LLMs can support increasingly large context windows, but I use mine much better than they do. 😜

What separates life from death? What makes the cell on the left different from the one on the right? These are questions I explore in my new @princetonupress.bsky.social book. At the cell scale, death begins when the distinction between inside & outside collapses. press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Nuova ondata di calore, zero termico a 4500m. Considerati i trend, e vedendo che in proiezione questa estate sarà probabilmente più fresca delle prossime, direi che lo zero termico lo vedremo in troposfera, nel prossimo futuro 😔

Giulio Betti@giuliofirenze.bsky.social · 5d ago

Quanto durerà l’ondata di calore? Il picco di questa nuova fase di caldo anomalo è atteso la prossima settimana, in particolare tra mercoledì e sabato, quando le temperature massime raggiungeranno diffusamente i 38-40 °C in Val Padana e nelle zone interne del centro, del sud e delle isole. 1/4

And here we go. Thanks to the hundreds of readers, colleagues, people, who provided feedback and supported it. 🙏

Manlio De Domenico@manlius.bsky.social · 3w ago

In 12 days, our experiment officially ends. For one year, I have been testing a simple question: can we resist the logic of an algorithmic platform or even learn to outsmart it? Don't miss the answer on 31st July, exactly one year later we started. manlius.substack.com/p/the-experi...

Only during July 2026 the burnt area in EU due to mega wildfires has been enough to match the worst year in record (2025). And that's almost 2x the average over the past 20 years. In Sicily, almost 40 years ago, I used to grow with wildfires during summers. Now it's the whole EU 😔

Finalizing the 4th chapter of my series on decoding the architecture of living systems from this beautiful corner of planet 🌏 I hope you can have a nice day too.

Applications now open for Complexity Postdoctoral Fellowships at @sfiscience.bsky.social! apply-sfi.smapply.org/prog/complex...

Cos’altro deve succedere? Nei primi sette mesi del 2026 l’Europa ha registrato eventi meteorologici estremi di ogni genere: ondate di calore senza precedenti, superiori addirittura al 2003; anomalie di temperatura record sia dell’aria che marine; incendi incontrollabili; 1/6

Six years ago: the first direct image of two planets orbiting a Sun-like star, 309 light-years away. If someone there looks at us, they see 1717: Bach, the Enlightenment unfolding, and Napoleon not yet born. Amazing! www.science.org/content/arti...

This is our first direct look at a multiplanet system around a Sun-like star

Image could help astronomers understand how our own solar system formed

science.org

Six years ago: the first direct image of two planets orbiting a Sun-like star, 309 light-years away. If someone there looks at us, they see 1717: Bach, the Enlightenment unfolding, and Napoleon not yet born. Amazing! www.science.org/content/arti...

This is our first direct look at a multiplanet system around a Sun-like star

Image could help astronomers understand how our own solar system formed

science.org

And Chapter 3 of #ComplexityThoughts is out! If robustness cannot come from adding links without limit, which structures allow living systems to withstand perturbations? Read it here 👉 manlius.substack.com/p/decoding-the-architecture-of-living-e8f 🧵 1/

Decoding the “Architecture” of Living Systems: Chapter 3

DALV-03: loops, the minimal units of redundancy, control, and closure

manlius.substack.com

Manlio De Domenico@manlius.bsky.social · last mo.

Chapter 2 of this #ComplexityThoughts series is out. If living systems have “architecture” w/o an architect: where is this architecture “stored”? Read 👉 manlius.substack.com/p/decoding-t... Feat. @ricardsole.bsky.social @wiringthebrain.bsky.social @hectorzenil.bsky.social 🧵 1/

And Chapter 3 of #ComplexityThoughts is out! If robustness cannot come from adding links without limit, which structures allow living systems to withstand perturbations? Read it here 👉 manlius.substack.com/p/decoding-the-architecture-of-living-e8f 🧵 1/

Decoding the “Architecture” of Living Systems: Chapter 3

DALV-03: loops, the minimal units of redundancy, control, and closure

manlius.substack.com

Manlio De Domenico@manlius.bsky.social · last mo.

Chapter 2 of this #ComplexityThoughts series is out. If living systems have “architecture” w/o an architect: where is this architecture “stored”? Read 👉 manlius.substack.com/p/decoding-t... Feat. @ricardsole.bsky.social @wiringthebrain.bsky.social @hectorzenil.bsky.social 🧵 1/

Is the human brain really an optimal template for AI? Probably not. The connectome is a compromise among competing objectives, shaped by evolution, development, and biological constraints. Check this @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social paper www.cell.com/trends/cogni... @brigan.bsky.social

In 12 days, our experiment officially ends. For one year, I have been testing a simple question: can we resist the logic of an algorithmic platform or even learn to outsmart it? Don't miss the answer on 31st July, exactly one year later we started. manlius.substack.com/p/the-experi...

The experiment is over: we tried to outsmart the algorithm; here’s what happened

One year later, the data — and our community — have an answer

manlius.substack.com

Is this the effect of AI? Same class, same 59 students: mean score 95.7 → 48.8 when assessment moved from non-in-person to in-person. This does not establish causality, but it is worrying. Is generative AI already changing what exam scores mean?

