Complexity Digest 2008.34

21-Aug-2008

PDF files of our annual editions are available at www.comdig.de/AnnualEditions.html

Aletter from Gottfried Mayer to our readers and friends is at http://www.comdig.de/GMLetter.html

For individual e-mail subscriptions go to Subscriptions.
Previous issue 2008.33 | Next issue 2008.35

Content

  1. Do Subatomic Particles Have Free Will?, Science News
  2. Brain Will Be Battlefield Of Future, Warns US Intelligence Report, Guardian
    1. Scientists To Study Synthetic Telepathy, PhysOrg.com
  3. Brain's Counting Skill 'Built-In', BBC News
    1. Sleep Selectively Preserves Emotional Memories, ScienceDaily
  4. Cultural Complexity And Religion: Persistent Interaction And Conceptual Order, Culture and Religion
  5. (Dis)Integration, Incoherence And Complexity In UN Post-Conflict Interventions, Int. Peacekeeping
  6. Rise Of The Rat-Brained Robots, New Scientist
    1. Robot With A Biological Brain: New Research Provides Insights Into How The Brain Works, Innovations-report
  7. Neuroscience: State-Sanctioned Synchrony, Nature
    1. The Contribution of Single Synapses to Sensory Representation in Vivo, Science
  8. By Amplifying Cell Death Signals, Scientists Make Precancerous Cells Self-Destruct, PhysOrg.com
    1. Tumor Regression in Cancer Patients by Very Low Doses of a T Cell-Engaging Antibody, Science
  9. Survival Of The Fittest: Even Cancer Cells Follow The Laws Of Evolution, ScienceDaily
  10. Immunology: Surprising Side Effects, Nature
    1. Immunology: Neutrophil Soldiers Or Trojan Horses?, Science
    2. ALife Conference To Reveal Bio-inspired Spam Detection, ScienceDaily
  11. Biochemistry: Fit For An Enzyme, Nature
  12. Molecular Biology: Secret Weapon, Science
  13. A Blueprint to Regenerate Limbs, Technology review
  14. Slave Ants Rebel, Science News
    1. Dazzle Coloration And Prey Movement, Proc. Biol. Sc.
    2. Differential Selection According To The Degree Of Cheating In A Status Signal, Biol. Lett.
  15. Using a Poison to Turn Sunlight into Food, Scientific American
  16. Spreading Dead Zones And Consequences For Marine Ecosystems, Science
  17. Climate Prediction: Seasonal-Climate Forecasts Improving Ever So Slowly, Science
    1. Global Warming: Climate Change Hot Spots Mapped Across The United States, Science
    2. Smoke Invigoration Versus Inhibition Of Clouds Over The Amazon, Science
  18. Nanotechnology: Shaping The Void, Nature
    1. Scientists Learn From Nature To Split Water, PhysOrg.com
    2. Virus Helps To Build Tiny Battery, Nature News
    3. Materials Science: Directing Self-Assembly Toward Perfection, Science
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. Good News, Bad News In Annual Terrorism Index, Homeland Security Today
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Webcast Announcements
    3. Conference Announcements
    4. Other Announcements

  1. Do Subatomic Particles Have Free Will?, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: If we have free will, so do subatomic particles, mathematicians claim to prove. (...)

    They used a pure mathematical argument to show that there is no way the particle can choose spins around every imaginable axis in a way that is consistent with the 1-0-1 rule. Indeed, there is a set of just 33 axes that are enough to force the particle into a paradox. It could choose spins around the first 32 axes that conform with the rule, but for the last, neither 0 nor non-zero would do.

  2. Brain Will Be Battlefield Of Future, Warns US Intelligence Report, Guardian Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    On the battlefield, bullets may be replaced with "pharmacological land mines" that release drugs to incapacitate soldiers on contact, while scanners and other electronic devices could be developed to identify suspects from their brain activity and even disrupt their ability to tell lies when questioned, the report says. (...)

    The report highlights one electronic technique, called transcranial direct current stimulation, which involves using electrical pulses to interfere with the firing of neurons in the brain and has been shown to delay a person's ability to tell a lie.

