Pint of Science 2023: the festival in Palma that brings science closer to the bar
IFISC and IMEDEA, two CSIC-UIB
institutes located in the Balearic Islands, are organizing the fourth edition
of the Pint of Science Festival in Palma, with the participation of researchers
from the UIB. The event will take place at the
Café A Tres Bandas in Plaza Barcelona, Palma, on 22, 23 and 24 May at
19:00.This outreach festival is held
simultaneously and coordinated in several countries around the world. Spain is
the second country with more participation, filling bars and cities of science
for three consecutive days.
Pint of Science
(PoS), the international science outreach festival that proposes a meeting
between leading researchers and the public in a relaxed and relaxed atmosphere,
the bars, returns to Palma on 22, 23 and 24 May.
Two research
institutes will be in charge of organizing this new edition, which will be the
fourth in the Balearic Islands: the Institute of Cross-disciplinary Physics and
Complex Systems (IFISC CSIC-UIB) and the Mediterranean Institute of Advanced
Studies (IMEDEA CSIC-UIB), both located in Mallorca and accredited as units of
excellence María de Maeztu.
In total, 9
scientists from IFISC, IMEDEA and the UIB (Universitat de les Illes Balears)
will explain what research they are carrying out, addressing 3 distinct
thematic areas: Planet Earth, which covers Earth sciences, evolution and
zoology; Our Body, on neurosciences, nutrition and biomedicine; and Our
Society, which addresses sociotechnical systems.
Thus, by entering
the bar, the public will be able to explore how the brain works, dive with the
organisms that inhabit the microscopic world, understand the mechanisms that
will affect the rise in sea level, find out how hoaxes spread through the
observation of a drunk person or decipher what artificial intelligence has to
say in the field of computational flamenco. These and other proposals will be
presented in Palma during the three days of the festival.
The event will take
place on May 22, 23 and 24 at the A Tres Bandas café in Plaza Barcelona, Palma.
All sessions are free and will start at 19:00.
The current affairs and diversity of scientific topics,
components of the festival's program
On Monday 22nd,
IMEDEA will open the festival within the framework of the Ocean Night project
-a CSIC initiative that seeks to raise awareness about the relationship between
our society and the ocean- with three talks ranging from the micro to the macro
scale: first, researcher Marco Polin will open a window to the fascinating
world of microbial motility. Next, Iris Hendricks will immerse us in marine
environments to talk about our great allies against climate change: aquatic
plants. Ángel Amores will close the session by showing us how storms and sea
levels are causing extreme events in our region.
On Tuesday 23rd it will
be the turn of IFISC researchers. With Pablo Rosillo we will be able to
understand, with the help of new computer algorithms, why flamenco continues to
captivate audiences around the world centuries later. On the other hand, with
Manuel Miranda we will learn how to predict things like airplane delays through
a mathematical tool that describes random trajectories, such as those of drunk
people. Finally, with María Martínez we will discover one of the most important
infrastructures in the world, which hides behind a plug. All of them are PhD
students in physics of complex systems.
On Wednesday 24
will close the festival with the research being developed at UIB. Through these
presentations we will learn about the next challenges of modern neuroscience
from Celia Garau, PhD in neurophysiology; the power of perinatal nutrition with
Pere Bibiloni, PhD student; and what does it mean "false thin" with
Carmen Garcia, also a PhD student in fundamental biology and health sciences.
The complete
program can be consulted on the PoS festival website:
https://pintofscience.es/events/palma-mallorca
An international science outreach festival
Pint of Science
(PoS) 2023 will be held on the same dates in 26 countries on 5 continents. PoS
aims, since its creation in 2013 at Imperial College London, to bring
researchers closer to the public, taking advantage of the relaxed and friendly
atmosphere of the bars to facilitate their interaction.
Spain is the second
country with the second highest participation in the world, being held in 54
Spanish cities. Specifically, this 8th edition breaks records again: 537 talks
spread over more than 300 events, with the participation of more than 545
scientists (232 female scientists and 258 male scientists).
