Complex systems

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Complex systems is a scientific field which studies the common properties of systems that are considered fundamentally complex. Such systems may exist in nature, society, science and many other fields. It is also called complex systems theory, complexity science, study of complex systems, sciences of complexity, non-equilibrium physics, and historical physics. The key problems of such systems are difficulties with their formal modeling and simulation. From such perspective, in different research contexts complex systems are defined on the base of their different attributes. Since all complex systems have many interconnected components, the science of networks and network theory are always important aspects of the study of complex systems. At present, the consensus related to one universal definition of complex system does not exist yet.

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News tagged with complex systems

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Electronic patient records are not a panacea

Medicine & Health / Other

created Dec 14, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Large-scale electronic patient record (EPR) programmes promise much but sometimes deliver little, according to a new study by UCL researchers that reviewed findings from hundreds of previous studies from all over the world.


Physics rules network dynamics

Physics rules network dynamics

Physics / General Physics

created Dec 11, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (25) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- When it comes to the workings of the Web, the brain, or a social network, physics finds universal truths.


A RANK insider resolving the enigma of the fever chart

Medicine & Health / Research

created Nov 25, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Mammals have evolved a complex system for controlling bone remodeling. Babies require calcium for healthy bones and they obtain it from their mother's milk. Nursing mothers release calcium from their bones. Surprisingly, ...


How Did Evolution Begin?

How Did Evolution Begin?

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Sep 28, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (28) | comments 17

(PhysOrg.com) -- Life's ability to replicate itself is essential for evolution, yet even the simplest kind of replication requires a relatively complex system. So what kind of non-replicating system might ...


Scientists find universal rules for food-web stability

Biology / Ecology

created Aug 06, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

The findings, published in this week's issue of Science, conclude that food-web stability is enhanced when many diverse predator-prey links connect high and intermediate trophic levels. The computations also reveal that s ...


Social scientist suggests new research framework to study complex systems

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Jul 23, 2009 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

The often-used one-size-fits-all approach to policies aimed at achieving sustainable social-ecological systems needs to be updated with a diagnostic tool to help scholars from multiple disciplines better frame the question ...


A global model for the origin of species independent of geographical isolation

Biology / Evolution

created Jul 17, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 12

(PhysOrg.com) -- The tremendous diversity of life continues to puzzle scientists, long after the 200 years since Charles Darwin's birth. However, in recent years, consistent patterns of biodiversity have been identified ...


New book suggests Earth perhaps not such a benevolent mother after all

New book suggests Earth perhaps not such a benevolent mother after all

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created May 20, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (21) | comments 15

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the past 50 years it has become commonplace to think of Earth as a nurturing place, straining mightily to maintain equilibrium so that life might continue and flourish.


Study finds particles, molecules prefer not to mix

Birds of a feather: Study finds particles, molecules prefer not to mix

Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry

created May 04, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the world of small things, shape, order and orientation are surprisingly important, according to findings from a new study by chemists at Washington University in St. Louis.


Tough times, complex systems -- a modernisation story

Technology / Engineering

created May 04, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Tough economic times call for tough measures to remain competitive. That goes for software modernisation as well. A European project has just released a prototype of a software engineering platform that could ...


Researchers break the animal kingdom's colour code

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 16, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (7) | comments 0

Charles Darwin was fascinated by the colours of animals - he once wrote to his colleague Alfred Russell Wallace asking why certain animals were "so
beautifully and artistically coloured".


Maybe robots dream of electric sheep, but can they do science?

Being Isaac Newton: Computer derives natural laws from raw data

Technology / Computer Sciences

created Apr 02, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (20) | comments 8

If Isaac Newton had access to a supercomputer, he'd have had it watch apples fall - and let it figure out the physical matters. But the computer would have needed to run an algorithm, just developed by Cornell ...


Synthetic biology yields clues to evolution and the origin of life

Biology /

created Feb 15, 2009 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (3) | comments 1

Researchers in the field of synthetic biology are still a long way from being able to assemble living cells from scratch in the laboratory. But according to biochemist David Deamer of the University of California, Santa Cruz, ...


Scientists create working artificial nerve networks

Physics / General Physics

created Jan 28, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (8) | comments 7

Scientists have already hooked brains directly to computers by means of metal electrodes, in the hope of both measuring what goes on inside the brain and eventually healing conditions such as blindness or epilepsy. In the ...


Analysis Shows Uptick Rule Vital to Market Stability

Other Sciences / Other

created Nov 18, 2008 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (9) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study by researchers at the New England Complex Systems Institute found that interpretations of data from an SEC pilot program used to justify the repeal of the "uptick rule" in the summer of 2007 are ...