    1. Scientists To Study Synthetic Telepathy, PhysOrg.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: A team of UC Irvine scientists has been awarded a $4 million grant from the U.S. Army Research Office to study the neuroscientific and signal-processing foundations of synthetic telepathy. (...)

      The brain-computer interface would use a noninvasive brain imaging technology like electroencephalography to let people communicate thoughts to each other. For example, a soldier would "think" a message to be transmitted and a computer-based speech recognition system would decode the EEG signals. The decoded thoughts, in essence translated brain waves, are transmitted using a system that points in the direction of the intended target.

  3. Brain's Counting Skill 'Built-In', BBC News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    Some cultures do not have words for numbers
    A study in Australian Aboriginal children, whose languages lack number words, found they did just as well as English-speaking children in numeracy.

    The findings contradicts other research which found having "counting words" was the key to developing number skills.

    (...)

    British and Australian researchers assessed 45 indigenous Australian children aged between four and seven years.

    1. Sleep Selectively Preserves Emotional Memories, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: As poets, songwriters and authors have described, our memories range from misty water-colored recollections to vividly detailed images of the times of our lives. Now, a study (...) offers new insights into the specific components of emotional memories, suggesting that sleep plays a key role in determining what we remember - and what we forget. (...) a period of slumber helps the brain to selectively preserve and enhance those aspects of a memory that are of greatest emotional resonance, while at the same time diminishing the memory's neutral background details. "This tells us that sleep's role in emotional memory preservation is more than just mechanistic," (...).

  4. Cultural Complexity And Religion: Persistent Interaction And Conceptual Order, Culture and Religion Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Although there have been attempts to question the notion of the world of non-Western people as essentially religious and symbolic, there has simultaneously been a widespread tendency to study these in terms taken from a religious vocabulary such as mana, taboo, totemism, magic and sorcery. Using the Mekeo of Papua New Guinea as an example, this article suggests that we see culture as a complex dynamic system in which persistent interaction produces emergent properties that are symbolically elaborated. Thus, there are no universal contents of categories, but only universal principles of relating simple rules to emergent properties. (...)

  5. (Dis)Integration, Incoherence And Complexity In UN Post-Conflict Interventions, Int. Peacekeeping Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: The UN has developed a series of internal 'integration reforms' that aim to increase its capacity to integrate its post-conflict efforts through a single coherent strategy, and ultimately to support sustainable war-to-peace transitions. This article argues that these reforms could be redesigned to take into account the causes of the (dis)integration, incoherence and complexity of UN post-conflict interventions, to make them more comprehensive and more realistic. While some degree of both strategic coherence and operational integration may be necessary to improve the effectiveness of UN post-conflict interventions, these are inadequate without an increased conflict-sensitivity in each UN entity involved in post-conflict interventions. (...)

  6. Rise Of The Rat-Brained Robots, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    (Image: Diem Photography/University of Reading)
    (...), Whalley's colleagues Dimitris Xydas and Julia Downes started by connecting a culture [of 300,000 neurons, Ed.] to an ultrasound sensor in a wheeled robot. They then record the spikes of voltage produced at points within the culture when signals from the sensor are sent to it. When they find an area that fires consistently when the sensor input reaches it, those signals can be picked up by an electrode and used to, say, make the robot avoid an obstruction.

    1. Robot With A Biological Brain: New Research Provides Insights Into How The Brain Works, Innovations-report Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: A multidisciplinary team at the University of Reading has developed a robot which is controlled by a biological brain formed from cultured neurons. This cutting edge research is the first step to examine how memories manifest themselves in the brain, and how a brain stores specific pieces of data. (...) The researchers are now working towards getting the robot to learn by applying different signals as it moves into predefined positions. It is hoped that as the learning progresses, it will be possible to witness how memories manifest themselves in the brain when the robot revisits familiar territory. (...)

  7. Neuroscience: State-Sanctioned Synchrony, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: A sleepy brain pays little attention to its surroundings, and its neurons are lulled by a common oscillation. As the brain swiftly rouses from this sluggish state, its neurons function more independently. (...)

    Poulet and Petersen found that these subthreshold fluctuations are highly correlated among cortical cells during quiet wakefulness and relatively desynchronized during whisking.

