Mexico, as well as most countries in Latin America, will experience the impacts of an ageing population sooner and faster than other parts of the world. The defining problem of our time.

Cities worldwide struggle with #traffic congestion, pollution, and car dependency. Surprisingly, traffic light timing, a factor often overlooked, can strongly influence travel choices. This new #RSOS paper investigates: doi.org/10.1098/rsos... @rafaelprietocuriel.bsky.social

This traffic light in #Vienna gives cars 85 seconds of green light, but only 15 to pedestrians, not enough to cross the road! Our paper discusses how traffic lights favour car mobility in the city. @royalsociety.org @csh.ac.at @thewaroncars.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...

📢NEXT WEEK! Don't miss our keynote speaker @rafaelprietocuriel.bsky.social of the Complexity Science Hub, as part of our @iasamsterdam.bsky.social IAS Festival event, Network Science for the Society of the Future.

📢We're organzing a 2-hour hybrid event on May 20 at @iasamsterdam.bsky.social titled Network Science for the Society of the Future, with a keynote speech by @rafaelprietocuriel.bsky.social! Go to our website to sign up:

This traffic light in #Vienna gives cars 85 seconds of green light, but only 15 to pedestrians, not enough to cross the road! Our paper discusses how traffic lights favour car mobility in the city. @royalsociety.org @csh.ac.at @thewaroncars.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...

By 2000, 175 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa had access to electricity, and by 2023, over 671 million did. That means that each day of this century, nearly 60,000 people in Sub-Saharan Africa gained access to electricity! From @ourworldindata.org ⚡️💡🔌

Happy new Chalkdust! Issue 23, featuring sleep, coffee and cheating at Tetris feature in our SS26 issue! Plus all your favourite puzzles & columns. Read it for free RIGHT NOW at chalkdustmagazine.com/.

Saving Mexico through numbers! mexiconewsdaily.com/business/who...

Faltó humildad. Un texto muy relevante de Eduardo Guerrero sobre la crisis de personas desaparecidas y no encontradas que se vive en México.

I had the honour of presenting the work that we do at @csh.ac.at on urban systems to Norman Foster and the 2026 cohort of urban planners at the Norman Foster Institute. It was deeply inspiring to see the legacy he has left in cities around the world. More about our work here: citiesmoving.com

Between 2000 and 2025, the number of private vehicles in Mexico nearly quadrupled, while the population increased by only 33%. More details here: datos.nexos.com.mx/el-inventari... 😱

Marc Barthelemy and I recently published an article in Physical Review Letters titled "Universal Model of Urban Street Networks." We present an algorithm to generate urban street networks that reproduce key empirical characteristics. Paper link: doi.org/10.1103/1vj4... Here's a short summary...

This week, @nature.com published an article on how I use mathematical models to study what is otherwise very hard to measure: the scale and dynamics of cartels. How a mathematician is cracking open Mexico's powerful drug cartels. 👇🧮🧑‍🔬 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Conferences are pricey, so not everyone can attend. @css-conference.bsky.social will offer an #OpenArms grant for researchers working on low- & middle-income countries, covering registration, travel, and extras. I am happy to be part of this community! Details: ccs26.cssociety.org#open-arms-gr...

En México, los homicidios van a la baja, pero el suicidio "creció" 130 % y los accidentes 200%. @jacobodayan.bsky.social en Animal Político. 👇 animalpolitico.com/seguridad/ho...

Conferences are pricey, so not everyone can attend. @css-conference.bsky.social will offer an #OpenArms grant for researchers working on low- & middle-income countries, covering registration, travel, and extras. I am happy to be part of this community! Details: ccs26.cssociety.org#open-arms-gr...

Automated vehicles, even if they are shared among users, tend to increase the total miles traveled by car by more than 5%. That means, at least 5% more tires, asphalt, breaks, and pollution.

Still a few days left to apply! The 15th Illicit Networks Workshop will be hosted by @csh.ac.at in Vienna on June 29–30, 2026. Themes include organised crime, gangs, trafficking, corruption, and more. 👉 Details & submission info: illicitnetworksworkshop.com

Suburban Sprawl may seem cheap, but even the costs we CAN count are far too high, and we ALL pay them. HT Smart Prosperity Institute #UrbanTruth institute.smartprosperity.ca/library/publ...

Nemesio Oseguera, El Mencho, fue abatido hace unas horas. Y con ello, se han desatado múltiples narcobloqueos en todo el país. Aquí puedes consultar un mapeo de los bloqueos registrados. Un gran trabajo de Aleph. ui.aliado.alephri.com

Fosas sin contar: Plataforma ciudadana reporta subregistro de fosas clandestinas fabricadeperiodismo.com/noticias/pla...

Why is there such variation in the birds encountered as you go up or down a mountain? New paper in #ScienceAdvances examines how climate and ecological interactions drive bird distributions in mountains throughout the year: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 1/10 ⬇️

Utah Legislature to SLC: "Don't you dare rip out any street parking; there's nowhere to park downtown." Downtown SLC:

As so often, the best medicine against online hysteria is a dose of fresh air—maybe a leisurely walk along the Thames

We kicked off the workshop with our first invited talk by the incredible Rafael Prieto-Curiel, who shared insights from his work studying how cartels operate in Mexico, sparking lively discussion and great questions. A fantastic start, and more to come!

