New evidence of exoplanets reveals a higher-than-expected occurrence of potentially habitable worlds in our galactic neighborhood. What does this evidence tell us about life on other planets? How can we search for signs of life on other planets?
New evidence of exoplanets reveals a higher-than-expected occurrence of potentially habitable worlds in our galactic neighborhood. What does this evidence tell us about life on other planets? How can we search for signs of life on other planets?
New evidence of exoplanets reveals a higher-than-expected occurrence of potentially habitable worlds in our galactic neighborhood. What does this evidence tell us about life on other planets? How can we search for signs of life on other planets?
Integral equation methods play an important role in the numerical simulation of electromagnetic scattering. They are easy to employ in complex geometry and impose the desired radiation conditions at infinity without the need for artificial numerical boundaries. Two of the obstacles faced by current forward simulation tools are “low-frequency breakdown” and the lack of easy to use high order quadrature rules for complicated surfaces. In this talk, I will review the relevant background material, discuss a new mathematical formalism for scattering from perfect conductors and briefly describe a new quadrature technique that yields easily implementable high order rules for singular and weakly singular integrals. The scheme, denoted QBX (quadrature by expansion) is compatible with fast hierarchical algorithms such as the fast multipole method.
Organizers: Boris Altshuler, Columbia University Vladimir Falko, Lancaster University Charles Marcus, Neils Bohr Institute The Simons Symposium on Quantum Physics Beyond Simple Systems was the second symposium organized on...
While autism clearly involves altered function of the central nervous system, the neuropathology of the disorder remains controversial. This is due in part,to the enormous complexity of the disorder, which likely has many causes and many biological trajectories. It is also due to the fact that few neuroimaging studies involve very young children or severely affected individuals. This lack of information is compounded by the fact that findings at the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) level of analysis cannot be confirmed and extended to the cellular level due to a lack of postmortem brains.
While autism clearly involves altered function of the central nervous system, the neuropathology of the disorder remains controversial. This is due in part,to the enormous complexity of the disorder, which likely has many causes and many biological trajectories. It is also due to the fact that few neuroimaging studies involve very young children or severely affected individuals. This lack of information is compounded by the fact that findings at the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) level of analysis cannot be confirmed and extended to the cellular level due to a lack of postmortem brains.
Circadian (~24 hour) clocks are endogenous mechanisms that time the recurring, daily activities observed in most organisms. These clocks are genetically regulated, and generate biochemical oscillations within individual cells composing most tissues. Recently our laboratory has searched for and identified genes that affect the homeostatic regulation of sleep in Drosophila. This research has uncovered specific neurons whose activity promotes sleep.
This Biotech Symposium will focus on perspectives on big data in biology from leading practitioners in the field.
This Biotech Symposium will focus on perspectives on big data in biology from leading practitioners in the field.
March 9 – 15, 2014 Organizers: Elchanan Mossel, UC Berkeley Ryan O'Donnell, Carnegie Mellon University Krzysztof Oleszkiewicz, University of Warsaw The Simons Symposium on Discrete Analysis: Beyond the Boolean Cube...
Learning Using Privileged Information (LUPI) is a new paradigm that uses an intelligent agent (a ‘nontrivial teacher’) to supplement standard training data in the context of supervised learning algorithms. Rather than using standard, brute-force methods to address the general problem of inference and the construction of intelligent machines, the LUPI learning model allows the teacher to add additional (privileged) information to the training examples.
Learning Using Privileged Information (LUPI) is a new paradigm that uses an intelligent agent (a ‘nontrivial teacher’) to supplement standard training data in the context of supervised learning algorithms. Rather than using standard, brute-force methods to address the general problem of inference and the construction of intelligent machines, the LUPI learning model allows the teacher to add additional (privileged) information to the training examples.
March 23 - 29, 2014 Organizers: Andrew Benson, Carnegie Observatories Juna Kollmeier, Carnegie Observatories The goal of this symposium was to bring together leading experts in the theory and observation...
Advances in molecular genetics have implicated a variety of genetic variations in autism, yet understanding of what these variations mean is still limited. Advances in classification of diseases have made autism among the most reliably diagnosed neurodevelopmental or neuropsychiatric disorders. But symptoms used to define autism are likely outcomes of earlier disruptions in normative social and communication development rather than causally linked to genetic perturbations.
