We trust our memories because they feel natural, and we trust time because it seems to flow in only one direction. Physics, however, allows for stranger possibilities that challenge our intuition. In ...

A new study co-authored by SFI External Professor Laura Fortunato (University of Oxford), challenges a long-standing claim that polygynous marriage, where men have multiple wives, creates a surplus of ...

Every task we perform on our computer — whether number crunching, watching a video, or typing out an article — requires different components of the machine to interact with one another. "Communication ...

Over the past 40 years, the field of microeconomics has gone through a revolution in real-world applications, yet the theoretical models taught in Ph.D. coursework have been slow to catch up. In a new ...

The simulation hypothesis — the idea that our universe might be an artificial construct running on some advanced alien computer — has long captured the public imagination. Yet most arguments about it ...

For most of human history, large societies have drawn clear lines between people who belong to the in-group and those who do not. These lines determine who is recognized, protected, or granted status, ...

In his biography of Elon Musk, historian Walter Isaacson describes a game of Texas Hold ‘Em poker in which Musk went all in — on every hand. “Isaacson uses the anecdote to show that Elon Musk is a ...

Most people are aware of smoking's harmful health effects, yet many choose to light up regularly. If viewed from the lens of rational choice theory — an economic framework that suggests people always ...

Global markets are complex systems, shaped by feedback loops, sudden shocks, and adaptive behavior that rarely follow textbook rules and that can’t be captured by neat equations. At its core, ...

External Faculty are central to SFI’s identity as a world-class research institute. They enrich our networks of interactions, help us push the boundaries of complex-systems science, and connect us to ...

It might start as a joke, a belief, or a rumor. At first, it’s easy to dismiss. But then it gains a twist, builds momentum, and spreads like wildfire. What causes some ideas to die out while others ...