomplete markets and endogenous collateral and an extension encompassing adverse selection. We show that contagion, flight to liquidity and issuance rationing can occur in equilibrium during what we call global anxious times.

  5. Social Preferences and Public Economics: Mechanism design when social preferences depend on incentives, SFI Working Papers Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Social preferences such as altruism, reciprocity, intrinsic motivation and a desire to uphold ethical norms are essential to good government, often facilitating socially desirable allocations that would be unattainable by incentives that appeal solely to self-interest. But experimental and other evidence indicates that conventional economic incentives and social preferences may be either complements or substitutes, explicit incentives crowding in or crowding out social preferences. We investigate the design of optimal incentives to contribute to a public good under these conditions. We identify cases in which a sophisticated planner cognizant of these non-additive effects would make either more or less use of explicit incentives, by comparison to a naive planner who assumes they are absent. (...)

    1. Physicists Model How We Form Opinions, PhysOrg.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      The model updates the state of a node (individual) depending on the fraction of the states of its neighbors. In this case, that fraction ("laggard parameter") is 80%. In (a), the central node keeps its original state. In (b), the central node is updated since 80% of its neighbors are in the opposite state. Credit: P. Klimek, et al.
      In large part, a society's image stems from its overall opinions - its political, religious, and ethical beliefs - and how much diversity it tolerates. For example, how do some areas develop images of being either liberal or conservative, and, in others, liberals and conservatives live side by side?

      As a team of researchers explains, our individual opinions both influence and are influenced by our surroundings. By following a set of rules, the researchers have modeled the opinion formation process in societies where individuals' opinions are strongly influenced by others they interact with.

  6. Neanderthals Speak Out After 30,000 Years, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    Reconstruction of a Neanderthal child's face (Image: Anthropological Institute, University of Z?rich)
    Talk about a long silence - no one has heard their voices for 30,000 years. Now the long-extinct Neanderthals are speaking up - or at least a computer synthesiser is doing so on their behalf.

    Robert McCarthy, an anthropologist at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton has used new reconstructions of Neanderthal vocal tracts to simulate the voice. He says the ancient human's speech lacked the "quantal vowel" sounds that underlie modern speech.

    Quantal vowels provide cues that help speakers with different size vocal tracts understand one another, (...).

  7. Brain Scanner Predicts Your Future Moves, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: While the subject waited to make a choice, a screen flashed a random letter every half second. After a subject finally pushed a button, they were asked to indicate which letter had on the screen at the moment the decision was made. There is usually half second a lag between thought and action, Haynes says.

    When Hayne's team later analysed the fMRI scans, they found that the prefrontal cortex -(...) - lit up seven seconds before the subjects pressed the button.

  8. Ten Weirdest Computers, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: 8. Glooper Computer
    One of the weirdest computers ever built forsakes traditional hardware in favour of "gloopware". Andrew Adamatzky at the University of the West of England, UK, can make interfering waves of propagating ions in a chemical goo behave like logic gates, the building blocks of computers.

    The waves are produced by a pulsing cyclic chemical reaction called the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction.(...)

    9. Mouldy computers
    Even a primitive organism like slime mould can be used to solve problems that are tricky for classical computers.

    Toshiyuki Nakagaki at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Nagoya, Japan, has shown that slime mould can work out the shortest route through a maze.

    1. Novel Living System Recreates Predator-Prey Interaction, EurekAlert Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: (...) developed a living system using genetically altered bacteria that he believes can provide new insights into how the population levels of prey influence the levels of predators, and vice-versa.

      The Duke experiment is an example of a synthetic gene circuit, where researchers load new "programming" into bacteria to make them perform new functions. Such re-programmed bacteria could see a wide variety of applications in medicine, environmental cleanup and biocomputing. In this particular Duke study, researchers rewrote the software of the common bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli.) to form a mutually dependent living circuit of predator and prey.


