Complexity
“As our cultural artifacts are increasingly measured in gigabytes and terabytes, organizing, sorting and displaying information in an efficient way is crucial to advancing knowledge.” — Manuel Lima
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The Question of Quantum Chaos
December 14, 2009
Chaos is everywhere in the natural world, present in the coiling of smoke rings, the fronds of ferns, and the beating of our hearts. But at the level of quantum physics, chaos as we now define it is unquantifiable.
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Erasing Dark Energy
September 24, 2009
Why do we need dark energy to explain the observable universe? Two mathematicians propose an alternate solution that, while beautiful, may raise even more questions than it answers.
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Mapping the Brain’s Highways
August 11, 2009
Neuroscientists are mapping out a complete atlas of connectivity in the human brain, but what’s emerging is a battle of scales.
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Ants and Neurons
July 23, 2009
Insect colonies offer insight into the mysterious conversations of neurons, illuminating how billions of individual brain cells work in concert to make a single decision.
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Serious Fun
June 23, 2009
Kodu doesn’t have realistic graphics, huge explosions, or even a way to win. But it just might change the way we think about the world.
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Critical Mass
June 22, 2009
For particle physicists who study phase transitions, a traffic jam is simply a solid made up of idling cars.
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The Living Robot
March 26, 2009
Researchers have developed a robot capable of learning and interacting with the world using a biological brain.
complexity, engineering, networks, neuroscience, robotics, technology
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Beyond a Theory of Everything
February 17, 2009
On the very large and very small versus the very, very complex.
complexity, limits, scale, theory, truth
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Adapting to a New Economy
February 12, 2009
An evolutionary perspective on economics can explain how we got into this current mess, and how we might find our way out.
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Into the Landscape of Genomic Evolution
February 12, 2009
How the tools of genetic sequencing are changing the way we study the origins and development of life.
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Evolution of Life in 60 Seconds
February 12, 2009
A video experiment in scale, condensing 4.6 billion years of history into a minute.
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Seed Salon: Networks, Society, and the Evolution of Cooperation
February 04, 2009
Albert-László Barabási + James Fowler: The physicist and the political scientist discuss contagion and the Obama campaign, debate the natural selection of robustness and ask whether society is turning inward.
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Chaos Begets Chaos
January 08, 2009
A new study supports the controversial claim that people can be morally swayed by the state of their surroundings.
complexity, crime, decision making, entropy, research, theory
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Elaborate Origins for Simple Things
November 11, 2008
Nerveless and disc-shaped, Trichoplax still has some of complex life's most important cellular tools.
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Rheanna Sand
October 17, 2008
On the order and chaos within us.
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Out of the Blue
March 03, 2008
Can a thinking, remembering, decision-making, biologically accurate brain be built from a supercomputer?
cognition, complexity, design, information, innovation, neuroscience
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Algorithmic Inelegance
January 07, 2008
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A Profound Sense of Time
October 17, 2007
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Science in 2006
January 16, 2006
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New & Notable: 11/26 - 12/02
December 05, 2005
Now on SEEDMAGAZINE.COM
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World
Press Gang
With New York City about to let bloggers qualify for press passes, a look at what breaking down the walls between old and new media means for science reporting.
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Culture
The Ancient, Distant, and Dead
Inspired by scientific research, Katie Paterson creates art based on data from faraway melting glaciers, long-dead stars, and the initial moments of the universe.
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Ideas
A Sober Assessment
Alcohol is an important part of life in many cultures throughout the world, but there are many misperceptions about this common social lubricant.
