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Margaret Turbull's comments about knowing when to build bridges between disciplines (and when not to) is an appropriate final installment of the RevMinds interview series. Over the last several months we've heard our multidisciplinary experts sound off on the following timely questions: The…

image: illustration from the POWEr technical rider In discussing fruitful interdisciplinary collaborations Edward Einhorn identifies a pair of independent theatre collectives that incorporate advanced projection technology and even a Tesla coil into their performances. These groups (3LD and the…

Below, Margaret Turnbull answers our final question. Even in my small area of astrobiology, the design of a single mission to find habitable planets orbiting other stars requires substantial input from the studies of astrophysics, space communications, space flight technology, optics, materials…

Below, Edward Einhorn answers our final question. Writing theater about science, in general, has become somewhat more popular, thanks partly (but by no means wholly) on the fact that technology has slowly become a more integral part of theater. This is especially true in small, independent…

image: a proposed example of an immune-inspired network system, source: SYMBRION & REPLICATOR In identifying computer science as a nexus of interdisciplinary collaboration, Fernando Esponda cites Artificial Immune Systems (AIS) as research exemplifying this sentiment. Esponda describes AIS…

Below, Skylar Tibbits answers our final question. Cross-disciplinary approaches have proved useful to gain insight into unknown territories, quickly change scale and application, push past a field's current boundaries and inspire new directions and connections. Varying skills and necessities…

Below, Fernando Esponda answers our final question. Computer science is a discipline that is intrinsically interdisciplinary. Primarily because the computer itself—the externalization of our logic apparatus—is such an enticing and versatile tool. Therefore, it is not hard to find examples of…

image: history flow edit log of the Wikipedia article on evolution Nick Matzke is ambitious when he exercises his imagination. In answering our final question, Matzke sketches out a methodology for tracking how public policies or scientific hypotheses were "copied, repeated, modified and…

Below, John Wilbanks answers our final question. Cross-disciplinarity seems to work best when there's a problem that has a few facets that are apparently unconnected, but the disconnect comes from the artificial way we divide up the knowledge. Because in reality the problem is simply the problem…

I erroneously titled the post that contained Michelle Borkin's final answer "Collaboration and Hemodynamics" and this definitely reflected an oversight on my part. In addition to discussing hemodynamics Michelle also touched on the Astronomical Medicine project, a venture that definitely…

Below, Nick Matzke answers our final question. Continuing the previous theme - I recently got interested in the origin of a particular apocryphal quote attributed to a famous scientist. The quote exists in hundreds of books and tens of thousands of webpages, but the scientist in question never…

Well, since Josh Ruxin's thoughts on private sector strategies in medical management were so popular it is clear that the RevMinds community is hungry for additional perspective on healthcare as a nexus of multidisciplinary action. As I mentioned in my follow-up post, data and health care (…

Below, Michelle Borkin answers our final question. I have seen many cross-disciplinary approaches work successfully. These approaches are sometimes initially in the application of a tool or technique from one field to another, but ultimately lead to two-way conversations and better or new…

Josh Ruxin has provided a thoughtful, measured description of how private sector management strategies could improve health care in developing countries. He drives this point home by highlighting the prevalence of dead-simple "institutional failures" such as convoluted daily schedules and bad…

Below, Josh Ruxin answers our final question. Hands down, the application of private sector management solutions to health care, particularly in developing countries, is vital, and, almost utterly unfinanced. The focus of public health systems continues to be on training and retraining…

Below, Moshe Pritsker answers our final question. Genomics is a good example of a cross-disciplinary approach that produced a landmark shift in biomedical research, drug discovery, and other life science areas. Enabling single experiments that produce amounts of data that would require thousands…

Below, Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka answers our final question. The cross disciplinary approaches I have seen working in my field are integrating population, health and environmental issues, where if done on their own as has been the traditional approach, less results are achieved than when combined.…

Saleem Ali's brief overview of the evolution of ecological economic thinking is fascinating. I wasn't familiar with Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen until reading Ali's description of The Entropy Law and the Economic Process. A quick search on Google turned up a 1986 paper by Georgescu-Roegen entitled "…

Below, Saleem Ali answers our final question. The most productive interface between disciplines in the environmental sciences has occurred in understanding the value of ecosystem services. There has been a remarkable growth in the last five years in mainstream research within economics, physics,…

Below, Lambros Malafouris answers our final question. Judging from the experience I have gathered so far working in various cross-disciplinary projects, I have to say that there is no such thing as an "appropriate" or "inappropriate" approach; there is only what we may call "soft" and "hard"…

Anthony Dunne's call for mass speculation (in political science, genetics, ethics, economics, pretty much every discipline) is founded on a refreshing optimism. Dunne: "Today we don't just need solutions, we also need dreams." He is right—designers that are too polite to take chances and postulate…

Below, Anthony Dunne answers our final question. I can't think of any reasons why a cross-disciplinary approach would not be appropriate.â¨â¨ Design is a great catalyst for encouraging speculation in disciplines wary of moving away from how things are to how things could be, or even ought to be.…

I have to admit that I've been dwelling on Fernando Esponda's comments on agent-based modelling and the video of Josh Epstein that I subsequently posted. First and foremost, this type of economic simulation is technically referred to as Agent-based Computational Economics (ACE). I've spent a bit…

Our Rev Minds have told us how they think the lens of science can help to solve global problems and speculated about the prospects for cross-disciplinary research. We posed the Revolutionary Minds the final question: What cross-disciplinary approaches have you seen work for your field and why? When…

Below, Moshe Pritsker answers the second of our three questions. Everything is cross-disciplinary today. New technologies developed in one area are very quickly adopted in other areas. Healthcare is a good example since every significant development in concepts or methods in any other field is…

I have to admit that I am at a loss as to how to follow up to Fernando Esponda's curiosity about how medical thinking could be applied to economics. Esponda: "Can the treatment of a disease be mapped in any meaningful way to the treatment of economic ailments? Think of abnormal growths, what is the…

Below, Fernando Esponda answers the second of our three questions. Economics is ripe for a surgical intervention. Current economic theory is in need of an overhaul and the time is right for suggestions to be taken seriously. There are several cross-disciplinary efforts that have been maturing in…

Below, Lambros Malafouris answers the second of our three questions. In recent decades cross-disciplinary work has flourished in many research areas. One scientific field which I believe provides immense opportunities for productive and innovative research is that of the mind and brain sciences.…

[Image: COMMON-Sense NET] Josh Ruxin has eloquently outlined the complexities of how technology plays into resource and land management. Ruxin: "Information Communications Technology is needed to connect farmers to markets and provide timely information to optimize incomes and expand efficiencies…

Below, Josh Ruxin answers the second of our three questions. One of humankind's oldest conundrums--food security--has actually grown more complex as technology has improved, environmental degradation has increased, and the global population has soared.  Further compounding the situation is…