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It is generally recognized that a distinguishing feature of life is its peculiar capability to avoid equilibration. The origin of this capability and its evolution along the timeline of abiogenesis is not yet understood. We propose to study…

Biological membranes and vesicles play a central role in living systems, forming dynamic interfaces that regulate cellular organization and function. Classical descriptions of membrane mechanics that are rooted in equilibrium statistical…

Social movements, neurons in the brain or even industrial suppliers are best described by agents evolving on networks with basic interaction rules. In these real systems, the connectivity between agents corresponds to the a critical state…

The search for universal laws that help establish a relationship between dynamics and computation is driven by recent expansionist initiatives in biologically inspired computing. A general setting to understand both such dynamics and…

Learning and decision making in the brain are key processes critical to survival, and yet are processes implemented by non-ideal biological building blocks which can impose significant error. We explore quantitatively how the brain might…

Dynamical phase transitions can occur in isolated quantum systems that are brought out of equilibrium by sudden parameter changes. We discuss the characterization of such dynamical phase transitions based on the statistics of produced…

Rhythm is a fundamental component of the auditory world, present even during the prenatal life. While there is evidence that some auditory capacities are already present before birth, whether and how the premature neural networks process…

Rich, spontaneous brain activity has been observed across a range of different temporal and spatial scales. These dynamics are thought to be important t for efficient neural functioning. Experimental evidence suggests that these neural…

Trap models have been initially proposed as toy models for dynamical relaxation in extremely simplified rough potential energy landscapes. Their importance has considerably grown recently thanks to the discovery that the trap like aging…

Self-organized systems, from synthetic nanostructures to developing organisms, are composed of fluctuating units capable of forming robust functional structures despite noise. Here, we ask: are there fundamental bounds on the robustness of…

First return maps of interspike intervals for biological neurons that generate repetitive bursts of impulses can display stereotyped structures (neuronal signatures). Such structures have been linked to the possibility of multicoding and…

Nonequilibrium many-body transient dynamics play an important role in the adaptation of active matter systems environment changes. However, the generic universal behavior of such dynamics is usually elusive and left as open questions. Here,…

Many natural and man-made network systems need to maintain certain patterns, such as working at equilibria or limit cycles, to function properly. Thus, the ability to stabilize such patterns is crucial. Most of the existing studies on…

This work concerns the long-term dynamics of a spatiotemporal many-body deterministic model that exhibits emergence and self-organization, and which has been recently proposed as a new paradigm for Artificial Life. Collective structures…

Many elastic structures exhibit rapid shape transitions between two possible equilibrium states: umbrellas become inverted in strong wind and hopper popper toys jump when turned inside-out. This snap-through is a general motif for the…

Spatial systems with heterogeneities are ubiquitous in nature, from precipitation, temperature and soil gradients controlling vegetation growth to morphogen gradients controlling gene expression in embryos. Such systems, generally described…

Activity in neocortex exhibits a range of behaviors, from irregular to temporally precise, and from weakly to strongly correlated. So far there has been no single theoretical framework that could explain all these behaviors, leaving open…

Is the brain really operating at a critical point? We study the non-equilibrium properties of a neural network which models the dynamics of the neocortex and argue for optimal quasi-critical dynamics on the Widom line where the correlation…

Reverse engineering the brain is proving difficult, perhaps impossible. While many believe that this is just a matter of time and effort, a different approach might help. Here, we describe a very simple idea which explains the power of the…

The stability of complex networks, from power grids to biological systems, is crucial for their proper functioning. It is thus important to control such systems to maintain or restore their stability. Traditional approaches rely on…