# gst: apropos chaotic cooperation

<< Ecological theory has demonstrated that when direct, pairwise interactions among a group of species are too numerous, or too strong, then the coexistence of these species will be unstable to any slight perturbation. >>

Stacey Butler & James P. O’Dwyer.
Stability criteria for complex microbial communities. Nature Communications Volume 9, Article number: 2970 (2018)

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05308-z

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/293605v2

<< Pairs of organisms that live off each other sometimes do so well in the mathematical simulations - thriving exponentially in extreme cases, in what Robert May, the theoretical ecology pioneer, once called "an orgy of mutual benefaction" — that everything else can go extinct. >>

AA << explored more precisely how the give-and-take in mutualism affects ecosystem stability and how, under the right conditions, it might contribute to it.  >>

Veronique Greenwood. How Nature Defies Math in Keeping Ecosystems Stable. Sep 26, 2018.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-nature-defies-math-in-keeping-ecosystems-stable-20180926/

https://twitter.com/QuantaMagazine/status/1099390696455323651

# soc: a study about income: more than 63% of American children live in "asset" poverty

<< More than 63 percent of American children and 55 percent of Americans live in "asset" poverty, meaning they have few or no assets to rely on in the event of a financial shock such as a job loss, a medical crisis or the recent federal government shutdown, >>

Michelle Klampe. Nearly two-thirds of American children live in asset poverty, new study shows. Oregon State University.  Feb 21, 2019.

https://m.phys.org/news/2019-02-two-thirds-american-children-asset-poverty.html

David W. Rothwell,  Timothy Ottusch, Jennifer K. Finders. Asset poverty among children: A cross-national study of poverty risk. Children and Youth Services Review. Volume 96, January 2019, Pages 409-19. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.11.045. Nov 23, 2018.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740918305759?via%3Dihub

# soc: a study about cities: the "smart city" phenomenon

AA selected 27 smart cities - from a full list of over 5550 worldwide cities with 100K inhabitants or more - for in-depth analysis, based on 346 documents, and characterised in terms of their 'smart city' dimensions.

https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/csz/news/800/2019/topsmartciti.jpg

Top smart cities are global cities, new research reveals. University of Glasgow.  Feb 20, 2019.

https://m.phys.org/news/2019-02-smart-cities-global-reveals.html

Simon Joss, Frans Sengers, et al. The Smart City as Global Discourse: Storylines and Critical Junctures across 27 Cities. Journal of Urban Technology, 26:1, 3-34, doi: 10.1080/10630732.2018.1558387. Feb 13, 2019.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10630732.2018.1558387

# gst: how a change can make catastrophic systems linger for longer

<< Many parts of Australia have suffered a run of severe and, in some cases, unprecedented weather events this summer. One common feature of many of these events (..) was that they were caused by weather systems that parked themselves in one place for days or weeks on end. >>

Steve Turton. How climate change can make catastrophic weather systems linger for longer. Feb 18, 2019

https://theconversation.com/how-climate-change-can-make-catastrophic-weather-systems-linger-for-longer-111832  

https://phys.org/news/2019-02-climate-catastrophic-weather-linger-longer.html

# zoo: the rehabilitation of insects: not all of them are pests

<< Insects are important wildlife often overlooked in urban habitats. What we do notice are the cockroaches, ants and mosquitoes in and around our homes. All too often we reach for the insect spray. >>

Lizzy Lowe, Cameron Webb, Manu Saunders, Tanya Latty. The battle against bugs: it’s time to end chemical warfare. Feb 17, 2019

https://theconversation.com/the-battle-against-bugs-its-time-to-end-chemical-warfare-111629

Also

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=beetle

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=cockroaches

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=bug

# qubit: an energy control approach to build quantum computers: quickly jump two rungs at a time without spilling any water from the glass

<< Dr. Sergey Danilin, (..) describes quantum control-the process of using chips like transmons to build quantum computers-by extending the "climbing a ladder" analogy. "To get a useful quantum system, you need to imagine climbing a ladder while holding a glass of water-it works if one does it smoothly, but if you do it too fast, the water spills. Certainly, this requires a special skill."  (..)  in the quantum world, the trick for climbing the ladder quickly without spilling any water is by carefully jumping two rungs at a time. >>

Life on the edge in the quantum world. Aalto University. Feb 8, 2019

https://m.phys.org/news/2019-02-life-edge-quantum-world.html

Antti Vepsalainen, Sergey Danilin,  Gheorghe Sorin Paraoanu. Superadiabatic population transfer in a three-level superconducting circuit. Science Advances  Feb 8, 2019:
Vol. 5, no. 2, eaau5999
doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aau5999

http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/2/eaau5999

Also

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=%23+qubit

# phyto: the fussy pollination scheme of the Joshua tree

<<  the plants commonly known as Joshua trees include two distinct, sister-species of plant: Yucca brevifolia Engelm. and Yucca jaegeriana McKelvey, each pollinated by two sister-species of yucca moth Tegeticula synthetica Riley and Tegeticula antithetica Pellmyr, respectively. A number of studies have argued that the moths have coevolved with their hosts, producing a pattern of phenotype matching between moth ovipositor length and floral style length. >>

W.S. Cole, Jr. A.S. James, C.I. Smith. First recorded observations of pollination and oviposition behavior in Tegeticula antithetica (Lepidoptera: Prodoxidae) suggest a functional basis for coevolution with Joshua tree (Yucca) hosts. Annals of the Entomological Society of America.  Vol.  110, July 2017, p. 390. doi: 10.1093/aesa/sax037.

https://academic.oup.com/aesa/article/110/4/390/3072239

<< To me [the flowers] smell kind of like mushrooms or ripe cantaloupe, >> Christopher Irwin Smith

Susan Milius. Shutdown aside, Joshua trees live an odd life. In the U.S. southwest, Joshua trees evolved a rare, fussy pollination scheme. Feb 6, 2019.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/shutdown-aside-joshua-trees-live-odd-life

Also

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=%23+phyto