SEMINARS

Discussion group for Smil's book

An hour per week discussion on the science behind how we got here and where we’re going. 

``How the World Really Works: A Scientist's Guide to Our Past, Present and Future'' by Smil Vaclav

Lifetime reproduction, extinction and evolution

Pulses, Presses, and Nonlinear Response

Abstract: The response to a pulse (i.e., one time) disturbance of a population is analyzed in terms of transients, while a press (i.e., persistent) disturbance is not. But a press, as I discuss, can also be analyzed in a closely related way. Also the response to a press disturbance is intimately linked to local nonlinearity. These connections apply more broadly, e.g., to multispecies systems with point equilibria. This work is done in collaboration with several people at Stanford & Oxford.