Complexity Digest 2003.01

06-Jan-2003

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Content

  1. More Than Good Intentions: Holding Fast to Faith in Free Will, NYTimes
    1. Ancient Amazon Brew Comes to Colombia's Cities, Macon Area Online/Reuters
    2. Getting Smart About Predictive Intelligence, Boston Globe
  2. The Stock Market As A Complex Adaptive System, Journal Of Applied Corporate Finance
  3. Ten Technologies To Watch In 2003, kurzweilai.net
  4. Turing Tests Filter Spam Email, New Scientist
  5. Adventures In The Pathophysiology Of Brain Ischemia, Stroke
    1. Functional Connectivity In The Resting Brain: A Network Analysis Of The Default Mode Hypothesis, PNAS
  6. Rebuilding the Food Pyramid, Scientific American
    1. Cell Division Required Twice Before Fat Cells Mature, Johns Hopkins Medical Institution
  7. Experimental Drug Relieves Rheumatoid Arthritis, Medline plus
  8. Orangutans Found to Share 'Culture', The Washington Post
    1. Orangutan Cultures and the Evolution of Material Culture, Science
    2. Lab Chimp Speaks His Own Language, New Scientist
  9. Genetic And Behavioral Conflict Over Male Production Between Workers And Queens, Behav. Ecology & Sociobiol.
  10. The Spider And Fly Revisited: Ploy-Counterploy Behavior In A Unique Predator-Prey System, Behav. Ecology & Sociobiol.
  11. Male Sperm Whale (Physeter Macrocephalus) Acoustics In A High-Latitude Habitat: Implications For Echolocation And Communication, Behav. Ecology & Sociobiol.
  12. Three-Dimensional Mapping of Dislocation Avalanches, Science
  13. Earthquake Conversations, Scientific American
  14. Habitable Planets May Be Common, New Scientist
  15. New Light on Medicine, Scientific American
  16. Police Dragnets for DNA Tests Draw Criticism, NYTimes
  17. The First International Symposium On Nonlinear Analysis And Applications (ISNAA03)
  18. Quantum Investing, Book Report
    1. Prey, Book Report
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. Games Nations Play, NYTimes
    2. The Burden, NYTimes
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Coming and Ongoing Webcasts
    3. Conference Announcements
      1. Public Conference Calls
      2. Listening Post, Sound Exhibit
    4. ComDig Announcement: New ComDig Archive in Beta Test

  1. More Than Good Intentions: Holding Fast to Faith in Free Will, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: We think of will as a force, but actually, Dr. Wegner says, it is a feeling - "merely a feeling," as he puts it - of control over our actions. (...) But as we all know, correlation does not equal causation. When neurologists make patients' limbs jerk by electrically zapping certain regions of their brains, the patients often insist they meant to move that arm, and they even invent reasons why. Neurologists call these erroneous, post hoc explanations confabulations, but Dr. Wegner prefers the catchier "intention inventions."

    1. Ancient Amazon Brew Comes to Colombia's Cities, Macon Area Online/Reuters Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: "All Medicine Men use it in their practice to foretell the future, locate lost or stolen objects, name the perpetrator of a crime, to diagnose and treat illness," he wrote in a letter to the British Journal of Addiction, (...), speculating "perhaps even more spectacular results could be obtained with synthetic variations." But the history of yage far predates Western counter-culture. For centuries, the potion, together with the gnarled jungle vine used to brew it, have been central to the religions of dozens of South American Indian ethnic groups.

    2. Getting Smart About Predictive Intelligence, Boston Globe Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: In real-world Washington, retired Navy Admiral John Poindexter is constructing a system called Total Information Awareness, with the hopes of being able to identify terrorists before they commit acts of terrorism, based on a series of suspicious transactions. In the private sector, companies are already using predictive intelligence to analyze your data profile and solve more mundane business problems - like figuring out whether you're the kind of person who might be induced to (...) go skiing at Killington, when the ski resort could use more paying visitors.

