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Reposted by Thilo Gross

Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 18d

Any academic folks on H1B visas (even with stamps in passports) please get legal advice from your University attorneys before leaving the US.

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Reposted by Thilo Gross

Network Science Society @netscisociety.bsky.social · 20d

In just about a week, the season's first NetSci Colloquium will happen. And we're starting with a bang . . . with none other than Iain Couzin talking about Collective Behavior in Animal Groups. September 24, 10 AM ET. Register here to get a Zoom link: iu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

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Reposted by Thilo Gross

BioND Lab @biondlab.bsky.social · Aug 26

Paper alert! See the new pre-print up on arXiv by Tim Mauch (@timmauch.bsky.social) and Thilo Gross (@thilogross.bsky.social) on opinion formation:
arxiv.org/abs/2508.15377

The paper discusses the very nice results of Tim's master thesis, so let's get into the details, shall we?

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Diffusion-driven pattern formation in an opinion dynamical network model

The spatial organization of individuals and their interactions in communities are important factors known to preserve diversity in many complex systems. Inspired by metapopulation models from ecology,...

arxiv.org

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Thilo Gross @thilogross.bsky.social · Jul 1

→ Are you interested in multiscale phenomena such as the complex dynamics that arise in biology, chemistry, neuroscience, and physics when multiple spatial or temporal scales interact? 🧪

Then join us this summer in Groningen for the summer school:

lnkd.in/gViS3cCZ

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

lnkd.in

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HIFMB @hifmb.de · Jun 23

The call for our 2026 Postdoc Cohort is now open. We offer 4 full-time positions. Apply until August 24th. hifmb.de/jobs
Please spread the word.
#postdoc #jobsinscience #marinebiodiversity #antarctica
@awi.de @hillebr1.bsky.social @ibaums.bsky.social @thilogross.bsky.social @merenbey.bsky.social 🦑

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Reposted by Thilo Gross

Naomi Saphra @nsaphra.bsky.social · Jun 22

They have to destroy scientific research to eliminate the point at which civilians from every warzone connect and recognize themselves. How can you build a quantum computing lab without Iranians? Or an ML theory lab without Israelis? Better to let progress die than to allow that they might meet.

Huxley @huxleymorgan.bsky.social · Jun 22

Black and white image of Iranian author Marjane Satrapi, smoking a cigarette. "The world is not divided between east and west. You are American, I am Iranian, we don't know each other, but we talk and we understand each other perfectly. The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same."

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Thilo Gross @thilogross.bsky.social · Jun 23

The rot is spreading ...

Christopher Dornan @chrisdornan.bsky.social · Jun 21

Just a reminder that Orwell’s protagonist in 1984, Winston Groom, works as a copy editor, except that his job entails endlessly “correcting the data” so that the archival record conforms to the Party’s preferred fictions, and what is “known” becomes a principal instrument of conformity.

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Thilo Gross @thilogross.bsky.social · Jun 23

This focus on using research funding to support business is harmful.

Reposted by Thilo Gross

Frank Hellmann @various.complexities.eu · Jun 12

Our new article in Chaos. One of my favorite articles so far. Connecting different disciplines and building on recent breakthroughs in ancient fields (Linear Algebra!).

link.growkudos.com/1ebwrn9qkn4

doi.org/10.1063/5.02...

How individual systems and their connections react to each other to ensure stability of the whole.

We live in a complex world with a plethora of connections and interactions. Many important processes, such as power grid dynamics, ecological interactions, opinion formation, or brain plasticity, can ...

link.growkudos.com

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Reposted by Thilo Gross

Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · May 14

insane moment in world history right here

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Reposted by Thilo Gross

Justin Yeakel 🦣🐆 @jdyeakel.bsky.social · May 13

The dynamics of microbial cooperation... Cheap metabolites make for shaky friendships; but pricier ones can keep the peace... 🦠

Thanks @janamassing.bsky.social for leading the charge! And great working again w/ @akfbio.bsky.social & @thilogross.bsky.social

Ashkaan K. Fahimipour @akfbio.bsky.social · May 13

New paper led by @janamassing.bsky.social, with @jdyeakel.bsky.social and @thilogross.bsky.social, on dynamics of cooperative bacteria: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Thilo Gross @thilogross.bsky.social · May 14

I would just leave the country in which there is a financial crisis in higher education. In fact, I have.

