News + Events
The latest news and events at the Santa Fe Institute
SFI's Mercedes Pascual receives MacArthur Award in ecology
SFI External Professor and Science Board member Mercedes Pascual has been awarded the Ecological Society of America's prestigious Robert H. MacArthur Award.
Video - Watch Steven Strogatz's SFI Community Lecture 'The Joy of x: A Guided Tour of Math'
In an August 6 SFI Community Lecture in Santa Fe, mathematician Steven Strogatz showed how math underpins our lives, from finding the perfect romantic partner to understanding how Google works. Watch the video.
SFI's Project GUTS goes nationwide this school year
Beginning this school year, Code.org is bringing SFI's afterschool program Project GUTS (Growing Up Thinking Scientifically) to the nation's middle school science classrooms.
Video: New documentary celebrates 50 years of BASIC
SFI External Professor Dan Rockmore is co-creator of a new documentary retelling the advent of the BASIC programming language 50 years ago at Dartmouth College.
Melanie Moses selected for McDonnell Foundation's complex systems scholar award
SFI External Professor Melanie Moses has been awarded the James S. McDonnell Foundation's 21st Century Science Initiative in Studying Complex Systems – Scholar Award for 2014.
Video: Watch Seth Lloyd's talk 'Is time travel possible? Testing the Grandfather Paradox'
In a July 16 SFI Community Lecture in Santa Fe, MITs Seth Lloyd proffered a mode of time travel that is both theoretically possible and creatively irresistible. Watch his talk.
Better ways to forecast technological change
Experts are at SFI this summer examining how technology evolves, in part by building technological trophic networks akin to food webs describing feeding interactions in ecosystems.
Working group explores the 'frustration' of spin glasses
Experts invited to a five-day working group at SFI this week will seek a better understanding of spin glasses and how they work.
Help crowdsource the Complexity Explorer
Complexity Explorer, an online education resource for complexity teachers and learners, is asking for your help. Here’s what you can do.
Bill Miller on SFI: 'You come here to understand things in a different way'
A front-page Wall Street Journal article today profiles SFI Chair Emeritus Bill Miller, featuring his longtime relationship with SFI.
Cities, slums, neighborhoods, people: Watch Luis Bettencourt's lecture
What is a city? In an SFI Community Lecture June 18 in Santa Fe, SFI Professor Luis Bettencourt peered inside the city, down to the data describing its neighborhoods and its people, for answers. Watch his talk.
Mark Newman receives 2014 Lagrange Prize
SFI External Professor Mark Newman has been awarded the prestigious 2014 Lagrange Prize for research achievements in the sciences of complexity.
Working paper: Ambiguous words probably make communicating easier
Ambiguity in language, including words with multiple meanings, actually make communication easier and may be an inevitable consequence of a language’s evolution, according to a new SFI working paper.
How one conversation redirected an oncologist’s approach to cancer
A conversation between SFI’s Murray Gell-Mann, a physicist, and oncologist David Agus at the 2009 Aspen Ideas Festival inspired Agus to change the way he thinks about cancer.
SFI Bulletin is LIVE: Spring 2014 issue asks how life got complex
Our Spring 2014 issue of the SFI Bulletin, “How Life Got Complex,” asks why, and how, some biological systems on Earth have evolved to be ever-more complex, even intelligent.
SFI's 2013 Annual Report: All about the Santa Fe Institute in one place
SFI's 2013 Annual Report is more than a comprehensive guide to the Santa Fe Institute. It's also a handy cheat sheet for our first-ever SFI trivia quiz. You could win a prize.
Video: Daniel Dennett asks whether we need free will
In an SFI Community Lecture Wednesday, May 14, in Santa Fe, philosopher Daniel Dennett asked: if free will is an illusion, should we conclude that we don’t need real free will to be responsible for our actions? Watch the video.
Workshop gives web-based disease tracking a checkup
A workshop this week at SFI asks how well web-based disease trackers like Google Flu Trends actually work, and seeks ways they can be made to work better.
Nihat Ay to join SFI's resident faculty
Mathematician Nihat Ay will join SFI’s resident faculty beginning next summer, SFI Chair of Faculty and VP for Science Jennifer Dunne announced today.