Advances in molecular genetics have implicated a variety of genetic variations in autism, yet understanding of what these variations mean is still limited. Advances in classification of diseases have made autism among the most reliably diagnosed neurodevelopmental or neuropsychiatric disorders. But symptoms used to define autism are likely outcomes of earlier disruptions in normative social and communication development rather than causally linked to genetic perturbations.
Depression is a common, chronic, and debilitating disease. Although many patients benefit from antidepressant medications or other therapies, only about half show complete remission. Factors that precipitate depression, such as stress, are incompletely understood. We have used chronic social defeat stress as an animal model of depression. Prolonged exposure to an aggressor induces lasting changes in behavior such as social avoidance and anhedonia-like symptoms, which are reversed by chronic (but not acute) treatment with available antidepressants.
This day-long conference will highlight areas where theoretical ideas are having an impact on the life sciences, and will be of interest to established researchers, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students working in the life sciences and allied fields.
In this lecture, Gerald Joyce focuses on the perpetuation of genetic information as a defining characteristic of life. He draws a connection between digital computers (von Neumann machines), especially those with the capacity to self-reproduce, and molecular Darwinian systems that maintain heritable ‘bits’ of information, which are refined through evolution.
In this lecture, Gerald Joyce focuses on the perpetuation of genetic information as a defining characteristic of life. He draws a connection between digital computers (von Neumann machines), especially those with the capacity to self-reproduce, and molecular Darwinian systems that maintain heritable ‘bits’ of information, which are refined through evolution.
In this lecture, Gerald Joyce focuses on the perpetuation of genetic information as a defining characteristic of life. He draws a connection between digital computers (von Neumann machines), especially those with the capacity to self-reproduce, and molecular Darwinian systems that maintain heritable ‘bits’ of information, which are refined through evolution.
A central goal in neuroscience is determining the genetic basis of neurological disorders — from autism to brain tumors. Many of these pathological states result from defects in gene regulatory programs that are fundamental to all cell types but lead to dysfunction specifically within the nervous system. Gail Mandel investigates the basis of this phenomenon and has identified cell-cell interactions between neurons and glia involved in pathological states of brain development. Mandel has ameliorated the neuropathology of one autism spectrum disorder, Rett syndrome, by genetically replacing the defective MeCP2 gene with a good copy of the gene in astrocytes – glia cells in the brain. She is now exploring the underlying mechanisms crucial for neuronal signaling.
A central goal in neuroscience is determining the genetic basis of neurological disorders — from autism to brain tumors. Many of these pathological states result from defects in gene regulatory programs that are fundamental to all cell types but lead to dysfunction specifically within the nervous system. Gail Mandel investigates the basis of this phenomenon and has identified cell-cell interactions between neurons and glia involved in pathological states of brain development. Mandel has ameliorated the neuropathology of one autism spectrum disorder, Rett syndrome, by genetically replacing the defective MeCP2 gene with a good copy of the gene in astrocytes – glia cells in the brain. She is now exploring the underlying mechanisms crucial for neuronal signaling.
In recent decades, physicists and astronomers have discovered two beautiful standard models, one for the quantum world of extremely short distances and one for the universe as a whole. Both models have had spectacular success, but there are also strong arguments for new physics beyond these models.
In recent decades, physicists and astronomers have discovered two beautiful standard models, one for the quantum world of extremely short distances and one for the universe as a whole. Both models have had spectacular success, but there are also strong arguments for new physics beyond these models.
Dr. Schadt provides an overview of how his team organizes very large scale data across many different types, and then integrates these data using sophisticated mathematical algorithms to construct predictive network models of disease, and discusses the application of this type of modeling in the cancer arena.
Probabilistic topic models provide a suite of tools for analyzing large collections of electronic documents. A traditional topic model analyzes a collection of documents to discover its hidden themes. These themes can be used to organize, visualize, summarize and navigate the collection. Many collections are associated with corresponding reader behavior data, which is useful both for making predictions about readers (such as which articles they will like) and in understanding patterns in how they read.
Probabilistic topic models provide a suite of tools for analyzing large collections of electronic documents. A traditional topic model analyzes a collection of documents to discover its hidden themes. These themes can be used to organize, visualize, summarize and navigate the collection. Many collections are associated with corresponding reader behavior data, which is useful both for making predictions about readers (such as which articles they will like) and in understanding patterns in how they read.