    1. The Contribution of Single Synapses to Sensory Representation in Vivo, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The extent to which synaptic activity can signal a sensory stimulus limits the information available to a neuron. We determined the contribution of individual synapses to sensory representation by recording excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) in cerebellar granule cells during a time-varying, quantifiable vestibular stimulus. Vestibular-sensitive synapses faithfully reported direction and velocity, rather than position or acceleration of whole-body motion, via bidirectional modulation of EPSC frequency. The lack of short-term synaptic dynamics ensured a highly linear relationship between velocity and charge transfer, and as few as 100 synapses provided resolution approaching psychophysical limits.

  8. By Amplifying Cell Death Signals, Scientists Make Precancerous Cells Self-Destruct, PhysOrg.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: When a cell begins to multiply in a dangerously abnormal way, a series of death signals trigger it to self-destruct before it turns cancerous. Now, (...), Rockefeller University scientists have figured out a way in mice to amplify the signals that tell these precancerous cells to die. The trick: Inactivating a protein that normally helps cells to avoid self-destruction. (...)

    "We now can study how IAPs contribute to the development of cancer in a living animal and develop drugs to prevent or thwart the disease."

    1. Tumor Regression in Cancer Patients by Very Low Doses of a T Cell-Engaging Antibody, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Previous attempts have shown the potential of T cells in immunotherapy of cancer. Here, we report on the clinical activity of a bispecific antibody construct called blinatumomab, which has the potential to engage all cytotoxic T cells in patients for lysis of cancer cells. Doses as low as 0.005 milligrams per square meter per day in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients led to an elimination of target cells in blood.
      • Source: Tumor Regression in Cancer Patients by Very Low Doses of a T Cell-Engaging Antibody, Ralf Bargou, Eugen Leo, Gerhard Zugmaier, Matthias Klinger, Mariele Goebeler, Stefan Knop, Richard Noppeney, Andreas Viardot, Georg Hess, Martin Schuler, Hermann Einsele, Christian Brandl, Andreas Wolf, Petra Kirchinger, Petra Klappers, Margit Schmidt, Gert Riethm?ller, Carsten Reinhardt, Patrick A. Baeuerle, Peter Kufer, Science : 974-977., 08/08/15

  9. Survival Of The Fittest: Even Cancer Cells Follow The Laws Of Evolution, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Scientists (...) discovered that the underlying process in tumor formation is the same as for life itself-evolution. After analyzing a half million gene mutations, the researchers found that although different gene mutations control different cancer pathways, each pathway was controlled by only one set of gene mutations. This suggests that a molecular "survival of the fittest" scenario plays out in every living creature as gene mutations strive for ultimate survival through cancerous tumors. This finding (...) improves our understanding of how evolution shapes life in all forms, while laying a foundation for new cancer drugs and treatments. (...)

  10. Immunology: Surprising Side Effects, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: A drug that normally suppresses an immune response by trapping lymphocytes in lymphoid organs results in the elimination of a chronic viral infection when applied at low doses. Why should this be? (...)

    (...) administration of a drug that enhances such lymphocyte trapping converts what would be a chronic viral infection into one that is rapidly cleared by the immune system. The observation gives an unexpected twist to the potential side effects of this immunosuppressive drug.

    1. Immunology: Neutrophil Soldiers Or Trojan Horses?, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Biting insects transmit numerous viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections of human and veterinary importance. However, the initial events that occur as pathogens are introduced by these vectors at sites of local feeding (wounds) are poorly understood. On page 970 in this issue, Peters et al. (1) report that early events in vector-mediated injury influence the outcome of infection with the sand-fly-transmitted parasite Leishmania major.

    2. ALife Conference To Reveal Bio-inspired Spam Detection, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: In their presentation, the authors will claim that this bio-inspired spam detection algorithm based on the cross-regulation model of T-cell dynamics, is equally as competitive as state-of-the-art spam binary classifiers and provides a deeper understanding of the behaviour of T-cell cross-regulation systems.
      See Also: ALife XI online proceedings

  11. Biochemistry: Fit For An Enzyme, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Certain enzymes that synthesize antibiotics play a game of pass the parcel, handing biosynthetic intermediates from one active site to another. A study reveals the dynamic nature of interactions between the enzyme domains.