  2. The Stock Market As A Complex Adaptive System, Journal Of Applied Corporate Finance Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: there is no systematic way to exploit opportunities for superior gains. But we need to reorient the discussion to how this operational efficiency arises. The crux of the debate boils down to whether we should consider investors to be rational, well informed, and homogeneous--or potentially irrational, operating with incomplete information, and relying on varying decision rules. The latter characteristics are part and parcel of a relatively newly articulated phenomenon that researchers at the Santa Fe Institute and elsewhere call complex adaptive systems.

  3. Ten Technologies To Watch In 2003, kurzweilai.net Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: 1.Wireless networks: Bluetooth is working and cheap, (...) 2.Location-based services: You might not know where you are, but your mobile phone does. 3.Holographic storage: (...) terabyte storage in tiny spaces (...) 4.Solar power: (...) idea of plastic solar power, using organic compounds 5.RFID: (...)radio-frequency identity chips (...) 6.Telematics: Cars are getting cleverer, (...) 7.Robotics: Robots are getting commoner (...) 8.Lighting: (...) key ring LED torch (...) 9.Gaming: (...) complex links into games via mobile phones and emails (...) 10.Displays: (...) like plasma and speculative, like light-emitting polymer.

  4. Turing Tests Filter Spam Email, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The tests involve deciphering a random word that has been distorted or partly obscured. Though this is a relatively simple task for a person, it remains beyond most computers. It is known as a "completely automated public Turing tests to tell computers and humans apart" or visual "CAPTCHA". In 1950, the British mathematician Alan Turing suggested that if a computer's performance was indistinguishable from that of a human, it could be deemed intelligent. But since then researchers have struggled to come up with any machine capable of passing such a Turing test.

  5. Adventures In The Pathophysiology Of Brain Ischemia, Stroke Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: These animal data agree strikingly with published results in patients with acute stroke studied by positron emission tomography. This remarkable correspondence belies the assertion that data from lower species may not be relevant to human stroke. (...), together with 35 upregulated and 41 downregulated genes newly connected with ischemia. These findings underscore the enormous complexity of ischemic biology and suggest possible novel mechanisms for future exploration. (...) Conclusion- The careful study of rodent ischemia models can yield valuable, clinically relevant insights into the pathophysiology of ischemic stroke.

    1. Functional Connectivity In The Resting Brain: A Network Analysis Of The Default Mode Hypothesis, PNAS Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Functional imaging studies have shown that certain brain regions, (...), consistently show greater activity during resting states than during cognitive tasks. This finding led to the hypothesis that these regions constitute a network supporting a default mode of brain function. In this study, we investigate three questions pertaining to this hypothesis: Does such a resting-state network exist in the human brain? Is it modulated during simple sensory processing? How is it modulated during cognitive processing? (...)first resting-state connectivity analysis of the default mode (...).

  6. Rebuilding the Food Pyramid, Scientific American Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: How did the original USDA pyramid go so wrong? In part, nutritionists fell victim to a desire to simplify their dietary recommendations. Researchers had known for decades that saturated fat--found in abundance in red meat and dairy products--raises cholesterol levels in the blood. High cholesterol levels, in turn, are associated with a high risk of coronary heart disease (heart attacks and other ailments caused by the blockage of the arteries to the heart). (...) showed that polyunsaturated fat--found in vegetable oils and fish--reduces cholesterol.

    1. Cell Division Required Twice Before Fat Cells Mature, Johns Hopkins Medical Institution Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Johns Hopkins School of Medicine scientists have shown for the first time that primitive fat cells must copy themselves at least twice before they can mature into full-fledged fat-storing cells. The finding, published online the week of Dec. 23 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may help provide new targets for understanding and treating obesity. The finding also helps explain how the body ensures that it can always store fat, a key to surviving when food is scarce (and an unfortunate ability when it is not). By requiring a primitive fat cell to copy itself at least twice before it matures and can't divide anymore, nature ensures a ready reservoir of the cells, say the researchers. While proliferation of these cells has long been recognized, this is the first evidence that those divisions are necessary for the cells' maturation.

