Released: 30-Jan-2012 5:00 PM EST
NSF Grant to Support Research in 'Natural Computation'
Santa Fe Institute

All living organisms collect information from their environments and use it to adapt. The Santa Fe Institute has been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) investigate such biological processes as computations.

Released: 22-Feb-2012 11:30 AM EST
Research Examines Ancient Humans as Major Predators in Marine Food Webs, Suggesting Lessons for Sustainability
Santa Fe Institute

Research by Santa Fe Institute Professor Jennifer Dunne is the first to examine in detail the feeding habits of human hunter-gatherers in the food webs on which they depended.

Released: 24-Apr-2012 11:00 AM EDT
Following Life's Chemistry to the Earliest Branches on the Tree of Life
Santa Fe Institute

In a study in PLoS Computational Biology, two Santa Fe Institute researchers trace the development of life-sustaining chemistry to the earliest forms of life on Earth.

Released: 25-Sep-2012 3:15 PM EDT
Finding the Statistical Fingerprints of Election Thieves
Santa Fe Institute

Scientists examined voter data from a dozen recent elections around the world and found statistical evidence for election fraud in two of them.

Released: 16-Oct-2012 3:20 PM EDT
When Leaving Your Wealth to Your Sister's Sons Makes Sense
Santa Fe Institute

In some human societies, men transfer their wealth to their sister's sons, a practice that puzzles evolutionary biologists. A new study by SFI's Laura Fortunato has produced insights into "matrilineal inheritance."

Released: 13-Nov-2012 2:35 PM EST
The Santa Fe Institute Announces the Expansion of Its Omidyar Fellowship in 2013
Santa Fe Institute

The Santa Fe Institute's highly successful Omidyar Fellows program for interdisciplinary postdocs will be expanded in 2013, with enhancements designed to sharpen the program’s focus on preparing promising early-career scientists to lead tomorrow’s most critical scientific research.

Released: 12-Dec-2012 12:30 PM EST
Was Life Inevitable? New Paper Pieces Together Metabolism’s Beginnings
Santa Fe Institute

Two Santa Fe Institute researchers offer a coherent picture of how metabolism, and thus all life, arose. Their paper offers new insights into the likelihood of life emerging and evolving as it did on Earth, and the chances of it arising elsewhere in the universe.

Released: 12-Dec-2012 12:25 PM EST
Scientists Take First Step Toward a Science of Slums
Santa Fe Institute

A new research project at the Santa Fe Institute, in collaboration with Slum Dwellers International and backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, seeks to initiate a scientific study of urban slums worldwide.

Released: 12-Dec-2012 1:55 PM EST
Research Seeks Data to Help Preserve Landscapes on Which Indigenous Human Groups Depend
Santa Fe Institute

Research by a Santa Fe Institute researcher and his collaborators at the University of Missouri seeks better data that could help preserve the threatened landscapes on which indigenous human groups depend.

Released: 7-Feb-2013 9:00 AM EST
How Men and Women Organize Their (Online) Social Networks Differently
Santa Fe Institute

A new quantitative study of data assembled from the online multiplayer game Pardus examines ways men and women manage their social networks drastically different, even online.

Released: 27-Feb-2013 4:50 PM EST
Study Suggests Homeric Epics Were Written in 762 BCE, Give or Take
Santa Fe Institute

One of literature’s oldest mysteries is a step closer to being solved. A new study dates Homer's The Iliad to 762 BCE and adds a quantitative means of testing ideas about history by analyzing the evolution of language.

Released: 14-Jun-2013 1:10 PM EDT
Does Including Parasites Upset Food Web Theory? Yes and No, Says New Paper
Santa Fe Institute

A new paper in PLOS Biology this week shows that taking the unusual step of including parasites in ecological datasets does alter the structure of resulting food webs, but that's mostly due to an increase in diversity and complexity rather than the particular characteristics of parasites. The work answers some longstanding questions about the unique role parasites play in ecological networks.