    Although crystal structures provide vivid insights into the architecture of enzymes, they reinforce a static picture of the molecules, providing only a snapshot of what a protein looks like in one stable conformation. This can be misleading, because enzymes in solution are certainly not static.

  12. Molecular Biology: Secret Weapon, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The battle between bacteria and their viruses (bacteriophages) is, quantitatively, the dominant predator-prey relation in the biosphere, with an estimated 1030 infections per day. It is an unequal contest in many ways. Phages replicate prodigiously. Within 2 hours of the addition of a single T7 bacteriophage particle to a culture of 10 billion Escherichia coli cells, more than 99.9% of the bacteria are destroyed and 10 trillion virus particles are generated.

  13. A Blueprint to Regenerate Limbs, Technology review Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    Growing limbs: The axolotl salamander is one of the only vertebrates that can regrow entire limbs as an adult. Scientists are now sequencing parts of its unusually large genome in order to understand the genetic basis for this capability.
    Credit: Jeramiah Smith
    Probing the salamander genome reveals clues to its remarkable ability to regrow damaged limbs and organs. (...)

    In order to quickly identify sections of the salamander's genome involved in regeneration, the scientists sequenced genes that were most highly expressed during limb-bud formation and growth. They found that at least 10,000 genes were transcribed during regeneration. Approximately 9,000 of those seem to have related human versions, but there appear to be a few thousand more that don't resemble known genes. "We think many of them are genes that evolved uniquely in salamanders to help with this process," (...).

  14. Slave Ants Rebel, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    Members of a species of ants captured to work as slaves rebel against their captors by destroying the pupae they were enslaved to nurture.
    Credit: Alexandra Achenbach/ Ludwig-Maximilians University
    Killing sprees by slave nannies could be an overlooked form of resistance, Foitzik suggests. The baby-killing offers any kin in nearby colonies some protection from slave-makers, since the kidnapper queen's offspring make up the raiding parties. Paring back their number cuts back the raiding power. Foitzik proposes that this benefit to kin could drive the evolution of the trait.

    "This is evolution to be a bad nanny," (...).

    1. Dazzle Coloration And Prey Movement, Proc. Biol. Sc. Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Many traits in animals reduce the rate of attack from visually hunting predators, including camouflage, warning signals and mimicry. In addition, some animal markings may reduce the likelihood that an attack ends in successful capture. These might include dazzle markings, high-contrast patterns that make the estimation of speed and trajectory difficult. (...) We developed a computer ‘game' where human ‘predators' have to capture computer-generated prey moving across a background. In two experiments, we find that although uniform camouflaged targets were among the hardest to capture, so were a range of high-contrast conspicuous patterns, such as bands and zigzags.
      • Source: Dazzle Coloration And Prey Movement, M. Stevens, D. H. Yule, G. D. Ruxton, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2008.0877, Proceedings B: Biological Sciences, 2008/08/12
      • Contributed by Atin Das - dasatinayahoo.co.in

    2. Differential Selection According To The Degree Of Cheating In A Status Signal, Biol. Lett. Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The maintenance of honesty in a badge-of-status system is not fully understood, despite numerous empirical and theoretical studies. Our experiment examined the relationship between a status signal and winter survival, and the long-term costs of cheating, by manipulating badge size in male house sparrows, Passer domesticus. The effect of badge-size manipulation on survival was complex owing to the significant interactions between the treatments and original (natural) badge size, and between the treatments and age classes (yearlings and older birds). (...) This indicates that differential selection can act on a trait according to the degree of cheating.

  15. Using a Poison to Turn Sunlight into Food, Scientific American Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    POISON PHOTOSYNTHESIS: This red slime mat is made up of an extremophile bacteria that uses arsenic to power photosynthesis.
    Bacteria from a hot spring in California conduct photosynthesis with arsenic--and suggest a process that might have predated typical photosynthesis (...)

