Complexity Digest 2005.04

24-Jan-2005

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Content

  1. Bush Pledges to Spread Freedom, Washington Post
    1. The Speech Misheard Round the World, NY Times
    2. Cheney Warns of Iran As a Nuclear Threat - Vice President: 'We Don't Want a War', Washington Post
  2. The Free Lunch Bunch, NY Times
    1. That Magic Moment, NY Times
    2. Culture And Welfare State Policies: Reflections On A Complex Interrelation, J. Soc. Policy
    3. Economics, Religion And The Decline Of Europe, Econ. Affairs
    4. Family Ties Playing A Big Role On the Hill, Washington Post
  3. Chinese 'To Overtake US Net Use', BBC News
    1. 'Evil Twin' Fear For Wireless Net, BBC News
    2. Networks and Cities: An Information Perspective
    3. Towards a Theory of Scale-Free Graphs: Definition, Properties, and Implications, arXiv
    4. Coexistence and Chaos in Complex Ecologies, Physics Letters A
  4. Measuring Literacy in a World Gone Digital, NY Times
  5. Titan Reveals Methane Rain And Rocks Of Water, Nature News
    1. A World Unveiled: Creme brule on Titan, Science News
    2. A World Apart - New Images From Titan Look Strangely Familiar, Science Now
    3. Amateurs Beat Space Agencies To Titan Pictures, Nature News
  6. Warming 'Wiped Out' Most Life 250 Million Years Ago, TechNewsWorld
    1. Meteor Impact Theory Takes a Hit, Wired News
  7. Climatology: Will Soil Amplify Climate Change?, Nature
    1. Arctic Rivers 'Flowing Faster', BBC News
  8. Must Government Go Fishing?, Econ. Affairs
  9. Why Humans Evolved Extraordinary Intelligence, Evol. & Human Behav.
    1. The Better Angels Of Our Nature: Group Stability And The Evolution Of Moral Tension, Evol. & Human Behav.
    2. Walk Like a Man, Science Now
    3. The Crafty Attacks on Evolution, NY Times
  10. Micro Musclebot: Wee Walker Moves By Heart Cells' Beats, Science News
    1. Muscle-Bound Microrobots - New Nano-Machines Are Powered By Heart Cells, Science Now
    2. ‘Life Is Motion': Multiscale Motility of Nolecular Motors, Physica A
  11. MicroRNAs Exert Macro Control, Science Now
  12. Threat or Therapy?, Science Now
  13. Behavioural Ecology: Transient Sexual Mimicry Leads To Fertilization, Nature
    1. Animal Mimicry: Choosing When To Be A Cleaner-Fish Mimic, Nature
  14. Adaptation Of Brain Regions To Habitat Complexity: A Comparative Analysis In Bats, Proc. Biol. Sc.
    1. A Division Of Labour With Role Specialization In Group-Hunting Bottlenose Dolphins, Proc. Biol. Sc.
    2. Predator Fish Heat Their Eyes To Track Prey, ScienceDaily
    3. Springs In Their Wings, Science Now
    4. Too Much of a Good Thing, Science Now
  15. Brownian Motion, Nature
  16. The Calculus of Caves, Science Now
    1. In And Out Of Equilibrium, Nature
  17. Quantum Criticality, Nature
    1. Happy Centenary, Photon?, Nature
    2. In Search Of Symmetry Lost?, Nature
    3. The State Of The Universe, Nature
  18. Space Weapons: Crossing The U.S. Rubicon, Int. Security
    1. Espionage Unit Expands Rumsfeld's Domain, The Washington Post
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terroist Networks
    1. On Complex Adaptive Systems and Terrorism, arXiv
    2. Commandos See Duty on U.S. Soil in Role Redefined by Terror Fight, NY Times
    3. Gonzales Says '02 Policy on Detainees Doesn't Bind C.I.A., NY Times
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Webcast Announcements
    3. Conference & Call for Papers Announcements

  1. Bush Pledges to Spread Freedom, Washington Post Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: From now on, Bush said, relations with "every ruler and every nation" will be predicated on how they treat their own people, a profound break from traditional U.S. policy and from the Bush administration's practices in his first term, when it worked with repressive governments in the war against terrorism. (...)

    "All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know the United States will not ignore your oppression or excuse your oppressors," (...) "When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you."

    1. The Speech Misheard Round the World, NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The administration's notion of freedom has been especially convenient, and its promotion of it especially cynical. (...) Osama bin Laden is clearly no lover of freedom, but this is an irrelevance. The attack on America was motivated by religious and cultural fanaticism.

      Second, while it may be implicitly true that all terrorists are tyrants, it does not follow that all tyrants are terrorists. (...) Today, one of America's closest allies (...) is tyrannical Pakistan, and one of its biggest trading partners is the authoritarian Communist regime of China.

    2. Cheney Warns of Iran As a Nuclear Threat - Vice President: 'We Don't Want a War', Washington Post Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Vice President Cheney said yesterday that Iran is a top threat to world peace and Middle East stability, accusing Tehran of sponsoring terrorism against Americans and building a "fairly robust new nuclear program."

      "Given the fact that Iran has a stated policy that their objective is the destruction of Israel, the Israelis might well decide to act first, and let the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterwards," Cheney said. In 1981, Israel sent warplanes to destroy Iraq's nuclear reactor.

  2. The Free Lunch Bunch, NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Payroll taxes would be diverted into private accounts, (...). The government would make up for this borrowing by reducing future benefits; yet workers would supposedly end up better off, (...), through the returns on their accounts.

    (...) ignores the most basic principle of economics: there is no free lunch.

    (...)works only if you assume both that stocks are a much better investment than government bonds and that somebody (...) will nonetheless sell those private accounts lots of stocks while buying lots of government bonds.

