[tt] Complexity Digest 2007.42 (text version -2)

Fri Nov 2 14:30:35 UTC 2007

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Complexity Digest 2007.42 01-Nov-2007

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"I think the next century will be the century of complexity." Stephen
Hawking, 2000
_________________________________________________________________
PDF files of our annual editions are available at
www.comdig.de/AnnualEditions.html

A letter from Gottfried Mayer to our readers and friends is at
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_________________________________________________________________

01. The Outsourced Brain, NY Times
01.01. News: Business Head In The Clouds, Nature
02. Anterior Prefrontal Function And The Limits Of Human Decision-Making,
Science
02.01. Social Decision-Making: Insights From Game Theory And Neuroscience,
Science
02.02. Decision Theory: What "Should" the Nervous System Do?, Science
03. Social Media as Windows on the Social Life of the Mind, arXiv
04. Energy Flow And The Organization Of Life, Complexity
04.01. Empirical Multiscale Networks of Cellular Regulation, PLoS Comput Biol
05. Analysis, Modeling, Emergence & Integration In Complex Systems, Complexity
05.01. Wolfram's 2,3 Turing Machine Is Universal, Wolfram Research Press
Release
06. Parkinson's: How Deep Brain Stimulation Interferes With Decision-making,
ScienceDaily
07. Using Maths To Tackle Cancer, Nature
07.01. Cancer: Mixing Cocktails, Nature
08. From Wheat To Web: Children Of The Revolution, Nature
09. Global Change: Tinkering With the Climate to Get Hearing at Harvard
Meeting, Science
09.01. Time To Ditch Kyoto, Nature
09.02. Why Is Climate Sensitivity So Unpredictable?, Science
10. Crime and Punishment: the Economic Burden of Impunity, arXiv
11. Evolution: The Sharp End of Altruism, Science
11.01. The Coevolution of Parochial Altruism and War, Science
12. Humans And Monkeys Share Machiavellian Intelligence, Innovations-report
13. Population Ecology: Group Living And Hungry Lions, Nature
13.01. Group Formation Stabilizes Predator-Prey Dynamics, Nature
14. 'Nervous' Birds Take More Risks, Innovations-report
15. Revisiting Levy Flight Search Patterns Of Wandering Albatrosses, Bumblebees
And Deer, Nature
16. Secrets Behind Butterfly Wing Patterns Uncovered, ScienceDaily
17. Digging The Scene: Dinos Burrowed, Built Dens, Science
18. Plant Biology: Plumbing The Pattern Of Roots, Nature
19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks 
19.01. Military Guide to Terrorism: Future Terror Trends (Part Six -
Conclusion), The Family Security Foundation, Inc
20. Links & Snippets 
20.01. Other Publications 
20.02. Webcast Announcements 
20.03. Conference Announcements 
20.04. Other Announcements 

_________________________________________________________________

01. The Outsourced Brain , NY Times

Excerpts: I realized I could outsource those mental tasks I didn't want to
perform. Life is a math problem, and I had a calculator. Until that moment, I
had thought that the magic of the information age was that it allowed us to
know more, but then I realized the magic of the information age is that it
allows us to know less. It provides us with external cognitive servants ¡X
silicon memory systems, collaborative online filters, consumer preference
algorithms and networked knowledge. We can burden these servants and liberate
ourselves.

* [4] The Outsourced Brain, David Brooks, 07/10/26, NYTimes

[4] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/opinion/26brooks.html

_________________________________________________________________

01.01. News: Business Head In The Clouds , Nature

Excerpts: 'Cloud computing' is being pitched as a new nirvana for scientists
drowning in data. But can it deliver?  Dennis Gannon, a computer scientist at
Indiana University in Bloomington, knows all about bringing huge amounts of
computer power to bear on complex scientific problems. He has at his disposal,
for the purpose, Big Red, one of the world's largest supercomputers, right
there on the campus.

* [5] News: Business Head In The Clouds, Eric Hand, 07/10/24, DOI:
10.1038/449963a, Nature 449, 963 (2007)

[5] http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071024/full/449963a.html

_________________________________________________________________

02. Anterior Prefrontal Function And The Limits Of Human Decision-Making ,
Science

Excerpts: The frontopolar cortex (FPC), the most anterior part of the frontal
lobes, forms the apex of the executive system underlying decision-making. Here,
we review empirical evidence showing that the FPC function enables contingent
interposition of two concurrent behavioral plans or mental tasks according to
respective reward expectations, overcoming the serial constraint that bears
upon the control of task execution in the prefrontal cortex. This function is
mechanistically explained by interactions between FPC and neighboring
prefrontal regions.

* [6] Anterior Prefrontal Function And The Limits Of Human Decision-Making,
Etienne Koechlin,  Alexandre Hyafil, 07/10/26, Science : 594-598.

