Former SFI Professor Brian Goodwin has died at the age of 78. Goodwin was a mathematician, scientist, philosopher, biologist, writer and professor of outstanding caliber and influence. Goodwin became enthralled by the notion that organisms live at the “edge of chaos” and through SFI he began research into complexity theory. His work at SFI led to his writing the book, Signs of Life, with coauthor Ricard Sole, which outlines how the mathematics of chaos and non-linear dynamics can be applied to all aspects of the living world.
Researchers have identified thousands of macromolecular interactions within cells, but joining them up in networks and figuring out how they work still poses a big challenge. Recently, improved methods and refinements in the computational tools used in modelling signaling pathways have helped researchers. To see protein interactions in different cell types, scientists are advancing the use of affinity-purification chromatography followed by mass spectrometry. Harvard University professor and SFI External Professor, Walter Fontana has co-founded a company called Plectix BioSystems and a web-based system called Cellucidate. Gordon Webster, vice-president of biology at Plectix says, “The model mirrors the behavior of the living system it represents: the biology that emerges from our models is the combinatorial expression of all these automata doing their own little thing — just the way it is in the cell.”
Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a computerized simulation of agents interacting through given rules. ABM is used in tracking diseases and simulating behavioral patterns among societies, but has not been as well developed with financial and economic issues. Now many economists are working together with physicists and computer scientists to create ABMs with the financial markets in focus. NASDAQ chief Mike Brown hired BiosGroup to develop an ABM for the stock market. But the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) still do not use ABMs. SFI External Professor and computational social scientist Rob Axtell states, “When the SEC changes trading rules, it typically has either flimsy or modest support from econometric evidence for the action, or else no empirical evidence and the change is driven by ideology. You have to wonder why Mike Brown is doing this, while the SEC isn’t.” SFI External Professor John Geanakoplos, Farmer and colleagues have developed an ABM to explore how leverage affects fluctuations in stock prices. An ABM for the whole economy would take time and a lot of data of multidisciplinary collaborations of economists, psychologists, computer scientists, biologists and others. Axtell also says to this point, “Left to their own devices, academic macroeconomists will take a generation to make this transition. But if policy-makers demand better models, it can be accomplished more quickly.”
Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a computerized simulation of agents interacting through given rules. ABM is used in tracking diseases and simulating behavioral patterns among societies, but has not been as well developed with financial and economic issues. SFI Resident Professor J. Doyne Farmer and SFI External Professor Duncan Foley present ABM could certainly be used on the complex system of financial economics. SFI External Professor John Geanakoplos, Farmer and colleagues have developed an ABM to explore how leverage affects fluctuations in stock prices. An ABM for the whole economy would take time and a lot of data of multidisciplinary collaborations of economists, psychologists, computer scientists, biologists and others. But it would be worth the work for a forecast that may help our economy.
Epidemic modeling has been used in mapping epidemics since the 1920s. But in order to catch up to the times, new modeling techniques need to be utilized. Agent-based models (ABMs) are suited for today’s complex social networks. The agents are tracked and can be programmed to behave like real people. SFI External Professor Joshua Epstein is one of the scientists using the new Global-Scale Agent Model (GSAM) which was developed at the Brookings Institution’s Center on Social and Economic Dynamics. This model has 6.5 billion agents that can be tracked. The GSAM has been presented to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. With the pandemic of H1N1 and other diseases, agent-based modeling will play an integral part in assisting authorities to track possible outcomes and solutions.
The rise and fall of Crocs can teach us a little about how we communicate and influence each other. Malcolm Gladwell has published books about targeting small numbers of the most influential people who will in turn influence the masses. However, social scientist and SFI External Professor Duncan Watts has done the same research and has disproved Gladwell’s thesis on focusing on “cool or connected” people to influence others. As Watts notes, if you want to affect masses, it is all about the quantity, not the quality of the people you reach.
The emerging field of network science focuses on studying complex systems and how they are all alike. Understanding one network may shed light on other networks. Scientists from a variety of different disciplines have gone deeper into researching complex systems. SFI External Professor and physicist Mark Newman started working in the field ten years ago with SFI and the Center for the Study of Complex Systems. Network science has opened the door to interdisciplinary training in complex systems. Many researchers take these courses through SFI, a leader in interdisciplinary studies and complex network science. Many agencies, including the US National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and even the military have made donations and funding available to continue research into network science and complex systems.
Several dozen graduate students and researchers pursuing careers that could help humans prosper on a thriving planet have gathered in Santa Fe for the first “Summer School on Global Sustainability,” developed by the Santa Fe Institute with help from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Mathematicians, statisticians and political scientists are now using statistical techniques to find election fraud. The accounting technique called, Benford’s Law, has potential to find election fraud if people made up the numbers. SFI Postdoctoral Fellow and computer scientist, Aaron Clauset, thinks people may evade detection under Benford’s Law by making up numbers that fit with the real numbers. Other researchers and political scientists think it would be a challenging and slow process to make their numbers fit the Benford Law. People who are cheating and creating election fraud do not have the time to make numbers fit, especially with counts being posted to the Internet, blogs and electric journals very quickly. While this may catch evidence of election fraud in Iran’s election, some researchers say we should be focusing on the U.S. election system, which is also flawed.