    1. That Magic Moment, NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: White House officials themselves concede - or maybe boast - that their plan to sell Social Security privatization is modeled on their selling of the Iraq war. In fact, the parallels are remarkably exact.

      (...) Three years ago, the supposed threat from Saddam somehow became more important than catching the people who actually attacked America on 9/11. Today, (...), possibly nonexistent long-run financial problems of Social Security have somehow become more important than dealing with the huge deficit we already have, which has nothing to do with Social Security.

    2. Culture And Welfare State Policies: Reflections On A Complex Interrelation, J. Soc. Policy Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: In comparative welfare state analyses, cross-national differences have often been explained both by the specific profiles of welfare state institutions and the constellations of social actors. (...) The aim of this article is to reflect on the relationship between culture and welfare state policies, and consider how it might be analysed in a comparative perspective. A theoretical framework for analysis is introduced in which the relationship of culture and welfare state policies is conceptualised as a complex, multi-level relationship which is embedded in the specific context of a particular society and can develop in contradictory ways.

    3. Economics, Religion And The Decline Of Europe, Econ. Affairs Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: This article asks whether there is any casual connection between the contemporaneous decline in industriousness and religiosity in Europe over the past 25 years. In the United States working hours and levels of religious faith and observance have held steady or even increased over this period. But in most European countries they have declined together. Could this be a posthumous vindication of Max Weber's thesis about the Protestant work ethic and the rise of capitalism? Though there clearly are some important links between religion and economic behaviour, the article concludes that the evidence does not perfectly fit Weber's theory, (...).

    4. Family Ties Playing A Big Role On the Hill, Washington Post Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: President Bush, who rose to power with a famous political surname, has rewarded several children of his ideological allies. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's son became chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's daughter was made inspector general at the Health and Human Services Department, Justice Antonin Scalia's son was appointed to a top job in the Labor Department, and Vice President Cheney's daughter and son-in-law scored prestigious positions in the State and Justice departments.

  3. Chinese 'To Overtake US Net Use', BBC News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    The net is steadily becoming more popular in China
    Market analysts Panlogic predicts that net users in China will exceed the 137 million US users of the net by 2008.

    The report says that the country's culture will mean that Chinese people will use the net for very different ends than in many other nations.

    Already net use in China has a very different character than in many Western nations, (...).

    "Net usage tends to happen in the evening," said Mr Makower, "they get access only when they go home and go off to the internet caf?.

    1. 'Evil Twin' Fear For Wireless Net, BBC News Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: People using wireless high-speed net (wi-fi) are being warned about fake hotspots, or access points. The latest threat, nicknamed evil twins, pose as real hotspots but are actually unauthorised base stations, say Cranfield University experts. Once logged onto an Evil Twin, sensitive data can be intercepted.

    2. Networks and Cities: An Information Perspective Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Traffic is constrained by the information involved in locating the receiver and the physical distance between sender and receiver. We here focus on the former, and investigate traffic in the perspective of information handling. We replot the road map of cities in terms of the information needed to locate specific addresses and create information city networks with roads mapped to nodes and intersections to links between nodes. These networks have the broad degree distribution found in many other complex networks. The mapping to an information city network makes it possible to quantify the information associated with locating specific addresses.

    3. Towards a Theory of Scale-Free Graphs: Definition, Properties, and Implications, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: Although the ``scale-free'' literature is large and growing, it gives neither a precise definition of scale-free graphs nor rigorous proofs of many of their claimed properties. In fact, it is easily shown that the existing theory has many inherent contradictions and verifiably false claims. In this paper, we propose a new, mathematically precise, and structural definition of the extent to which a graph is scale-free, and prove a series of results that recover many of the claimed properties while suggesting the potential for a rich and interesting theory. (...)

    4. Coexistence and Chaos in Complex Ecologies, Physics Letters A Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Many complex dynamical systems in ecology, economics, neurology, and elsewhere, in which agents compete for limited resources, exhibit apparently chaotic fluctuations. This Letter proposes a purely deterministic mechanism for evolving robustly but weakly chaotic systems that exhibit adaptation, self-organization, sporadic volatility, and punctuated equilibria.
      • Source: Coexistence and Chaos in Complex Ecologies, J.C. Sprott, J.A. Vano, J.C. Wildenberg, M.B. Anderson, J.K. Noel, DOI: 10.1016/j.physleta.2004.12.068, Physics Letters A, Article in Press, Corrected Proof, 2005/01/05

  4. Measuring Literacy in a World Gone Digital, NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Still, just what is meant by "information" or even "technological" literacy remains a hotly debated topic in academic circles, and there is no widespread agreement on whether such skills can be taught, much less measured in a test. (...) a lucrative market is emerging for testing companies that are willing to fill the perceived need.

    (...) most students will one day need to prove themselves along these lines.

    Part of the problem, many educators say, is that the traditional vetting process for information is now so easily bypassed.

  5. Titan Reveals Methane Rain And Rocks Of Water, Nature News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    A week's analysis confirms Earth-like features on saturnian moon. Saturn's giant moon has rain and rivers very similar to those on Earth, the planetary probe Huygens has discovered. But on Titan they consist of liquid methane rather than water. (...)

    The mission has also found signs of volcanic activity on Titan. An analysis of the element isotopes found at the surface suggests that the volcanoes spewed out water and ammonia, rather than molten lava.

    1. A World Unveiled: Creme brule on Titan, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The landing represents an achievement "not likely to be repeated in the lifetime of anyone alive today," (...).

      Titan resembles Earth not only in its topography but also because it is dynamic, he notes. The lack of even a single large crater in the Huygens images and earlier radar pictures indicates a young, rugged landscape, as do the orb's river channels and hills. Icy eruptions of ammonia and water from the surface may churn up rocks and create hills, which might then be continually eroded by liquids raining from the atmosphere or seeping from near-surface reservoirs, Soderblom suggests.