[6] http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/318/5850/594

_________________________________________________________________

02.01. Social Decision-Making: Insights From Game Theory And Neuroscience ,
Science

Excerpts: By combining the models and tasks of Game Theory with modern
psychological and neuroscientific methods, the neuroeconomic approach to the
study of social decision-making has the potential to extend our knowledge of
brain mechanisms involved in social decisions and to advance theoretical models
of how we make decisions in a rich, interactive environment. Research has
already begun to illustrate how social exchange can act directly on the brain's
reward system, how affective factors play an important role in bargaining and
competitive games, and how the ability to assess another's intentions is
related to strategic play.

* [7] Social Decision-Making: Insights From Game Theory And Neuroscience, Alan
G. Sanfey, 07/10/26, Science : 598-602.

[7] http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/318/5850/598

_________________________________________________________________

02.02. Decision Theory: What "Should" the Nervous System Do? , Science

Excerpts: The purpose of our nervous system is to allow us to successfully
interact with our environment. This normative idea is formalized by decision
theory that defines which choices would be most beneficial. We live in an
uncertain world, and each decision may have many possible outcomes; choosing
the best decision is thus complicated. Bayesian decision theory formalizes
these problems in the presence of uncertainty and often provides compact models
that predict observed behavior. With its elegant formalization of the problems
faced by the nervous system, it promises to become a major inspiration for
studies in neuroscience.

* [8] Decision Theory: What "Should" the Nervous System Do?, Konrad K?rding,
07/10/26, Science : 606-610.

[8] http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/318/5850/606

_________________________________________________________________

03. Social Media as Windows on the Social Life of the Mind , arXiv

Abstract: This is a programmatic paper, marking out two directions in which the
study of social media can contribute to broader problems of social science:
understanding cultural evolution and understanding collective cognition. Under
the first heading, I discuss some difficulties with the usual, adaptationist
explanations of cultural phenomena, alternative explanations involving network
diffusion effects, and some ways these could be tested using social-media data.
Under the second I describe some of the ways in which social media could be use
d
to study how the social organization of an epistemic community supports its
collective cognitive performance.

* [9] Social Media as Windows on the Social Life of the Mind, Cosma Rohilla
Shalizi, 2007/10/25, DOI: 0710.4911, arXiv
* Contributed by [10] Carlos Gershenson

[9] http://uk.arXiv.org/abs/0710.4911
[10] http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~cgershen/

_________________________________________________________________

04. Energy Flow And The Organization Of Life , Complexity

Excerpt: Understanding the emergence and robustness of life requires accounting
for both chemical specificity and statistical generality. We argue that the
reverse of a common observation - that life requires a source of free energy to
persist - provides an appropriate principle to understand the emergence,
organization, and persistence of life on earth. Life, and in particular core
biochemistry, has many properties of a relaxation channel that was driven into
existence by free energy stresses from the earth's geochemistry. Like lightning
or convective storms, the carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus fluxes through core
anabolic pathways make sense as the order parameters in a phase transition
(...).

* [11] Energy Flow And The Organization Of Life, H. Morowitz , [12] E. Smith,
Sep.-Oct. 2007, Online 2007/10/08, DOI: 10.1002/cplx.20191, Complexity
* Contributed by [13] Atin Das

[11] http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/115805561/ABSTRACT
[12] mailto:desmith at santafe.edu
[13] mailto:dasatin at yahoo.co.in

_________________________________________________________________

04.01. Empirical Multiscale Networks of Cellular Regulation , PLoS Comput Biol

Excerpt: In a eukaryotic organism such as the mouse, the complete
transcriptional network contains ~ 15,000 genes and up to 225 million
regulatory relationships between pairs of genes. Determining all of these
relationships is currently intractable using traditional experimental
techniques, and, thus, a comprehensive description of the entire mouse
transcriptional network is elusive. Alternatively, one can apply the limited
amount of experimental data to determine the entire transcriptional network at
a less detailed, higher level. This is analogous to considering a map of the
world resolved to the kilometer rather than to the millimeter.

* [14] Empirical Multiscale Networks of Cellular Regulation, Benjamin de
Bivort,  Sui Huang,  Yaneer Bar-Yam, 2007/10/19, DOI:
10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030207, PLoS Comput Biol 3(10): e207
* Contributed by [15] Carlos Gershenson

[14] http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030207
[15] http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~cgershen/

_________________________________________________________________

05. Analysis, Modeling, Emergence & Integration In Complex Systems , Complexity

Excerpts: Analysis and Modeling is the first phase of understanding or
developing a system. It is also, maybe more importantly, the foundation of
understanding a natural science or system. It's abstract and conceptually
difficult but, being foundational, (...). Complex Systems have a natural
hierarchy of levels and multiple subsystems. The character and functionality of
each level or subsystem emerges across its boundaries. (...) Integrated
interdisciplinary collaboration is essential for making sense of complex
systems; but collaboration among disciplines is difficult, because of their
different ways of thinking. This creates a dilemma, understanding complex
systems is one horn; integrated interdisciplinary collaboration is the other.
(...)

