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complex systems

Latest Articles

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

complex systems

Nature’s Critical Warning System

By Natalie Wolchover
November 18, 2015
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Scientists are homing in on a warning signal that arises in complex systems like ecological food webs, the brain and the Earth’s climate. Could it help prevent future catastrophes?

complex systems

The New Laws of Explosive Networks

By Jennifer Ouellette
July 14, 2015
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Researchers are uncovering the hidden laws that reveal how the Internet grows, how viruses spread, and how financial bubbles burst.

statistical physics

At the Far Ends of a New Universal Law

By Natalie Wolchover
October 15, 2014
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A potent theory has emerged explaining a mysterious statistical law that arises throughout physics and mathematics.


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