Stifter: “genuine freedom, demands the most self-control, the constraint of one’s desires… The foremost, and only enemies of freedom, therefore are all these people who are possessed by powerful desires and urges, which they wish to gratify by any means”

The latest issue of Scientific American is the 180th anniversary, and they have a series of articles about "180 degree turnarounds" in science. Here's mine on RNA.

#1: 🎡 Vienna in the early 1900s was the center of the intellectual world, the fourth largest city in Europe, and home to “dazzling coteries of thinkers.” ...

What a great and fun video on echolocation!

A new paper out on arxiv today: "Collective contributions to #polarization in #political #voting" arxiv.org/abs/2508.02496 #physics #complexity 🧪🦋

Our paper on innovation/exnovation is up! journals.aps.org/prresearch/a...

Another call for scientists looking to move to #Europe: www.researchireland.ie/funding/glob... #academicsky 🧪

"Philip Anderson's 'More is Different'...profound ideas are lost when it is invoked to support a rather overworked sense of emergence...'the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.'" -Krakauer #complexity #emergence 🧪🦋

“Meet the early-career scientists planning to leave the United States” “Funding to start a laboratory is generally lower in those countries than it is in the United States, but the career prospects seem more stable” #academia #postdocs 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Lévi-Strauss, The Savage Mind, excerpts (1/n)

Anthony Downs, influential #political theorist (i.e. #economist) defines a #democracy in his 1957 article as... www.jstor.org/stable/1827369 "A democracy is a political system that exhibits the following characteristics:

Once upon a time… "For what pertains to warfare, nothing is required but practice in the mathematical sciences, that is, cosmography, geography and topography, in the mechanics of…

Some excerpts from Kuhn’s Essential Tension, “Mathematical and experimental traditions” (1/n) 🧪

I'm excited to say that one of the most exploratory and thought-provoking papers I've worked on in recent years was just accepted at Physical Review Research. Preprint here: arxiv.org/abs/2502.21072 #physics #innovation 🧪🦋 @apsphysics.bsky.social

Are you a #postdoc in the US looking to next steps? The Austrian Academy of Sciences is opening up 25 fellowships: www.oeaw.ac.at/en/news/25-n... A great reason to use our visitor program at #Complexity #Science Hub @csh.ac.at and see how you would fit in: csh.ac.at/engage/resea... 🧪🦋

Oh man, this one looks exciting

Looks a lot like second order phase transition? See How Marine Heat Waves Are Spreading Across the Globe www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/c...

We’re adapting to the changing scientific climate @csh.ac.at Step 1 is extending our visitor to host people to help them orient in the Vienna/Europe environment. Check it out csh.ac.at/engage/resea...

A horrifying read. "We’re talking about nearly half the tree of life disappearing in one human lifetime. That is absolutely catastrophic." 🌍🧪 www.theguardian.com/environment/... #Biodiversity #Insect #Pollution #ClimateCollapse

In 1945, Vannevar Bush compiled 5 pillars for solid #scientific #research from a number of reports and working committees that analyzed how the US could become a scientific leader. Here they are 🧪

Hey #complexity colleagues 🧪🦋 Can you imagine your next steps at Complexity Science Hub? We'd like to ease a transition to #Europe across levels of seniority with our new extended, exploration visitor program. csh.ac.at/engage/resea... 1/3

I recall some aspect of this debate mentioned in the budget cuts as more scientific investment not leading to breakthroughs. As this article makes clear, we don't know why this is the case. Perhaps its serious underinvestment for what is necessary for returns (i.e. the Bloom et al. argument)...🧪1/2

Complex systems!

This is just incredibly cool. Contact lenses using nanoparticles to render infrared light visible.

Pretty and amazing: calculatingempires.net?pos=13937.00...