* [16] Analysis, Modeling, Emergence & Integration In Complex Systems: A
Modeling And Integration Framework & System Biology, [17] T. J. Wheeler,
Sep.-Oct. 2007, Online 2007/10/08, DOI: 10.1002/cplx.20186, Complexity
* Contributed by [18] Atin Das

[16] http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/116328993/ABSTRACT
[17] mailto:wheeler at umcs.maine.edu
[18] mailto:dasatin at yahoo.co.in

_________________________________________________________________

05.01. Wolfram's 2,3 Turing Machine Is Universal , Wolfram Research Press
Release

Excerpts: Wolfram Research and Stephen Wolfram today announced that 20-year-old
Alex Smith of Birmingham, UK has won the US $25,000 Wolfram 2,3 Turing Machine
Research Prize. (...) This result ends a half-century quest to find the
simplest universal Turing machine. 
 It demonstrates that a remarkably simple system can perform any computation
that can be done by any computer.

* [19] Wolfram's 2,3 Turing Machine Is Universal, [20] Marcus Wynne,
2007/10/24, Wolfram Research Press Release
* Contributed by [21] Carlos Gershenson

[19] http://www.wolframscience.com/prizes/tm23/solved.html
[20] mailto:media at wolframscience.com
[21] http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~cgershen/

_________________________________________________________________

06. Parkinson's: How Deep Brain Stimulation Interferes With Decision-making ,
ScienceDaily

Excerpts: For those who suffer with the debilitating symptoms of Parkinson's
disease, Deep Brain Stimulation offers relief from the tremors and rigidity
that can't be controlled by medicine. (...) DBS implants affect the region of
the brain called the subthalamic nucleus (...). "This particular area of the
brain is needed for what's called a 'hold-your-horses' signal," Frank said.
"When you're making a difficult choice, with a conflict between two or more
options, an adaptive response for your system to do is to say 'Hold on for a
second. I need to take a little more time to figure out which is the best
option.'" (...)

* [22] Parkinson's: How Deep Brain Stimulation Interferes With Decision-making,
2007/10/26, ScienceDaily
* Contributed by [23] Atin Das

[22] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071025143321.htm
[23] mailto:dasatin at yahoo.co.in

_________________________________________________________________

07. Using Maths To Tackle Cancer , Nature

Excerpts: Book Reviewed-Dynamics of Cancer: Incidence, Inheritance, and
Evolution by Steven A. Frank, Princeton University Press: 2007. 400 pp.  The
reason for our long and generally cancer-free lives is a series of anticancer
defence mechanisms that have co-evolved with our increasing complexity. Most of
these defences are wired into the intracellular signalling circuits that govern
cell behaviour, although the organization of our tissues and immune systems
contributes too. At least five or six of these mechanisms must be breached
before a full-blown tumour appears.

* [24] Using Maths To Tackle Cancer, Robert A. Weinberg, 07/10/25, DOI:
10.1038/449978a, Nature 449, 978-981

[24] http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v449/n7165/full/449978a.html

_________________________________________________________________

07.01. Cancer: Mixing Cocktails , Nature

Excerpts: A major hurdle in treating cancer is that tumour cells acquire drug
resistance. To overcome this problem, one strategy might be to fine-tune the
right mixture of drugs that target specific molecules. Certain cancers are
caused by oncogenic primary or 'driver' mutations in specific kinases - enzymes
that regulate the activity of other proteins. Consequently, kinase inhibitors
have been used in the clinic as effective single-agent drugs to shrink tumours.
Kinase 'addiction' persists in advanced cancer, and patients who relapse after
initially responding to kinase-inhibitor therapy often develop secondary
mutations in the target kinase that confer drug resistance without impairing
the kinase's oncogenicity.

* [25] Cancer: Mixing Cocktails, Charles L. Sawyers, 07/10/25, DOI:
10.1038/449993a, Nature 449, 993-996

[25] http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v449/n7165/full/449993a.html

_________________________________________________________________

08. From Wheat To Web: Children Of The Revolution , Nature

Excerpts: M. S. Swaminathan transformed agriculture in India in the 1960s. Now
Daemon Fairless finds him at the heart of another high-tech scheme to help the
rural poor. (...) Swaminathan's belief is that information and communications
technologies (ICTs), if properly implemented, will help bridge India's growing
urban-rural divide and forge better links between researchers and rural poor
people.