    2. A World Apart - New Images From Titan Look Strangely Familiar, Science Now Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Methane seas may yet turn up, but Titan already would seem to have all the parts of a "methylogical cycle" that is like the hydrologic cycles of Earth and ancient Mars. Titan's atmosphere contains methane and photochemically produced ethane--analogous to Earth's water vapor--that condense into hydrocarbon clouds. Some clouds must rain onto the surface to erode the channels, and the rain would presumably also pick up the dark photochemical goo that settles from the haze layer. That would explain the dark stain on canyon floors and outwash plains.

    3. Amateurs Beat Space Agencies To Titan Pictures, Nature News Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Online community processed raw images at record speed. Many amateurs have also taken images from the two Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and turned them into detailed topographic maps and panoramic landscapes. But this is the first time enthusiasts have beaten the space agencies to the punch, says Liekens, who admits he should really be finishing off his PhD in biomedical technology this week. Liekens does caution that not all of the pictures will be scientifically reliable, something that ESA and NASA obviously have to take care over. "We're impressed with their ability and enthusiasm, and looked at their images with great interest,"

  6. Warming 'Wiped Out' Most Life 250 Million Years Ago, TechNewsWorld Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Scientists collected fossils in South Africa's Karoo Basin and found a gradual, then sharp, decline in species. There was no indication that a comet struck the Earth at this time. A later impact off the coast of Mexico is said to have ended the dinosaur reign 65 million years ago.

    1. Meteor Impact Theory Takes a Hit, Wired News Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The catastrophe that killed off the majority of life on Earth 250 million years ago was not a meteorite impact, but a gradual rise in global temperatures, (...).

      (...) question the validity of the meteorite impact theory, which suggests that a giant asteroid or comet (...) led to a massive, global extinction that scientists call the "Great Dying."

      The impact would have been similar to the one that is widely believed to have led to the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

  7. Climatology: Will Soil Amplify Climate Change?, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: It had been thought by some that rising atmospheric temperatures would have no effect on the rate at which carbon is released from the soil. A study that revisits the data behind this theory now finds otherwise.

    1. Arctic Rivers 'Flowing Faster', BBC News Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      Stepping softly: The Arctic warms up
      The amount of fresh water entering the Arctic Ocean from the rivers that feed it is increasing, UK scientists report. (...)

      The rise in fresh water entering the Arctic Ocean could change the global distribution of water, the team says.

      It could also affect the balance of the climate system itself and even possibly alter the behaviour of the Gulf Stream. (...)

      Part of the process is likely to mean more precipitation (hail, rain, sleet and snow) at higher latitudes, and so more water flowing down the rivers.

  8. Must Government Go Fishing?, Econ. Affairs Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: The depletion of fish stocks around the UK presents serious problems for the UK, and in particular the Scottish, fishing industry. This is a classic 'tragedy of the commons', repeatedly occurring in fisheries, where open access to a limited resource leads to serious depletion and may ultimately wipe out that resource. A recent report by the Royal Society of Edinburgh endorses the scientific basis for drastic cuts in fishing quotas under the Common Fisheries Policy to conserve stocks, and the necessary regulation and restriction of fishing effort in the UK. But it further recommends government-led initiatives (...).
    • Source: Must Government Go Fishing?, G. Elliot, DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0270.2004.00517.x, Economic Affairs, Dec. 2004, online 2004/12/13
    • Contributed by Pritha Das - prithadas01ayahoo.com

  9. Why Humans Evolved Extraordinary Intelligence, Evol. & Human Behav. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Human cognitive abilities are extraordinary. Our large brains are significantly modified from those of our closest relatives, suggesting a history of intense natural selection. The conditions favoring the evolution of human cognitive adaptations, however, remain an enigma. (...) What was so special about the evolutionary environments of our ancestors that caused them, (...)? Given the precondition of competition among kin- and reciprocity-based coalitions (shared with chimpanzees), an autocatalytic social arms race was initiated, which eventually resulted in the unusual collection of traits characteristic of the human species, such as concealed ovulation, extensive biparental care, complex sociality, (...).

    1. The Better Angels Of Our Nature: Group Stability And The Evolution Of Moral Tension, Evol. & Human Behav. Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: Moral systems require individuals to act in service to their social groups. Despite the human tendency to view moral norms as invariant and constantly deserving of adherence, we vary not only in the moral norms that we espouse but also in the degree to which our behavior reflects those norms. Nevertheless, moral systems exhibit patterns and complexity that suggest the action of natural selection. We propose that much observed variation in commitment to the group can be explained by a rule of stability-dependent cooperation, where the adaptive level of individual commitment varies inversely with the stability of the social group. (...)

    2. Walk Like a Man, Science Now Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      Becoming human? Jawbone fragment from Ardipithecus ramidus, an apelike creature that may have walked upright. CREDIT: Sileshi Semaw

      The apelike Ardipithecus ramidus just got a stronger toehold on a branch of the human family tree thanks to a new fossil discovery that adds more evidence that the 4.4 million year-old creature walked upright.

      Ever since paleoanthropologists found the first fossils of Ardipithecus ramidus in Ethiopia in 1992, researchers have wondered if this apelike creature walked upright--a traditional hallmark of the extended human family.

      (...) The team shows that a bit of toe bone recovered at the site curves in a manner that is diagnostic of upright walking.

    3. The Crafty Attacks on Evolution, NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Evolution is so awful that the reader must be warned that it is discussed inside the textbook. The second sentence makes it sound as though evolution is little more than a hunch, the popular understanding of the word "theory," whereas theories in science are carefully constructed frameworks for understanding a vast array of facts. The National Academy of Sciences, the nation's most prestigious scientific organization, has declared evolution "one of the strongest and most useful scientific theories we have" and says it is supported by an overwhelming scientific consensus.

