News + Events

Research by several SFI faculty appears in a special issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Series A, dedicated to the fundamental question of how complex life originated. 

SFI's inaugural Complexity Challenge asked participants in SFI's education programs to apply their studies to an abstracted, real-world problem. Read more about the challenge and the winning solutions.

The Santa Fe Institute’s Board of Trustees has welcomed William Gurley of Benchmark Capital and James Pallotta of Raptor Group.

Nick Lane presented a lecture on energy and Matter at the Origin of Life at The Lensic Performing Arts Center on November 7. Watch his talk here.

In a new paper in Nature Communications, three SFI-affiliated researchers describe a trio of paradoxical dynamics that can arise in simple microbial economies. The paper looks at just one type of scenario: a self-sufficiency model where two types of microbes are producing goods that are valuable to both themselves and others. 

The Santa Fe Institute has welcomed seven new external faculty for 2017.

A theorem published this week in the American Economic Journal: Microeconomics suggests that greater engagement in the international exchange can actually reinforce productivity-impeding practices that keep countries in poverty.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B features SFI research in its latest themed issue on innovations

On Tuesday, October 17, Manfred Laubichler led a panel discussion on the unprecedented ways in which human activity has shaped the planet. Watch the panel discussion here.

The newly-established SFI Press is pleased to announce the publication of its first volume, History, Big History, & Metahistory.

In his new book, The Diversity Bonus: How Great Teams Pay Off in the Knowledge Economy, SFI External Professor Scott Page traces a causative path to the benefits that emerge when people possessing a variety of “cognitive repertoires” come together to think, solve, and create.

In the Middle Ages, did contracting leprosy necessarily increase a person's chances of dying? Yes, says a new paper. But it's complicated.

New books by SFI Authors, highlighted in the Fall 2017 Parallax, inclue The Diversity Bonus, The Economy, Maya E Groups, and History, Big History, & Metahistory.

The Santa Fe Institute invites space enthusiasts of all ages and backgrounds to engage with the pressing problems of today by imagining the challenges of tomorrow in a series of city-wide events from October 13 through October 17.

In a two-part lecture series in Santa Fe on September 25-26, economist John Geanakoplos explored why it is that out of all economic variables, debt causes the most trouble. Watch part one of his talk here and part two here.

The body includes the brain — so what role does it play in intelligence? An SFI working group meets to explore morphological computation and a theory of embodied intelligence.

The Economy, a new SFI-inspired textbook, is published in paperback format and as a free, online interactive text. The book aims to address the gap between complex, real-world economic problems and the topics traditionally taught in first-year economics courses.

Distinguished Professor Geoffrey West presented the origin of scaling laws and their compelling implications for explaining everything from the lifecycles of companies, to a grand unified theory of sustainability on August 29, 2017.  Watch his talk here.  

Colleagues, friends, and family gather to remember the life and work of Harold Morowitz, and to keep moving his ideas forward. 

SFI Maya Working Group meets for fifth time to produce a second book.