Complexity Digest 2008.31

03-Aug-2008

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Content

  1. Toward A Type 1 Civilization - Along With Energy Policy, Political And Economic Systems Must Also Evolve., Los Angeles Times
    1. Cooperative Homo economicus, SFI Working Papers
    2. Is Altruism Bad for Cooperation?, SFI Working Papers
  2. Common Learning, Econometrica
  3. Life, Logic And Information, Nature
    1. Molecular Computing: A Layer Of Logic, Nature
  4. High-Aptitude Minds: The Neurological Roots of Genius, ScientificAmerican.com
  5. Gray Matters: Brain's Sleep-Time Memory Storage Gets Muddled with Age, Scientific American
    1. A Hormone That Enhances One's Memory Of Happy Faces, Innovations-report
    2. Emotional Robots: Software Empowers Robots To Learn When A Person Is Sad, Happy Or Angry, ScienceDaily
  6. Glia Guide Brain Development In Worms, ScienceDaily
  7. Scientists Hope To Gain Insight Into Fossil Record By Studying Current Size Ranges, The New Mexican
    1. The Evolution and Distribution of Species Body Size, Science
  8. China's Challenges, Nature
    1. China: The End Of The Science Superpowers, Nature
    2. China: Where Have All The Flowers Gone?, Nature
  9. Sociology: Survey Finds Citations Growing Narrower as Journals Move Online, Science
  10. Inflammation, Nature
    1. Origin And Physiological Roles Of Inflammation, Nature
    2. Cancer-Related Inflammation, Nature
  11. The Bacteria Fight Back, Science
  12. Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Natural Environments, Science
  13. Ultrasound Uses in Medicine Heat Up, Science
  14. Protein Robustness Promotes Evolutionary Innovations on Large Evolutionary Time Scales, SFI Working Papers
  15. Genetics: Simple Sleepers, Science
  16. How The Snake Got Its Fangs, Science News
  17. Ecosystem Energetic Implications Of Parasite And Free-Living Biomass In Three Estuaries, Nature
  18. Complex Food Webs Prevent Competitive Exclusion Among Producer Species, Proc. Biol. Sc.
    1. Ecology: Assisted Colonization And Rapid Climate Change, Science
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. War on Terror Out; Counterterrorism In, Wired
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Webcast Announcements
    3. Conference Announcements
    4. Other Announcements

  1. Toward A Type 1 Civilization - Along With Energy Policy, Political And Economic Systems Must Also Evolve., Los Angeles Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: In a 1964 article on searching for extraterrestrial civilizations, the Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev suggested using radio telescopes to detect energy signals from other solar systems in which there might be civilizations of three levels of advancement: Type 1 can harness all of the energy of its home planet; Type 2 can harvest all of the power of its sun; and Type 3 can master the energy from its entire galaxy.


    1. Cooperative Homo economicus, SFI Working Papers Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: Economists and biologists have both provided explanations of decentralized cooperation among self-regarding individuals as a result of repeated interactions. Repeated interactions do provide opportunities for cooperative individuals to discipline defectors, and may be effective in groups of two individuals. However, we will show that none of these models is adequate for groups of reasonable size and for plausible assumptions about the information available to each individual. Moreover, even presupposing extraordinary cognitive capacities and levels of patience among the cooperating individuals, it is unlikely that a group of more than two individuals would ever discover the cooperative equilibria that the models have identified (...)

    2. Is Altruism Bad for Cooperation?, SFI Working Papers Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: (...) Using a utility function embodying both spite and altruism we show that unconditional altruism towards other members attenuates the punishment motive and thus may reduce the level of punishment inflicted on defectors, resulting in lower rather than higher levels of contributions. Increases in altruism may also reduce the level of benefits from the public project net of contribution costs and punishment costs. The negative effect of altruism on cooperation and material payoffs is greater the stronger is the reciprocity motive among the members.

