New work at the intersection of atmospheric science and ecology is finding that forests can influence rainfall and climate from across a continent.
Atomic clocks are letting physicists tighten the lasso around elusive phenomena such as dark matter.
With electrical signals, simple cells organize themselves into complex societies and negotiate with other colonies.
The new experiments suggest that simple models can explain the behavior of thousands of interacting organisms.
The subtle mechanics of densely packed cells may help explain why some cancerous tumors stay put while others break off and spread through the body.
Complex natural systems defy analysis using a standard mathematical toolkit, so one ecologist is throwing out the equations.