Although most people regularly tune up their cars, you probably haven’t needed to bring your brain in for a tune-up, despite the fact that the human brain is far more complex than the internal combustion engine. What’s more, unlike most machines, your brain is constantly changing in order to store memories and adapt to a fluid environment. Our brains are faced with a fundamental challenge: They must preserve the integrity of the neural circuits that subserve behaviors over the lifetime of an organism, while at the same time allowing plastic mechanisms to shape and fine-tune their function.
Although most people regularly tune up their cars, you probably haven’t needed to bring your brain in for a tune-up, despite the fact that the human brain is far more complex than the internal combustion engine. What’s more, unlike most machines, your brain is constantly changing in order to store memories and adapt to a fluid environment. Our brains are faced with a fundamental challenge: They must preserve the integrity of the neural circuits that subserve behaviors over the lifetime of an organism, while at the same time allowing plastic mechanisms to shape and fine-tune their function.
FRIDAY, MAY 30, 2014 Scientific Program: 8:00 AM - 3:15 PM Evening Program: 4:30 - 7:45 PM Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium 160 5th Avenue, New York, New York, 10010 What...
Andrew Gelman will illustrate this concept with various examples from his recent research and discuss more generally how statistical methods can help or hinder the scientific process.
This Biotech Symposium will focus on the visualization and representation of analytic results from complex data sets.
In the disease retinitis pigmentosa (RP), disease genes directly cause the dysfunction and death of rod photoreceptors, the photoreceptor type that mediates vision in dim light, causing night blindness. Subsequently, the cone photoreceptors, which mediate color and daylight vision, also lose function and die. Dr. Cepko et al have suggested a model wherein cones are affected due to the dysregulated metabolism that follows rod death. They have begun to develop gene therapy to combat this, using adenovirus-associated vectors (AAV) to deliver genes that help cones fight oxidation and other forms of stress. Their progress in treating RP mice using such vectors will be presented.
In this talk, Nancy Kanwisher will consider the functional architecture of the social brain in typical subjects as an avenue for considering which functions are affected and which are preserved in autism.
In his talk, Carey Priebe will present the conjecture that neurons in the neocortex are connected in a graph that exhibits motifs representing repeated processing modules.
The enormous amount of information that is now available about cities and the people who live in them offers intriguing opportunities for better understanding human behavior. That understanding can be applied...
Simulating quantum mechanics on classical computers appears at first to require exponential computational resources, yet at the same time rapid progress is being made in accurate simulations of the quantum properties of realistic materials. How is this discrepancy resolved?
Thursday, October 23rd – Friday, October 24th, 2014 Download the 2014 Annual Meeting booklet (PDF). The Simons Foundation Division of Mathematics and Physical Sciences (MPS) held its second Annual Meeting...
The MoSAIC Festival includes a variety of hands-on workshops, lectures, a mathematical art exhibit, short films and an area for informal exchange. It is designed to be easily accessible to audiences high-school age and up.
In this lecture, Dan Littman will describe how intestinal commensal bacteria shape functions of immune system cells that prevent invasion by pathogenic microbes but can also contribute to systemic inflammation.
In this lecture, Mauro Maggioni will discuss a family of ideas, algorithms and results for learning from high-dimensional data.
MEG and EEG Signals and Their Sources: Insights from Physics, Physiology and Anatomy Matti Hamalainen, Massachusetts General Hospital Understanding the biophysics and physiology underlying the generation of detectable extracranial magnetic fields...
In this talk, Christian Borgs will give an introduction to belief propagation, discuss how the accuracy of belief propagation has been rigorously established, and present recent applications to systems biology.
A day to explore Maxim Kontsevich's contributions to the field of mathematics.
Topology, the "rubber sheet geometry", studies properties that do not change when objects are pulled and stretched. Accepting somewhat fuzzy input, it is the part of mathematics typically applied when qualitative conclusions are reached. However, it has a quantitative aspect important in understanding singularities, and potentially, high-dimensional noisy data and aspects of large-scale geometry of networks. Prof. Weinberger will discuss a variety of phenomena that arise or are illuminated by tracking of the complexity of geometric constructions.