  10. Micro Musclebot: Wee Walker Moves By Heart Cells' Beats, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: When immersed in a glucose-containing solution, the heart cells beat, causing the device to scoot along. With each muscle contraction, the arch tightens, dragging its back leg forward and planting it on the surface. Then, as the muscle relaxes, the springy arch loosens and the front leg takes a step forward. (...)

    More-versatile devices are on the way, (...).

    (...) creating a new version using skeletal muscle instead of heart muscle. Whereas heart cells follow an intrinsic rhythm, skeletal muscle can be induced by electricity or chemicals to contract, (...).

    1. Muscle-Bound Microrobots - New Nano-Machines Are Powered By Heart Cells, Science Now Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: One of the biggest challenges facing nano-engineers is powering the motion of their tiny machines. One solution is to look to biology and exploit enzymes (...) as biomolecular motors. But these enzymes make weak motors on their own, so engineers must get billions of such motors to work collectively. Here, biology offers another clue: muscles, in which molecules move in unison. Researchers have already tried attaching muscles to micro-machines called MEMS (microelectromechanical systems), but they have met with limited success due to the damage caused by extracting the muscle.

    2. ‘Life Is Motion': Multiscale Motility of Nolecular Motors, Physica A Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: Life is intimately related to complex patterns of directed movement. It is quite remarkable that all of this movement is based on filaments and motor molecules which perform mechanical work on the nanometer scale. This article reviews recent theoretical work on the motility of molecular motors and motor particles that bind to cytoskeletal filaments and walk along these filaments in a directed fashion.

  11. MicroRNAs Exert Macro Control, Science Now Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: A computer scan of thousands of genetic sequences indicates that more than 5000 human genes--around a fifth of the estimated total, and a third of those examined--are regulated by tiny stretches of RNA molecules called microRNAs (miRNAs). If the results hold up, these molecules may play a far greater role than expected in controlling how genes are expressed.

    MiRNAs occur naturally in all sorts of animal and plant species, and hundreds have been discovered since the late 1990s.

  12. Threat or Therapy?, Science Now Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    Far out. A hallucinogenic compound extracted from this African root (Tabernanthe iboga) could hold the key to curbing drug addiction. Credit: K. Nehnav

    A naturally occurring hallucinogen popular in the 1960s among recreational drug users has long been thought to help curb addiction to harder drugs, but its side-effects have kept it off pharmacy shelves. Now, a new study in rodents provides the first scientific demonstration that the compound, called ibogaine, can help treat alcohol addiction.

    Ibogaine is extracted from the root bark of a shrub and is considered sacred by some central African tribes. For decades, maverick doctors have unofficially used it to help alcohol and opiate addicts kick their habits.

  13. Behavioural Ecology: Transient Sexual Mimicry Leads To Fertilization, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Sexual mimicry among animals is widespread1, but does it impart a fertilization advantage in the widely accepted 'sneak-guard' model of sperm competition? Here we describe field results in which a dramatic facultative switch in sexual phenotype by sneaker-male cuttlefish leads to immediate fertilization success, even in the presence of the consort male. These results are surprising, given the high rate at which females reject copulation attempts by males, the strong mate-guarding behaviour of consort males, and the high level of sperm competition in this complex mating system.

    1. Animal Mimicry: Choosing When To Be A Cleaner-Fish Mimic, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Mimicry in vertebrates is usually a permanent state - mimics resemble and normally accompany their model throughout the life stages during which they act as mimics. Here we show that the bluestriped fangblenny fish ((...)), which aggressively attacks other coral-reef fish, can turn off the mimetic colours that disguise it as the benign bluestreak cleaner wrasse, (...), and assume a radically different appearance. This opportunistic facultative mimicry extends the fangblenny's scope by allowing it to blend into shoals of small reef fish as well as to remain inconspicuous at cleaning stations.

  14. Adaptation Of Brain Regions To Habitat Complexity: A Comparative Analysis In Bats, Proc. Biol. Sc. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Vertebrate brains are organized in modules which process information from sensory inputs selectively. Therefore they are probably under different evolutionary pressures. We investigated the impact of environmental influences on specific brain centres in bats. We showed in a phylogenetically independent contrast analysis that the wing area of a species corrected for body size correlated with estimates of habitat complexity. We subsequently compared wing area, as an indirect measure of habitat complexity, with the size of regions associated with hearing, olfaction and spatial memory, while controlling for phylogeny and body mass. (...)

    1. A Division Of Labour With Role Specialization In Group-Hunting Bottlenose Dolphins, Proc. Biol. Sc. Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Individual role specialization during group hunting is extremely rare in mammals. Observations on two groups of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Cedar Key, Florida revealed distinctive behavioural roles during group feeding. In each group, one individual was consistently the 'driver', herding the fishes in a circle toward the remaining 'barrier' dolphins. Aerial fish-capture rates differed between groups, as well as between the driver and barrier dolphins, in one group but not in the other. These differences between the two groups may reflect differences in group stability or in prey school size.

    2. Predator Fish Heat Their Eyes To Track Prey, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: Large and powerful predators such as swordfishes, tunas, and many sharks are unique among fishes in that they possess physiological mechanisms that warm their eyes. A new investigation reported this week sheds important light on the purpose of warming the eyes and the advantage that "warm eyes" confer on ocean predators. Swordfishes, which hunt in water as cold as 3°C (about 37°F), can maintain their brain and eye temperatures 10°C-15°C (18°F -27°F) above ambient temperatures by using a specially adapted heating organ in muscle next to their eyes. The biological significance of this has been a mystery. (...)

    3. Springs In Their Wings, Science Now Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      Spring-loaded. Muscle proteins in fly wings act like springs to contribute to rapid wing beats. CREDIT: Michael Dickinson

      Researchers may have finally solved the mystery of how insects flap their wings so fast. Snapshots of airborne fruit flies reveal that a protein in their wings acts like a spring, conserving energy when stretched before quickly rebounding.