  7. Experimental Drug Relieves Rheumatoid Arthritis, Medline plus Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Contributing Editor's Note: Rheumatoid Arthriris (RA) is a complex autoimmune disease in which the immune system acts against its own body's cells. The etiology of RA remains unknown. Metabolic and nutritional factors, the endocrine system, geographic, psychologic, and occupational data have been extensively studied with no conclusive findings. It now appears that an unknown antigen initiates the autoimmune response resulting in RA. There has been continuous suspicion of an infectious origin of the disease process, which has included various bacteria and viruses, but without evidence of precipitating events. Excerpts: An experimental drug that blocks an immune protein suspected of playing a role in rheumatoid arthritis improves symptoms of the autoimmune disease, a small study shows. Although the study is preliminary, the results are "very encouraging," the study's lead author told Reuters Health. (...) The drug, known as a monoclonal antibody, targets an immune system protein called interleukin-6. This protein has long been suspected of playing a role in the inflammation caused by rheumatoid arthritis. This link has not been proved, however. In rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system attacks the tissues that line the joints, leading to pain, inflammation and deformity. The disease affects more women than men, and it may attack other organs in the body.

  8. Orangutans Found to Share 'Culture', The Washington Post Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The orangutans in central Borneo like to "surf" down dead trees for fun, grabbing hold of a safety line at the last second. The orangutans in western Borneo, on the other hand, express annoyance by pressing a leaf against their pursed mouths to make a loud kissing sound. While some orangutans bite through vines to execute highly unusual "Tarzan" techniques, others appear to have "Martha Stewart" tendencies: They repeatedly arrange pillows of twigs in unique patterns that seem to have no practical purpose. From these diverse behaviors, which are each shared by small groups of orangutans but not the entire species, scientists have concluded that the origins of "culture" go back 14 million years, twice as long as previously estimated. (...) The discovery brings the number of species who are known to have "culture" to a grand total of three -- orangutans, chimpanzees and humans. That number may well be larger -- or smaller -- depending on how culture is defined.
    Editor's note: Some experts also provide strong arguments for the presence of culture in whales and dolphins (see Culture In Whales And Dolphins,Complexity Digest 2000.41.1)

    1. Orangutan Cultures and the Evolution of Material Culture, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Geographic variation in some aspects of chimpanzee behavior has been interpreted as evidence for culture. Here we document similar geographic variation in orangutan behaviors. Moreover, as expected under a cultural interpretation, we find a correlation between geographic distance and cultural difference, a correlation between the abundance of opportunities for social learning and the size of the local cultural repertoire, and no effect of habitat on the content of culture. Hence, great-ape cultures exist, and may have done so for at least 14 million years.

    2. Lab Chimp Speaks His Own Language, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: A bonobo has surprised his trainers by appearing to make up his own "words". It is the first report of an ape making sounds that seem to hold their meaning across different situations, and the latest challenge to the orthodox view that animals do not have language. (...) He has grown up in captivity among humans, and is adept at communicating with symbols. He also understands some spoken English, and can respond to phrases such as "go out of the cage" and "do you want a banana?"

  9. Genetic And Behavioral Conflict Over Male Production Between Workers And Queens, Behav. Ecology & Sociobiol. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Microsatellite genotyping of workers confirmed that the queen was always singly mated, as in other stingless bees. As a consequence, workers are more related to the sons of other workers than they are to the queen's sons, and conflict is expected (...). A likelihood analysis shows that both the queen and the workers contribute substantially to male production, with workers typically contributing more, an average of 64%. The likelihood curves are sharp enough to show that the worker fraction varies among colonies and over time, consistent with a shifting balance of power between queen and workers.