* [26] From Wheat To Web: Children Of The Revolution, Daemon Fairless,
07/10/22, DOI: 10.1038/449964a, Nature 449, 964-966 (2007)

[26] http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071024/full/449964a.html

_________________________________________________________________

09. Global Change: Tinkering With the Climate to Get Hearing at Harvard Meeting
, Science

Excerpts: Should scientists and engineers seriously consider large-scale
alterations of the climate to stave off the worst effects of global warming?
Several dozen top U.S. climate scientists will explore that controversial
question next month in a 2-day invitation-only workshop at Harvard University
designed to explore whether direct interventions might be needed to supplement
efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

* [27] Global Change: Tinkering With the Climate to Get Hearing at Harvard
Meeting, Eli Kintisch, 07/10/26, Science : 551.

[27] http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/318/5850/551

_________________________________________________________________

09.01. Time To Ditch Kyoto , Nature

Excerpts: The Kyoto Protocol is a symbolically important expression of
governments' concern about climate change. But as an instrument for achieving
emissions reductions, it has failed. It has produced no demonstrable reductions
in emissions or even in anticipated emissions growth. And it pays no more than
token attention to the needs of societies to adapt to existing climate change.
The impending United Nations Climate Change Conference being held in Bali in
December ?to decide international policy after 2012 ?needs to radically
rethink climate policy.

Kyoto's supporters often blame non-signatory governments, especially the United
States and Australia, for its woes. But the Kyoto Protocol was always the wrong
tool for the nature of the job.

* [28] Time To Ditch Kyoto, Gwyn Prins,  Steve Rayner, 07/10/25, DOI:
10.1038/449973a, Nature 449, 973-975

[28] http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v449/n7165/full/449973a.html

_________________________________________________________________

09.02. Why Is Climate Sensitivity So Unpredictable? , Science

Excerpts: Uncertainties in projections of future climate change have not
lessened substantially in past decades. Both models and observations yield
broad probability distributions for long-term increases in global mean
temperature expected from the doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide, with
small but finite probabilities of very large increases. We show that the shape
of these probability distributions is an inevitable and general consequence of
the nature of the climate system, and we derive a simple analytic form for the
shape that fits recent published distributions very well.

* [29] Why Is Climate Sensitivity So Unpredictable?, Gerard H. Roe ,  Marcia B.
Baker, 07/10/26, Science : 629-632.

[29] http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/318/5850/629

_________________________________________________________________

10. Crime and Punishment: the Economic Burden of Impunity , arXiv

Abstract: Crime is an economically important activity, sometimes called the
industry of crime. It may represent a mechanism of wealth distribution but also
a social and economic charge because of the cost of the law enforcement system.
Sometimes it may be less costly for the society to allow for some level of
criminality. A drawback of such policy may lead to a high increase of criminal
activity that may become hard to reduce. We investigate the level of law
enforcement required to keep crime within acceptable limits and show that a
sharp phase transition is observed as a function of the probability of
punishment. We also analyze the growth of the economy, the inequality in the
wealth distribution (the Gini coefficient) and other relevant quantities under
different scenarios of criminal activity and probability of apprehension.

* [30] Crime and Punishment: the Economic Burden of Impunity, Mirta B. Gordon,
J. R. Iglesias, Viktoriya Semeshenko and J.-P. Nadal, 2007/10/19, DOI:
0710.3751, arXiv
* Contributed by [31] Carlos Gershenson

[30] http://uk.arXiv.org/abs/0710.3751
[31] http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~cgershen/

_________________________________________________________________

11. Evolution: The Sharp End of Altruism , Science

Excerpts: Which would you prefer: a society of selfish but tolerant
freetraders, or a warrior society in which people help one another but are
hostile to outsiders? If you value both altruism and tolerance, neither seems
ideal. Societies of tolerant altruists, however, are exceedingly rare in the
simulation presented by Choi and Bowles on page [32] 636 of this issue ( [33]
1). Instead, altruism flourishes only in the company of outgroup hostility
(parochialism), with war as both the engine of this coevolutionary process and
its legacy. For a compatriot, the parochial altruist who risks his life is a
shining knight, whereas the outsider encounters the sharp end of this altruism.

* [34] Evolution: The Sharp End of Altruism, Holly Arrow, 07/10/26, Science:
581-582.

[32] http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/318/5850/636
[33] http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/318/5850/581#ref1
[34] http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/318/5850/581

_________________________________________________________________

11.01. The Coevolution of Parochial Altruism and War , Science

Excerpts: Altruism - benefiting fellow group members at a cost to oneself - and
parochialism - hostility toward individuals not of one's own ethnic, racial, or
other group - are common human behaviors. The intersection of the two - which
we term "parochial altruism" - is puzzling from an evolutionary perspective
because altruistic or parochial behavior reduces one's payoffs by comparison to
what one would gain by eschewing these behaviors. But parochial altruism could
have evolved if parochialism promoted intergroup hostilities and the
combination of altruism and parochialism contributed to success in these
conflicts.

* [35] The Coevolution of Parochial Altruism and War, Jung-Kyoo Choi , Samuel
Bowles, 07/10/26, Science : 636-640.