      Fruit flies beat their wings with two layers of muscles. When one layer contracts, it stretches the other, which itself is then primed to contract. Because this cycle proceeds at an incredibly rapid rate, it cannot be controlled by nerve impulses and thus depends on the energy stored in the muscles themselves.

    4. Too Much of a Good Thing, Science Now Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      Sun screen. The carotenoid zeaxanthin (as seen under a microscope) is key to protecting plants from excess sunlight. Credit: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
      Plants have a defense mechanism to protect them against excess sunlight

      Plants harvest energy from the sun with the help of chlorophyll and carotenoid, two photon-capturing molecules. But if the plants are exposed to too much sun, these molecules absorb more energy than they can handle and generate reactive species of oxygen that can destroy the plant. Researchers have known for more than 20 years that plants have a way to protect themselves against this damage, but the actual mechanism has remained a mystery.

  15. Brownian Motion, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: In particular, Einstein showed that the irregular motion of the suspended particles could be understood as arising from the random thermal agitation of the molecules in the surrounding liquid: these smaller entities act both as the driving force for the brownian fluctuations (through the impact of the liquid molecules on the larger particles), and as a means of damping these motions (through the viscosity experienced by the larger particles).

    (...) one can see, directly through a microscope, a fraction of the thermal energy manifest as mechanical energy.

    • Source: Brownian Motion, Giorgio?Parisi, DOI: 10.1038/433221a, Nature, 433, 7023, 221, 05/01/20

  16. The Calculus of Caves, Science Now Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    Calculating cones. Researchers have found that math can be used to predict the shapes of stalagmites. Credit: Corbis

    Cave formations materialize in limestone caverns over thousands of years as water oozes out of the rock and deposits solid calcium carbonate in its path. The diverse shapes of these objects depend on the geometry of the rock and the amount of flowing water. Until recently, no one had been able to quantitatively explain why the deposited calcium carbonate forms graceful shapes instead of big globs of white stuff.

    (...) the speed of stalagmite growth depends on the thickness of the water flowing over it.

    1. In And Out Of Equilibrium, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Albert Einstein's work on brownian motion showed how thermal equilibrium could be brought about by work exchanged through thermal fluctuations and viscous dissipation. Glasses are out-of-equilibrium systems in which this exchange happens at widely different timescales simultaneously. Theory then suggests the fascinating possibility that such behaviour may lead to a more general form of thermalization, in which the effective temperature shared by all components differs at each timescale. (...)

      Einstein's papers on brownian motionshowed a surprising fact for the first time: thermodynamics still contains dynamic information.

  17. Quantum Criticality, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The puzzle stemmed, (...) from the innocent question about the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of diamond; (...). The trouble was that much less energy was needed than expected.

    A century later, the very same measurement of the specific heat of solids points to a new clash with our theories of matter. (...). Physics has traditionally focused on stable phases of matter, such as those shown by superconductors, magnets or ferroelectrics, but with modern materials it is possible to study unstable quantum phases of matter.

    • Source: Quantum Criticality, Piers Coleman, Andrew J. Schofield, DOI: 10.1038/nature03279, Nature, 433, 7023, 226, 05/01/20

    1. Happy Centenary, Photon?, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: One hundred years ago Albert Einstein introduced the concept of the photon. Although in the early years after 1905 the evidence for the quantum nature of light was not compelling, modern experiments - (...) - have beautifully confirmed its corpuscular character. Research on the quantum properties of light (quantum optics) triggered the evolution of the whole field of quantum information processing, which now promises new technology, such as quantum cryptography and even quantum computers. (...)

      (...) the idea of quanta of light, later called photons, (...) received the acclaim of the Nobel committee.

      • Source: Happy Centenary, Photon?, Anton Zeilinger, Gregor Weihs, Thomas Jennewein, Markus Aspelmeyer, DOI: 10.1038/nature03280, Nature, 433, 7023, 230, 05/01/20

    2. In Search Of Symmetry Lost?, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Powerful symmetry principles have guided physicists in their quest for nature's fundamental laws. The successful gauge theory of electroweak interactions postulates a more extensive symmetry for its equations than are manifest in the world. (...) , rendering the Universe a sort of exotic superconductor. So far, the evidence for these bold ideas is indirect. But soon the theory will undergo a critical test depending on whether the quanta of this symmetry-breaking field, the so-called Higgs particles, are produced at the Large Hadron Collider (due to begin operation in 2007).

    3. The State Of The Universe, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The past 20years have seen dramatic advances in cosmology, mostly driven by observations from new telescopes and detectors. These instruments have allowed astronomers to map out the large-scale structure of the Universe and probe the very early stages of its evolution. (...), thereby putting cosmology on a firm empirical footing. But the emerging ‘standard' model leaves many details of galaxy formation still to be worked out, and new ideas are emerging that challenge the theoretical framework on which the structure of the Big Bang is based.

  18. Space Weapons: Crossing The U.S. Rubicon, Int. Security Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: In the next decade, planned U.S. military activities in outer space will cross several important thresholds. By 2008 the U.S. Missile Defense Agency intends to deploy a test bed of space-based kinetic-energy kill vehicles (KKVs) to destroy high-speed collision test targets that mimic nuclear-armed reentry vehicles in the midcourse of their arc through space. In early 2006 a Missile Defense Agency satellite experiment, NFIRE, is planned to attempt to intercept a rocket in or near boost phase. Beyond missile defense, these U.S. space-deployed weapons will have broad implications for the entire space sector. (...)

    1. Espionage Unit Expands Rumsfeld's Domain, The Washington Post Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Elite military forces are conducting special counterterrorism missions in support of civilian agencies in the United States. (...)