  9. All In The Family - For Some Animals, The Ideal Mate Is A Brother, Sister Or Cousin, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    Spotty Family. Each spring, spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) descend on Northeastern ponds to breed for just a few days. Many mate with cousins. H.H. Greene
    Zamudio and former student Chris Chandler wanted to know which males passed on their genes most successfully. Since spotted salamanders don't copulate, females have no direct way to assess the potential fathers of their children. So the scientists analyzed DNA collected in the field from males, females and larvae and came to a surprising conclusion. "She seems to be fertilizing her eggs with gametes of animals that are a little bit more closely related to her," Zamudio says. In other words, the salamanders are inbreeding.

  10. Medicine: Drug Bestows Radiation Resistance On Mice And Monkeys, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Radiation therapy is a mixed blessing for cancer patients: It destroys tumor cells but also inflicts harm on healthy tissues, particularly the spleen, bone marrow, and gastrointestinal tract. On page 226, researchers led by Lyudmila Burdelya of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, report a promising new way to protect those tissues, one they claim could help improve outcomes of radiation therapy--and perhaps even save lives in a nuclear catastrophe. The strategy may be tested in cancer patients as early as this year.

    1. Immunology: Blood Lines Redrawn, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: (...) evidence that a central aspect of blood-cell differentiation requires a rethink. Taken together with preceding work, their results show that a previously well-recognized distinction between two developmental lineages - lymphoid and myeloid - does not apply. But to appreciate this news, more details about each of the players and their function are required.

      Immune cells are devoted to innate or to adaptive immunity.

  11. Out Of Thin Air - Scientists Pursue Nitrogen Fixers With An Aim To Harness Their Secrets - And Feed The World, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    PLAYERS. Soybeans (top left), a wild African clover (top right) and their relatives grow classic root nodules. European beach grass grows no nodules but carries nitrogen-fixing Burkholderia bacteria (bottom left). Gunnera (bottom right) recruit some cyanobacteria to fix nitrogen in stem pockets. USDA, Howieson, E. Cahill, iStockphoto
    "I think of it as a dance, (...).

    The process begins, they say, with a pas de deux between the legume root hairs, which release flavonoid compounds into the soil, and hang-about bacteria that, in turn, secrete molecules called Nod factors. Even faint traces of these substances prompt dramatic calcium movements within the root hairs. ("Allegro," says Hirsch.) Often within seconds of the whiff of Nod factor, calcium floods into root hair cells. In a few more minutes, calcium concentrations begin to spike repeatedly, continuing for an hour. The calcium frenzy may activate the genes for building the nodule, Hirsch speculates.

  12. Macrophysiology For A Changing World, Proc. Biol. Sc. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) has identified climate change, habitat destruction, invasive species, overexploitation and pollution as the major drivers of biodiversity loss and sources of concern for human well-being. Understanding how these drivers operate and interact and how they might be mitigated are among the most pressing questions facing humanity. Here, we show how macrophysiology-the investigation of variation in physiological traits over large geographical, temporal and phylogenetic scales-can contribute significantly to answering these questions. (...) In so doing we demonstrate that environmental physiologists have much to offer the scientific quest to resolve major environmental problems.
    • Source: Macrophysiology For A Changing World, S. L. Chown, K. J. Gaston, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2008.0137, Proceedings B: Biological Sciences, 2008/04/08
    • Contributed by Atin Das - dasatinayahoo.co.in

    1. The Volcano That Changed the World, News@Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt:
      Did the Huaynaputina volcano, seen here from a satellite, inflict misery on the world?
      ASTER Volcano Archive
      The eruption in 1600 of Huaynaputina, a stratovolcano in the Andes mountains, blanketed nearby villages with glowing rock and ash, and killed some 1,500 people. But it may also have had a far wider effect, by injecting sulphur particles high into the atmosphere and disrupting the climate worldwide.