[35] http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/318/5850/636

_________________________________________________________________

12. Humans And Monkeys Share Machiavellian Intelligence , Innovations-report

Excerpts: When it comes to their social behavior, people sometimes act like
monkeys, or more specifically, like rhesus macaques, a type of monkey that
shares with humans strong tendencies for nepotism and political maneuvering,
(...). "After humans, rhesus macaques are one of the most successful primate
species on our planet; our Machiavellian intelligence may be one of the reasons
for our success" wrote (...). Rhesus macaques live in complex societies with
strong dominance hierarchies and long-lasting social bonds between female
relatives. Individuals constantly compete for high social status and the power
that comes with it using ruthless aggression, nepotism, and complex political
alliances. (...)

* [36] Humans And Monkeys Share Machiavellian Intelligence, 2007/10/26,
Innovations-report
* Contributed by [37] Atin Das

[36]
http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/life_sciences/report-93712.html
[37] mailto:dasatin at yahoo.co.in

_________________________________________________________________

13. Population Ecology: Group Living And Hungry Lions , Nature

Excerpts: Ecologists have necessarily had to simplify matters in looking at
predator-prey dynamics. Study of a situation in which predator and prey live in
groups reveals that a key process was previously overlooked. (...) Fryxell et
al. examine how group living in prey, in predators and in both kinds of species
influences the shape of the functional response and the interaction between
predator and prey populations. They show theoretically that gregarious living
in either the prey or the predator species reduces the rate of prey consumption
by each predator.

* [38] Population Ecology: Group Living And Hungry Lions, Tim Coulson,
07/10/25, DOI: 10.1038/449996a, Nature 449, 996-997

[38] http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v449/n7165/full/449996a.html

_________________________________________________________________

13.01. Group Formation Stabilizes Predator-Prey Dynamics , Nature

Excerpts: Theoretical ecology is largely founded on the principle of mass
action, in which uncoordinated populations of predators and prey move in a
random and well-mixed fashion across a featureless landscape. The conceptual
core of this body of theory is the functional response, predicting the rate of
prey consumption by individual predators as a function of predator and/or prey
densities. This assumption is seriously violated in many ecosystems in which
predators and/or prey form social groups. Here we develop a new set of
group-dependent functional responses to consider the ecological implications of
sociality and apply the model to the Serengeti ecosystem.

* [39] Group Formation Stabilizes Predator-Prey Dynamics, John M. Fryxell, Anna
Mosser,  Anthony R. E. Sinclair, Craig Packer, 07/10/25, DOI:
10.1038/nature06177, Nature 449, 1041-1043

[39] http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v449/n7165/full/nature06177.html

_________________________________________________________________

14. 'Nervous' Birds Take More Risks , Innovations-report

Excerpts: Scientists have shown that birds with higher stress levels adopt
bolder behaviour than their normally more relaxed peers in stressful
situations. (...) studied zebra finches, which had been selectively bred to
produce three distinct types - 'laid-back', 'normal' and 'stressed' - based on
their levels of stress hormone. The group was surprised to find that the
'stressed' birds were bolder and took more risks in a new environment than the
group that was usually more laid-back. (...) Like other animals including
humans, birds respond to stress, created by the appearance of a predator or a
change in their environment for example, by producing a hormone. (...)

* [40] 'Nervous' Birds Take More Risks, 2007/10/29, Innovations-report
* Contributed by [41] Atin Das

[40]
http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/life_sciences/report-93773.html
[41] mailto:dasatin at yahoo.co.in

_________________________________________________________________

15. Revisiting Levy Flight Search Patterns Of Wandering Albatrosses, Bumblebees
And Deer , Nature

Excerpts: The study of animal foraging behaviour is of practical ecological
importance1, and exemplifies the wider scientific problem of optimizing search
strategies. Levy flights are random walks, the step lengths of which come from
probability distributions with heavy power-law tails, such that clusters of
short steps are connected by rare long steps. Levy flights display fractal
properties, have no typical scale, and occur in physical, and chemical systems.
An attempt to demonstrate their existence in a natural biological system
presented evidence that wandering albatrosses perform Levy flights when
searching for prey on the ocean surface.

* [42] Revisiting Levy Flight Search Patterns Of Wandering Albatrosses,
Bumblebees And Deer, Andrew M. Edwards,  Richard A. Phillips,  Nicholas W.
Watkins,  Mervyn P. Freeman,  Eugene J. Murphy,  Vsevolod Afanasyev,  Sergey V.
Buldyrev, M. G. E. da Luz, E. P. Raposo,  H. Eugene Stanley ,  Gandhimohan M.
Viswanathan, 07/10/25, DOI: 10.1038/nature06199, Nature 449, 1044-1048

[42]
http://www.nature.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/nature/journal/v449/n7165/full
/nature06199.html

_________________________________________________________________

16. Secrets Behind Butterfly Wing Patterns Uncovered , ScienceDaily

Excerpts: The genes that make a fruit fly's eyes red also produce red wing
patterns in the Heliconius butterfly found in South and Central America, finds
a new study (...) discovered that genes involved in making insect eye pigments
evolved over time to also make wing pigments in butterflies. This finding sheds
light on the genetic causes of wing patterns and why, in the Heliconius, those
patterns can vary widely from region to region. "We found that evolution is
achieved primarily through recycling old genes into new functions, as opposed
to evolving entirely new genes from scratch," Reed said. (...)