      Military and civilian participants said in interviews that the new unit has been operating in secret for two years -- in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places they declined to name. According to an early planning memorandum to Rumsfeld from Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the focus of the intelligence initiative is on "emerging target countries such as Somalia, Yemen, Indonesia, Philippines and Georgia."

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

    1. On Complex Adaptive Systems and Terrorism, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Complex adaptive systems (CAS) are ubiquitous in nature. They are basic in social sciences. An overview of CAS is given with emphasize on the occurrence of bad side effects to seemingly wise decisions. Hence application to terrorism is given. Some conclusions on how to deal with this phenomena are proposed.

    2. Commandos See Duty on U.S. Soil in Role Redefined by Terror Fight, NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: These commandos, operating under a secret counterterrorism program code-named Power Geyser, were mentioned publicly for the first time this week on a Web site for a new book, "Code Names: Deciphering U.S. Military Plans, Programs and Operation in the 9/11 World," (Steerforth Press). The book was written by William M. Arkin, a former intelligence analyst for the Army. The precise number of these Special Operations forces in Washington this week is highly classified, but military officials say the number is very small.

    3. Gonzales Says '02 Policy on Detainees Doesn't Bind C.I.A., NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Officers of the Central Intelligence Agency and other nonmilitary personnel fall outside the bounds of a 2002 directive issued by President Bush that pledged the humane treatment of prisoners in American custody, Alberto R. Gonzales, the White House counsel, said in documents released on Tuesday.

      In written responses to questions posed by senators as part of his confirmation for attorney general, Mr. Gonzales also said a separate Congressional ban on cruel, unusual and inhumane treatment had "a limited reach" and did not apply in all cases to "aliens overseas."