  13. Amplification of Cretaceous Warmth by Biological Cloud Feedbacks, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The extreme warmth of particular intervals of geologic history cannot be simulated with climate models, which are constrained by the geologic proxy record to relatively modest increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Recent recognition that biological productivity controls the abundance of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) in the unpolluted atmosphere provides a solution to this problem. Our climate simulations show that reduced biological productivity (low CCN abundance) provides a substantial amplification of CO2-induced warming by reducing cloud lifetimes and reflectivity.

    1. Curious Cloud Formations Linked To Quakes, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Geophysicists (...), noticed a gap in the clouds in satellite images from December 2004 that precisely matched the location of the main fault in southern Iran. It stretched for hundreds of kilometres, was visible for several hours and remained in the same place, although the clouds around it were moving. At the same time, thermal images of the ground showed that the temperature was higher along the fault. Sixty-nine days later, on 22 February 2005, an earthquake of magnitude 6.4 hit the area, killing more than 600 people.

    2. Shooting Clouds With Lasers Triggers Electrical Discharge, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: In a step towards gaining the God-like ability to call down lightning bolts on a whim, researchers used an ultra-high-power laser to trigger electrical activity in storm clouds over New Mexico, US.

      They fired ultra-fast pulses of a powerful five terawatt laser into the clouds. These beams created channels of ionised molecules known as "filaments" that conduct electricity through clouds like lightning rods before it strikes earth.

      The filaments created were too short-lived to provoke an actual lightning strike.

  14. Beyond Robins: Aerodynamic Analyses Of Animal Flight, Interface Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Recent progress in studies of animal flight mechanics is reviewed. A range of birds, and now bats, has been studied in wind tunnel facilities, revealing an array of wake patterns caused by the beating wings and also by the drag on the body. Nevertheless, the quantitative analysis of these complex wake structures shows a degree of similarity among all the different wake patterns and a close agreement with standard quasi-steady aerodynamic models and predictions. (...)

    1. Golden Hamsters Are Nocturnal In Captivity But Diurnal In Nature, Biol. Lett. Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Daily activity rhythms are nearly universal among animals and their specific pattern is an adaptation of each species to its ecological niche. Owing to the extremely consistent nocturnal patterns of activity shown by golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) in the laboratory, this species is a prime model for studying the mechanisms controlling circadian rhythms. In contrast to laboratory data, we discovered that female hamsters in the wild were almost exclusively diurnal. These results raise many questions about the ecological variables that shape the activity patterns in golden hamsters and the differences between laboratory and field results.

  15. Nanoshuttle On the Right Track, News@Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt:
    The new device is the first reliable nanoscale monorail.
    A. Barreiro et al., Science
    The molecular monorail has just left the station. It set off in Barcelona, and travelled about 500 millionths of a millimetre before reaching its destination (in Barcelona).

    1. Researchers Create The First Thermal Nanomotor In The World, EurekAlert Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Researchers from the UAB Research Park have created the first nanomotor that is propelled by changes in temperature. A carbon nanotube is capable of transporting cargo and rotating like a conventional motor, but is a million times smaller than the head of a needle. This research opens the door to the creation of new nanometric devices designed to carry out mechanical tasks and which could be applied to the fields of biomedicine or new materials.

  16. Gauging a Collider's Odds of Creating a Black Hole, NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    Nevertheless, some experts say too much hype and not enough candor on the part of scientists about the promises and perils of what they do could boomerang into a public relations disaster for science, opening the door for charlatans and demagogues.

    In a paper published in 2000 with the title "Might a Laboratory Experiment Destroy Planet Earth?" Francesco Calogero, a nuclear physicist at the University of Rome and co-winner of the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Pugwash conferences on arms control, deplored a tendency among his colleagues to promulgate a "leave it to the experts" attitude.

  17. Quantum Physics: Observations Turn Up The Heat, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The idea that observers can influence what they observe has a history that stretches back beyond quantum physics. That we can affect how a system heats up and cools down simply by probing it is a new twist. (...)

