Complexity, catastrophe and physics

There is growing recognition that progress in many scientific disciplines depends on an understanding of complexity Complex systems play an important role in molecular biology neurobiology and ecology as well as geology engineering and economics. These systems consist of a large number of mutually interacting parts, often open to their environment, and the self-organization of these parts gives rise to novel macroscopic, or "emergent", properties. Put another way, in a complex system the whole turns out to be much more than the sum of its parts.