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. What's $13 Million Among Friends?, Lucian Bebchuk, 05/01/17, NYTimes, A close look at the Enron settlement shows that the company's directors have not been held accountable in any meaningful way.
      2. Quantum Correlations and Secret Bits, Antonio Ac?n, Nicolas Gisin, 05/01/18, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 020501
      3. Universality Class of the Fiber Bundle Model on Complex Networks, Dong-Hee Kim, Beom Jun Kim, Hawoong Jeong, 05/01/18, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 025501, We investigate the failure characteristics of complex networks within the framework of the fiber bundle model subject to the local load sharing rule in which the load of the broken fiber is transferred only to its neighbor fibers.
      4. Are Humans Still Evolving?, 05/01/18,
        Flipped. This 900,000 base pair region of chromosome 17 is reversed in 20% of Europeans. Credit: Stefansson et al., Nature Genetics, Advance Online Publication (January 23, 2005)
        Science News, A new study suggests that natural selection in people is alive and well
      5. Iraq Expatriates Sign Up to Vote in 5 Cities in U.S., Monica Davey, 05/01/18, NYTimes, Despite long drives and scant notice, scores of Iraqi expatriates began registering to vote from afar in Iraq's election on Jan. 30.
      6. For Surgery, an Automated Helping Hand, Marc Santora, 05/01/18, NYTimes, Dr. Michael R. Treat is hard at work on an invention he hopes will change the way surgeons work in the operating room - an automated helping hand.
      7. This Is Your Brain on Politics, Joshua Freedman, 05/01/18, NYTimes, Patterns of brain activity offer a challenge to the red-state, blue-state divide.
      8. Control of Traveling Waves in the Mammalian Cortex, Kristen A. Richardson, Steven J. Schiff, Bruce J. Gluckman, 05/01/19, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 028103, We experimentally confirmed predictions that modulation of the neuronal threshold with electrical fields can speed up, slow down, and even block traveling waves in neocortical slices.
      9. Hierarchical Chain Model of Spider Capture Silk Elasticity, Haijun Zhou, Yang Zhang, 05/01/19, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 028104, In the hierarchical chain model, a polymer is composed of many structural motifs which organize into structural modules and supramodules in a hierarchical manner. Each module in this hierarchy has its own characteristic force.
      10. Global Organization of Dynamics in Oscillatory Heterogeneous Excitable Media, Gil Bub, Alvin Shrier, Leon Glass, 05/01/20, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 028105
      11. Indian Ocean Fault Line Poses Threat Of Further Earthquakes?, 05/01/20, Energy from 26 December quake could hasten the next rupture. Nature, 433, 7023, 183
      12. Schr?dinger's Mousetrap, 05/01/20, Part 1: The trap is primed. Ian?Stewart, Nature, 433, 7023, 200
      13. Year Of Physics A Celebration?, Alison?Wright, Karl?Ziemelis, Leslie?Sage, Karen?Southwell, 05/01/20, Nature, 433, 7023, 213, DOI: 10.1038/433213a
      14. A Theory Of Everything??, 05/01/20, In his later years, Einstein sought a unified theory that would extend general relativity and provide an alternative to quantum theory. There is now talk of a 'theory of everything' (although Einstein himself never used the phrase). Fifty years after his death, how close are we to such a theory? Nature, 433, 7023, 257, DOI: 10.1038/433257a
      15. Field Parameterization And Experimental Test Of The Neutral Theory Of Biodiversity?, J.?Timothy?Wootton, 05/01/20, Nature, 433, 7023, 309, DOI: 10.1038/nature03211
      16. Evolutionary Dynamics On Graphs?, Erez?Lieberman, Christoph?Hauert, Martin?A.?Nowak, 05/01/20, Nature, 433, 7023, 312, DOI: 10.1038/nature03204
      17. Entanglement Assisted Metrology, P. Cappellaro, J.Emerson, N. Boulant, C. Ramanathan, S. Lloyd, D. G. Cory, 05/01/21, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 020502, We propose a new approach to the measurement of a single spin state, based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques and inspired by the coherent control over many-body systems envisaged by quantum information processing.
      18. Correlated Spontaneous Emission Laser as an Entanglement Amplifier, Han Xiong, Marlan O. Scully, M. Suhail Zubairy, 05/01/21, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 023601. We consider a two-photon correlated emission laser as a source of an entangled radiation with a large number of photons in each mode.
      19. A Prolonged Demise, 05/01/21, Science Now, The mass extinction that gave rise to the dinosaurs may not have been caused by an asteroid
      20. Energy Dept. Slow to Mandate Efficiency, Justin Blum, 05/01/22, Washington Post, Standards for Some Appliances Years Late; Process Blamed
      21. Does Not Compute, Nicholas G. Carr, 05/01/22, NYTimes
      22. Baby Talk: Infants Have Much To Say If Adults Will Only Listen, 2004/01/18, ScienceDaily & Indiana University
      23. Human Complexity And Diversity Spring From A Surprisingly Few (Relatively Speaking) Genes, 2004/01/20, ScienceDaily & Lehigh University
      24. New Image Sensor Will Show What The Eyes See, And A Camera Cannot, 2004/01/21, ScienceDaily & National Science Foundation
      25. Intelligence In Men And Women Is A Gray And White Matter, 2004/01/22, ScienceDaily & University Of California, Irvine
      26. Putting Science Before Inspiration, Professor Creates Formula For Designing Landscapes Best Suited For People's Well-being, 2004/01/22, ScienceDaily & University Of California, Irvine
      27. Geographical Coarsegraining of Complex Networks, Evan P. Greenberg, David R. Cheriton, 2004/09/04, arXiv [Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 168701 (2004)], DOI: cond-mat/0409095 [10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.168701]
      28. Distributed agent paradigm for soft and hard computation, E.V. Krishnamurthy, V.K. Murthy, 2004/12/07, Journal of Network and Computer Applications, Article in Press, Corrected Proof, DOI: 10.1016/j.jnca.2004.10.004
      29. The Dynamics of Critical Kauffman Networks Under Asynchronous Stochastic Update, Florian Greil, Barbara Drossel, 2005/01/05, arXiv, DOI: cond-mat/0501081
      30. UML 2.0 and Agents: How to Build Agent-based Systems with the New UML Standard, Bernhard Bauer, James Odell, 2005/01/06, Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, Article in Press, Corrected Proof, DOI: 10.1016/j.engappai.2004.11.016
      31. Many-Body Theory for Multi-Agent Complex Systems, Neil F. Johnson, David M.D. Smith, Pak Ming Hui, 2005/01/10, arXiv, DOI: cond-mat/0501186
      32. What Entropy at the Edge of Chaos?, Marcello Lissia, Massimo Coraddu, Roberto Tonelli, 2005/01/12, arXiv, DOI: cond-mat/0501299
      33. Scaling In Public Transport Networks, C. von Ferber, Yu. Holovatch, V. Palchykov, 2005/01/12, arXiv, DOI: cond-mat/0501296
      34. Bootlegging and Path Dependency, Peter Augsdorfer, 2005/01/12, Research Policy, Article in Press, Corrected Proof, DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2004.09.010
      35. Kill Spam: Vol 1, Evan P. Greenberg, David R. Cheriton, 2005/01/13, arXiv, DOI: cs.NI/0501027
      36. Individual Variation by Self-organisation, C.K. Hemelrijk, J. Wantia, 2005/02, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 29(1):125-136, DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2004.07.003
      37. Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles To A Science Of Consciousness, Book Announcement, D. C. Dennett, Apr. 2005, Bradford Books
      38. Adaptive Management: A Synthesis Of Current Understanding And Effective Application, E. S. G. Schreiber - sabine.schreiberadse.vic.gov.au, A. R. Bearlin, S. J. Nicol, C. R. Todd, Dec. 2004, Online 2004/11/10, Ecological Management & Restoration, DOI: 10.1111/j.1442-8903.2004.00206.x
      39. Material And Financial Hardship And Income-Based Poverty Measures In The USA, K. S. Short - kshortacensus.gov, Jan. 2005, Journal of Social Policy, DOI: 10.1017/S0047279404008244
      40. The Evolutionary Ecology Of Despotism, K. Summers - summerskamail.ecu.edu, Jan. 2005, online 2004/12/31, Evolution and Human Behavior, DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2004.09.001
      41. The Evolving Tree-A Novel Self-Organizing Network For Data Analysis, J. Pakkanen - jussi.pakkanenahut.fi, J. Iivarinen, E. Oja, Nov. 2004, Neural Processing Letters, DOI: 10.1007/s11063-004-2156-8
      42. The Advantages Of Designing Adaptive Business Agents Using Reputation Modeling Compared To The Approach Of Recursive Modeling, T. Tran, R. Cohen, Nov. 2004, Computational Intelligence, DOI: 10.1111/j.0824-7935.2004.00252.x
      43. Radiant Cool: A Novel Theory Of Consciousness, Book Announcement, D. Lloyd, Oct. 2005, Bradford Books
      44. Resource Partitioning Among Flower Visitors And Evolution Of Nectar Concealment In Multi-Species Communities, M. A. R.-Gironés, L. Santamaría, Online 2005/01/18, Proceedings: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2005.2936
      45. Non-aeolian sand ripples, J. F. Boudet, Y. Amarouchene, B. Bonnier and H. Kellay, published online 24 December 2004, Europhys. Lett., 69 (3), pp. 365-370 (2005) , DOI: DOI: 10.1209/epl/i2004-10366-3
      46. Enhancing complex-network synchronization, A. E. Motter, C. S. Zhou and J. Kurths, published online 5 January 2005, Europhys. Lett., 69 (3), pp. 334-340 (2005) , DOI: DOI: 10.1209/epl/i2004-10365-4

