News + Events

Organisms that respond quickly to changing environments have an advantage over those that don’t. However, reacting too quickly wastes time and energy in tracking meaningless environmental changes. A new study presents a mathematical model for optimal learning in a changing environment.

A recent study by SFI Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow Katrin Schmelz and coauthors explores various scenarios when it may be beneficial to stand out and when it might be better to blend in. 

Every other month, the subscription-based indie press ISOLARII publishes a single book. ISOLARII’s distinctive palm-sized volumes offer thought-provoking texts on exquisitely crafted pages. Their newest release — a 120-page reprint of science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick’s 1978 speech “How To Build A Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later” — includes an introduction by SFI President David Krakauer. 

The emergence of new viruses is often unpredictable, jumping as they might from infecting one species to another. A November 12–13 working group organized by SFI External Professor Santiago Elena convenes to identify which factors are important to emerging viral pathogens. 

Fifty-six participants from six continents met at SFI for the 2024 Postdocs in Complexity Global Summit on September 23–26. Participants shared knowledge and skills, discussed challenges, deepened existing research collaborations, and developed new project ideas.

SFI's Past President and Distinguished Shannan Professor Geoffrey West has received the Freedom of the City of London award. West was nominated by the Lord Mayor, Professor Michael Mainelli, for his work on scaling theory and its implications for the growth and dynamics of cities, companies, and the sustainability of the planet. West received the award at a ceremony in London’s Mansion House on October 28.

No matter how mundane or life-changing, the decisions we make are necessarily based on whatever limited information is available to us. If you’re weighing the risks of going outside during a pandemic, for example, you might base your decision on the news (which is updated only periodically) or whether you personally knew anybody who was sick (which is a small sample size.) SFI Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow Aanjaneya Kumar studies the science of making sound decisions based on limited information.

SFI has consistently nurtured relationships with insightful practitioners and radical innovators. In robust discussions, these leaders have raised provoking questions and offered access to data, while SFI scientists have shared insights and tools to help business leaders tackle real-world problems. In this ACtioN-member profile, SFI reflects on a 30-year relationship with The MITRE Corporation, SFI's longest-standing ACtioN member.

In a new PNAS Perspective, a team of authors argues that stochastic thermodynamics provides the mathematical tools needed to investigate the energy usage of all computational systems.

SFI Publications Manager Katie Mast was elected to the Board of the National Association of Science Writers (NASW). She joins 14 other board members and begins her two-year term on November 11.

SFI External Professor C. Brandon Ogbunu (Yale University) received a 2024 Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communications from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

SFI Applied Complexity Fellow Sam Zhang wants to understand the causal mechanisms that drive outcomes — particularly the undesirable ones — in real-world complex social systems. How do the myriad social, institutional, and systemic forces we create sometimes collide to lead to inequalities and human-rights injustices?

Exploring complex social systems with a quantitative approach involves abstracting rich and nuanced data. Many tools for analyzing these data are then developed with assumptions that do not always reflect or incorporate more qualitative, or theoretical, observations of the systems in question. SFI Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow Izabel Aguiar contends that what is lost in the process of strict quantification — a qualitative understanding of both nuance and pattern — creates potential blind spots in scientific fields that aim to quantitatively study human interactions.

In his new monograph, Kierkegaard’s Concept of the Interesting: The Aesthetic Gulf in “Either/Or” I, SFI Research Fellow Anthony Eagan guides readers through the first volume of Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard's "Either/Or."

An October 7–9 workshop on “The Theory of Genetics: Articulating and Formalizing Theories of Biological Information” met as part of an ambitious project to develop an overarching theory for biology.

In the world of science journalism, a variety of fellowships offer opportunities to build skills, network, and find story ideas. Several programs invite journalists for a weekend, a month, or even a year. SFI’s Journalism Fellowship is one of a few that require fellows to put aside their journalism hats for an extended period to immerse themselves in learning. Applications for the 2025 CSSS Journalism Fellowship are open now through February 17, 2025.

SFI External Professor Andrea J. Liu (University of Pennsylvania) is the recipient of the APS 2025 Leo P. Kadanoff Prize, the American Physical Society announced on October 15. Liu is a statistical physicist who studies condensed-matter physics and biophysics. This award recognizes her “broad contributions to the statistical mechanics of disordered systems and biological matter, including the theory of jamming” — the theory of rigidity in a large class of disordered systems. 

SFI External Professor Tanmoy Bhattacharya (Los Alamos National Laboratory) has been elected as a fellow of the American Physical Society. He is recognized for his groundbreaking contributions to computational and fundamental physics, especially to lattice QCD and computational biology, including computations of the QCD equation of state at finite temperature, the neutron electric dipole moment, and the timing of the spread of the modern HIV pandemic.

A new study in Theory and Society shows that the printing of witch-hunting manuals, particularly the Malleus Maleficarum in 1487, played a crucial role in spreading persecution across Europe. The study also highlights how trials in one city influenced others. This social influence — observing what neighbors were doing — played a key role in whether a city would adopt witch trials.

In the past, a person might be diagnosed with hysteria — a mental condition for which no useful treatment could be possible, because the diagnostic category was too broad and unfounded. The idea of “hysteria” limited our understanding of the human mind. SFI Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow Marina Dubova wants to challenge contemporary categories and methods in science that may limit rather than enhance our understanding of the world.