    These are not the only bacteria that use poison to make food: They are from the genus Ectothiorhodospira, which largely relies on another poison, toxic hydrogen sulfide, for the same purpose. By analyzing the genetic material of the microbe, the researchers have also determined that this is a primitive process, going back at least three billion years, according to Oremland. That could mean that arsenic-based photosynthesis predates the oxygen-producing variety that enables life as we know it.

  16. Spreading Dead Zones And Consequences For Marine Ecosystems, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Dead zones in the coastal oceans have spread exponentially since the 1960s and have serious consequences for ecosystem functioning. The formation of dead zones has been exacerbated by the increase in primary production and consequent worldwide coastal eutrophication fueled by riverine runoff of fertilizers and the burning of fossil fuels. Enhanced primary production results in an accumulation of particulate organic matter, which encourages microbial activity and the consumption of dissolved oxygen in bottom waters. Dead zones have now been reported from more than 400 systems, affecting a total area of more than 245,000 square kilometers, and are probably a key stressor on marine ecosystems.

  17. Climate Prediction: Seasonal-Climate Forecasts Improving Ever So Slowly, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Farmers, ski-resort operators, and heating-oil suppliers would very much like to know what the coming winter will be like. If a strong El Nino were brewing in the tropical Pacific, at least some of them would be in luck. The official United States winter forecast could warn them, with considerable reliability, that the Southeast and the Gulf Coast will be cooler and wetter than normal. But without an El Nino or its counterpart, La Nina, next winter's weather is pretty much anybody's guess.

    1. Global Warming: Climate Change Hot Spots Mapped Across The United States, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Now that almost everyone expects a certain amount of global warming by the end of the century, attention can turn to more local climate change. What's going to happen in our own backyards? Researchers can't go that far yet, but in an effort to squeeze the maximum detail out of notoriously fuzzy climate models, they are pooling results from some of the most sophisticated simulations available.

    2. Smoke Invigoration Versus Inhibition Of Clouds Over The Amazon, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The effect of anthropogenic aerosols on clouds is one of the most important and least understood aspects of human-induced climate change. Small changes in the amount of cloud coverage can produce a climate forcing equivalent in magnitude and opposite in sign to that caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gases, and changes in cloud height can shift the effect of clouds from cooling to warming. Focusing on the Amazon, we show a smooth transition between two opposing effects of aerosols on clouds: the microphysical and the radiative.

  18. Nanotechnology: Shaping The Void, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: A vacuum may be devoid of matter, but its shape is still important. The strength of the Casimir force caused by quantum fluctuations in the space between surfaces is critically dependent on their nanometre-scale shape. (...)

    This provides the first experimental evidence that Casimir forces are not in general additive, despite being weak forces.

    1. Scientists Learn From Nature To Split Water, PhysOrg.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: An international team of researchers led by Monash University has used chemicals found in plants to replicate a key process in photosynthesis paving the way to a new approach that uses sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. (...)

      "Whilst man has been able to split water into hydrogen and oxygen for years, we have been able to do the same thing for the first time using just sunlight, an electrical potential of 1.2 volts and the very chemical that nature has selected for this purpose," Professor Spiccia said

    2. Virus Helps To Build Tiny Battery, Nature News Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      Scanning electron microscope image of the microbattery electrode. Each whorl is about 4 micrometres across. Nam et al / PNAS
      Simple technique could create power packs for microdevices. (...)

      The scientists first made a template from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a commonly used silicon-based organic polymer. After coating it with alternating layers of positive and negative electrolytes, they added the virus.

      The virus had been designed to have negatively charged amino acids at its surface, so that it stuck to the template, and an affinity for cobalt - a favoured material for batteries. Each virus is a semi-rigid fibre a few nanometres in diameter and about a micrometre long, which tends to pack tightly into a whorl that looks similar to a fingerprint.


    3. Materials Science: Directing Self-Assembly Toward Perfection, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The self-assembly of block copolymers into nanoscale features is potentially attractive as a means for patterning media in microelectronic applications. This new route to nanopatterning is gaining interest as optical lithography, the current engine of the semiconductor industry, begins to approach intrinsic technological limits while demand for higher-density features for improved data storage and computing speed continues to grow (1). These applications require not only regularly sized nanoscale features but also a degree of perfection of order and registry relative to other components, which have so far been elusive in self-assembled systems.

