Malley Moses: We're seeing viral evolution that at least appears to be really unusual. How much of those evolutionary dynamics are driven by our human social structure and where the virus is able to spread, get from one place to another? He says complexity science can bring a new and important perspective to the table. Malley Moses: A disease isn't caused just by a virus; it's caused by the properties of the virus,. The properties of the host are really important for determining the disease course.
How do you model a complex system? Traditionally we would observe how the system is behaving and create equations to mimic this behaviour, but this doesn't work for complex systems. This is because the interactions between agents in a complex system can significantly impact the system's overall behaviour.
In today's episode, Melanie Moses, Professor of Computer Science at the University of New Mexico, will answer this question. She'll introduce us to agent-based models, which are very different to how we traditionally model systems. More specifically, Melanie will explain how she used agent-based models to understand the spread of coronavirus in the lungs.
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