Released: 15-Jul-2013 1:00 PM EDT
Great Exaptations: Most Traits Emerge for No Crucial Reason
Santa Fe Institute

In Nature this week, Santa Fe Institute External Professor Andreas Wagner and University of Zurich colleague Aditya Barve, by simulating changes in an organism’s metabolism, show that most traits may emerge as non-crucial "exaptations" rather than as selection-advantageous adaptations.

Released: 19-Mar-2014 3:00 PM EDT
Ancient Food Webs Developed Modern Structure Soon After Mass Extinction
Santa Fe Institute

Analysis of a highly detailed picture of feeding relationships among 700 species from a 48 million year old ecosystem provides the most compelling evidence to date that ancient food webs were organized much like modern food webs.

Released: 3-Apr-2014 10:40 AM EDT
Indigenous Societies' 'First Contact' Typically Brings Collapse, but Rebounds Are Possible
Santa Fe Institute

An analysis led by the Santa Fe Institute's Marcus Hamilton paints a grim picture of the experiences of indigenous societies following contact with Western Europeans, but also offers hope to those seeking to preserve Brazil’s remaining indigenous societies.

Released: 17-Dec-2014 7:00 AM EST
David Krakauer Selected as the Santa Fe Institute's Next President
Santa Fe Institute

David Krakauer, an evolutionary theorist and director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been selected as the Santa Fe Institute’s next president. He plans to join the Institute on August 1, 2015.

Released: 11-Feb-2015 11:00 AM EST
Patient Parenting: Sharing of Food Across Generations Contributes to Humans' Long Life Histories
Santa Fe Institute

A new Santa Fe Institute study by Paul Hooper and collaborators details the intergenerational food sharing in a society of Amazon forager-farmers and shows that differences in relative need determine contributions to children from parents, grandparents, and other kin.

Released: 19-Feb-2015 11:00 AM EST
Tracing Languages Back to Their Common Ancestors Through the Statistics of Sound Shifts
Santa Fe Institute

A statistical technique that sorts out when changes to words’ pronunciations most likely occurred in the evolution of a language offers a renewed opportunity to trace words and languages back to their earliest common ancestor or ancestors.

19-Feb-2015 2:00 PM EST
Ancient and Modern Cities Aren't So Different
Santa Fe Institute

Despite notable differences in appearance and governance, ancient human settlements function in much the same way as modern cities, according to new findings by researchers at the Santa Fe Institute and the University of Colorado Boulder.

Released: 1-Apr-2015 12:05 PM EDT
How Long Do Firms Live? Finding Patterns of Company Mortality in Market Data
Santa Fe Institute

New research by Santa Fe Institute scientists reveals a surprising insight: publicly-traded firms die off at the same rate regardless of their age or economic sector.

Released: 22-Apr-2015 8:55 AM EDT
Study: Polarization in Congress Is Worsening, and It Stifles Policy Innovation
Santa Fe Institute

A new study from the Santa Fe Institute confirms quantitatively that partisan disagreements in the U.S. Congress are worsening and that polarization is harmful to policy innovation.

Released: 1-May-2015 11:05 AM EDT
The Language of Invention: Most Innovations Are Rephrasings of Past Inventions
Santa Fe Institute

Most new patents are combinations of existing ideas and pretty much always have been, even as the stream of fundamentally new core technologies has slowed, according to a new study led by Santa Fe Institute researchers.

Released: 1-May-2015 11:05 AM EDT
Species’ Evolutionary Choice: Disperse or Adapt?
Santa Fe Institute

Dispersal and adaptation are two evolutionary strategies available to species given an environment. Generalists, like dandelions, send their offspring far and wide. Specialists, like alpine flowers, adapt to the conditions of a particular place. New research models the interplay between these two strategies and shows how even minor changes in an environment can create feedback and trigger dramatic shifts in evolutionary strategy.

Released: 6-May-2015 11:05 AM EDT
Could Mobile Phone Data Help Bring Electricity to the Developing World?
Santa Fe Institute

In a new study, researchers used anonymized cell phone data to assess the feasibility of electrification options for rural communities in Senegal, demonstrating a potentially valuable approach to using data to solve problems of development.

