Paper alert! Did you ever think that counting the many different structures you can get from the chemical composition is hard? We've got the paper that shows you how to do it.

Here's the newest publication by Rana Shojaei (@ranashj.bsky.social) and Thilo Gross (@thilogross.bsky.social).

Unfalsifiable by Design: A Year of Trying and Failing to Reproduce a Human Microbiome and Autism Study The myth of open data, reproducibility, responsibility, and accountability in science, and your role in it

I always thought that dark academia was a sub-genre of fiction. Anyway, this is worth reading ...

merenlab.org/2026/04/15/u...

This was a fun project. Working with some old but very cool maths... #netsci people will like.

Wait. Liberty Island is New York ... but the pope can't be wrong ...

Each lecture will solve one problem from an application with pen and paper.

Topics covered include various network algorithms, dynamics, tipping and approximations, generating functions, MSF, coarse graining, links to AI and inf. theory.

Want to join, let me know.
More questions, ask here.

Next week, my course on Networks and Complexity is starting again, which is always taught online. We have some space left for international students.

Lectures will be on mondays and thursdays 16:00-18:00 CEST. Starting 9th. 24 Lectures total.

More info in the reply.

We have a very attractive open position: Professorship in Coastal Paleoecology

uol.de/en/job/coast...

POSTDOC POSITION --- Bernd Blasius has just opened a PostDoc position to model viral evolution. The project is a collaboration with me Dirk Brockmann and famous virologist Christian Drosten, among others. uol.de/en/job/postd...

Oh look, that's me :D

Here's a newsletter article about my latest paper with @akfbio.bsky.social, @jdyeakel.bsky.social, and @thilogross.bsky.social about functional motifs in networks.

Oscillating Gears in Gray-Scott Reaction Diffusion YouTube video by Vladimir Bulatov

new from Vladimir Bulatov: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlK9...

I see a bipartite network. (This is about arXiv:2602.16937 "Graphs are maximally expressive...")

This was a fun generalized modelling project with @janamassing.bsky.social @akfbio.bsky.social and @jdyeakel.bsky.social. Bacteria really need generalized models to make the maths fit properly.

If you like matrices + microbes, have I got the paper for you. Work with @janamassing.bsky.social, @jdyeakel.bsky.social, and @thilogross.bsky.social out today in @royalsocietypublishing.org! We study dynamics of cooperative bacteria without specifying a conventional model: doi.org/10.1098/rsif...

A Search for the Heart: Digital collections, machine learning and legacies of care Machine learning models are hungry for content from libraries and cultural insitutions. How can we imagine ways these technologies might help people and communities, while also being mindful of risks ...

I'm so proud of this project I did two years ago with Jonathan Ashley.

It's an essay and web comic about how historical archives deserve to be treated as more than just fuel for AI training.

I wrote a scripting system for the web comic, and also spent nearly a full year with writing and research.

No, considering higher-order interactions is great. However, this does not mean that you necessarily have to think of the system as a hypergraph. Ordinary networks provide a suitable framework that can accommodate most HOIs just fine. Bipartite and multilayer frameworks cover much of the rest.

What causes tipping points in complex microbial ecosystems? Check this @pnas.org paper by @thilogross.bsky.social showing that cross-feeding networks create strong interdependencies & small structural changes can trigger abrupt collapses. @akhilesh-nandan.bsky.social www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10....

Very happy to be part of this project. My take on it is, hypergraph or network can describe the same systems and yield the same phenomena. The decision really comes down to if you want to work with matrices or higher-order tensors to explore these phenomena.

Very excited to share this new exploration of motifs and their impacts on the dynamics of the entire network in PNAS! I learned a lot working with this crew (as usual)... with @mhab.bsky.social @akfbio.bsky.social and @thilogross.bsky.social !

Functional motifs in food webs and networks | PNAS When studying a complex system, it is often useful to think of the system as a network of interacting units. One can then ask if some properties of...

New paper with @mhab.bsky.social @jdyeakel.bsky.social and @thilogross.bsky.social out now in @pnas.org! We show when and why you can know something about an entire network, just by knowing the behavior of it's building blocks: doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Sarah holds up a biology is bigger than binaries shirt, which has those words in bold white text on a black t shirt with a white lily, honeybee, and clownfish

Tomorrow IRL markets in Philly start, which means a bunch of squid facts shop items will sell out!

We have a few Biology is Bigger than Binaries shirts (designed by @franzanth.bsky.social) left. They're comfy & colors printed great!

Once they're gone that's it.

Get 'em now:
SquidFacts.net

Simply amazing how this is happening and US media is focusing only on absolute nonsense. Now that Ellison and Weiss will control most of media, hard denial of climate crisis will be locked in.

I know why they're doing it, but it's gross to see the logic of power being used to protect the powerful.

The opposite of the ideals of a democratic society, all for a revenue stream already larger than most institutions in the history of human capitalism.

Grim.

Any academic folks on H1B visas (even with stamps in passports) please get legal advice from your University attorneys before leaving the US.

In just about a week, the season's first NetSci Colloquium will happen. And we're starting with a bang . . . with none other than Iain Couzin talking about Collective Behavior in Animal Groups. September 24, 10 AM ET. Register here to get a Zoom link: iu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Diffusion-driven pattern formation in an opinion dynamical network model The spatial organization of individuals and their interactions in communities are important factors known to preserve diversity in many complex systems. Inspired by metapopulation models from ecology,...

Paper alert! See the new pre-print up on arXiv by Tim Mauch (@timmauch.bsky.social) and Thilo Gross (@thilogross.bsky.social) on opinion formation:
arxiv.org/abs/2508.15377

The paper discusses the very nice results of Tim's master thesis, so let's get into the details, shall we?

1/5

→ Are you interested in multiscale phenomena such as the complex dynamics that arise in biology, chemistry, neuroscience, and physics when multiple spatial or temporal scales interact? 🧪

Then join us this summer in Groningen for the summer school:

lnkd.in/gViS3cCZ

The call for our 2026 Postdoc Cohort is now open. We offer 4 full-time positions. Apply until August 24th. hifmb.de/jobs
Please spread the word.
#postdoc #jobsinscience #marinebiodiversity #antarctica
@awi.de @hillebr1.bsky.social @ibaums.bsky.social @thilogross.bsky.social @merenbey.bsky.social 🦑

They have to destroy scientific research to eliminate the point at which civilians from every warzone connect and recognize themselves. How can you build a quantum computing lab without Iranians? Or an ML theory lab without Israelis? Better to let progress die than to allow that they might meet.

The rot is spreading ...

This focus on using research funding to support business is harmful.