🎤 We are delighted to announce our first of #WWCS26 speaker: Rafael Prieto-Curiel (CSH Vienna)! With experience at Oxford, UCL & as Director of Strategic Analysis in Mexico City, he applies complexity to violence, migration, mobility & urban dynamics. See you in Mallorca! ❄️🌍

Hace unos meses se publicó nuestro estudio en @science.org sobre los cárteles en México. Nuestros resultados muestran que: - Juntos, los cárteles son el quinto empleador del país - Reclutan 350 jóvenes por semana www.science.org/stoken/autho...

In 2026, I am launching a vlog, For the Love of Science, about working aspects of being a scientist - the joys and challenges, the practical aspects and mental and emotional qualities it involves. It's on YouTube (at @NAChristakis) and Instagram (at @OnTheLoveofScience) www.youtube.com/@NAChristakis

We are excited to welcome @rafaelprietocuriel.bsky.social as a 2026 keynote for IC2S2. His work at the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna, as well as his work with OECD - OCDE and the The World Bank focuses on mobility, migration and urban dynamics:

Constructing better cities could result in approximately 220 million more people having access to water. Here is our article covered by @newsweek.com. www.newsweek.com/cities-water...

Compact urban design is key to securing water and sanitation, a new study by CSH and the World Bank in #NatureCities shows. With horizontal city growth, 220M fewer people could have access to piped water and 190M to sewage by 2050, says lead author @rafaelprietocuriel.bsky.social shorturl.at/WFhvr

Big fan of this paper, which I reviewed for Nature Cities. If you didn't think urban form and water access were related...

In our latest paper, with colleagues from the World Bank, we quantified how urban form shapes water access. Compact city growth could deliver piped water to 220 million more people and sewage services to 190 million more people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. 💧🏙️ www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Cities are often seen as hotbeds of violence, with the assumption that bigger cities are more dangerous. New research by @rafaelprietocuriel.bsky.social ( @csh.ac.at ) and @ronaldomenezes.bsky.social ( @exeter.ac.uk ), published in #NatComms, highlights that 𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. shorturl.at/ii3jm

Large cities are often assumed to be more violent, but our review shows there’s nothing universal about urban violence. In our new study, @ronaldomenezes.bsky.social and I show that isolated cities tend to experience higher rates of violence against civilians. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our new study challenges assumptions about urban violence in Africa. Surprising finding: isolated cities face 4x higher violence risk than large, connected cities. Size matters less than connectivity. Amazing work with @rafaelprietocuriel.bsky.social nature.com/articles/s41467-025-65728-6

Large cities are often assumed to be more violent, but our review shows there’s nothing universal about urban violence. In our new study, @ronaldomenezes.bsky.social and I show that isolated cities tend to experience higher rates of violence against civilians. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🦂🚨🦂 New Chalkdust alert! 🦂🚨🦂 DNA origami, tracks and an interview with El Nombre feature in our AW25 issue! Plus all your favourite puzzles & columns. Read the entire new issue now at chalkdustmagazine.com

I am glad to be back at @ox.ac.uk to present the research of my team at @csh.ac.at on cities at @inetoxford.bsky.social! See you later today! 🌇 www.inet.ox.ac.uk/events/citie...

I analysed the modal share of nearly 400 European cities, comparing those with a metro, only a tram, and without any rail system. Large cities with a metro have roughly half the car share of cities served only by a tram. www.nature.com/articles/s44... Data: CitiesMoving.com

How can car traffic in cities be reduced? New research by CSH's @rafaelprietocuriel.bsky.social shows that while metros are effective in reducing car traffic, a study of nearly 400 European cities finds no evidence that trams have the same effect: csh.ac.at/news/metros-...

🌐 How can we address organized crime? Last week, we hosted a #workshop, organized by @rafaelprietocuriel.bsky.social, exploring the complexity of violence – including cartels and their recruitment practices, social media dynamics, crypto crimes, and law enforcement strategies

This week, we had the honor of welcoming @sergioaguayo.bsky.social and his team from Colmex to @csh.ac.at. Throughout the week, we discussed science, violence, migration, politics and more. This Wednesday, his column in Reforma was dedicated to complexity and violence. ⚗️🥼🔬

📢 Excited to announce CompleNet 2026! Join us to share your network science research in a highly interdisciplinary conference! 🗓️ 4–8 May 2026 | 📍 Zaragoza, Spain 🇪🇸 🚨 Call for contributions open – submit by Nov 15, 2025! 🌐 Info & registration: complenet.weeblysite.com

Maria Corina Machado - "for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy." 🕊️

🗓️ Join us for an event on tackling organized crime: Next week, CSH hosts a #workshop & #panel organized by @rafaelprietocuriel.bsky.social, exploring how science can contribute to policy approaches. Info & livestream: csh.ac.at/events/scien...

Join us next week at @csh.ac.at for the Science and Policy Against Organized Crime workshop! It includes many talks on violence and science, and a panel with: 🏳️José Antonio Zabalgoitia (Amb. of Mexico) 🌍 Dmitry Orlov (UNODC) 🎓 Sergio Aguayo (COLMEX/Harvard) Register 👇 csh.ac.at/events/scien...

Very stimulating lectures at @crmatematica.bsky.social by @rafaelprietocuriel.bsky.social on Cities as Complex Systems