  10. The Spider And Fly Revisited: Ploy-Counterploy Behavior In A Unique Predator-Prey System, Behav. Ecology & Sociobiol. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Observations of specialized behaviors for attack (flies) and defense (spiders) suggest that this predator-prey relationship may incorporate elements of ploy and counterploy behavior. Here we explore this relationship in detail and test hypotheses regarding efficacy of attack and defense behaviors. Egg-sac guarding by the spider includes defensive behaviors specific to this fly predator (...). Removal of female spiders results in a significantly higher probability of unguarded egg-sacs being parasitized, demonstrating the adaptive value of spider defensive behaviors. (...)) results of this study suggest that selection pressures from a highly specialized predator may also result in evolution of predator-specific prey responses.

  11. Male Sperm Whale (Physeter Macrocephalus) Acoustics In A High-Latitude Habitat: Implications For Echolocation And Communication, Behav. Ecology & Sociobiol. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Data show that sperm whales in this habitat produce three click types: usual clicks, creak clicks and, occasionally, slow clicks. Usual clicks and creak clicks exhibit short duration, profound directionality (...). The acoustic properties and low repetition rate of usual clicks are suited for long-range echolocation, whereas creak clicks have properties equivalent to signals in buzzes, the terminating pulse trains known from echolocating bats during prey capture. From these source parameters and the high acoustic activity during foraging dives, it is concluded that echolocation is an important sensory cue in prey location. Thus, sperm whales producing slow clicks (...) utilizes long-range sound communication.

  12. Three-Dimensional Mapping of Dislocation Avalanches, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: There is growing evidence for the complex, intermittent, and heterogeneous character of plastic flow. Here we report a three-dimensional mapping of dislocation avalanches during creep deformation of an ice crystal, from a multiple-transducers acoustic emission analysis. Correlation analysis shows that dislocation avalanches are spatially clustered according to a fractal pattern and that the closer in time two avalanches are, the larger the probability is that they will be closer in space. Such a space/time coupling may contribute to the self-organization of the avalanches into a clustered pattern.

  13. Earthquake Conversations, Scientific American Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: For decades, earthquake experts dreamed of being able to divine the time and place of the world's next disastrous shock. But by the early 1990s the behavior of quake-prone faults had proved so complex that they were forced to conclude that the planet's largest tremors are isolated, random and utterly unpredictable. (...) that earthquakes interact in ways never before imagined-- is beginning to overturn that assumption. This insight corroborates the idea that a major shock relieves stress--and thus the likelihood of a second major tremor-- in some areas.

  14. Habitable Planets May Be Common, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: One in four of the planetary systems identified to date outside the Solar System are capable of harbouring other Earths, (...), a much higher proportion than anyone expected. The researchers decided the race to detect an extrasolar Earth-like planet is taking too long. So, instead of scanning the skies, they modelled all the planetary systems known so far to work out which could be hiding habitable planets. (...) The planet must also be within the "habitable zone": the region surrounding a star within which a planet can support liquid water at all times.

  15. New Light on Medicine, Scientific American Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: While struggling to find a cure for porphyria, scientists came to realize that porphyrins could be not just a problem but a tool for medicine. If a porphyrin is injected into diseased tissue, such as a cancerous tumor, it can be activated by light to destroy that tissue. The procedure is known as photodynamic therapy (...) effective weapon against a diverse array of malignancies today and, most recently, for macular degeneration and pathologic myopia, common causes of adult blindness. Ongoing research includes pioneering treatments for coronary artery disease, AIDS, autoimmune diseases, transplantation rejection and leukemia. Editor's Note: Porphyria is a disease with symptoms that are triggered by light and which might be at the origin of vampire legends.

  16. Police Dragnets for DNA Tests Draw Criticism, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: In the United States, mass screenings have had less success and stirred up far more controversy. In 1994 and 1995, the Metro-Dade police in the Miami suburbs took more than 2,000 DNA samples in search of the strangler of six prostitutes, and initially focused on three possible matches before each man was ruled out. Still, the killer was caught only after neighbors found a prostitute bound and gagged in his apartment while he appeared in court on an unrelated robbery charge.