    2. Webcast Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. 1st European Conference on Complex Systems, Torino, Italy, 04/12/5-7
      2. Neurobiological Foundation For The Meaning Of Information, Kolkata, India, Conference Webcast, 04/11/22-25
      3. ALife 9: Ninth International Conference on Artificial Life, Boston, MA, 04/09/12-15
      4. The 4th Intl Workshop on Meta-synthesis and Complex System, Beijing, China, 04/07/22-23
      5. Intl Conf on Complex Networks: Structure, Function and Processes, Kolkata, India, 04/06/27-30
      6. From Autopoiesis to Neurophenomenology: A Tribute to Francisco Varela (1946-2001), Paris, France, 2004/06/18-20
      7. ECC8 Experimental Chaos Conference, Florence, Italy, 04/06/14-17
      8. Evolutionary Epistemology, Language, and Culture, Brussels, Belgium, 04/05/26-28
      9. International Conference on Complex Systems 2004, Boston, 04/05/16-21
      10. Life, a Nobel Story, Brussels, Belgium, 04/04/28
      11. Nonlinear Dynamics and Statistical Mechanics Days, Brussels, Belgium, 04/04/26-27
      12. Science Education Forum for Chinese Language Culture, Panel Discussion, Taipei, Taiwan, 04/05/01
      13. Biologically Inspired Approaches to Advanced Information Technology, , Lausanne,Switzerland, 04/01/29-30
      14. Nonlinear Dynamics And Chaos: Lab Demonstrations, Strogatz, Steven H., Internet-First University Press, 1994
      15. World Economic Forum 2004, Davos, Switzerland
      16. CODIS 2004, International Conference On Communications, Devices And Intelligent Systems, 2004 Calcutta, India, 04/01/09-10
      17. EVOLVABILITY & INTERACTION: Evolutionary Substrates of Communication, Signaling, and Perception in the Dynamics of Social Complexity, London, UK, 03/10/08-10
      18. The Semantic Web and Language Technology - Its Po tential and Practicalities, Bucharest, Romania, 03/07/28-08/08
      19. ECAL 2003, 7th European Conference on Artificial Life, Dortmund, Germany, 03/09/14-17
      20. New Santa Fe Institute President About His Vision for SFI's Future Role, (Video, Santa Fe, NM, 03/06/04)
      21. SPIE's 1st Intl Symp on Fluctuations and Noise, Santa Fe, NM, 2003/06/01-04
      22. NAS Sackler Colloquium on Mapping Knowledge Domains, Video/Audio Report, 03/05/11
      23. 13th Ann Intl Conf, Soc f Chaos Theory in Psych & Life Sciences, Boston, MA, USA, 2003/08/08-10
      24. CERN Webcast Service, Streamed videos of Archived Lectures and Live Events
      25. Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since February 1998
      26. Edge Videos

    3. Conference & Call for Papers Announcements Bookmark and Share

      1. Online Course on Genetic Programming, with Lee Altenberg, University of Hawaii Outreach College 2005/01/10 to 2005/05/13.
      2. Complex Systems and International Security, Washington, DC, 05/02/01
      3. Creative Evolution, London, 05/02/12-13
      4. Kondratieff Waves, Warfare And World Security, NATO Advanced Research Workshop , Covilh? Portugal, 05/02/14-17
      5. Physik seit Einstein, Berlin, Germany, 05/03/04-09
        1. 2005 Meeting Arbeitskreis Physik sozio-oekonomischer Systeme, AKSOE (Socio-Economic-Physics)
      6. 2005 World Exposition " Nature's Wisdom, Aichi, Japan, 05/03/25-09/25
      7. FINCO 2005: Foundations Of Interactive Computation, Edinburgh, Scotland, 05/04/09
      8. 5th Creativity And Cognition Conference, London.UK, 05/04/12-15
      9. Social Intelligence and Interaction in Animals, Robots and Agents, Hatfield, UK, 05/04/12-15
      10. 2005 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Trade Show Nanotech 2005, Anaheim, California, U.S.A., 05/05/08-12
      11. 2ndShanghai Intl Symposium on Nonlinear Science and Applications, Shanghai, 05/06/03-07
      12. IEEE Swarm Intelligence Symposium Pasadena, California, USA, 05/06/08-10
      13. Powders & Grains 2005, Stuttgart, Germany, 05/06/18-22
      14. 6th Intl Conf Symmetry in Nonlinear Mathematical Physics, Kiev, Ukraine, 05/06/20-26
      15. Workshop on Complexity and Policy Analysis, Cork, Ireland, 05/06/22-24
      16. 2005 Genetic And Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-2005), Washington, DC, USA, 05/06/25-29
      17. 6th Intl Summer School/Conference "Let's Face Chaos Through Nonlinear Dynamics"Dedicated to the 75th Birthday of Professor Siegfried Gro吮ann, Maribor, Slovenia, 05/06/26-07/10
      18. WOSC 13th International Congress Of Cybernetics And Systems, Maribor, Slovenia, 05/07/06-10
      19. 5th Gathering on Biosemiotics, Urbino, Italy, 05/07/22-24
      20. Soc for Chaos Theory in Psychology & Life Sciences 15th Annual Intl Conf, Denver, CO, USA, 05/08/04-06
      21. ECAL 2005 - VIIIth European Conference on Artificial Life, Canterbury, Kent, UK, 05/09/05-09
      22. Complexity, Science and Society Conf 2005, Liverpool, UK, 05/09/11-14
      23. 18th International Conference on Noise and Fluctuations (ICNF 2005), Salamanca, Spain, 05/09/19-23
      24. CSDS-2005 Intl Conf on CONTROL AND SYNCHRONIZATION OF DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS , Leon, Guanajuato, MEXICO, 05/10/04-07
      25. 3rd International Complexity Science and Educational Research Conference, Robert, Louisiana, 05/11/20-22, see also: Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education, Inaugural issue - Free Online Access

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