Winter Conference: THE DYNAMICS OF SOCIAL INTERACTIONS

Aspen Center for Physics Winter Conference on

The Dynamics of Social Interactions

MARCH 27 – APRIL 1, 2022

Social interactions shape our lives and those of many animal species. What are the rules governing the complex dynamics of social interactions in living systems? Topics in this realm vary from systems of flocking birds and schooling fish performing “collective behavior” to the intricate interplay between small groups of individuals during activities such as courtship and aggression. But we also wish to consider less-well-known examples such as plants that use infra-red light to distinguish shade producing plants from inanimate objects and insect swarms that harness air-flow to coordinate thermoregulation.

This workshop aims to bring together a group of physicists who are addressing this question in a wide range of systems and over a wide range of scales from experiment and theory. Key topics that will be addressed include:

  • decoupling behavior from mechanics to separate social and physical forces
  • signal design, propagation, and interpretation in large groups
  • efforts to understand closed-loop communication between multiple indiviuals
  • social interactions in plants above ground through volatile organic compounds and below ground through Mycorrhizal networks

Conference Schedule

PDF of Schedule

 

social_dynamics_aspen_conference_schedule

APPLICATION DEADLINE – DECEMBER 15, 2021

PLEASE COMPLETE YOUR APPLICATION AT: http://www.aspenphys.org/physicists/winter/winterapps.html

ORGANIZERS:

  • Orit Peleg, University of Colorado, Boulder
  • Joshua Shaevitz, Princeton University
  • Greg Stephens, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and OIST