In the Balearic
Islands, the first edition was held during 2017 in Palma organized by IFISC
(UIB-CSIC).
http://ifisc.uib-csic.es/en/news/pint-science-2023/
TFG directed by IFISC researchers is awarded by the UIB
The Social Council of the Universitat de les Illes Balears (UIB) has held the sixth edition of the "Premios a los trabajos de fin de grado" aimed at students from all undergraduate studies at the UIB.The end-of-degree project "Partículas y campos en un condensado de Bose-Einstein" carried out by the student Jorge Valencia Gómez has been one of the winners in the category of Physics. The work was supervised by IFISC researchers Emilio Hernández-García and Cristóbal López.The "Premios a los trabajos de fin de grado" aim to give academic recognition to the completion of undergraduate studies, to give value to overcoming personal and economic difficulties through university studies and to encourage the continuation of academic life at the UIB.Photo: UIBEl diari de la UIB
http://ifisc.uib-csic.es/en/news/tfg-directed-ifisc-researchers-awarded-uib/
"Women in Quantum" meeting unites senior physicists to address gender equity
The "Women in Quantum" workshop, held from May 1 to 4 in Illetes
(Mallorca) has joined women researchers coming from all Europe and Japan and working
in quantum physics topics ranging from quantum information, to foundations, and
atomic, molecular, and optical systems. The event brought together 19 principal
investigators to share their professional experiences and present the results
of their theoretical and experimental research as well as in the private
sector.
Despite efforts to encourage young girls to pursue STEM fields, and
initiatives aimed at supporting female scientists, gender equity remains a
significant challenge in many disciplines, including physics. Furthermore, the
percentage of women physicists decreases at every career stage, and it is
unclear how to promote the presence of women to senior positions, both in
academia and industry. The "Women in Quantum" meeting aimed to assess
the current situation of women in quantum physics and discuss solutions for
achieving gender equity in the field with a focus on a senior career stage. The
intense program of two full days included research presentations, discussions
on personal experiences and debates towards strategies for advancing women in
quantum.
The organizers Roberta Zambrini (IFISC, UIB-CSIC), Christiane Koch
(Humboldt University of Berlin), and Sabrina Maniscalco (AlgorithmiQ and
Helsinki University) hope that this event will serve as a catalyst for a
coordinated activity towards achieving gender equity in physics and related
fields.
Women in Quantum website
http://ifisc.uib-csic.es/en/news/women-quantum-meeting-unites-senior-physic…
Twitter lexical analysis reveals the existence of distinct cultural regions in the U.S.
An international team of researchers, led
by scientists from IFISC (UIB-CSIC), has mapped the different cultural regions
in the United States of America through a
lexical analysis of the content that citizens themselves post on their social
networks. The results show a clear separation between Northern and Southern
cultures, the latter influenced by the African-American population, as well as subtler
differences between the East-West axis and urban or rural populations. To
obtain the extent of these regions, they
calculated the occurrence frequency of words within 3.3 billion geolocated
tweets, published between 2015 and 2021.
This allowed them to find the hotspots where discussions or debates on
specific topics were held. These results have been recently appeared in
Nature’s Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.
The idea of the existence of cultural
areas in the United States of America is used as a case study in various fields
of social sciences. However, the selection of common characteristics that make
up a cultural region can be arbitrary and influenced by prejudices and biases.
Therefore, an approach is needed to identify these cultural regions in an
unbiased and more objective manner.
Taking advantage of the enormous amount of data generated on the internet,
especially through social networks, represents a relatively new opportunity
with high potential.
The researchers decided to analyze the
case of the United States for several reasons, including having a huge set of
geolocated Twitter data. In addition, the vast majority of Americans speak the
same language (English), which is crucial for using the analysis tools. Another
relevant aspect, the authors explain, is that the history of the USA is relatively recent but rich and varied,
so the formation of different cultural regions within the same national
territory is possible.
The method presented in this paper is
based on the principle that cultural affiliation can be inferred from the
topics that people discuss with each other. The more messages sent from a
region, the greater the interest of the population of that area in the topics
contained in the tweets. Specifically, the
authors measured regional variations in written discourse in U.S. social
networks, using frequency distributions of content words in geolocated
tweets to find those regional hotspots where certain topics appeared more
frequently than others. From there, principal components of regional variation
were derived and hierarchical clustering analysis was applied to derive the
distinct cultural areas and the topics of discussion that define them.
The study found a clear North-South
separation influenced primarily by African-American culture, as well as other
divisions that provide a complete picture of modern American cultural areas.