23-Jun-2015 7:05 AM EDT
Is the Whooping Cough Resurgence Due to Vaccinated People Not Knowing They’re Infectious?
Santa Fe Institute

The dramatic resurgence of whooping cough is due, in large part, to vaccinated people who are infectious but who do not display the symptoms, suggests a new study by two Santa Fe Institute researchers in BMC Medicine. The study suggests that the number of people transmitting without symptoms could be many times greater than the number of people transmitting with symptoms – and much higher than previous estimates.

Released: 24-Sep-2015 6:05 PM EDT
When Paired with Coinfection, Social Isolation Might Fuel Rather Than Foil Epidemics
Santa Fe Institute

Models suggest that when social isolation and coinfection occur together, diseases can spread faster and further than with either effect alone.

Release date: 17-Nov-2015 1:05 PM EST
report how complexity should inform energy tech policy making
Santa Fe Institute

As the Paris climate conference approaches, a new report by SFI External Professor Jessika Trancik’s lab advocates for more realistic energy policies that acknowledge, and employ, complex systems approaches.

Release date: 4-Dec-2015 3:05 PM EST
sfi informs construct for interdisciplinary work
Santa Fe Institute

The North American research landscape is increasingly recognizing the value of interdisciplinary, collaborative work. But how do researchers from differing backgrounds practically engage one another?

Release date: 18-Jan-2016 1:05 PM EST
a winning strategy for multicellular life
Santa Fe Institute

Environmental triggers may have tipped the transition from single- to multi-cellular life, according to new research by SFI REU Emma Wolinsky and Omidyar Fellow Eric Libby

Released: 28-Jan-2016 1:05 PM EST
How to Make Slums More Resilient to Climate Change
Santa Fe Institute

A team from the Santa Fe Institute, Arizona State University, and Slum Dwellers International has been selected to find new ways to help the world's poorest, most vulnerable communities.

1-Feb-2016 9:00 AM EST
Semantically Speaking: Does Meaning Structure Unite Languages?
Santa Fe Institute

Using a new methodology that measures how closely words’ meanings are related within and between languages, an international team of researchers has revealed that for many universal concepts, the world’s languages feature a common structure of semantic relatedness.

Released: 17-Feb-2016 1:05 PM EST
How Hunter-Gatherers Preserved Their Food Sources
Santa Fe Institute

New research explores the impact of hunter-gatherers on north Pacific marine food webs and the behaviors that helped preserve their network of food sources. The findings hold implications for modern food webs.

Released: 24-Feb-2016 11:05 AM EST
Bluebird’s Conundrum: Shack Up Now or Hang Out in Mom’s Nest for a While?
Santa Fe Institute

Young male bluebirds may gain an evolutionary advantage by delaying breeding and helping out their parents' nests instead, according to new research led by Caitlin Stern of the Santa Fe Institute.

Release date: 19-Apr-2016 4:05 PM EDT
human psychology and why we can t seem to get our heads around climate change
Santa Fe Institute

Feel like your conservation efforts are a drop in the bucket? Don’t want to bike to work if your neighbors get to drive? A new article co-authored by a number of SFI-affiliated researchers explores the psychological barriers that drive our distinct lack of “foresight intelligence” regarding climate change and our failure to take meaningful mitigating steps.

Release date: 18-May-2016 3:05 PM EDT
chimpanzee fig selection sheds light on primate motor skills evolution
Santa Fe Institute

When we choose fruit from a grocery store shelf, we use sight, smell, and touch to pick the most appealing selections. We know that a too-firm, unripe pear won’t be as tasty, and to leave behind the over-ripe avocado that yields, mushy, to light pressure. The need to identify ripe fruit may have helped our primate ancestors develop fine motor skills in the first place, suggests a new paper published in Interface Focus, co-authored by SFI Omidyar Fellow alum Justin Yeakel.

Release date: 17-Jun-2016 4:05 PM EDT
jerry sabloff to receive the american anthropological association s 2016 kidder award
Santa Fe Institute

Jeremy (Jerry) Sabloff, an SFI External Professor and an Institute past president, has been selected by the American Anthropological Association to receive its 2016 Alfred Vincent Kidder Award for Eminence in the Field of American Archaeology.