* [43] Secrets Behind Butterfly Wing Patterns Uncovered, 2007/10/26,
ScienceDaily
* Contributed by [44] Atin Das

[43] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071025125134.htm
[44] mailto:dasatin at yahoo.co.in

_________________________________________________________________

17. Digging The Scene: Dinos Burrowed, Built Dens , Science

Excerpts:     PROFILE OF A MUCKRAKER. An S-shaped mass of sandstone that
contains the fossils of three dinosaurs (arrows, above) is hardened sediment
that filled the burrow of Oryctodromeus cubicularis (below), a newly described
dinosaur. L. Hall/Montana State Univ.     Paleontologists have unearthed an
ancient, sediment-filled burrow that holds remains of the creatures that dug
it. The find is the first indisputable evidence that some dinosaurs maintained
an underground lifestyle for at least part of their lives. (...) Further
excavation revealed that the sandstone mass was S-shaped and about 2.1 meters
long. For most of its length, the sinuous feature had an oval cross section
about 30 centimeters wide and about 40 cm tall. However, at its lower end -
where the dinosaur bones were found - it broadened to a width of 45 cm.

* [45] Digging The Scene: Dinos Burrowed, Built Dens, Sid Perkins, 07/10/27,
ScienceNews

[45] http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20071027/fob1.asp

_________________________________________________________________

18. Plant Biology: Plumbing The Pattern Of Roots , Nature

Excerpts: The results of a powerful combination of computer modelling and
experimental tests can account for the establishment of gradients of the plant
molecule auxin and for major patterning elements in the plant root. Morphogens
are molecules that govern pattern formation in organisms. They are perhaps best
known through the textbook models of morphogen action that can generate a
pattern as simple as the tripartite French flag or as complex as a segmented
fruitfly embryo.

* [46] Plant Biology: Plumbing The Pattern Of Roots, Bruce Veit, 07/10/25, DOI:
10.1038/449991a, Nature 449, 991-992

[46] http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v449/n7165/full/449991a.html

_________________________________________________________________

19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks 

_________________________________________________________________

19.01. Military Guide to Terrorism: Future Terror Trends (Part Six -
Conclusion) , The Family Security Foundation, Inc

Excerpts: The Report of the Future of Terrorism Task Force, published in
January 2007, assesses future threats to the United States for the next five
years. The lead finding of the report states, "There is every indication that
the number and magnitude of attacks on the United States, its interest and its
allies will likely increase." Predicting the nature, timing, or location of the
next attack is beyond the scope of this report, however, the task force
spotlights, "The most significant terrorist threat to the homeland today stems
from a global movement, underpinned by a Jihadist/Salafist ideology."

* [47] Military Guide to Terrorism: Future Terror Trends (Part Six -
Conclusion), 07/10/31, The Family Security Foundation, Inc

[47] http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/terrorism.php?id=1385158

_________________________________________________________________

20. Links & Snippets 

_________________________________________________________________

20.01. Other Publications 

- Ten Simple Rules for Doing Your Best Research, According to Hamming,
2007/10/26, PLoS Comput Biol 3(10): e213, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030213
- On a New Type of Information Processing for Efficient Management of Complex
Systems, 2007/10/22, arXiv, DOI: 0710.3961
- Sexual Reproduction from the Male (Men) Point of View, 2007/10/22, arXiv,
DOI: 0710.3988
- Life, Information, Entropy, And Time: Vehicles For Semantic Inheritance,
Sep.-Oct. 2007, Online 2007/10/08, Complexity, DOI: 10.1002/cplx.20180
- Scents And Scents-Ability: Pollution Disrupts Chemical Social Recognition And
Shoaling In Fish, 2007/10/23, Proceedings B: Biological Sciences, DOI:
10.1098/rspb.2007.1283
- Modelling Interactions In Fungi, 2007/10/23, Interface, DOI:
10.1098/rsif.2007.1210
- Hearing 'Messages' Embedded In Noise Could Be Early Sign Of Schizophrenia,
2007/10/25, ScienceDaily
- 'Where Do I Know You From?' Recognition Shows Distinct Memory Processes,
2007/10/26, ScienceDaily
- How The Brain Generates The Human Tendency For Optimism, 2007/10/25,
ScienceDaily
- Climate Change As The 'New' Security Threat: Implications For Africa, Nov.
2007, online 2007/10/22, International Affairs, DOI:
10.1111/j.1468-2346.2007.00678.x
- Warlordism And Terrorism: How To Obscure An Already Confusing Crisis? The
Case Of Somalia, Nov. 2007, online 2007/10/22, International Affairs, DOI:
10.1111/j.1468-2346.2007.00675.x
- Made In China: From World Sweatshop To A Global Manufacturing Center?, Fall
2007, Online 2007/10/09, Asian Economic Papers, DOI: 10.1162/asep.2007.6.3.43
- Why Nonlinear Biomedical Physics?, 2007, 1:3, online 2007/07/05, Nonlinear
Biomedical Physics, DOI: 10.1186/1753-4631-1-3
- The Impact of Agricultural Soil Erosion on the Global Carbon Cycle, 07/10/26,
Science : 626-629. 
A survey of agricultural soil erosion across the United States and Europe
implies that such erosion provides at most a small sink for CO2 and thus cannot
offset emissions.

