ep44 - Mario di Bernardo: From Circuits to Cells and Swarms — Control meets Complexity

About this episode

In this episode, Mario di Bernardo discusses the intersection of control theory and complexity, covering topics from chaos to synthetic biology.

Outline 00:00 - Intro 01:30 - Origin story: Naples, electrical engineering, and the fascination with chaos 08:00 - What is chaos? 15:00 - DC-DC converters and discontinuity-induced bifurcations 22:00 - Piecewise-smooth dynamical systems 26:55 - Complex networks, synchronization, and pinning control 40:30- Synthetic biology: from gene regulatory networks to multicellular control 58:00 - COVID-19: a network epidemic model for Italy 1:02:00 - Multiscale control, statistical mechanics, and p...

People in this episode

Host: Alberto Padoan

Guest: Mario di Bernardo

Topics covered

• chaos theory
• control systems
• synthetic biology
• network models
• multiscale control

Keywords

• chaos
• DC-DC converters
• bifurcations
• dynamical systems
• synchronization
• gene regulatory networks
• network epidemic model

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Naples

More episodes of inControl

• ep43 - Steve Brunton: DMD, Koopman, SINDy, Eigensteve Channel, HydroGym, Optimization, and much more · April 15, 2026 · 1h 14m
• ep42 - inControl guide to ... the Nyquist criterion · March 16, 2026 · 1h 10m
• ep41 - A minimal history of optimal control · February 16, 2026 · 1h 32m
• ep40 - Jeff Shamma: gain scheduling, nonlinear control, learning & dissipativity in games, jiu-jitsu · January 15, 2026 · 2h 11m
• ep39 - Female influencers in control · December 16, 2025 · 1h 6m
• ep38 - inControl guide to ... Feedback · November 17, 2025 · 1h 25m