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"I think the next century
will be the century of complexity."

- Stephen Hawking, 2000

"Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking."

- Albert Einstein

2014 Ebola Outbreak: Worldwide Air-Transportation, Relative Import Risk and Most Probable Spreading Routes

The hidden geometry of complex, network-driven contagion phenomena
Science 342, 1337 (2013)

Saving Human Lives: What Complexity Science and Information Systems can Contribute
Journal of Statistical Physics, doi:10.1007/s10955-014-1024-9, 1-47 (2014)

Unifying Viral Genetics and Human Transportation Data to Predict the Global Transmission Dynamics of Human Influenza H3N2
PLOS Pathogens 10, e1003932 (2014)

Follow @DirkBrockman

Natural emergence of clusters and bursts in network evolution
Phys. Rev. X, 3 021016 (2013)

HU Wissen - Magazine Oct. 2014

Read cover story on our research in the current issue of Humboldt University's research magazine. Here's the article The New Map of the World.

Epidemics on the Computer

Watch our team's recent TV coverage on Tomorrow - Today, a science show on Deutsche Welle Television, talking about our work on Ebola. This version is in English.

Forschung braucht Risiko (Science requires risk)

Have a look at the most recent issue of Impulse, the magazine of the Volkswagen Foundation. In it you'll find the article "Gefährlich Globetrotter" explaining our team's research funded by the foundation.

The 2014 Ebola Outbreak

We just released an interactive network tool for investigating and analyzing the global implications of the ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Here's the project page and here the interactive tool.

Interactive Epidemic Experiment - 33rd ScienceSlam, SO36, Berlin

ScienceSlamDE just posted the video of Dirks presentation at the 33. Slam at SO36, Berlin.

Check out the video that shows Dirks first epidemic experiment.

33rd Science Slam - SO36, Berlin

Check out pictures from the 33rd Science Slam in Berlin's Kreuzberg Club SO36.

Facebook: Chronik einer Seuche

Watch the following interview on German NDR television show Kulturjournal. Dirk explains the similarities and differences between conventional epidemics and the "Facebook epidemic".

Recent Radio Interviews

Topic: The hidden geometry of complex, network-driven contagion phenomena, Science 342, 1337 (2013)

Click here to listen.

Click here to listen.

Youtube: Hidden Geometry Video collects > 100k views

This video, that explains the basic idea behind our recent study in Science has attracted >100k views in 2 days.

In the news: Fast Co.Exist

Outbreak! Watch How Quickly An Epidemic Would Spread Across The World

by Sydney Brownstone

In the movies: Numb3rs

Charlie Eppes and Nancy Hackett use “Dirk Brockmann’s work with human mobility networks” to predict the location of a future robbery in this episode of the popular CBS show. Charlie finds fractional diffusion equations fascinating.

You can watch the clip here...

Postdoctoral Reseachers Fahkteh and Julien join the group

Master Student Henning Siemen joins the team

Henning is doing research for his Master at the University of Madgeburg in our team. Henning is working on evolutionary dynamics on complex networks.

PhD Candidate Konstantin Schaar joins the team

Konstantin, with a degree in physics from the Technical University, Berlin, is working on dynamic contact networks in hospitals, nosocomial infections and a bunch of other interesting topics.

PhD Candidate Olga Baranov joins the team

Trained in biophysics at Humboldt University, Berlin Olga will be working on modeling the impact of decision processes on disease dynamics using methods borrowed from game theory.

Postdoctoral Fellow Chen Li joins the team

Theoretical physicist Chen Li, formerly at the Max-Planck-Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, recently joined our team.
Chen Li will be working on dynamical processes on networks and applications to infectious disease dynamics.

National Public Radio: Research featured on Krulwich wonders

A 'Whom Do You Hang With?' Map Of America.
This story covers our research on the hidden, effective borders in the United States. Read more....

More info also on the project page.

The Story of "Wheresgeorge Billtracking Research"

How an old school friend triggered the study of dollar bill movements that led to the discovery of the scaling laws of human travel. Read More....

(download PDF).

ABC 7 - Eyewitness News

The story covers our research in which we used wheresgeorge.com bill tracking data in the development of a model for the forecast of the spread of pandemic H1N1 in the US in 2009