_________________________________________________________________

20.02. Webcast Announcements 

 [48] 
Reseau Nationale des Systemes Complexes , (in French), 2007

 [49] World Economic Forum , Davos, Switzerland, 07/01/24-28

TED Talks, TED Conferences LLC , since 2006

Talking Robots: The PodCast on Robotics and AI, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de
Lausanne, Switzerland, 06/11/03

Potentials of Complexity Science for Business, Governments, and the Media 2006,
Budapest, Hungary, 06/08/03-05

 6th Intl Conf on Complex Systems (ICCS), Boston, MA, 06/06/25-30

Artificial Life X, 
10th Intl Conf on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems, Bloomington,
IN, USA. 2006/06/03-07

6th Understanding Complex Systems Symposium, Urbana-Champaign, Il, 06/05/15-18

Ralph Abraham on Complexity Digest, , Calcutta, India, 05/12/27
 [50] An Afternoon with Michael Crichton, Washington, 05/11/06
 [51] 
Illuminating the Shadow of the Future, Ann Arbor, Mi 05/09/23-25

 [52] 
Open Network of Centres of Excellence in Complex Systems - Brainstorming
Meeting, Paris, France 05/09/19-23

 [53] 
Complexity, Science & Society Conference 2005, U. Liverpool, UK 2005/09/11-14

 [54] 
ECAL 2005 - VIIIth European Conference on Artificial Life, 
Canterbury, Kent, UK 2005/09/5-9

 [55] 
T. Irene Sanders, Executive Director and Founder, [56] The Washington Center
for Complexity & Public Policy, 05/08/27, QuickTime video (10:38 min), [57]
Podcast 

 [58] North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity
2005 Conference, Virtual Conference Network, St. Pete's Beach, Florida,
05/06/09-11

 [59] Understanding Complex Systems - Computational Complexity and
Bioinformatics, Virtual Conference Network, Urbana-Champaign, Il, UIUC,
05/05/16-19

 [60] Nonlinearity, Fluctuations, and Complexity, with a celebration of the
65th birthday of Gregoire Nicolis. , Complexity Session, Universite' Libre de
Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium, 05/03/16

 [61] 
1st European Conference on Complex Systems, Torino, Italy, 04/12/5-7

>From Autopoiesis to Neurophenomenology: A Tribute to Francisco Varela
(1946-2001), Paris, France, 2004/06/18-20

Evolutionary Epistemology, Language, and Culture, Brussels, Belgium,
04/05/26-28

International Conference on Complex Systems 2004, Boston, 04/05/16-21

Nonlinear Dynamics And Chaos: Lab Demonstrations, Strogatz, Steven H.,
Internet-First University Press, 1994

CERN Webcast Service, Streamed videos of Archived Lectures and Live Events 

Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since February 1998 

Edge Videos

[48] http://webcast.in2p3.fr/RNSC/ target=new
[49]
http://gaia.world-television.com/wef/worldeconomicforum_annualmeeting2007/Targe
t=new
[50] http://www.complexsys.org/news.htm target=new
[51] http://complexity.vub.ac.be/~comdig/05ISF/index.html target=new
[52] http://complexity.vub.ac.be/~comdig/ONCECS05/ target=new
[53] http://complexity.vub.ac.be/~comdig/CSS05/ target=new
[54] http://complexity.vub.ac.be/~comdig/ECAL2005/ target=new
[55] http://complexity.vub.ac.be/~comdig/Sanders0508/Sanders0508.mov target=new
[56] http://www.complexsys.org/ target=new
[57] http://complexity.vub.ac.be/~comdig/Sanders0508/Sanders.mp3
[58] http://complexity.vub.ac.be/~comdig/05NASPSA/ target=new
[59] http://complexity.vub.ac.be/~comdig/05UCS/ target=new
[60] http://www.comdig2.de/Conf/Nicolis05/Target=new
[61] http://www.comdig2.de/Conf/ECCS04/Target=new