While the work has confirmed that factors such as ethnicity and religion are
important in defining American cultural regions, it has also found substantial
variations in the relevance of these factors across the country. In other
words, the study not only mapped cultural regions, but also identified the cultural factors that are important in defining
these regions. In addition, the analysis identified other subtler cultural
patterns such as attention to social interaction, interest in outdoor
activities, family or leisure. The identification of these patterns is a
novelty in the analysis of the U.S. society, as they are difficult to capture
through analysis of traditional sources.
The authors of the study conclude that,
although their method has only analyzed one genre of American English, it could also be applied to any big data
resource with linguistic value and provide a basis for a more complete
picture of the cultural landscape, both for the U.S. case and for different
nations.Louf, T., Gonçalves, B., Ramasco, J.J. et al. American cultural regions mapped through the lexical analysis of social media. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 10, 133 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01611-3El Diari de la UIB
http://ifisc.uib-csic.es/en/news/twitter-lexical-analysis-reveals-existence…
Design of a method to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in airports
CSIC researchers
lead the development of a mathematical model that identifies the areas with the
highest risk of contagion in means of transport. Implementing
disinfection measures in crowded areas of airports, such as bars or
restaurants, could reduce the risk of spreading viruses such as SARS-CoV-2.
In
2022, more than 61 million people transited through Europe's busiest airport,
London Heathrow. That means that, every day, more than 160,000 people from
different parts of the world shared the same space. To prevent the first
undetected cases of viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 or H1N1 influenza from becoming
an epidemiological problem, a study led by the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary
Physics and Complex Systems (IFISC, CSIC-UIB) proposes a mathematical model
that identifies the areas with the highest risk of contagion in means of
transport and provides recommendations to prevent its spread. The results are
published in the journal Nature Communications.
When a
person coughs, speaks, and even breathes, emits small respiratory droplets into
the surrounding air. These airborne particles, known as aerosols, can carry
viral particles from an infected person. Thus, the relationship between the
number of people and the space available is critical when it comes to curbing
the spread of contagious diseases. "Close social interactions are critical
in the transmission of infectious pathologies, so crowds and crowds are a
serious risk for triggering super-propagation events. There are occasions when
maintaining interpersonal distance can be a challenge, such as, for example, in
transportation hubs," highlights José Javier Ramasco, IFISC researcher who
participated in the study.
As the
researcher points out, "these places are designed to optimize logistical
efficiency, not to reduce crowding," so identifying the busiest areas can
be key to mitigating the risk of spreading new infectious diseases. According
to the study, this objective is achieved through a mathematical model capable
of detecting those spaces within the airport most likely to transmit diseases.
The
researchers applied the new system to study how viruses such as H1N1 flu,
SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2, which caused the covid-19 pandemic, spread. By
analyzing the itineraries of more than 200,000 anonymous individuals, collected
at London's Heathrow airport between February and August 2017, they determined
the areas with the highest risk of contagion: bars and restaurants. This is
caused by connecting many people, in the same place and for long periods of
time. "The dangerousness of the areas for contagion arises as a balance
between the number of people passing by and the time they stay together. Those
places are not always the most crowded, but it takes time in contacts to
transmit the disease," Ramasco explains.
Once
the hot spots of contagion have been identified, it is possible to develop a
spatial immunization policy to prevent or reduce the risk of the pathogen
spreading beyond the first undetected cases. This would be achieved through the
use of ultraviolet rays, surface disinfection or air filtering. In addition,
the researchers point out that the method can be applied to control any other
uncharacterized pathogen (emerging diseases) and is generalizable to other
modes of transport. "It can be used in train stations, subway stations,
bus stations or other crowded places where it is not possible to maintain
interpersonal distances, such as shopping malls or convention centers," he
remarks.
The
project is the result of an international multidisciplinary collaboration
developed within the Plataformas Temáticas Interdisciplinares del
CSIC Salud Global i
Mobility 2030. Along with IFISC, a joint center of CSIC and
the University of the Balearic Islands, the French National Institute of Health
and Medical Research (Inserm), the Bruno Kessler Foundation in Italy, and the
company Cuebiq Inc, which collects users' locations and integrates them
anonymously, have also participated in the project.
