July 2, 2026

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06/30/2026

Review

Component systems: Do null models explain everything?

Component systems — ensembles of realizations built from a shared repertoire of modular parts — are ubiquitous in biological, ecological, technological, and socio-cultural domains. From genomes to texts, cities, and software, these systems exhibit statistical regularities that often meet the bona fide requirements of laws in the physical sciences. The authors argue that the generality and simplicity of those laws are often due to basic combinatorial or sampling constraints.

Image credit: Lagomarsino et al

Component systems: Do null models explain everything?

06/30/2026

research article

Deciphering and steering population-level response under spatial drug heterogeneity on microhabitat structures

Bacteria and cancer cells inhabit spatially heterogeneous environments, where migration shapes microhabitat structures critical for colonization and metastasis. The interplay between growth, migration, and spatial structure complicates the prediction of population responses to drug treatment, such as clearance or persistence, even under the same spatially averaged growth rate.

Image credit: Hu & Wood

Deciphering and steering population-level response under spatial drug heterogeneity on microhabitat structures

06/30/2026

Opinion

Rethinking data sources for crisis management: How restricted social media access is reshaping current practices

Since their massive diffusion during the first decade of the 2000s, it became clear that social media could serve as a valuable source of real-time information about any topic, acting as crowdsourced newsfeeds, and being able to support situational awareness and decision-makers during mass emergencies.

Image credit: Nathan Domlao

Rethinking data sources for crisis management: How restricted social media access is reshaping current practices

06/29/2026

research article

Mosquito dispersal in context

Mosquito dispersal plays an important role in mosquito ecology and mosquito-borne pathogen transmission. While reaction-diffusion and patch-based models with simple flux assumptions for emigration have played a predominant role in modeling mosquito dispersal, mosquito behavioral ecology – in particular, the process of searching for resources – is usually ignored by diffusion-based models. The authors set out to analyze mosquito movement using highly mimetic models, to see what they could learn from a different approach

Image credit: Sanchez et al

07/26/2026

research article

Vaccination-dependent bifurcations in HIV-mpox co-infection dynamics: Synergistic effects and endemic stability

The authors present the first mechanistic model capturing bidirectional HIV-Mpox interactions, incorporating three critical innovations: (1) HIV-induced immunological modulation of Mpox progression, (2) antiretroviral therapy (ART)-dependent transmission rates, and (3) vaccination stratification by HIV status.

Image credit: NIAID

07/11/2026

research article

Integrating epidemiological and economic dynamics to assess Rift Valley fever vaccination strategies: A system dynamics model from Kenya

Livestock diseases such as Rift Valley Fever (RVF) present systemic threats to animal health, rural livelihoods, and national economies in endemic regions. However, conventional impact assessments often fail to capture the nonlinear feedbacks, time lags, and cross-sectoral interactions involved.

Image credit: Bahta et al

05/13/2026

research article

Online identity and action discourse around the 2020 and 2024 U.S. presidential elections

The authors adapt the existing theories of social identity formation and development to large-scale social media data. They apply their framework to the development of the social identity that arose from the discussion of electoral fraud in the wake of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

Image credit: Suzi Kim

05/13/2026

research article

Structural modeling of campaign finance decisions in the U.S. House of Representatives

Campaign finance in the United States is often studied through donations from individuals, political action committees, and outside groups, but less attention has been paid to how members...

Image credit: Andy Feliciotti

05/22/2026

reseaerch article

Group size and environmental obstacles drive acoustic call properties for gray bats in flight: A data-driven analysis

Unlike schools of fish or flocks of birds, social bats who use echolocation for navigation are faced with the complex challenge of signal...

Image credit: Clement Falize

04/06/2026

research article

Algorithmic influence on conflict and cooperation in digital communities

This study focuses on the contrasting dynamics of discussion and information dissemination on two influential platforms: X and Wikipedia. While X often serves as a battleground for contentious debates, where...

Image credit: Planet Volumes

04/02/2026

research article

Bifurcation, sensitivity, and noise: Stochastic dynamics of cholera with vaccination and sanitation controls

Mathematical models help us understand how cholera spreads; most fail to capture the full complexity involving both person-to-person contact and bacteria in water sources.

Image credit: Welu et al

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PLOS Complex Systems | ISSN: 2837-8830 (online)

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