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Reposted by Thilo Gross

Marc Keuschnigg @marckeuschnigg.bsky.social · May 13

We are hiring postdocs in Computational Social Science
📍SweCSS, Norrköping, Sweden
⏰Deadline June 3
🔗https://liu.se/en/work-at-liu/vacancies/26854
Please apply // help us spread the word

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Reposted by Thilo Gross

Ashkaan K. Fahimipour @akfbio.bsky.social · May 13

New paper led by @janamassing.bsky.social, with @jdyeakel.bsky.social and @thilogross.bsky.social, on dynamics of cooperative bacteria: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Thilo Gross @thilogross.bsky.social · May 7

To explore this further we need models that can exhibit both tipping and gradual transitions in biodiversity. The cross-feeding model proposed here is a very simple model that fills this need.

Of course there is still much room for improvement, but this is how far we got.

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Thilo Gross @thilogross.bsky.social · May 7

There is another reason why this is interesting. Presently there is a debate whether or when biodiversity in diverse systems can actually tip. See for example this paper by @hillebr1.bsky.social et al.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Thresholds for ecological responses to global change do not emerge from empirical data - Nature Ecology & Evolution

The utility of the threshold paradigm, such that relatively small perturbations drive abrupt ecosystem changes, is challenged by a synthesis of 36 meta-analyses, which detected few signatures of thres...

www.nature.com

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Thilo Gross @thilogross.bsky.social · May 7

In the lab we then supply the community with growth media which supply some of the metabolites. This effectively removes these metabolites as limiting requirements. So this can be also modelled as an attack: C(x)->C(B(x)), where B describes the medium.
...

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Thilo Gross @thilogross.bsky.social · May 7

Why is this interesting: First, it shows why diversity tends to collapse in small samples. By missing some of the producers of metabolites we can cross the tipping point. In the equations we can model this effect of sampling as an attack on the network: We replace M(x)->M(A(x)).

Illustration of the microbial sampling procedure. As a result of sampling a tipping point is crossed.

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Thilo Gross @thilogross.bsky.social · May 7

Of course this is the classic two-folds scenario of tipping, so when we vary a second parameter (e.g. mean number of producers per metabolite), we find a nice Cusp bifurcation. This shows that the transition from high diversity to low diversity can occur by tipping/gradually depending on params...

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Thilo Gross @thilogross.bsky.social · May 7

For reasonable choices of parameters this system exhibits tipping points between a low and high diversity state ...

Figure showing that changing the mean number of consumer requirements leads to tipping. The transitions occur in the characteristic pattern of two fold bifurcations with a region of hysteresis in the middle.

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Thilo Gross @thilogross.bsky.social · May 7

So this becomes a percolation problem. The whole setup is captured by two nice eqs. Here c* is num of bacteria chance m^* is num of metabolites, and C, M, are the GFs for number of requirements, number of producers per metabolite ...

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Thilo Gross @thilogross.bsky.social · May 7

So this becomes a directed bipartitie network, but if you want you can also think of it as a multilayer net or hypergraph.

What fascinates me is the algebraic structure: Bacteria in the system need ALL their requirements to be met, whereas metabolites need ONE of their producers to be present...

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Thilo Gross @thilogross.bsky.social · May 7

So this is about about crossfeeding, that is the exchange of molecules between bacteria. Think of this as a network where each node is a species of bacteria or a type of metabolite. Directed links indicate which metabolites are required by, or produced by the bacteria. ...

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Thilo Gross @thilogross.bsky.social · May 7

Hey, new paper by @cleggtom.bsky.social and me is just out in @pnas.org. This combines a lot of things that start with B: Biodiversity, Bipartite Networks, Bifurcations, Bacteria, ...

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

And yes, I know, Fig 1 looks like one of 'those' papers but please read on ...

Cross-feeding creates tipping points in microbiome diversity | PNAS

A key unresolved question in microbial ecology is how the extraordinary diversity of microbiomes emerges from the interactions among their many fun...

www.pnas.org

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Reposted by Thilo Gross

BioND Lab @biondlab.bsky.social · Apr 2

Meet our group members! Time to hear about the wonderful @laurabarthm.bsky.social:

"Hi, I’m Laura! I’m a physicist by training and a PostDoc researcher working with physics-informed neural networks to enhance the interpretability of ecological models and improve forecasting.

A picture of our group member Laura Barth. She is wearing a maroon winter jacket, navy blue knitted beanie, and glasses. You can see her dark curly hair sticking out under the beanie. Laura is standing outdoors on a wooden pier by a calm body of water. She has a slight, friendly smile and is looking at the camera. Behind her are forested hills and a cloudy sky, creating a serene atmosphere.

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