_________________________________________________________________

20.03. Conference Announcements 

Intl Conf on Complex Systems 2007, Boston, MA, USA, 07/10/28-11/02

The Huntsville Simulation Conference 2007, Huntsville, Alabama, 07/10/30-11/01

2007 IEEE/WIC/ACM Intl Joint Conf on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent
Technology (WI-IAT'07), Silicon Valley, USA, 07/11/02-05

Theory In Cognitive Neuroscience, 
Wildbad Kreuth (Bavaria), Germany, 07/11/04-07

7th Intl Conf on Epigenetic Robotics:
Modeling Cognitive Development in Robotic Systems
, Piscataway, NJ, 07/11/05-07

KSS 2007 - 8th Intl Symposium on Knowledge and Systems Sciences, Ishikawa
prefecture, Japan, 07/11/05-07

NetLogo Workshop at Agent 2007 Conference, 
Evanston, IL, USA, 07/11/12-14

Australia New Zealand Systems Conference 2007
Systemic development: Local solutions in a global environment? Auckland, New
Zealand, 07/12/02-05

Expanding Secondary Use of Health Data: An NSF Biomedical Informatics Workshop,
Corbett, Oregon, 07/12/04-05

The 3rd Indian Intl Conf on Artificial Intelligence
(IICAI-07), Pune, INDIA, 07/12/17-19

The 1st Conf on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI-08), Memphis, Tennessee,
USA, 08/03/01-03

The 3rd International Nonlinear Sciences Conference (INSC), Tokyo, Japan,
08/03/13-15

19th European Meeting On Cybernetics And Systems Research, (EMCSR 2008), 
Vienna, Austria, 08/03/25-28 

2nd KES Intl Symp on Agent and Multi-Agent Systems : Technologies and
Applications, Incheon, Korea, 08/03/26-28

1st Intl Conf on Social Entrepreneurship & Complexity,  Garden City, NY, USA,
08/04/10-12

The 12th World Multi-Conf on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics: WMSCI
2008, Orlando, Florida, USA, 08/06/29-07/02

>From Animals To Animats 10 - The 10th Intl Conf on the Simulation Of Adaptive
Behavior (SAB'08), Osaka, Japan, 08/07/07-12

Stochastic Resonance 2008, Perugia, Italy, 08/08/17-21

_________________________________________________________________

20.04. Other Announcements 

" 
Wolfram Research is Now the Official Math Brain 
Trust for the Hit CBS Series NUMB3RS. 07/10/05

 A short notice from Dean LeBaron
Dear ComDig Readers,

Our editor, Dr. Gottfried Mayer, is affectionately esteemed by many of you --
as readers, you know he devotes himself unselfishly to widening our knowledge
of complexity science. He was recently diagnosed with advanced colon cancer and
given a timetable of a very few years. Knowing Gottfried, you can imagine that,
in addition to the customary processes of chemotherapy, he would explore other
frontier therapies, especially those arising out of interdisciplinary
applications of complexity. These are expensive ... if he can find them.

Many of you have sent your good wishes and indicated your desire to assist.
With Gottfrieds permission, I am posting this note with information, below,
about how to send contributions to him. Please indicate the source since
Gottfried will want to express his warm gratitude.

I know that Gottfried, the good scientist that he is, will explain from time to
time what he is doing and what the results are ... and we will follow his
progress with great interest and hope.

Dean LeBaron

Publisher, Complexity Digest

Bank Information:

If your contribution is made by check:

Please mail the check, payable to Gottfried Mayer? to:

Manufacturers & Traders Trust

2080 Western Avenue

20 Mall

Guilderland, NY 12084 USA

(on the back of the check, please write: For Deposit Only: Account # 983 338
3814?

If your contribution is made by wire:

Manufacturers & Traders Trust

2080 Western Avenue

20 Mall

Guilderland, NY 12084 USA

SWIFT Code# MANTUS33

UID: 209 791

ABA routing # 022 00 00 46 [for US wire transfers]

Account # 983 338 3814

Ref. Gottfried Mayer

Intl Master of Science in Methods For Management Of Complex Systems - Academic
Year 2007-2008, Institute for Advanced Study, Pavia, Italy, 08/01/01

  News notes on 
Agent-based Computational Economics (ACE) 
for July 2007 are now available on-line, 07/08/04

National Humanities Center Launches Humanities/Sciences Website, 07/04, As part
of its ongoing Autonomy, Singularity, Creativity: The Human & The Humanities?pr
oject (ASC), the National Humanities Center makes public a new website for
the initiative which significantly expands the potential pool of humanists and
scientists engaged in the exploration and examination of topics surrounding the
question of human being.

_________________________________________________________________

[62]Complexity Digest is an independent publication available to
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lists. [64]ComDig is published by [65]Dean LeBaron and edited by
[66]Gottfried J. Mayer.
To unsubscribe from this list, please send a note to
[67]subscriptions at comdig.org.

[62] http://www.comdig.org/
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