Rush Holt’s forward to the highly influential Vannevar Bush report Endless Frontier has not aged well in terms of his broader call to science (published 2021), and it’s tragic reading it, but here are some excerpts. 🧪 #funding #research #development #academic #investment #innovation

Choose Science. Choose Europe. A new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 call is now open. With a budget of €404.3 million, it will support around 1,650 researchers from Europe and beyond. Apply by 10 September → europa.eu/!fBTMgF

“The first priority is to ensure that science in Europe remains open and free. That is our calling card,” Ms. von der Leyen said. “As threats rise across the world, Europe will not compromise on its principles. Europe must remain the home of free academic and scientific values.” 🧪

Biology is beautiful

Are you #Europe curious and into #complex 🦋systems? Looking for a #postdoc, professorship, #grants? Stay tuned 📡 In the coming weeks, @csh.ac.at is rolling out initiatives to bring scientists to the wonderful city of #Vienna in these trying times. Check who we are csh.ac.at/research/res... 🧪

Ziman's 1998 essay "Why must scientists become more ethically sensitive than they used to be?" has renewed relevance for current times. 🧪 Some excerpts below (skimping on qualifications to his claims) #ethics #academia #research www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Just heard @erc.europa.eu will increase funding for grantees relocating to #Europe. Researchers based in the US or elsewhere in the world, can apply for €1 million beyond the usual max amount to set up a lab or #research team, if scientifically justified. Now to be €2 million. 🧪 #grants #academic

🧠👁️Open Access to 0.5 billion synapses The MICrONS #openaccess dataset maps activity and connections across multiple areas of the mouse visual cortex – linking function, structure, and computation in unprecedented detail. 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41... #SciComm 🧪

BREAKING: On Friday, the federal government issued new demands of Harvard University. The university's lawyers just responded: back off.

Reading the transcript of Princeton's president Eisengruber on the Daily and what a cogent, powerful, and brave defense of #academic #freedom. @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/p...? A few highlights, but it's worth a read.

Safe Place for Science: www.univ-amu.fr/fr/public/ac... VUB emergence funding for postdocs: www.vub.be/en/news/vub-... 🧪

We need a dictation mode for scientists. “power law”->”parallel” “stochasticity”->” static in the city” “Poisson”->”person” 😒

#Technology is transforming #law, presenting new challenges and opportunities—and especially of concern as the rule of law is under assault in democracies today. #democracy #ruleoflaw #summerschool #como #complexity 🧪🦋

Anyone know what the usual number of ERC starting grant reviewers is? (I have six, from across disciplines, which is a surefire way to get a negative.)

The latest from the SFI Press: "The Complex World" is now available in ebook format! 📖📱 Purchase your own digital copy for Kindle, Kobo, or through Apple Books! www.sfipress.org/books/the-co...

Authentic and enjoyable article (I was Paul's advisee). He does, indeed, have a great sense of humor.

15 American scientists working in climate, health & astrophysics to be brought to the University of Aix-Marseille , under a 3-year "Safe Place for Science". Europe positions itself to reverse the decades-long transatlantic brain drain. 🧪 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Once upon a time at Cornell…

New 🗒️led by Alex Pigot - Macroecological rules predict how biomass scales with species richness in nature -Standing biomass increases with richness when large-bodied spp are numerically rare but independent when spp size & abundance are uncoupled. @ucl.ac.uk - Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#Political #voting, institutional #integrity, #legal rules are a big deal today, partly because they are being exploited deeply violated. The developing science of this is LEGAL #COMPLEXITY. We are excited to be running a school on this topic. Apps due March 30. lcte.lakecomoschool.org 🧪🦋

A packed room on the #physics of #democracy and #conflict #DPG2025

Holy shit. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say they’re trying to kill us all. “The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate its scientific research arm, firing as many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists”

Undergraduate Upends a 40-Year-Old Data Science Conjecture www.wired.com/story/underg...

🌍 CCS 2025 – Call for Abstracts! 🚀 ⏳ Only a few days left! Deadline: 20 March Share your research on complex systems and connect with experts worldwide! Submit your abstract and be part of the future. 🔗 Submit now: ccs25.cssociety.org 🔗 #CCS25

It’s Sunday. Enjoy this beautiful slime mold. It’s probably Hemitrichia calyculata. Each little lollipop is just under 2mm tall. 🌱🌿 #slimemoldSunday #macro #photography #nature