What does the Dead Sea have to do with theoretical and statistical mathematics, economics, molecular biology, genetic mapping and neural networks?
The connection is a new interdisciplinary field of scientific study called "complex systems" - in which physicists use mathematical formulae to study and understand patterns and sequences of natural phenomena like traffic congestion, irregular heartbeats, the rise and fall of stocks on Wall Street, the firing of neurons in the brain, or the spreading of a drop of spilled coffee on your tablecloth.
More than 170 leading physicists gathered at a plush Dead Sea resort last month to discuss the latest research into such "complex systems" by invitation of Bar-Ilan University physics department and its Minerva Center. Conference chairman Prof. Ido Kanter says that despite the security situation, none of the more than 100 scientists from abroad (from the US, Brazil, France, Switzerland, Japan, Germany, England, Belgium and other countries) cancelled his participation
David Forney, MIT professor and the International Vice President of Motorola lectured on the bridge between information theory, statistical physics and advanced communications. Prof. Vahid Tarokh of MIT (an Iranian expatriate), revealed new and exciting research into "space-time codes", a new form of satellite communications. . Prof. Eugene Stanley of Boston University (who was very active in the campaign for Soviet Jewry during the 1970s through the Committee of Concerned Scientists) lectured as well, as did other noted academics. One fascinating topic examined at the conference was the next generation of computers, based on "neural networks." Computers of the future will have the ability to learn from example, to function with associative memory, and to predict time series.
The connection is a new interdisciplinary field of scientific study called "complex systems" - in which physicists use mathematical formulae to study and understand patterns and sequences of natural phenomena like traffic congestion, irregular heartbeats, the rise and fall of stocks on Wall Street, the firing of neurons in the brain, or the spreading of a drop of spilled coffee on your tablecloth.
More than 170 leading physicists gathered at a plush Dead Sea resort last month to discuss the latest research into such "complex systems" by invitation of Bar-Ilan University physics department and its Minerva Center. Conference chairman Prof. Ido Kanter says that despite the security situation, none of the more than 100 scientists from abroad (from the US, Brazil, France, Switzerland, Japan, Germany, England, Belgium and other countries) cancelled his participation
David Forney, MIT professor and the International Vice President of Motorola lectured on the bridge between information theory, statistical physics and advanced communications. Prof. Vahid Tarokh of MIT (an Iranian expatriate), revealed new and exciting research into "space-time codes", a new form of satellite communications. . Prof. Eugene Stanley of Boston University (who was very active in the campaign for Soviet Jewry during the 1970s through the Committee of Concerned Scientists) lectured as well, as did other noted academics. One fascinating topic examined at the conference was the next generation of computers, based on "neural networks." Computers of the future will have the ability to learn from example, to function with associative memory, and to predict time series.