    The authors consider disturbances to the thermal equilibrium of a system of two energy levels surrounded by an infinite reservoir of heat. They show that the entropy and temperature of both the system and its surrounding 'heat bath' can be increased or decreased by changing how frequently the system is probed.

  18. The Arms Trade And States' Duty To Ensure Respect For Humanitarian And Human Rights Law, J. Conflict & Security Law Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The unregulated international trade in conventional arms, especially in small arms and light weapons, has come to be viewed as an exacerbating factor in armed conflict, violent crime and internal repression. (...) This article surveys the existing international legal regulation of state-authorised conventional arms transfers, examines how humanitarian law, and in particular states' duty to ensure respect for humanitarian law, affects the legality of these transfers and shows why human rights law does not make a significant contribution to the legal regulation of the international arms trade today.

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

    1. Smith Invites Moderate Imams Into UK To Help Muslim Communities Fight Extremism, The Guardian Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: (...) Home Office has voiced concerns about imported imams and tried to encourage the recruitment of homegrown clerics more in touch with British Muslim youth. A spokesman last night insisted that this was not a contradiction but complemented work already underway to ensure imams are firmly rooted in the communities they serve.

      In a speech to police divisional commanders in London yesterday, Smith said the idea was part of a move to build a new international network that tackled the "propagandists for violent extremism who sit offshore" and the ideology that can inspire "the small minority" in Britain from overseas.

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Persistent Institutions, Samuel Bowles and Suresh Naidu, SFI Working Papers, DOI: SFI-WP 08-04-015
      2. ŇGenesÓ, Sonja J. Prohaska, Peter F. Stadler, SFI Working Papers, DOI: SFI-WP 08-03-011
      3. Radio Sweat Gland - 90 Ghz - The Perils Of Perspiration., Philip Ball, 08/04/09, Nature 452, 676, DOI: 10.1038/452676a
      4. Why Is The Internet Sometimes So Slow? Internet 'Black Holes' May Be To Blame, 2008/04/09, ScienceDaily & University of Washington
      5. How Things Get Wet: New Mathematical Formula Sets Wetting Theory Straight, 2008/04/09, ScienceDaily & Imperial College London
      6. Evolution In The Classroom: 'Evolution Machine' Lets Students See It Happen, 2008/04/09, ScienceDaily & Association for Psychological Science
      7. Euro MP Calls For Microsoft Ban: No Purchases Until Redmond Plays Ball, I. Thomson, 2008/04/11, vnunet.com
      8. Biologists Build A Better Mouse Model For Cancer Research, 2008/04/11, ScienceDaily & Boston College
      9. Researchers Classify Web Searches, 2008/04/13, ScienceDaily & Penn State
      10. Personality Study Shows Risk Of First Depression Episode Late In Life, 2008/04/14, Innovations-report
      11. Human Vascular System In Mice, 2008/04/15, Innovations-report
      12. Economic Growth And Marine Biodiversity: Influence Of Human Social Structure On Decline Of Marine Trophic Levels, R. Clausen, R. York - rfyorkauoregon.edu, Apr. 2008, online 2008/04/08, Conservation Biology, DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2007.00851.x
      13. From Dynamical Emerging Patterns To Patterns In Visual Art, M. Bucolo - mbucoloadiees.unict.it, A. Buscarino - arturo.buscarinoadiees.unict.it, L. Fortuna - lfortunaadiees.unict.it, M. Frasca - mfrascaadiees.unict.it, M. G. Xibilia - mxibiliaaingegneria.unime.it, Jan. 2008, International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos, DOI: 10.1142/S021812740802015X
      14. A New Architecture For The Non-Proliferation Of Nuclear Weapons, J. I. Garvey - garveyjausfca.edu, Winter 2007, online 2008/02/19, Journal of Conflict and Security Law, DOI: 10.1093/jcsl/krn002

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

    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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