A machine-learning framework predicts when a complex system, such as an ecosystem or a power grid, will undergo a critical transition.

Cognition is often associated with complex brains, yet many forms of learning—such as habituation, sensitization, and even spacing effects—have been observed in single cells and aneural organisms. The...

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet for a lunch Dave Snowden during his stay in Hong Kong and Macau. I would like to thank José Ferreira Pinto from City University of Macau and Les Hales from CIO...

Signed networks provide a principled framework for representing systems in which interactions are not merely present or absent but qualitatively distinct: friendly or antagonistic, supportive or confl...

The US electric grid faces increasing complexity and multiple threats to reliability, including fuel supply, market design, regulations, and permitting processes. A lack of unified responsibility across Congress, FERC, and States contributes to inaction and inconsistent policies, further exacerbated by state-level actions impacting interstate grid reliability. Recent warnings from NERC and the National Academies of Science highlight the fragility of the grid. Solutions are prioritized based on reliability value and expediency. Highest priority actions include expediting generator winterization, ensuring natural gas fuel assurance (requiring Congressional action), and overhauling state permitting processes to reduce interstate reliability impacts. Medium priority actions involve unleashing flexible demand, finishing generator interconnection reforms, safeguarding against premature generation retirements, improving wholesale market design, and streamlining federal permitting. Lower priority solutions focus on improving state resource planning, optimizing the existing transmission system, and improving conventional transmission expansion, which face complex political and logistical hurdles. Key actors and responsibilities are distributed: Congress addresses statutory changes like fuel assurance mandates and federal permitting reform; FERC handles wholesale market design and interconnection reforms; States reform permitting processes and engage with Regional Transmission Organizations; NERC monitors grid reliability; and Regional Transmission Organizations manage grid operations. Underlying concerns include political challenges, agency discretion regarding reliability decisions, balancing short-term costs with long-term resilience, navigating state versus federal authority, and ensuring market signals accurately reflect reliability costs and benefits. A summary table categorizes solutions by priority, key actors, importance, and implementation difficulty, encompassing expedited winterization, natural gas assurance, state permitting reforms, flexible demand, interconnection reforms, generation retirement safeguards, market design improvements, and federal permitting streamlining, alongside lower-priority initiatives for state resource planning and transmission optimization.

𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 🗺️ 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬? 🤔 Ants have sparked our curiosity as a way to better understand traffic dynamics. 🚗 A human driver travels individually, often with a selfish goal: getting home as quickly as possible. 💨 Sofiane Madmar, 05/06/2026 w/ Didier JOSSELIN   #geography #ants #aco #biomimicry #complexsystem #transportation #entomology    ------ traduction automatique Les fourmis ont éveillé notre curiosité pour mieux comprendre la dynamique de la circulation. 🚗 Un conducteur humain voyage individuellement, souvent avec un objectif égoïste : rentrer chez lui le plus vite possible. 💨 Une fourmi, en revanche, agit certes individuellement, mais strictement dans le cadre de sa colonie. Il y a une logique collective en jeu, guidée par l’intérêt de toute la communauté. 🧠 Comment cela fonctionne-t-il ? Cela se produit principalement par une communication indirecte appelée stigmergie, via le dépôt de phéromones (un « parfum » chimique complexe). Il existe également une communication directe, comme le contact antennel à courte portée. Ce système peut-il être appliqué à la circulation routière ? Nous savons déjà que la stigmergie est une stratégie très efficace pour trouver le chemin le plus court dans les réseaux. En fait, des chercheurs ont développé des algorithmes d’optimisation des colonies de fourmis (ACO). Cette approche fonctionne incroyablement bien pour calculer 🧑 💻 rapidement un chemin court acceptable, alors que les algorithmes déterministes traditionnels prendraient beaucoup trop de temps. Optimisation vs. Congestion D’accord, donc ça fonctionne pour l’optimisation. Mais cela ne résout pas le problème de la circulation routière. Si chaque conducteur optimise son propre itinéraire indépendamment, tout le monde finit par choisir exactement les mêmes chemins efficaces (le plus court ou le plus rapide). Le résultat ? Embouteillage. ☹️ Notre hypothèse Notre intuition est que dans ce genre de scénarios, les fourmis sont capables d’équilibrer leur itinéraire pour obtenir un flux de trafic global plus fluide au bénéfice global de la colonie. C’est exactement ce que nous voulons tester avec nos petits amis à six pattes ! 🐜