Basic motor skills such as looking, reaching and walking do not simply appear as the result of maturation. Rather, infants must learn to move. Learning entails discovering new forms of movements to suit the task at hand and using perceptual information to select and modify movements adaptively.
Basic motor skills such as looking, reaching and walking do not simply appear as the result of maturation. Rather, infants must learn to move. Learning entails discovering new forms of movements to suit the task at hand and using perceptual information to select and modify movements adaptively.
Since at least the time when it was understood that the circumference of a circle is pi multiplied by its diameter, the applications of mathematics have raced on far ahead of the foundations of the subject itself. By considering a variety of examples, principally from the 19th century, we will explore the tension between mathematics and its applications, and reasons why it remains a valuable and rewarding occupation to develop the necessary framework for existing and “well understood” theories.
Speakers: Jonathan Simon, University of Maryland Timothy Roberts, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Jonathan Winawer, New York University https://vimeo.com/117625451 Signal Analysis Primer and Applications Jonathan Z. Simon, University of Maryland...
Due to the winter storm, the Wednesday, January 28, 2015 5:00 p.m. Autism: Emerging Concepts lecture "One Brain, Many Genomes: Somatic Mutation and Genomic Variability in the Human Cerebral Cortex” by Christopher A. Walsh is canceled and will be rescheduled.
February 1-7, 2015 Organizers: Matt Baker, Georgia Institute of Technology Same Payne, Yale University This symposium focused on setting a clear agenda for future developments in the related fields...
In this lecture, Eiichiro Komatsu will describe the ‘cosmic microwave background,’ the light remnants of the Big Bang.
A group of 48 researchers from the U.S., Canada and Europe gathered at the Simons Foundation on February 13 and 14 for the 2015 annual meeting of the Collaboration on the Many Electron Problem.
One of the characteristic features of life — specificity — emerges in metabolism, information transfer from DNA to protein, embryology, immunology and virtually every other process. Its explanation on the molecular level is thermodynamic stability and structural complementarity. Yet one disturbing issue persists: the protein and nucleic acid sequences coding for that specificity are generally too small to distinguish actual partners from competitors. Similarly, protein degradation conveys specificity through very short sequences. The process is so kinetically complex that bulk kinetic experiments and a few molecular structures are insufficient to explain how specificity is achieved. Using single molecule kinetic measurements, we have deconvolved much of that specificity.
February 22-28, 2015 Organizers: Sanjeev Arora, Princeton University Uriel Feige, Weizmann Institute Michel Goemans, Massachusetts Institute of Technology David Shmoys, Cornell University This is the second Simons Symposium on...
4:15 pm: Tea 5:00 pm: Lecture 6:15 pm: Reception More information coming soon.
Kathryn Zurek will review evidence for the presence of dark matter in our universe and the need for a new theory to describe the dark matter sector.
In this lecture, Hazen will examine how Earth’s near-surface environment has evolved as a consequence of selective physical, chemical and biological processes — an evolution that is preserved in the mineralogical record.
March 15-21, 2015 Organizers: Shamit Kachru, Stanford University Hirosi Ooguri, Caltech Subir Sachdev, Harvard University Since our last symposium, quantum entanglement has become even more important in areas of...
People spend hours a day interacting in online settings, ranging from social media sites to a broad range of digital communities designed for work, education and entertainment. Such systems are generally intended to elicit particular activities or forms of engagement, yet we have relatively little understanding of the resulting behaviors or of how system design may contribute to those behaviors. This talk will discuss work that aims to develop models of human behavior in online settings, both to inform system design but also to address fundamental questions in the social sciences.
March 22–28, 2015 Organizing committee: Fedor Bogomolov, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences Brendan Hassett, Rice University Yuri Tschinkel, Simons Foundation The second Simons Symposium on Geometry over Nonclosed Fields...
All life on Earth is based on electron transfer reactions far from thermodynamic equilibrium. In this talk, Paul Falkowski will discuss the possibility that photobiochemical reactions of minerals were transformational in the origins and persistence of biologically catalyzed electron transfer reactions on Earth.
In this lecture, Maureen Durkin will discuss trends in the prevalence of ASD, focusing on the role of intellectual disability — both as a co-occurring condition with ASD and in terms of using ASD as a diagnostic substitute for intellectual disability.