  17. The First International Symposium On Nonlinear Analysis And Applications (ISNAA03) Next Article Bookmark and Share


    * Evolutionary Process: Complex System And Nonlinear Study, Emeritus Prof. D Dutta Majumder, Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta, India- pioneer of research related to Complexity and Fuzzy System, (Talk Video: Part1 Part2)

    * Prof. Ashok Sengupta , IIT Kanpur, India- Pioneer in works Nonlinear Analysis and Applications, Chaotic and Complex systems; currently engaged in work Toward A Theory Of Chaos, to appear as Tutorial in Int. J. Bifur. & Chaos, Vol 13, No. 11, Nov. 2003, 100 plus pages (Interview Video)

    * Pattern Formation In Biological System, Amit Chakroborty, Calcutta Univ., India (Summary Video)

    * Nonlinear Modeling: Predator-Prey System, Prof. B. K. Pal, Kanpur, India (Talk Video)

    * Power Law Relaxation In Semi-Classical Percolative Composite, S. Bhattacharya, SINP, Calcutta (Talk Video)

    * Modeling Real World Phenomena: Some Examples, Emeritus Prof. G. B. Shukla, IIT, Kanpur (Talk Video)

    * Overview Of The Conference, Prof. A. B. Roy, Jadavpur Univ., Calcutta (Interview Video)

    • Source: The Symposium of ISNAA was held on Jan. 2-4, 2003 at Science City, Calcutta, India,
      Contributed by Atin Das and Pritha Das

  18. Quantum Investing, Book Report Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: "Steve Waite looks at the sweep of economic history and nails the big ideas that will create the next revolution. Waite's done all your homework for you -- Kurzweil to Kauffman, Arrow to Arthur, Drexler to Drucker. Don't leave the 20th century without it." --Christopher Meyer, Director, The Cap Gemini Center for Business Innovation "Waite argues that to understand where the business world is going, and where to find value, it will prove crucial to focus on quantum physics and the industries that will flow from it. In a very timely way, Waite highlights Schumpeter's process of creative destruction with old gods going extinct and new ones coming into existence, and demonstrates the coming importance of intangible asset accounting and complexity theory with its models of self organization."
    • Source: Quantum Investing, Stephen R. Waite, Texere, New York, London, 2003, Stuart Kauffman, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, BiosGroup Inc,, Global-Investor - http://books.global-investor.com/pages/book.htm?bookcode=14854

    1. Prey, Book Report Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: Of course. It was obvious that a single molecular camera was inadequate to register any sort of image. Therefore, the image must be a composite of millions of cameras, operating simultaneously. But the cameras would also have to be arranged in space in some orderly structure, probably a sphere. That was where the programming came in. But that in turn meant that Xymos must be generating the equivalent of- "You're making an eye." "Kind of. Yes.".
      Contributing Editor's Note: Descriptions of complexity abound in science fiction and thrillers and are usually more enlightening than current non-fiction attempts. Why? Because they deal in applications. We can see that it is essential to look beyond the reduction patterns we were taught in general science to wholistic, evolutionary patterns, fuzzy though they may be. But Crichton writes a thriller based on Chris Langdon's Swarms and draws upon many of the other work we study in the interplay of biological processes by computer, nanomachines and distributed processing. All these applications of complexity are driven by a military-industrial complex willing to sacrifice lives for profit. The complexity reader will see friends like Doyne Farmer and John Casti mentioned in notes but will also "hear" them in some of the complexity descriptions given by book characters. Prey is a palatable book for a reader new to complexity who asks, "what is the point?"

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

    1. Games Nations Play, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: What game does the Bush administration think it's playing in Korea? (...) During the cold war, the U.S. government employed experts in game theory to analyze strategies of nuclear deterrence. Men with Ph.D.'s in economics, like Daniel Ellsberg, wrote background papers with titles like "The Theory and Practice of Blackmail." The intellectual quality of these analyses was impressive, but their main conclusion was simple: Deterrence requires a credible commitment to punish bad behavior and reward good behavior. (...) Yet the Bush administration's Korea policy has systematically violated that simple principle.