  2. Common Learning, Econometrica Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Consider two agents who learn the value of an unknown parameter by observing a sequence of private signals. The signals are independent and identically distributed across time but not necessarily across agents. We show that when each agent's signal space is finite, the agents will commonly learn the value of the parameter, that is, that the true value of the parameter will become approximate common knowledge. The essential step in this argument is to express the expectation of one agent's signals, conditional on those of the other agent, (...).
    • Source: Common Learning, M. W. Cripps, J. C. Ely - jeffelyanorthwestern.edu, G. J. Mailath - gmailathaecon.upenn.edu, L. Samuelson - larry.samuelsonayale.edu, DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0262.2008.00862.x, Econometrica, Jul. 2008, Online 2008/06/28
    • Contributed by Pritha Das - prithadas01ayahoo.com

  3. Life, Logic And Information, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Focusing on information flow will help us to understand better how cells and organisms work. (...)

    But comprehensive understanding of many higher-level biological phenomena remains elusive. Even at the level of the cell, phenomena such as general cellular homeostasis and the maintenance of cell integrity, the generation of spatial and temporal order, inter- and intracellular signalling, cell 'memory' and reproduction are not fully understood.

    This is also true for the levels of organization seen in tissues, organs and organisms, which feature more complex phenomena such as embryonic development and operation of the immune and nervous systems.

    1. Molecular Computing: A Layer Of Logic, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Silicon chips have thousands of electronic logic gates etched on them. But there are other ways to decorate monolithic surfaces with logic gates, as a system using metal complexes secured to glass slides shows.

  4. High-Aptitude Minds: The Neurological Roots of Genius, ScientificAmerican.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Smarter brains tend to be bigger - at least in certain locations. Researchers have fingered parts of the parietal and frontal lobes as well as a structure called the anterior cingulate as important for superior cognition.

    Some studies suggest that the brains of brighter people use less energy to solve certain problems than those of people with lower aptitudes do. But under certain circumstances, scientists have also observed higher neuronal power consumption in individuals with superior mental capacities.

    People often overestimate the importance of intellectual ability. Practice and perseverance contribute more to accomplishment than being smart does.

  5. Gray Matters: Brain's Sleep-Time Memory Storage Gets Muddled with Age, Scientific American Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: University of Arizona in Tucson researchers report in The Journal of Neuroscience that forgetfulness may, at least in part, stem from a breakdown in the brain's ability to store or consolidate memories, a process that involves "replaying" and filing away events while we snooze.

    In a study of rats, the scientists found that when the animals were at rest there were repeating patterns of neuronal (nerve cell) activity believed to be involved in moving information from short-term to long-term memory vaults in the brain. The process, however, was disrupted in the older rats.

    1. A Hormone That Enhances One's Memory Of Happy Faces, Innovations-report Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: (...) shows that one way oxytocin promotes social affiliation in humans is by enhancing the encoding of positive social memories. (...) sought to evaluate the effects of oxytocin on the encoding and recognition of faces in humans. They recruited healthy male volunteers and in a double-blind, randomized design, administered either oxytocin or a placebo. They then presented a series of happy, angry and neutral human faces (...). The results revealed that those who received oxytocin were more likely to remember the happy faces they had seen previously, more so than the angry and neutral faces. (...)

    2. Emotional Robots: Software Empowers Robots To Learn When A Person Is Sad, Happy Or Angry, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: A robot with empathy sounds like the stuff of sci-fi movies, but with the aid of neural networks European researchers are developing robots in tune with our emotions. Feelix Growing is developing software empowering robots that can learn when a person is sad, happy or angry. The learning part is achieved through the use of artificial neural networks, which are well suited to the varied and changing inputs (...). Using cameras and sensors, the very simple robots being built by the researchers - using mostly off-the-shelf parts - can detect different parameters, such as a person's facial expressions, voice, and proximity to determine emotional state. (...)

  6. Glia Guide Brain Development In Worms, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Again and again, experiments confirmed it. Without glia, neurons die. So scientists who wanted to study in living animals what glia - the most abundant brain cells - do for neurons besides keep them alive were out of luck. But now, a breakthrough. A system unveiled (...) shows that in the Caenorhabditis elegans worm, neurons live on despite the absence of glia, a landmark discovery that paves the way for scientists to explore the dialogue between these team players in their natural environment. (...) most brain tumors and many neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's Disease, may arise from these cells, (...).

  7. Scientists Hope To Gain Insight Into Fossil Record By Studying Current Size Ranges, The New Mexican Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: That more recent fossil record, they think, can help scientists better understand the size differences between animals in a group - like mammals or lizards or dinosaurs - from times much further back than 50 million years, such as the time of the dinosaurs, which ended 65 million years ago, Clauset said.

