News + Events

A working group, “Hallmarks of Biological Failure,” meets to discuss the patterns of mortality, biological failure, and system collapse.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute and the Santa Fe Institute have developed a new model to explain the evolutionary origins of empathy and other related phenomena, such as emotional contagion and contagious yawning. The model suggests that the origin of a broad range of empathetic responses lies in cognitive simulation.

A new review by David Wolpert collects recent advances in understanding the thermodynamics of computation that are grounded in computer science and physics.

SFI External Professor Laura Fortunato presented a Community Lecture at The Lensic on Tuesday, April 16, 2019, on the challenges and opportunities from using studies of social animals to inform our understanding of how human social behavior evolves.

What are viruses? Are they even alive? SFI external professors Ricard Solé and Santiago F. Elena tackle these and other questions through a complex systems approach in their new book.

The Economist highlights how a complex systems approach to economics adds critical nuance to traditional approaches to the field.

A "big dating" study by External Professors Elizabeth Bruch and Mark Newman reveals that geographic distance within the U.S. is the strongest driver of instances when two users message each other.

Working group meets to explore how and why people categorize phenomena into overly simplistic distinctions. 

Research jams, intercontinental collaborations, and lightning talks — the Postdocs in Complexity Conference is back!

On March 26, SFI External Professor Srividya Iyer-Biswas presented a Community Lecture at The Lensic on the laws that govern life, time, and chance.

Working group meets to formalize a better understanding of human cell types.

A new experiment in the "science of sync" show how complex behaviors emerge from a simple network. The work could eventually inspire interventions for heart arrhythmias, or technologies for managing modern infrastructure.

Since the 1970s, community ecologists have relied on two theories to explain the role that species interactions play in Earth's astonishing biological diversity. An SFI working group takes steps to integrate those two theories. 

SFI External Professor Simon DeDeo and co-authors are recipients of the 2018 Cozzarelli Prize, awarded by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, for their paper “Individuals, institutions, and innovation in the debates of the French Revolution.” 

When only two things interact, the outcome is usually easily to predict. But what happens when you add a third — or fourth, or fifth, or more — component to the mix? The effects of such higher-order interactions can be difficult to forecast, and are the subject of a working group that meets this week at SFI.

The new book Pertussis: Epidemiology, Immunology, and Evolution, edited by former SFI Omidyar Fellow Samuel Scarpino and Pejman Rohani, is the first major aggregation of interdisciplinary whooping-cough research in decades. 

A small working group at SFI outlines possible new directions for research at the interface between economics, public policy, and philosophy.

New research by External Professor John Pepper offers an intriguing theory for how cancer evolves in people with obesity, diabetes, and chronic inflammation: By providing an over-abundance of energy to cells, these diseases might super-charge their growth and cause them to become cancerous.

New SFI research explores the unintended consequences of removing aboriginal people from their lands, with big implications for a more sustainable future.

The Santa Fe Institute again has ranked among the world's top science and technology and transdisciplinary think tanks.