Is this the effect of AI? Same class, same 59 students: mean score 95.7 → 48.8 when assessment moved from non-in-person to in-person. This does not establish causality, but it is worrying. Is generative AI already changing what exam scores mean?

Lo fanno per ignoranza cronica o per tornaconto personale, pianificando i loro vergognosi attacchi alla scienza da stanze dotate di aria condizionata. Il tutto sotto gli occhi soddisfatti dei veri inquinatori che continuano a fatturare migliaia di miliardi.

La vergogna (thread) Una significativa parte d’Europa sta vivendo, da oltre un mese, la più intensa fase di caldo anomalo mai registrata. In Francia (ma non solo) superata per durata e intensità la peggior sequenza dell’estate 2003. 1/8

Superb thread!

Sean Carroll@seanmcarroll.bsky.social · 4w ago

"Boltzmann Brains" is a fanciful name for a dead-serious idea. I'm beginning to wonder whether the name hasn't caused the physics community to not spend nearly enough time thinking carefully about the problems that they pose. We have Boltzmann Brain Blindness. Long 🧵 coming. ⚛️ #cosmology (1/n)

We search for life using categories learned from one planet A new study shows that changing gravity changes mitochondrial translation, part of biology’s functional architecture. Change the planet, change the boundary conditions of life. @ricardsole.bsky.social 🧪🌐🧬🌍 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Gravitational and mechanical forces shape mitochondrial translation - Nature Communications

In this study, microgravity was found to disrupt mitochondrial translation through inhibition of laminin–integrin signaling and the downstream pathway, which is usually activated by mechanical stress.

nature.com

We search for life using categories learned from one planet A new study shows that changing gravity changes mitochondrial translation, part of biology’s functional architecture. Change the planet, change the boundary conditions of life. @ricardsole.bsky.social 🧪🌐🧬🌍 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Gravitational and mechanical forces shape mitochondrial translation - Nature Communications

In this study, microgravity was found to disrupt mitochondrial translation through inhibition of laminin–integrin signaling and the downstream pathway, which is usually activated by mechanical stress.

nature.com

Chapter 2 of this #ComplexityThoughts series is out. If living systems have “architecture” w/o an architect: where is this architecture “stored”? Read 👉 manlius.substack.com/p/decoding-t... Feat. @ricardsole.bsky.social @wiringthebrain.bsky.social @hectorzenil.bsky.social 🧵 1/

Decoding the “Architecture” of Living Systems: Chapter 2

DALV-02: the information storage “paradox”

manlius.substack.com

Manlio De Domenico@manlius.bsky.social · 2mo ago

New short series of posts for #ComplexityThoughts – based on my recent papers – concerning a question that has been “consuming” most of my attention over the last years: can “architecture” be a scientific concept for living systems? Read it here 👉 manlius.substack.com/p/decoding-t... 🧵 1/

This is so nice to see. On the science side, I'd just love to measure their individual brain activity while doing this 🙄 🧠 Go 🇳🇴! youtube.com/shorts/cW-pQ...

Norwegian army performs Viking Row after victory over Brazil

YouTube video by The New Region

youtube.com

Chapter 2 of this #ComplexityThoughts series is out. If living systems have “architecture” w/o an architect: where is this architecture “stored”? Read 👉 manlius.substack.com/p/decoding-t... Feat. @ricardsole.bsky.social @wiringthebrain.bsky.social @hectorzenil.bsky.social 🧵 1/

Decoding the “Architecture” of Living Systems: Chapter 2

DALV-02: the information storage “paradox”

manlius.substack.com

Manlio De Domenico@manlius.bsky.social · 2mo ago

New short series of posts for #ComplexityThoughts – based on my recent papers – concerning a question that has been “consuming” most of my attention over the last years: can “architecture” be a scientific concept for living systems? Read it here 👉 manlius.substack.com/p/decoding-t... 🧵 1/

💯 youtube.com/shorts/LXHkQ...

Jon describes what pharma companies are doing to taxpayers as the "worst Shark Tank deal in history"

YouTube video by The Daily Show

youtube.com

The first copy of my new @princetonupress.bsky.social book has just arrived at the office. It explores death in all its forms, from cells to minds, machines, languages and information. A complexity/evolutionary perspective, from Frankenstein to neuroscience. Soon out: www.amazon.com/Endless-Endi...

Is the first artificial cell finally here? In this groundbreaking work lead by @kateadamala.bsky.social the team has been able to create a synthetic cell from scratch, capable of genetically encoded growth and division. An impressive achievement biotic.org/research/spu...

To understand functionality, we have to follow perturbations, flows, time scales and the diversity of possible responses. Following-up my latest seminar, invted by @kayson.bsky.social & Petra Vertes, I summarize the main findings and the discussion here: manlius.substack.com/p/what-netwo... 1/

Thanks heavens, it's eventually raining. #Heatwave #ClimateChange