    2. The Burden, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: A historian once remarked that Britain acquired its empire in ''a fit of absence of mind.'' If Americans have an empire, they have acquired it in a state of deep denial. But Sept. 11 was an awakening, a moment of reckoning with the extent of American power and the avenging hatreds it arouses. Americans may not have thought of the World Trade Center or the Pentagon as the symbolic headquarters of a world empire, but the men with the box cutters certainly did, and so do numberless millions who cheered (...).
      • Source: The Burden, Michael Ignatieff, NYTimes, 03/01/05

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share


      1.Artificial Cells: Unique Insights Into Exocytosis Using Liposomes And Lipid Nanotubes , Ann-Sofie Cans, Nathan Wittenberg, Roger Karlsson, Leslie Sombers, Mattias Karlsson, Owe Orwar, and Andrew Ewing, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA published 3 January 2003, 10.1073/pnas.232702599

      2.Northeast Quietly Becomes a Health Care Corridor, David Leonhardt , NYTimes, 02/12/30, With little of the fame claimed by Silicon Valley, the Northeast has built its own economic powerhouse.

      3.The Nanodrive Project , Peter Vettiger and Gerd Binnig, Inventing the first nanotechnological data storage device for mass production and consumer use is a gigantic undertaking

      4.New Light on Medicine , Nick Lane, Light-activated toxins can fight cancer, blindness and heart disease. They may also explain legends about vampires

      5.The Science of Bubbly , Gerard Liger-Belair, A deliciously complex physics governs the sparkle and pop of effervescence in champagne

      6.Isolation and Structure of Higher Diamondoids, Nanometer-Sized Diamond Molecules , J. E. Dahl, S. G. Liu, and R. M. K. Carlson, Science 2003 January 3; 299(5603): p. 96-99

      7.CHEMISTRY: Diamondoid Hydrocarbons-Delving into Nature's Bounty , Alan P. Marchand, Science 2003 January 3; 299(5603): p. 52-53

      8.Hysteresis Drives Cell-Cycle Transitions In Xenopus Laevis Egg Extracts , Wei Sha, Jonathan Moore, Katherine Chen, Antonio D. Lassaletta, Chung-Seon Yi, John J. Tyson, and Jill C. Sible, PNAS published 30 December 2002, 10.1073/pnas.0235349100

      9.Natural Selection Shaped Regional Mtdna Variation In Humans, Dan Mishmar, Eduardo Ruiz-Pesini, Pawel Golik, Vincent Macaulay, Andrew G. Clark, Seyed Hosseini, Martin Brandon, Kirk Easley, Estella, Chen, Michael D. Brown, Rem I. Sukernik, Antonel Olckers, and Douglas C. Wallace, PNAS published 30 December 2002, 10.1073/pnas.0136972100

      10.Color And Genomic Ancestry In Brazilians , Flavia C. Parra, Roberto C. Amado, Jose R. Lambertucci, Jorge Rocha, Carlos M. Antunes, and Sergio D. J. Pena, PNAS published 30 December 2002,10.1073/pnas.0126614100

      11.Sequence Variations In The Public Human Genome Data Reflect A Bottlenecked, Population History , Gabor Marth, Greg Schuler, Raymond Yeh, Ruth Davenport, Richa, Agarwala, Deanna Church, Sarah Wheelan, Jonathan Baker, Ming Ward, Michael Kholodov, Lon Phan, Eva Czabarka, Janos Murvai, David Cutler, Stephen Wooding, Alan Rogers, Aravinda Chakravarti, Henry C., Harpending, Pui-Yan Kwok, and Stephen T. Sherry, PNAS published 26 December 2002, 10.1073/pnas.222673099

      12.Invariant Representations Of Visual Patterns In A Temporal Population Code , Reto Wyss, Peter Konig, and Paul F. M. J. Verschure, PNAS published 26 December 2002, 10.1073/pnas.0136977100

      13.Artificial Cells: Unique Insights Into Exocytosis Using Liposomes And Lipid Nanotubes, Ann-Sofie Cans, Nathan Wittenberg, Roger Karlsson, Leslie Sombers, Mattias Karlsson, Owe Orwar, and Andrew Ewing, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA published 3 January 2003, 10.1073/pnas.232702599

      14.Northeast Quietly Becomes a Health Care Corridor , David Leonhardt, NYTimes, 02/12/30, With little of the fame claimed by Silicon Valley, the Northeast has built its own economic powerhouse.