    "This model may give us a way of estimating what we're missing in the fossil record," Clauset said.

    That could be useful because fossils from the time of the dinosaurs, for instance, can be very deceptive.

    1. The Evolution and Distribution of Species Body Size, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The distribution of species body size within taxonomic groups exhibits a heavy right tail extending over many orders of magnitude, where most species are much larger than the smallest species. We provide a simple model of cladogenetic diffusion over evolutionary time that omits explicit mechanisms for interspecific competition and other microevolutionary processes, yet fully explains the shape of this distribution. We estimate the model's parameters from fossil data and find that it robustly reproduces the distribution of 4002 mammal species from the late Quaternary.

  8. China's Challenges, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: By almost every measure, China's growth is extraordinary. But behind the astonishing statistics is a more complex reality.

    Discussions of China's emergence as a superpower often focus on matters of scale. This is understandable. China's borders encompass more than 1.3 billion people - one in every five humans on the planet - and stunningly diverse terrain, from the Yellow River plain in the east to the Himalayan plateau in the west. In science and technology, China now generates more publications than any other country bar the United States, and ranks third in the number of doctoral degrees it awards.

    1. China: The End Of The Science Superpowers, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: From around 1735 until 1840 France led the world of science. (...) But ultimately, the centralized system led to rigidity and decline in the quality of science.

      Next the nexus shifted to Germany, from the middle of the nineteenth century until the 1920s. This period saw the birth of a new type of research-oriented university, (...).

      At the beginning of the twentieth century, the hub shifted to Britain. Over the next half century, scientific funding from government and industry rose, the university system was vigorous, (...).

      The United States emerged from the Second World War as the world's economic superpower, facilitating the dominance of its system of science. (...)

      Yet history suggests that the United States has no cause for complacency.

    2. China: Where Have All The Flowers Gone?, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: At least 117 boys were being born for every 100 girls at the beginning of this century in China. (...)

      In 1982 the average male-to-female ratio at birth in China was 1.07 (as opposed to the normal level of 1.03-1.06); by 2000, various estimates put it at 1.17-1.21. And according to even official figures, the female-to-male infant mortality ratio rose during this period from around 0.95 to 1.46. The timing seems to imply a direct link to the one-child policy, although Guilmoto points out that the sex ratio has also increased in recent times in countries where no such restrictions apply, such as India and South Korea.

  9. Sociology: Survey Finds Citations Growing Narrower as Journals Move Online, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: A sociologist argues on page 395 of this week's issue of Science that making scholarly articles available online has narrowed citations to more recent and less diverse articles than before--the opposite of what most people expected. (...)

    Oddly, "our studies show the opposite," says Carol Tenopir,(...). She (...), have surveyed thousands of scientists over the years for their scholarly reading habits. They found that scientists are reading older articles and reading more broadly--at least one article a year from 23 different journals, compared with 13 journals in the late 1970s.

  10. Inflammation, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Inflammation is the body's immediate response to damage to its tissues and cells by pathogens, noxious stimuli such as chemicals, or physical injury. Acute inflammation is a short-term response that usually results in healing: leukocytes infiltrate the damaged region, removing the stimulus and repairing the tissue. Chronic inflammation, by contrast, is a prolonged, dysregulated and maladaptive response that involves active inflammation, tissue destruction and attempts at tissue repair. Such persistent inflammation is associated with many chronic human conditions and diseases, including allergy, atherosclerosis, cancer, arthritis and autoimmune diseases.
    • Source: Inflammation, Ursula Weiss, DOI: 10.1038/454427a, Nature 454, 427, 08/07/24

    1. Origin And Physiological Roles Of Inflammation, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Inflammation underlies a wide variety of physiological and pathological processes. Although the pathological aspects of many types of inflammation are well appreciated, their physiological functions are mostly unknown. The classic instigators of inflammation - infection and tissue injury - are at one end of a large range of adverse conditions that induce inflammation, and they trigger the recruitment of leukocytes and plasma proteins to the affected tissue site. Tissue stress or malfunction similarly induces an adaptive response, which is referred to here as para-inflammation.