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

    1. Good News, Bad News In Annual Terrorism Index, Homeland Security Today Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Progress noted in North Korea, China and Iraq, but deepening concerns elsewhere. (...)

      Compared to a year ago fewer respondents, 70 percent versus 91 percent in 2007, said they believed the world was growing more dangerous for Americans and the United States. Similarly, an increasing percentage (though still a small minority of just 21 percent) of experts agreed with the statement that "The United States is winning the war on terror." This compares to just 6 percent of the experts surveyed a year ago

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. The Paradox Of Enrichment In An Adaptive World, A. Mougi, K. Nishimura, 2008/08/12, Proceedings B: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2008.0889
      2. Physicists Spooked by Faster-than-light Information Transfer, Geoff Brumfiel, 2008/08/13, News@Nature, DOI: 10.1038/news.2008.1038
      3. Infant Sensitivity To Negative Emotional Expressions Develops At Around Six Months, 2008/08/14, Innovations-report
      4. The Olympics Can Be Bad Publicity, 2008/08/15, Innovations-report
      5. Sharing The Burden: Antigen Transport And Firebreaks In Immune Responses, A. Handel, A. Yates, S. S. Pilyugin, R. Antia, 2008/08/15, Interface, DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2008.0258
      6. Snooze Button For Body's Circadian Clock, 2008/08/15, ScienceDaily & Rockefeller University
      7. Timing Of Political Messages Influences Voter Preferences, Researcher Finds, 2008/08/15, ScienceDaily & University of Minnesota
      8. Tech Giants Pitch Human Rights Platform: Companies Offer Up Internet Rights Suggestions, S. Nichols, 2008/08/16, vnunet.com
      9. Zero Returns To Compulsory Schooling In Germany: Evidence And Interpretation, J.-S. Pischke, T. von Wachter, Aug. 2008, Online 2008/06/22, Review of Economics and Statistics, DOI: 10.1162/rest.90.3.592
      10. Southeast Asian Water Conflicts—From A Political Geography Perspective, Y. Klöpper - yvonne_kloepperayahoo.de, Jun. 2008, Asia Europe Journal, DOI: 10.1007/s10308-008-0187-x

    2. Webcast Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Can Ants Solve Traffic Jams?, Danielle Parsons, Slatev.com, 08/07/22

        As roads and highways become ever more clogged, Danielle Parsons tells us how researchers are studying ways to learn from nature's own traffic-flow experts: ants.

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

    3. Conference Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. 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
      2. Intl Conf DEscribing COmplex Systems (DECOS), Zadar, Croatia, 08/09/03-07
      3. BICS Conference - Emergence in Complex Systems, Bath, UK, 08/09/09-11
      4. 5th European Conference on Complex Systems, Jerusalem, Israel, 08/09/14-19
      5. EPOS 2008, III Edition of Epistemological Perspectives on Simulation, Lisbon, Portugal, 08/10/02-03
      6. 1st Intl Conf on the Evolution and Development of the Universe, Paris, France, 08/10/08-09
      7. International Congress on Complex Thought, Hermosillo , Sonora , Mexico, 08/10/21-24
      8. What Is Computation? (How) Does Nature Compute? - 2008 Midwest NKS Conference, Bloomington, IN, 08/10/30-11/02
      9. 2nd Intl Congress of Complex Systems in Sport (2nd ICCSS) and 10th European Workshop of Ecological Psychology. (10th EWEP), Funchal, in Madeira Island, Portugal, 08/11/05-08
      10. 2008 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence (WI-08), Sydney, Australia, 08/12/09-12
      11. COMPLEX'2009, First Intl Conf on Complex Systems: Theory and Applications, Shanghai, China, 09/02/23-25
      12. Models and Simulations 3 Conference, Charlottesville, USA 09/03/05-07
      13. 2009 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence, Nashville, Tennessee, USA,09/03/30-04/02

    4. Other Announcements Bookmark and Share

      1. PhD Studentship in Unconventional Computing or Cellular Automata, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK, Deadline: 08/10/01
      2. 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


Also available in: Simple HTML format | TXT format | TXT format with links | Print