      15. The Nanodrive Project , Peter Vettiger and Gerd Binnig, Inventing the first nanotechnological data storage device for mass production and consumer use is a gigantic undertaking

      16.New Light on Medicine , Nick Lane, Light-activated toxins can fight cancer, blindness and heart disease. They may also explain legends about vampires

      17.The Science of Bubbly , Gerard Liger-Belair, A deliciously complex physics governs the sparkle and pop of effervescence in champagne

      18.Isolation and Structure of Higher Diamondoids, Nanometer-Sized Diamond Molecules , J. E. Dahl, S. G. Liu, and R. M. K. Carlson, Science 2003 January 3; 299(5603): p. 96-99

      19.CHEMISTRY: Diamondoid Hydrocarbons-Delving into Nature's Bounty , Alan P. Marchand, Science 2003 January 3; 299(5603): p. 52-53

      20.Hysteresis Drives Cell-Cycle Transitions In Xenopus Laevis Egg Extracts , Wei Sha, Jonathan Moore, Katherine Chen, Antonio D. Lassaletta, Chung-Seon Yi, John J. Tyson, and Jill C. Sible, PNAS published 30 December 2002, 10.1073/pnas.0235349100

      21.Natural Selection Shaped Regional Mtdna Variation In Humans , Dan Mishmar, Eduardo Ruiz-Pesini, Pawel Golik, Vincent Macaulay, Andrew G. Clark, Seyed Hosseini, Martin Brandon, Kirk Easley, Estella Chen, Michael D. Brown, Rem I. Sukernik, Antonel Olckers, and Douglas C. Wallace, PNAS published 30 December 2002, 10.1073/pnas.0136972100

      22.Color And Genomic Ancestry In Brazilians , Flavia C. Parra, Roberto C. Amado, Jose R. Lambertucci, Jorge Rocha, Carlos M. Antunes, and Sergio D. J. Pena, PNAS published 30 December 2002, 10.1073/pnas.0126614100

      23.Sequence Variations In The Public Human Genome Data Reflect A Bottlenecked Population History , Gabor Marth, Greg Schuler, Raymond Yeh, Ruth Davenport, Richa, Agarwala, Deanna Church, Sarah Wheelan, Jonathan Baker, Ming Ward, Michael Kholodov, Lon Phan, Eva Czabarka, Janos Murvai, David Cutler, Stephen Wooding, Alan Rogers, Aravinda Chakravarti, Henry C., Harpending, Pui-Yan Kwok, and Stephen T. Sherry, PNAS published 26 December 2002, 10.1073/pnas.222673099

      24.Invariant Representations Of Visual Patterns In A Temporal Population Code , Reto Wyss, Peter Konig, and Paul F. M. J. Verschure, PNAS published 26 December 2002, 10.1073/pnas.0136977100

      25.Weather Turns Dangerous and Deadly Across Europe , Mark Landler, NYTimes, 03/01/04

      26.Discrete Dynamics Lab: Tools for Investigating Cellular Automata and Discrete Dynamical Networks , A. Wuensche , Kybernetes, to appear

    2. Coming and Ongoing Webcasts Next Article Bookmark and Share


      1.Annual Video Game Report Card, Speakers: Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT); Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN); David Walsh, President, National Institute on Media & the Family, c-span.org, 12/19/2002, clip11782 (50 min.)

