news February 2023

news@ifisc.uib-csic.es

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IFISC News - IFISC research wins CSIC prize for relevant pHd theses

by ifisc＠ifisc.uib-csic.es

IFISC research wins CSIC prize for relevant pHd theses Researcher Mattia Mazzoli, currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Institut Pierre Louis d'Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique (iPLesp), has won one of the prizes for relevant doctoral theses awarded by the CSIC. His thesis, entitled "Human mobility: data analysis, theory and models" was carried out at IFSIC (UIB-CSIC) under the supervision of researchers Pere Colet and José J. Ramasco, and was defended in July 2021. The thesis has been selected among the 20 awarded, within the global area "society". Mazzoli's work consisted of proposing and testing new methods to study human mobility in different contexts, scales and applications, such as using Twitter data on the Venezuelan exodus, the spread of epidemics in airports or how urban structure affected the spread of Covid.According to the CSIC, this award "aims to recognise and thank the fundamental work carried out in our organization by research staff in training, professionals whose work is crucial for the advancement of knowledge and the CSIC". Around 200 doctoral theses were submitted to the competition in its first phase, of which only 20 were selected.CSIC http://ifisc.uib-csic.es/en/news/ifisc-research-wins-csic-prize-relevant-ph…

3 months

IFISC News - Formation of biological patterns by pulsed signals

by ifisc＠ifisc.uib-csic.es

Formation of biological patterns by pulsed signals Alan Turing first described how regular patterns found in living things, such as the stripes of zebras, appear.A collaborative study between IFISC and Princeton University proposes an alternative mechanism to explain this pattern formation. Understanding how regular shapes (patterns) are generated in nature is a key question, as they have a major influence on the functionality, resilience and properties of organisms and their aggregations. Structures as diverse as the patterns on an insect shell, the stripes on a zebra or bacterial cultures have been the subject of analysis for decades, mainly with the intention of understanding how they are generated. A recent study in which Eduardo Colombo, from Princeton University in the United States, and Cristóbal López and Emilio Hernández-García, from IFISC (UIB-CSIC), have collaborated, has identified a new mechanism of pattern formation in biological contexts. The work, published in Physical Review Letters, proposes a mathematical model in which these patterns emerge from the interaction of organisms that communicate through the intermittent emission of noxious signals. In the 1950s, the British mathematician Alan Turing found a very general mechanism capable of explaining some of the patterns found in nature. However, this mechanism was not necessarily linked to life activity, so it has been equally applied to understand other structures that appear spontaneously in inert systems, such as chemical reactions, optical and mechanical devices, etc. In essence, the Turing process consists of competition between a substance that tends to multiply, and which in turn generates another substance capable of eliminating the first one in an inefficient way, but having greater mobility and therefore occupying places where the first substance has not yet arrived. After 70 years of research, hundreds of physical, chemical and biological systems have been identified that can be explained by the Turing process with some variations. The new mechanism proposed in this study also requires two types of substances, one of which is capable of eliminating the other, which produces it. The novelty of the model lies in the fact that the production of this second substance is carried out in a pulsed, intermittent manner. It is also necessary that the substance produced propagates through space in a certain way, for example as liquids propagate in porous media. In such situations, in cases where the Turing mechanism is not able to generate structures, and the substances would be distributed homogeneously in space, the intermittent production destabilises the homogeneous distribution and the substances are grouped together to form periodic fringe-like structures. The proposed mechanism may be of relevance in patterns where the interaction between elements occurs in very short pulses compared to reaction processes. This category would include patterns found in chemistry or ecology, such as in bacterial cultures where bacteria may intermittently secrete toxins. Colombo, Eduardo H.; Lopez, Cristobal; Hernandez-Garcia, Emilio. Physical Review Letters 130, 058401 (1-5) (2023). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.058401 http://ifisc.uib-csic.es/en/news/formation-biological-patterns-pulsed-signa…

3 months, 3 weeks

IFISC News - 11F: International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2023

by ifisc＠ifisc.uib-csic.es

11F: International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2023 In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly decided to proclaim 11 February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science with the aim of achieving full and equal access to science for girls and women. This year IFISC joins forces with the CSIC Delegation in the Balearic Islands as well as with the other CSIC centers in the Balearic Islands to organize the activity "Conecta con las científicas del CSIC en Illes Balears". This free online activity is especially aimed at schools and will consist of two interactive live broadcasts on 9 and 10 February in which different researchers from the centers will talk about what they work on, their day-to-day work and the challenges they face. More details and instructions on how to access are available on the delegation's website. From IFISC, the activity will be attended by PhD student Annalisa Caligiuri, who is currently working under the supervision of Tobias Galla and Lucas Lacasa on topics related to statistical physics and stochastic processes applied to opinion dynamics and complex networks. In addition, IFISC is once again collaborating with the introductory workshop on programming for young people organized by Django Girls on Saturday 25 February at Parc Bit. We take this opportunity to recall the results of the survey on the perception of the IFISC gender equality plan that were presented at the previous 11F and on which the gender equality and women's empowerment committee has been working over the last year. http://ifisc.uib-csic.es/en/news/11f-international-day-women-and-girls-scie…

3 months, 3 weeks

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