News + Events

A new technique based in information theory promises to improve researchers' ability to interpret ice core samples and our understanding of the earth's climate history.

Networks evolve in different ways depending on how often "second-neighbor," or friends-of-friends, connections occur.

Professor Cristopher Moore and collaborators unveil a more accurate, efficient algorithm for internet recommendations.

Tools from human psychology could help behavioral ecologists learn about how other animals make decisions.

SFI External Professor Mahzarin Banaji has been selected to receive this year’s Association for Psychological Science’s (APS’s) William James Fellow Award for lifetime contributions to the basic science of psychology.

This week at SFI, a multidisciplinary group of experts is gathered at SFI to work toward a quantitative science of how living things process energy and information to solve problems.

A new research program at SFI looks at laws as operating systems for human societies.

During an October 18 SFI Community Lecture in Santa Fe, mathematician Jordan Ellenberg explored how math can help us think about the seemingly uncertain matters that dominate our lives. Watch his talk here.

Modern European cities and medieval cities share a population-density-to-area relationship, a new paper concludes – the latest research to find regularities in human settlement patterns across space and time.

What is the best way for a group to collaborate on solving a difficult problem? A new study finds that the answer depends on how that particular group learns. 

A new study led by SFI External Professor Jessika Trancik finds that low-emission cars aren't more expensive over their life cycles than conventional internal combustion vehicles, contrary to widespread belief. 

In two lectures, Seth Lloyd explores what happens when one system gains an advantage in collecting and processing information – an advantage he believes underlies all creation and destruction in our universe. Watch his lectures here.

They and We. I am and We are. According to an analysis of the September 26 presidential debate by SFI's Simon DeDeo, the strongest distinction between Clinton and Trump was not what, but who.

A team of ecologists met at SFI recently to begin synthesizing an efficient theory that aims toward a more unified understanding of ecology.

During an SFI Community Lecture in Santa Fe, Rosalind Picard reveals some of the surprises she has discovered at the intersection of human emotion and wearable tech. Watch her talk here.

A recent working group at SFI, “Human Settlements and Networks in History,” furthered a long-term exploration of urban scaling theory as it applies to human settlements through history and across cultures. 

An attacker who gains access to a general-purpose machine can exploit its broad computational abilities to accomplish nefarious ends. As more devices go online – through cloud computing, connected cars, and the internet of things, for example – security becomes an increasing threat and challenge.

Applied Complexity Network (ACtioN) in London which drew participants from business and government, followed a meeting of scientists that took place in August at SFI. Both meetings concerned factors that determine the precision and reliability with which a system’s behavior can be predicted.

Malicious behavior is similarly common in the natural world, where agents tend a means to enter a system and subvert its rules in their favor.

When big problems arise, we insist on the power of many brains. At the same time, everyday work meetings are notoriously dull and fruitless. Can certain conditions nudge collaborative problem solving in a more reliably productive direction?