We investigate the directed and weighted complex network of free word associations in which players write a word in response to another word given as input. We analyze in details two large datasets resulting from two very different experiments: On the one hand the massive multiplayer web-based...

Opinion formation is an important element of social dynamics. It has been widely studied in the last years with tools from physics, mathematics and computer science. Here, a continuous model of opinion dynamics for multiple possible choices is analyzed. Its main features are the inclusion of...

We consider the free evolution of systems of granular particles whose dynamics is characterized by a collision rule which preserves the total momentum, but dissipates the kinetic energy. Starting from an inelastic version of a minimal model proposed by Ulam for a gas of Maxwell molecules, we...

We present a two-dimensional theoretical model for the slow chemical corrosion of a thin film of a disordered solid by suitable etching solutions. This model explains different experimental results showing that the corrosion stops spontaneously in a situation in which the concentration of the...

The behavior of a bidisperse inelastic gas vertically shaken in a compartmentalized container is investigated using two different approaches: the first is a mean-field dynamical model, which treats the number of particles in the two compartments and the associated kinetic temperatures in a...

How are social interaction dynamics associated with mental health during early stages of adolescence? The goal of this study is to objectively measure social interactions and evaluate the roles that multiple aspects of the social environment – such as physical activity and food choice – may...

It is widely known that color names across the world's languages tend to be organized into a neat hierarchy with a small set of "basic names" featuring in a comparatively fixed order across linguistic societies. However, to date, the basic names have only been defined through a set of linguistic...

Thirty authors of different disciplines, ranging from cognitive science and linguistics to mathematics and physics, address the topic of language origin and evolution. Language dynamics is investigated through an interdisciplinary effort, involving field and synthetic experiments, modelling and...

We investigate the validity of fluctuation–dissipation relations for a mixture of two granular gases with different physical properties (restitution coefficients or masses) subject to stochastic driving. It is well known that the partial granular temperatures T1 and T2 of the two components...