    2. Cancer-Related Inflammation, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The mediators and cellular effectors of inflammation are important constituents of the local environment of tumours. In some types of cancer, inflammatory conditions are present before a malignant change occurs. Conversely, in other types of cancer, an oncogenic change induces an inflammatory microenvironment that promotes the development of tumours. Regardless of its origin, 'smouldering' inflammation in the tumour microenvironment has many tumour-promoting effects. It aids in the proliferation and survival of malignant cells, promotes angiogenesis and metastasis, subverts adaptive immune responses, and alters responses to hormones and chemotherapeutic agents.
      • Source: Cancer-Related Inflammation, Alberto Mantovani, Paola Allavena, Antonio Sica, Frances Balkwill, DOI: 10.1038/nature07205, Nature 454, 436-444, 08/07/24

  11. The Bacteria Fight Back, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: In their ongoing war against antibiotics, the bacteria seem to be winning, and the drug pipeline is verging on empty. (...)

    One of the many misconceptions about bacterial infections is that the bugs involved are not native to the human body or are particularly pernicious to begin with. Virtually all bacteria are capable of causing serious infections, at least in immunocompromised patients, although most do not. In hospitalized patients, many infections arise from the patient's own bacterial flora, flourishing where they're not supposed to be.

    • Source: The Bacteria Fight Back, Gary Taubes, DOI: 10.1126/science.321.5887.356, Science : Vol. 321. no. 5887, pp. 356 - 361, 08/07/18

  12. Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Natural Environments, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The large majority of antibiotics currently used for treating infections and the antibiotic resistance genes acquired by human pathogens each have an environmental origin. Recent work indicates that the function of these elements in their environmental reservoirs may be very distinct from the "weapon-shield" role they play in clinical settings. Changes in natural ecosystems, including the release of large amounts of antimicrobials, might alter the population dynamics of microorganisms, including selection of resistance, with consequences for human health that are difficult to predict.

  13. Ultrasound Uses in Medicine Heat Up, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: New ultrasound-based technologies, described at the Acoustics '08 meeting, are poised to probe the inner structure of bones and treat otherwise incurable cancers. (...)

    Cancer researchers discussed high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) therapy, which focuses ultrasound beams on a single spot inside the body, such as the center of a tumor. (...). HIFU is already used to treat cancer in easily accessible tissue such as in the prostate and uterus, but the brain has so far been off-limits because the skull makes focusing the beams nearly impossible.

  14. Protein Robustness Promotes Evolutionary Innovations on Large Evolutionary Time Scales, SFI Working Papers Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Recent laboratory experiments suggest that a molecule's ability to evolve neutrally is important for its ability to generate evolutionary innovations. In contrast to laboratory experiments, life unfolds on time scales of billions of years. Here, we ask whether a molecule's ability to evolve neutrally - a measure of its robustness - facilitates evolutionary innovation also on these large time scales. To this end, we use protein designability, the number of sequences that can adopt a given protein structure, as an estimate of the structure's ability to evolve neutrally. Based on two complementary measures of functional diversity - catalytic diversity and molecular function diversity in gene ontology - we show that more robust proteins have a greater capacity to produce functional innovations. Significant associations among structural designability, folding rate, and intrinsic disorder also exist, underlining the complex relationship of the structural factors that affect protein evolution.

  15. Genetics: Simple Sleepers, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Classic genetic model organisms--fruit flies, zebrafish, and roundworms--are popular newcomers in sleep research laboratories, although debate continues about how much their dozing relates to human slumber.(...)

    When birds and mammals sleep, their brains generate characteristic electrical patterns that denote deep sleep and dreaming. Since discovering this phenomenon in 1953 using electroencephalogram recordings of human brains, scientists have incorporated EEG patterns into the definition of sleep. But the simpler brains of flies, worms, and even reptiles don't produce those patterns, and no one was certain these animals even sleep.

  16. How The Snake Got Its Fangs, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    By observing gene activity in snake embryos, a team revealed that, on the evolutionary tree, fangs sprang from one source. Pictured is the 18-day-old embryo of an African night adder. (...)
    Credit: F. Vonk and M. Richardson
    It likely all started when the back of the mouth left the front. (...)

