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Physics World magazine: February 2010 special issue

Download a sample copy of the February 2010 special issue of Physics World magazine, which looks at the science of "complexity" – a rapidly growing field that tackles any system with lots of individual elements that interact in some way, be they birds flying in formation, car drivers moving along a highway or computers linking to form the Internet. Mark Buchanan and Guido Caldarelli kick off the issue by revealing just why complexity is such a hot field. Vitorria Colizza and Alessandro Vespignani show how physics can be used to model how infectious diseases, such as the H1N1 swine-flu pandemic, spread in real time. Dirk Brockmann then reveals how information garnered from the geographical movement of banknotes and the location of mobile phones can reveal patterns in how people travel. Finally, James Crutchfield and Karoline Wiesner chart a roadmap for the future of the field, which they think lies in applying ideas from complex systems to the social sciences.

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