We care about your data, and we'd like to use cookies to give you a smooth browsing experience. Please agree and read more about our privacy policy.
  • Physics

  • Mathematics

  • Biology

  • Computer Science

  • Topics

  • Archive

What's up in

complex systems

Nobel Prize

Work on Earth’s Climate and Other Complex Systems Earns Nobel Prize in Physics

By Natalie Wolchover
October 5, 2021
Read Later

Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann have been honored for their work that led to reliable predictions of the effects of climate change. They will share the Nobel with Giorgio Parisi, who has made pioneering studies of chaotic physical systems.

Computer scientist and complexity researcher Carlos Gershenson of the National Autonomous University of Mexico stands by a busy urban roadway.
Q&A

Complexity Scientist Beats Traffic Jams Through Adaptation

By Rodrigo Pérez Ortega
September 28, 2020
Read Later

To tame urban traffic, the computer scientist Carlos Gershenson finds that letting transportation systems adapt and self-organize often works better than trying to predict and control them.

An ice sheet stretching into the distance.
Abstractions blog

How Earth’s Climate Changes Naturally (and Why Things Are Different Now)

By Howard Lee
July 21, 2020
Read Later

Earth’s climate has fluctuated through deep time, pushed by these 10 different causes. Here’s how each compares with modern climate change.

Side-by-side images of a rabbit, bees in a hive, and a tornado.
information theory

What Is an Individual? Biology Seeks Clues in Information Theory.

By Jordana Cepelewicz
July 16, 2020
Read Later

To recognize strange extraterrestrial life and solve biological mysteries on this planet, scientists are searching for an objective definition for life’s basic units.

A close-up of fossilized amber.
materials science

Ideal Glass Would Explain Why Glass Exists at All

By Natalie Wolchover
March 11, 2020
Read Later

Glass is anything that’s rigid like a crystal, yet made of disordered molecules like a liquid. To understand why it exists, researchers are attempting to create the perfect, still-hypothetical “ideal glass.”

Art for "Universal Pattern Explains Why Materials Conduct"
mathematical physics

Universal Pattern Explains Why Materials Conduct

By Kevin Hartnett
May 6, 2019
Read Later

Mathematicians have found that materials conduct electricity when electrons follow a universal mathematical pattern.

In Theory

How Complex Wholes Emerge From Simple Parts

By John Rennie
December 20, 2018
Read Later

Throughout nature, throngs of relatively simple elements can self-organize into behaviors that seem unexpectedly complex. Scientists are beginning to understand why and how these phenomena emerge without a central organizing entity.

Art for "The Universal Pattern Popping Up in Math, Physics and Biology"
In Theory

The Universal Pattern Popping Up in Math, Physics and Biology

By Thomas Lin
August 23, 2018
Read Later

Quanta’s In Theory video series returns with an exploration of a mysterious mathematical pattern found throughout nature.

Photo of Corina Tarnita 520px
Q&A

A Mathematician Who Decodes the Patterns Stamped Out by Life

By Joshua Sokol
December 20, 2017
Read Later

Corina Tarnita deciphers bizarre patterns in the soil created by competing life-forms.


Previous
  • 1
  • 2
Next

Follow Quanta

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

Instagram

RSS

Newsletter

Past Month

Most Read Articles

This Data is Current Loading...

This Data is Current Loading...

This Data is Current Loading...

The Quanta Newsletter

Get highlights of the most important news delivered to your email inbox

Recent newsletters


  • About Quanta
  • Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Simons Foundation
All Rights Reserved © 2022