Researchers and scientists are working on ways to identify any patterns in the newest strain of the H1N1 influenza virus. Vaccines and anti-viral medications are in limited supply and will need to be quickly produced in order to be ready for any future waves of the virus. SFI External Professor Carlos Castillo-Chavez is part of a research team studying the H1N1 influenza virus in Japan. Japan acted quickly to contain the disease and had no fatalities. The information from this study will be beneficial to the U.S., Mexico and other countries.
SFI Professor and behavioral scientist, Samuel Bowles, has recently been studying performance-related pay. His research shows that performance-related pay does not encourage employers to work harder. In fact, Bowles’ research shows the opposite: many employees have a loss of motivation and a diminishing capacity for fairness and other workplace ethics. Behavioral economists will be studying the effectiveness of workplace performance incentives more in the coming years as the economy continues to change.
SFI External Professor was invited to join President Obama’s council on science and technology. Harvard geology professor, Daniel Schrag, will help advise President Obama on scientific and technological issues throughout his presidency.
SFI Business Network Member, Steelcase’s vice president for global design, James Ludwig, reflects on the fragile state of the contract furniture industry. Ludwig states how he is setting up strategic plans for the future. Steelcase is using research scientists at the Santa Fe Institute in order to help forecast future developments.
SFI Professor and senior scientist at the Department of Paleobiology at the National Museum of Natural History, Douglas H. Erwin, recently reviewed the book, Evolution: The First Four Billion Years, edited by Michael Ruse and Joseph Travis. The first part of the book is comprised of 16 essays on topics ranging from origins of life to the relation of evolution to society and religion. The remainder of this book contains an encyclopedia containing 200 short essays. Erwin notes many informed readers will wonder why some of the bigger names in the field are missing from the book and why certain ones are included. To summarize his review of this book, Erwin states, “For students and the general public, many of the essays in this volume provide useful introductions to a number of central issues in evolution, and the shorter contributions are a ready reference on a wide range of topics.”
Dr. Jeremy Sabloff will join the Institute August 1 to lead SFI’s cutting-edge research community as it celebrates its 25th Anniversary. “We are delighted Jerry has accepted our offer,” says Bill Miller, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Legg Mason Capital Management and Chairman of SFI’s Board of Trustees. “We need a broad and deep intellectual to build SFI’s scientific footprint and Jerry uniquely combines an understanding of our multidisciplinary science with executive level administrative and fundraising experience."
This month 20 secondary school science teachers from around the country are attending an SFI workshop to learn the latest on the chemical origins of life and the development of modern genetic code. They then will take the ideas, tools, and inspiration from the workshop back to their students this fall.
William C. Enloe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Los Alamos National Bank in Santa Fe and SFI Board of Trustee is the recipient of the 2009 NeighborWorks@Business Leadership Award. “Through his volunteerism and demonstrated commitment to affordable home-ownership opportunities and economic development, Bill Enloe has made significant contributions that have strengthened Santa Fe’s communities,” said Ken Wade, CEO of NeighborWorks@America. “His efforts serve as an inspiration to others.” Mr. Enloe is dedicated to his community and to creating more affordable housing solutions in northern New Mexico. Mr. Enloe was directly involved in the development of an affordable housing subdivision in Santa Fe by assisting in establishing the necessary bond and by approving Los Alamos National Bank (LANB) loans for developers within the subdivision. Mr. Enloe was instrumental in enabling Homewise, a member of the NeighborWorks network to provide second mortgages to clients so that they may reduce the down payments required for affordable home purchases. As a member of the Downtown Master Plan Committee and the Los Alamos Housing Authority Board, Mr. Enloe worked to establish goals and policies for affordable housing in Los Alamos and provide affordable housing for teachers, police and public servants. Most recently, Mr. Enloe partnered with Homewise to develop a homebuyer program for LANB employees through Homewise’s employer-assisted housing campaign.
Virgil Griffith, the creator of WikiScanner, has spent the past four summers as an undergraduate researcher at SFI. WikiScanner is a program that lets you see who is editing content in Wikipedia. Griffith began his work on WikiScanner while at SFI. This WikiScanner program has busted Wal-Mart and several other major corporations editing and removing content from the Wikipedia entry of their companies. Griffith has been drawn to SFI since he was in high school. He always wanted to be “where all the really smart crazies are.” And as SFI President Geoffrey West said, “He’s certainly one of our crazy smart people. He’s very interesting and he’s very SFI-ish.” Griffith will spend all of September at SFI continuing work on his plethora of projects.
Mobile phones are being used to collect data for a variety of different disciplines and SFI Omidyar Fellow, Nathan Eagle, is studying human movement and behavior through mobile phones. In an experiment at MIT, Eagle studied call logs of 100 students and staff and found he could sort the business students from other majors with 96% accuracy. Eagle is going to experiment on a larger scale next by studying millions of mobile phone users throughout Europe and parts of East Africa. Part of his study is to see if certain phone behaviors can help alert public health officials in the early stages of disease outbreaks.
SFI researcher, Virgil Griffith, created a program called WikiScanner, which tracks computers used to make changes and edits to Wikipedia entries. WikiScanner revealed CIA and FBI computers were used to edit topics on the Iraq War and the Guantanamo prison. WikiScanner also found computers at other organizations were used to edit topics related to them.