      2.Artificial Life Conference (A-Life 8) , Sydney, Australia, 02/12/09-13

      3.Universes, Edge Video, 02/11

      4.Novel Properties of Nano-Materials Symposium , Natl Taiwan Normal Univ, 02/12/13-14

      5.Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary , Ongoing Since February 1998

    3. Conference Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share


      1.One-Week Intensive Course: Complex Physical, Biological and Social Systems , NECSI, Cambridge, MA, 03/01/06-10

      2.Plexus New England Fractal Meeting , Cambridge, MA 03/01/06

      3.Hawaii International Conference On System Sciences (HICSS-36) , Big Island, Hawaii, 03/01/06-09

      4.Scientific Openness and National Security, Washington, DC, 03/01/09

      5.Conference on Swarming and Network Enabled Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR), McLean, VA, 03/01/13-14

      6.Sackler Colloquium on "Chemical Communication in a Post-Genomic World" , Irvine, CA, 03/01/17-19

      7.Plexus Ontario Fractal Meeting , Toronto, Canada, 03/01/23

      8.3rd Gathering of the Center for Self-Organizing Leadership , St. George, Utah, 03/01/24-26

      9.INSC 2003, International Nonlinear Sciences Conference Research and Applications in the Life Sciences ,Vienna, Austria, 03/02/07-09

      10.Complexity Science In Practice: Understanding & Acting To Improve Health and Health Care, Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minnesota USA, 03/03/21-22

      11.Fourth International Conference on Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning (IDEAL'03) , Hong Kong, 03/03/21-23

      12.2003 AAAI Spring Symposium Series, Computational Synthesis: From Basic Building Blocks To High Level Functionality , Stanford, 03/03/24-27

      13.Jahrestagung 2003 des AKSOE (Physics of Socio-Economical Systems) , Dresden, Germany, 03/03/24-28

      14.Uncertainty and Surprise: Questions on Working with the Unexpected , U. of Texas at Austin, Texas, 03/04/10-12

      15.Agent-Based Simulation 4, Montpellier, France, 03/04/28-30

      16.SPIE's 1st Intl Symp on Fluctuations and Noise , Santa Fe, NM, 03/06/01-04

      17.21st ICDE World Conf on Open Learning and Distance Education , Hong Kong, 03/06/01-05

      18.17th Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Simulation (PADS 2003) , San Diego, California, 03/06/10-13

      19.2003 Summer Computer Simulation Conference (SCSC '03) , Montreal, Canada, 03/06/20-24

      20.5th Intl Conf "Symmetry in Nonlinear Mathematical Physics" , Kiev, Ukraine, 03/06/23-29,Mirror

      21.2003 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-2003) , Chicago, IL,03/07/12-16

      22.2nd Intl Joint Conf on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS-2003) , Melbourne, Australia, 03/07/14-18

      23.7th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (SCI 2003) , Orlando, Florida, 03/07/27-30

      24.2003 IEEE/WIC Intl Joint Conf. Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology, Beijing, China, 03/10/13-17

      1. Public Conference Calls Next Article Bookmark and Share


        *PlexusCalls - John Holland in Conversation - Audio File Available Now , mp3 (28mb)

        *Are Disease and Aging Information/Complexity Loss Syndromes? , PlexusCalls, 02/11/08, 1 - 2 pm EST (To learn more about Ary Goldberger's work and HeartSongs , Music of the Heart. ) Audio File Available Now , mp3 (27mb)

        *Brenda Zimmerman in Conversation - Audio File Available Now , mp3 (24mb)

        *The Complexity of Entrepreneurship: A Launchcyte Story, PlexusCalls, 02/11/22, 1 - 2 pm EST

      2. Listening Post, Sound Exhibit Next Article Bookmark and Share

        Excerpts: The visible and audible text in this installation is live, collected in real-time from thousands of chat rooms, forums, newsgroups, bulletin boards, and other public online communication channels.
        • Source: Listening Post, Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 02/12/17-03/03/08

    4. ComDig Announcement: New ComDig Archive in Beta Test Bookmark and Share

      We are in the process of upgrading the Complexity Digest archives to a format with improved search capabilities. Also, we will finally be able to adequately publish the valuable feedback and comments from our knowledgable readers. You are cordially invited to become a beta tester of our new ComDig2 archive .

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