"Implementing
spatial immunization measures in the highest risk areas would help to contain
and/or delay the spread of infectious agents in airports around the world, and
would be particularly useful in the early stages of a pandemic, when drugs have
not yet been developed," the researchers conclude.
Mattia Mazzoli et al. Spatial immunization to abate disease spreading in transportation hubs.
Nature
Communications. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36985-0 CSIC
http://ifisc.uib-csic.es/en/news/design-method-prevent-spread-infectious-di…
IFISC researchers propose a new protocol for data processing with Quantum Reservoir Computing
Researchers at IFISC
(UIB-CSIC) propose a new protocol for processing sequential data using quantum
machine learning.The study proposes a
way to efficiently include quantum measurement while preserving the quantum
advantage that characterises these systems.
Researchers at the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary
Physics and Complex Systems, IFISC (UIB-CSIC), in Mallorca, propose the first
protocol that includes the effect of measurement in the processing of temporal
data sequences using quantum systems. Examples of these computational tasks are
handwriting recognition or the prediction of chaotic series. The advantage of
using quantum systems for these purposes lies in the large processing power
provided by the Hilbert space of quantum states, an exponential advantage over
classical systems. Moreover, it has now been shown that this advantage can be
achieved even in non-ideal situations, where the effect of quantum measurement
is taken into account.
The implementation of quantum reservoir computing as a
computational method for processing time series data has a lot of potential,
but faces several challenges. One of them, common to all quantum computing, is
that, due to its stochastic nature, it is necessary to repeat the processing of
the information several times and to calculate averages with the results
obtained in order to improve accuracy. The
other problem is that quantum systems are strongly affected by measurements,
i.e. the process of obtaining the processed information. In an implementation
of quantum reservoir computing this is especially relevant, as it can impair
the quality of the processing at different times. To prevent the next steps
from being affected by past measurements, the experiment would have to be
restarted by reintroducing the data into the system from the beginning, which
is clearly inefficient. In addition, it would be necessary to store the data in
an external memory. The researchers have analysed different protocols for time
series processing, including the rewinding and restarting protocols, and have
proposed an alternative based on weak measurements that allows continuous
online monitoring of the data without external storing, operating in real time.
This
online protocol proposed by the researchers, presented in the journal npj
Quantum Information, introduces the effect of the measurement on data
processing. Typically, weak measurements provide less information and are
noisier, but in this way of obtaining processing results the quantum system
does not "collapse" as a whole, making it possible to identify
situations in which effective data processing is achieved in both accuracy and
resources.
The study establishes
the advantage of quantum reservoirs in realistic scenarios and is expected to
pave the way for efficient experimental implementations involving continuous
time series processing with quantum systems. In addition, this research may
also contribute to the development of concrete applications such as quantum
time tomography, quantum recurrent neural networks or quantum neuromorphic
computing, among other advances.Image: Schematic of the protocol proposed by the researchers. The measurements of the quantum reservoir that processes the time series are weak, so the quantum system does not "collapse" in its entirety.Mujal, P.,
Martínez-Peña, R., Giorgi, G.L., Soriano, M.C., Zambrini, R., Time-series
quantum reservoir computing with weak and projective measurements. npj Quantum Inf 9, 16 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41534-023-00682-zEl diari de la UIB
http://ifisc.uib-csic.es/en/news/ifisc-researchers-propose-new-protocol-dat…
Simulation of collective effects between the qubits of a quantum computer
An international team, involving researchers from IFISC (UIB-CSIC) in collaboration with the University of Helsinki, Aalto University and the startup Algorithmiq (Finland), has successfully simulated the collective and dissipative dynamics of two qubits in a real quantum computer. These results may pave the way for quantum simulation of more complex collective dynamics on currently available quantum computers and establish a procedure for comparing the results of quantum simulations with the noise properties of experimental devices. The research represents the first fully quantum digital simulation of dissipative collective effects on a quantum computer.The study, published in the prestigious journal PRX Quantum, consisted of simulating the dynamics of quantum systems with the smallest possible dimension and which form the basis of quantum computing: qubits. By simulating a global bath between two qubits, the researchers were able to see how their emissions interfere, both constructively (superradiance) and destructively (subradiance). These two qubits form a structured quantum system whose dynamics is "open" and "collective". The researchers also studied theoretically and experimentally the properties of the noise and established relationships between its characteristics and the accuracy of the simulation. Current quantum computers are inevitably noisy, constrained by short coherence times. This means that there are strong constraints on the depth of quantum circuits that can be implemented.The concept behind quantum simulation is based on the idea of simulating quantum systems on a controllable physical platform whose dynamics are driven by the laws of quantum mechanics. This makes it possible to explore and obtain solutions to quantum dynamics that would otherwise be impossible to obtain on a classical computer. Controlling these quantum simulations is crucial to understand the properties of noise in real quantum computers and to explore intriguing phenomena such as dissipative quantum phase transitions, quantum synchronization or dissipative time crystals. Furthermore, characterizing the noise in quantum computers can help to understand the limitations of the devices and thus to design possible countermeasures.Image: Schematic of the simulated system. A particle generator (gray) collides a particle with the qubit Q1 (green), then with Q2 (red) and again with Q1. These collisions generate a global interaction represented by the cloud (blue).Cattaneo, Marco, et al. “Quantum Simulation of Dissipative Collective Effects on Noisy Quantum Computers.” PRX Quantum, vol. 4, no. 1, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1103/prxquantum.4.010324.