Released: 28-Jun-2016 4:05 PM EDT
Don't Abandon National Referendums, but Smaller Groups Often Make Wiser Choices
Santa Fe Institute

New research suggests that larger crowds do not always produce wiser decisions. Moderately-sized crowds are likely to outperform larger ones when faced with combinations of easy and difficult qualitative decisions.

Released: 1-Aug-2016 2:05 PM EDT
Replacing Ill Workers with Healthy Ones Accelerates Some Epidemics
Santa Fe Institute

When disease outbreaks occur, front-line workers become infected and healthy individuals take their places. Based on network models of this “human exchange,” researchers from the Santa Fe Institute and the University of Vermont find that replacing sick individuals with healthy ones can actually accelerate the spread of infection.

Released: 18-Aug-2016 6:05 PM EDT
Powerful New Metric Quickly Reveals Network Structure at Multiple Scales
Santa Fe Institute

Three researchers have devised a new network community detection technique that hopscotches over the limitations of other methods, revealing network structure at the microscopic, mesoscopic, and macroscopic levels quickly and simultaneously.

Released: 27-Jul-2016 12:05 PM EDT
Religious Actions Convey Prosocial Intent, Finds Study
Santa Fe Institute

A new study suggests that people who participate in regular religious acts send a clear signal to others that they're ready and willing to contribute to their communities.

Release date: 4-Oct-2016 4:05 PM EDT
do green vehicles cost more not in the long run study finds
Santa Fe Institute

In a study published this week in Environmental Science and Technology, her team finds that that low-emission cars aren't more expensive over their life cycles than conventional internal combustion vehicles on the market today. Her team released the results of their study in the form of an app, Carbon Counter, that prospective car and truck buyers can use to evaluate any of 125 vehicle types.

Released: 11-Oct-2016 11:05 AM EDT
Study: When a Group Must Solve Hard Problems, It's Best to Design the Team Around Its Learning Style
Santa Fe Institute

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.

Released: 11-Oct-2016 11:05 AM EDT
Study: Medieval Cities Not So Different From Modern European Cities
Santa Fe Institute

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.

Released: 30-Nov-2016 5:05 PM EST
Suggestions for You: A Better, Faster Recommendation Algorithm
Santa Fe Institute

Researchers suggest a better algorithm for digital recommendation systems that suggest songs, movies, or romantic partners for you.

Released: 1-Dec-2016 11:05 AM EST
A Friend of a Friend Is…a Dense Network
Santa Fe Institute

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

Released: 6-Dec-2016 11:05 AM EST
Predicting Unpredictability: Information Theory Offers New Way to Read Ice Cores
Santa Fe Institute

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.

Release date: 9-Feb-2017 4:05 PM EST
life s lower limits
Santa Fe Institute

When energy and nutrients abound, a bacterium will repair itself while synthesizing new parts to create a twin and then split, all as quickly as conditions allow. But if resources shrink, so does growth rate. The cell responds by shunting its dwindling supplies from replication to repair, shutting down processes until it’s running a skeleton crew to survive.

Released: 15-Feb-2017 11:05 AM EST
Researchers Look for Life's Lower Limits
Santa Fe Institute

Investigating the lower bound of energy required for life helps us understand ecological constraints on other planetary bodies in our solar system as well as our own. In a new study, researchers analyze cellular processes across species and sizes of bacteria, to zoom in on life's minimal energy requirements.

Release date: 7-Mar-2017 12:05 PM EST
religious participation may serve to strengthen social bonds
Santa Fe Institute

By analyzing how religious practice correlates with social support networks in two villages in South India, Eleanor Power suggests an evolutionary benefit to active religious participation.

Released: 22-Mar-2017 11:20 AM EDT
What's Cuing Salmon Migration Patterns?
Santa Fe Institute

Why do salmon travel in pulse-like groups? A new model challenges standard explanations by suggesting social cues trigger migration.


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