    Dagger-sharp frontal fangs allow cobras and vipers to prey on feisty mammals such as the large desert rat. Garter snakes, corn snakes and others that hunt less volatile creatures do just fine with fangs in the back of their mouth. What confused biologists, however, was learning that the front-fanged snakes don't fall into a neat group. In the snake tree of life, rear-fanged snakes are scattered on evolutionary branches in between the cobras and the more recently evolved vipers, which indicates that fangs evolved at least a couple of times on separate branches leading to front-fanged snakes.

  17. Ecosystem Energetic Implications Of Parasite And Free-Living Biomass In Three Estuaries, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Parasites can have strong impacts but are thought to contribute little biomass to ecosystems. We quantified the biomass of free-living and parasitic species in three estuaries (...). Here we show that parasites have substantial biomass in these ecosystems. We found that parasite biomass exceeded that of top predators. The biomass of trematodes was particularly high, being comparable to that of the abundant birds, fishes, burrowing shrimps and polychaetes. Trophically transmitted parasites and parasitic castrators subsumed more biomass than did other parasitic functional groups.
    • Source: Ecosystem Energetic Implications Of Parasite And Free-Living Biomass In Three Estuaries, Armand M. Kuris, Ryan F. Hechinger, Jenny C. Shaw, Kathleen L. Whitney, Leopoldina Aguirre-Macedo, Charlie A. Boch, Andrew P. Dobson, Eleca J. Dunham, Brian L. Fredensborg, Todd C. Huspeni, Julio Lorda, Luzviminda Mababa, Frank T. Mancini, Adrienne B. Mora, Maria Pickering, Nadia L. Talhouk, Mark E. Torchin, Kevin D. Lafferty, DOI: 10.1038/nature06970, Nature 454, 515-518, 08/07/24

  18. Complex Food Webs Prevent Competitive Exclusion Among Producer Species, Proc. Biol. Sc. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Herbivorous top-down forces and bottom-up competition for nutrients determine the coexistence and relative biomass patterns of producer species. Combining models of predator-prey and producer-nutrient interactions with a structural model of complex food webs, I investigated these two aspects in a dynamic food-web model. While competitive exclusion leads to persistence of only one producer species in 99.7% of the simulated simple producer communities without consumers, embedding the same producer communities in complex food webs generally yields producer coexistence. (...) This negative feedback loop regulates the coexistence and biomass patterns of the producers by balancing biomass increases of producers and biomass fluxes to herbivores, (...).

    1. Ecology: Assisted Colonization And Rapid Climate Change, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Moving species outside their historic ranges may mitigate loss of biodiversity in the face of global climate change. (...)

      Current conservation practices may not be enough to avert species losses in the face of mid- to upper-level climate projections (> 3 deg C) , because the extensive clearing and destruction of natural habitats by humans disrupts processes that underpin species dispersal and establishment. Therefore, resource managers and policy-makers must contemplate moving species to sites where they do not currently occur or have not been known to occur in recent history.

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

    1. War on Terror Out; Counterterrorism In, Wired Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      By analyzing a comprehensive roster of terrorist groups that existed worldwide between 1968 and 2006, the authors found that most groups ended because of operations carried out by local police or intelligence agencies or because they negotiated a settlement with their governments. Military force was rarely the primary reason a terrorist group ended, and few groups within this time frame achieved victory.
      Many people have said it, but now a respected think tank has put its imprimatur on it: the "global war on terror" is a misguided concept. A major new RAND study look at how terrorist groups have historically ended, concludes that in most cases, political accommodation and infiltration -- not brute force -- broke up the groups. Of course, RAND also notes that political accommodation works when the terrorists' goals are narrow (i.e. RAND is not recommending political accommodation with Al Qaeda, which has far-reaching goals).

