#NERCCS2026 speaker dinner!

#NERCCS2026 keynote speaker Juan Perez-Mercader discusses chemical evolution, the origin of life, and experimental synthesis of living systems

Sean, Gourab and Carlos officially kick off #NERCCS2026!!

Why this matters: as climate change and urbanization reshape where vectors thrive, intuition based on past outbreaks can fail. We need general principles, not just case studies. 🌍📍

We show that outbreak risk can flip from dense urban hubs to peripheral areas depending on vector ecology.
A common “balanced mobility” rule emerges as a general stability principle, not just a heuristic. 🔁📊

🚨 New Physical Review E paper out! Led by my graduate student Bibandhan Poudyal, we study how spatial structure + human mobility interact to shape vulnerability in vector-borne diseases. 🦟🏙️
📄 doi.org/10.1103/kyxw...

🚀 The University of Rochester is hiring in Complex Systems (Physics)!
Join a vibrant cross-disciplinary cluster supported by the Simons Foundation.
Great opportunity to build a program at the interface of physics, biology & cognition.
Apply ➡️ apply.interfolio.com/173432

From protocells to biospheres, and from Daisyworld to ExoGaia models, we show how informational dynamics can unify physics, biology & complexity science.
Grateful to amazing co-authors: Bartlett, Eckford, Egbert, Lingam, Kolchinsky, @adamfrank4.bsky.social .

The roadmap highlights:
• Theoretical frameworks linking information to viability
• Experiments with synthetic cells, active matter & molecular communication
• Origins & astrobiology: life as a transition to information-driven systems

Physics of Life: Exploring Information as a Distinctive Feature of Living Systems Living systems are defined by their active acquisition and use of information. This Roadmap surveys current research on life's information processes and their importance for the search for life beyond...

Excited to share our new @prxlife.bsky.social roadmap article:
“Physics of Life: Exploring Information as a Distinctive Feature of Living Systems” 🚀
We argue that information is a defining feature of living systems.
🔗 journals.aps.org/prxlife/abst...

Instead of asking how much energy life uses, we ask:

How much does life need to “know” to keep a planet habitable?
A step toward detecting life via informational fingerprints.
#Astrobiology #GaiaTheory #SemanticInformation #Exoplanets #Biosignatures

Our Exo-Daisy World model shows:
– Biospheres restructure environmental correlations
– Viability depends on semantic thresholds
– Informational feedback leaves biosignatures

This is Gaia theory reimagined through the lens of information.

🚨 New paper out today!
We revisit the classic Daisyworld model using semantic information theory to explore how biospheres regulate their planets through information—not just energy.
With @doctorowls.bsky.social & @adamfrank4.bsky.social
🔗 doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/...

The innovation trade-off: how following superstars shapes academic novelty - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications Humanities and Social Sciences Communications - The innovation trade-off: how following superstars shapes academic novelty

Read the full paper (finally published!)
📄 ‪@hss.springernature.com‬
🔗 doi.org/10.1057/s415...
With Sean Kelty, Raiyan Baten, Adiba Proma, Ehsan Hoque, Johan Bollen, and me.
#ScienceOfScience #Innovation #AcademicLife

Meanwhile, researchers who publish at the same rate without superstar ties?
👉 More novel
👉 More disruptive
👉 Less visible
Prestige gives a boost—but not necessarily to originality.

We analyzed 650k+ physics papers.
Researchers with close ties to “superstars” (via citations/collabs):
✅ Publish more
✅ Get cited more
But…
❌ Are less innovative
❌ Less disruptive
❌ More redundant
Once superstar co-authors are removed, the edge vanishes.

Why does the most original science sometimes come from outside elite circles?
Our new paper tackles a tough question:
Do superstar scientists fuel or stifle innovation around them?
After 2 years + a few rejections, it’s finally out. 🧵

Contrasting and comparing the efficacy of mobility-targeted interventions on airborne and vector-borne diseases - Communications Physics Mobility-targeted interventions are known to reduce airborne disease transmission, but their effects on vector-borne diseases are less clear. The authors integrate mobility data with vulnerability mat...

New paper in @commsphys.nature.com
Mobility policies that reduce airborne disease can worsen vector-borne disease.
We show why—and how to fix it.
📄 www.nature.com/articles/s42...
With Bibandhan Poudyal & David Soriano Paños
#epidemiology #networks

Excited to give an interdisciplinary colloquium at Ashoka University on Tuesday, June 10!

🧠 Scaling Laws, Movement & Meaning: A Complex Systems View of Urban Life
📍 AC-02-LR-203
🕜 1:30–2:30 PM

From urban scaling & mobility to entropy & meaning—come by if you're in Delhi NCR!

A bit late in posting, but huge congrats to my PhD student @bibandhan.bsky.social Poudyal for winning the prestigious Messersmith Dissertation Fellowship at @urochester.bsky.social! One of the university’s top honors for doctoral research in the sciences. Well earned, Bib! 👏🎉

Privileged to be speaking at the venerable Stat Mech conference at Rutgers next week (127th edition!) Especially nice as @barabasi.bsky.social is one of the honorees. Stellar cast of speakers, hope to not embarass myself too much!

Phase (de)synchronization from an information theoretic standpoint. An interesting reformulation of the Kuramoto model. Our latest now out in Physical Review Research with Damian Sowinski and AdamFrank. Check it out! link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/...

Contrasting and comparing the efficacy of non-pharmaceutical interventions on air-borne and vector-borne diseases Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) aimed at limiting human mobility have demonstrated success in curbing the transmission of airborne diseases. However, their effectiveness in managing vector-bor...

How can we tailor mitigation strategies for diseases with vastly different dynamics? Our study offers a unified framework to optimize NPIs for airborne & vector-borne diseases. Great work by my student Bib Poudyal with @sorianopanos.bsky.social arxiv.org/abs/2411.16682

Trying this place for a change.