Crime alert: theft of bicycle
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Latest Posts
The February 2019 Supermoon
A “supermoon” happens when a full moon occurs around the same time that the moon is at its closest point to the earth (perigee) in its elliptical orbit around our planet. This means that the full moon will[…]
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Whim of the Week – 69
Lost in translation (once more…)
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Whim of the Week – 68
Predator publishers vs. beautiful birds.
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Latest Update on Earthquake Statistics
Two years ago I published an article in Plus magazine debunking claims buzzing around on the internet about a supposed recent increase in earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and so on. In that article I showed in detail how[…]
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The Chat Noir Cabaret
My good friend Charles Tichenor has been playing the piano since he was a little kid. And he’s still going at it tirelessly at his weekly Chat Noir Cabaret show at the Los Magueyes Mexican restaurant on Burro[…]
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Whim of the Week – 67
A hike with humor…
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Santa Fe Sunset
Another spectacular sunset viewed from the Fort Marcy Park in Santa Fe. Click each pick for a full size view!!
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A Home for Complex Systems Science
In complex systems science, the notion of complexity is often summarized with the phrase “the whole is more than the sum of its parts“. This expression can be traced all the way back to the early Greek philosopher[…]
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Whim of the Week – 66
Thanksgiving full moon…
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Workshop Report: Developmental Biases in Evolution
“Developmental bias is a manifestation of a much more fundamental principle, and is the norm rather than the exception”, according to one scientist. “Developmental bias is a misleading term and we should get rid of it”, according to[…]
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Whim of the Week – 65
Funny clocks and counters…
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From an Ecologist’s Nightmare to a Mathematician’s Dream
“Since you are a computer scientist, I have an optimisation problem for you!”, my colleague said, half jokingly. As an ecologist, one of the things my colleague studies is invasive plant species. The question he was facing is[…]
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Whim of the Week – 64
Collect moments, not things…
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Full Moon Above Thessaloniki
An (almost) full moon (98% illuminated) rising above Thessaloniki, Greece, as viewed from the balcony of my hotel room. A rather hazy evening, so no exceptional shots, but very beautiful to watch anyway! (Click each pic for a[…]
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The Evolution of Emergent Computation
Many systems in nature consist of a large number of relatively simple units that interact only locally, and without a central control, yet the system as a whole can perform sophisticated global information processing, or produce intricate globally[…]
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Evolution Montpellier 2018
Evolutionary biology is a thriving field. This was exemplified very recently at the Second Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology, held in Montpellier, France, from 19-22 August. Attended by around 2700 scientists, there were more than 800 contributed talks,[…]
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Whim of the Week – 63
Funny traffic lights and beautiful castles.
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La Cathedrale de Strasbourg
I spent a morning strolling around the old town of Strasbourg, France, with as main goal a visit to its impressive cathedral. Unfortunately it was a completely overcast day, so the sky was white instead of blue. But[…]
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A Chalk Walk
Among scientists, a “chalk talk” means a lecture without a laptop and beamer to display fancy graphics, but simply using a blackboard and a piece of chalk to draw diagrams and formulas while you speak. It’s sort of[…]
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Lunar Eclipse over Amsterdam
Last night there was a (complete) lunar eclipse which was visible from Amsterdam. Many thanks to Jo & Piet for sharing their 9th-floor apartment balcony with me, from where the views were just wonderful! Here are some impressions.[…]
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Whim of the Week – 62
Beauty is cruelty…
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Complex Experimental Autocatalytic Sets
Autocatalytic sets are self-sustaining chemical reaction networks which are believed to have played an important role in the origin of life, and to be an underlying principle of living systems in general. They have been studied in great[…]
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The Evolutionary Roots of Irrationality
Standard economic theory assumes that humans behave fully rationally and are able to objectively calculate the value (or cost) of the different choices they are presented with. In fact, we pride ourselves on our rationality. Different from the[…]
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Whim of the Week – 61
A whimsical garage owner…
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