Abstract: Why are there so many animals? According an old idea, it is because there are so many different possibilities for life to adapt to. I’ll argue that it is still true, and truer than the suggested alternatives. The challenge is to establish the precise mathematical treatment at this level of generality without losing the […]

NOTE: Because of the asynchronous transition to Summer Time, the usual time of the seminar (9 a.m. Pacific) is one hour earlier in Europe: 4 p.m. London and 5 p.m. Paris. Abstract: Critical transitions whereby small changes in conditions can cause large and irreversible changes in ecosystem states are a cause of increasing concern in […]