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. The Organization of Intrinsic Computation: Complexity-Entropy Diagrams and the Diversity of Natural Information Processing, David P. Feldman, Carl S. McTague, and James P. Crutchfield, SFI Working Papers, DOI: SFI-WP 08-07-028
      2. Market Selection and Asset Pricing, Lawrence Blume and David Easley, SFI Working Papers, DOI: SFI-WP 08-07-027
      3. Neutral Network Sizes of Biological RNA Molecules Can Be Computed and Are Atypically Large, Thomas Jörg, Olivier C. Martin, and Andreas Wagner, SFI Working Papers, DOI: SFI-WP 08-06-025
      4. Developmental Biology: Grasping Limb Patterning, Clifford J. Tabin, Andrew P. McMahon, 08/07/18, Science : 350-352. Recent studies offer insights into how a molecular signal controls the growth and patterning of the digits on vertebrate limbs during development.
      5. Evolutionary Origins for Social Vocalization in a Vertebrate Hindbrain–Spinal Compartment, Andrew H. Bass, Edwin H. Gilland, Robert Baker, 08/07/18, Science : 417-421. The conserved neural circuitry for vocal communication in fish and other tetrapods suggests that this function may have originated prior to the evolution of bony vertebrates.
      6. Shaping Robust System through Evolution, Kunihiko Kaneko, 2008/07/09, arXiv [Chaos (2008)18, 026112], DOI: 0807.1367
      7. Behavioural Phenotype Affects Social Interactions In An Animal Network, T. W. Pike, M. Samanta, J. Lindström, N. J. Royle, 2008/07/22, Proceedings B: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2008.0744
      8. The Type And Timing Of Social Information Alters Offspring Production, R. J. Fletcher, Jr, C. W. Miller, 2008/07/22, Biological Letters, DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2008.0306
      9. Meet Robo Habilis, 2008/07/23, Innovations-report
      10. Adult Stem Cells Activated In Mammalian Brain, 2008/07/26, ScienceDaily & University of California - Irvine
      11. Web Address Total Tops One Trillion: Google Reveals Latest Internet Milestone, S. Nichols, 2008/07/28, vnunet.com
      12. Effects Of Physical Training On The Heart, 2008/07/28, Innovations-report
      13. Birdsong Not Just For The Birds: Bio-Acoustic Method Also Hears Nature’s Cry For Help, 2008/07/28, Innovations-report
      14. The Kids Most Likely To Go Armed, 2008/07/28, ScienceDaily & BioMed Central Limited
      15. A Landscape Theory For Food Web Architecture, N. Rooney - nrooneyauoguelph.ca, K. S. McCann, J. C. Moore, Aug. 2008, Online 2008/04/28, Ecology Letters, DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2008.01193.x
      16. Is It Mine? Hemispheric Asymmetries In Corporeal Self-Recognition, F. Frassinetti, M. Maini, S. Romualdi, E. Galante, S. Avanzi, Aug. 2008, Online 2008/07/16, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2008.20067
      17. Particle Competition For Complex Network Community Detection, M. G. Quiles, L. Zhao, R. L. Alonso, R. A. F. Romero, Sep. 2008, online 2008/07/23, Chaos, DOI: 10.1063/1.2956982

    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. On the Edge: Healthcare in the Age of Complexity, Kansas City, MO, 08/08/03-05
      2. Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology & Life Sciences 18th Annl Intl Conf, Richmond, Virginia, USA, 08/08/08-10
      3. Stochastic Resonance 2008, Perugia, Italy, 08/08/17-21
      4. 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
      5. Intl Conf DEscribing COmplex Systems (DECOS), Zadar, Croatia, 08/09/03-07
      6. BICS Conference - Emergence in Complex Systems, Bath, UK, 08/09/09-11
      7. 5th European Conference on Complex Systems, Jerusalem, Israel, 08/09/14-19
      8. EPOS 2008, III Edition of Epistemological Perspectives on Simulation, Lisbon, Portugal, 08/10/02-03
      9. 1st Intl Conf on the Evolution and Development of the Universe, Paris, France, 08/10/08-09
      10. International Congress on Complex Thought, Hermosillo , Sonora , Mexico, 08/10/21-24
      11. What Is Computation? (How) Does Nature Compute? - 2008 Midwest NKS Conference, Bloomington, IN, 08/10/30-11/02
      12. 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
      13. 2008 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence (WI-08), Sydney, Australia, 08/12/09-12
      14. COMPLEX'2009, First Intl Conf on Complex Systems: Theory and Applications, Shanghai, China, 09/02/23-25
      15. Models and Simulations 3 Conference, Charlottesville, USA 09/03/05-07

    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


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