Quantum physics: Controlled experiment observes self-organized criticality
(PHYSorg.com Physics)

Writing in Nature, researchers describe the first-time observation of `self-organized criticality` in a controlled laboratory experiment. Complex systems exist in mathematics and physics, but also occur in nature and society. The concept of self-organized criticality claims that without external input, complex systems in non-equilibrium tend to develop into a critical state far away from a stable equilibrium. That way, they reinforce their own non-equilibrium.