People have always wondered about the role of religion in society. Some think it brings people together and encourages kindness. Others believe it's more about dealing with fear and uncertainty. These ideas seem to clash, especially when talking about how societies become less religious over time. A recent study tried to make sense of this by using a computer model....
Cities are always looking for ways to make life better for their residents. One big challenge is how to make sure everyone has a healthy environment and fair opportunities. A new tool called agent-based simulation is helping to figure this out. This tool can show what might happen if a city changes something, like making parking more expensive or banning polluting ca...
The way people use buildings has a big impact on indoor air quality. This is especially important now, with viruses like SARS-CoV-2 spreading mainly through the air indoors. To tackle this, a new tool called ArchABM has been created. It simulates how people interact with buildings and helps figure out the best ways to improve air quality. ArchABM is special because ...
In Switzerland, rain often causes sewage systems to overflow. This sends untreated wastewater into rivers and lakes. But no one really knows how bad this is. Cheap sensors could help track these spills. Yet, most wastewater groups don't use them. It's not a tech problem. It's more about politics and organization. A recent study looked at ways to get more groups to u...
In the middle of the Negev Desert, there was a place called Shivta. It was a long time ago, during the Byzantine era. People there grew grapes and made wine. They were really good at it, even though the desert was dry and harsh. They used clever farming tricks to collect water and grow grapes. They built terraces and towers to help them. One big problem was drought....
Hospitals are super busy places where Covid-19 can easily spread. Just having general rules might not cut it. But there's a cool way to figure out what works best: agent-based modelling. This method lets researchers create a virtual hospital and see how different factors affect the spread of Covid-19. In 2023, a study used this method to look at how things like mask...
Floods are becoming more common and more severe. This is due to climate change. These floods can cause big problems. They can spread harmful substances into water supplies. These substances are known as contaminants of emerging concern or CECs. Antibiotics are a big part of this problem. They are widely used on farms. This can lead to pollution of rivers and l...
Spatial simulations of complex systems are tricky. They often come with built-in uncertainties about where things happen. To tackle this, a new method called Spatio-Temporal Uncertainty Analysis (ST-UA) has been developed. This approach helps track how these uncertainties change over time and space. It's like having a map that shows not just where things are, but als...
Imagine you're trying to steer a huge, complex system, like an ecosystem or a healthcare network. Agent-based models (ABMs) help us simulate these systems, but controlling them can be tough. Enter surrogate modeling: a clever technique that simplifies things. This method turns complex ABMs into smaller, manageable systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). He...
Let's explore a fascinating problem: how do marriages and divorces happen around the world? We're using a unique method called agent-based modeling to figure this out. Imagine a group of people (agents) with different attributes and preferences. They're constantly changing partners or getting married based on a key factor called socio-economic pressure, which is like...