http://ifisc.uib-csic.es/en/news/simulation-collective-effects-between-qubi…
Analysing how the introduction of renewables affects the electricity grid on islands
A
study carried out by IFISC researchers proposes a model that emulates the behaviour of the electricity grid with high renewable production.The
researchers used the increase in wind power generation on Gran Canaria as a
case study.
A new study by IFISC (CSIC-UIB) scientists, developed in the context of the
European Project VPP4ISLANDS and published in IEEE Transactions on Sustainable
Energy, proposes a model that emulates how the electricity grid behaves when a
large amount of variable renewable generation is introduced into it. The
researchers validated the model based on current data from Gran Canaria and
analysed the increase in the island's wind farm capacity.
The frequency of an electricity grid constitutes a good indicator of the
balance at any time between electricity generation and consumption demand. In
the absence of efficient storage methods, the present scenario is one in which
generation is adapted to demand in real time. This poses many technological
challenges, especially if the percentage of electricity generated from variable
renewable sources such as the sun or wind is to be increased. One of the
difficulties in increasing the share of renewable generation is that production
depends on environmental factors and is not instantly available whenever it is
needed. Knowing how the grid, and specifically its frequency, will respond to
an increasing variable renewable generation is key to considering a transition
to a more sustainable world.
To study how the frequency will behave with these changes, the researchers
proposed a model that reproduces the electricity grid in Gran Canaria as a
paradigmatic example of an island. In this model, a network is proposed in
which each node corresponds to a power plant or substation. The power stations
are assumed to have conventional power generation including control capacity.
Specifically, in the case of Gran Canaria, they are combined cycle, gas and
steam turbines and diesel engines. The model has been validated on the basis of
real data on demand, generation and frequency fluctuations.
To test how the introduction of renewables would affect the grid stability,
the researchers simulated what would happen in a scenario with increased wind
generation, i.e. increasing the installed wind farm capacity. In doing so, they
observed that fluctuations in grid frequency would be well above the
established limits. These limits, regulated by law, exist to ensure the
integrity of the infrastructure, which could be damaged if the grid frequency
variations exceed a certain value. In such a case, the supply and generation of
some parts of the grid would have to be shut down to avoid collapse.
In order to reduce frequency variations, the researchers increased the
secondary control of conventional plants. In this way, it can be estimated what
measures should be taken in a future scenario to prevent an increase in the
wind farm from affecting the grid infrastructure. These estimates are made for
both summer and winter. In addition to checking what controls would need to be
implemented, the model allows checking which transmission lines need to be
upgraded or reinforced to be prepared for a scenario with increased wind
adoption. The model can be generalized and the authors are working in its
application to the case of the Balearic Islands in order to move towards more
sustainable electricity generation.
M. Martínez-Barbeito, D. Gomila and P. Colet, "Dynamical Model for
Power Grid Frequency Fluctuations: Application to Islands with High Penetration
of Wind Generation", IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy, doi:
10.1109/TSTE.2022.3231975.
http://ifisc.uib-csic.es/en/news/analysing-how-introduction-renewables-affe…
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…
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…