The following press conference is scheduled for the American Physical Society (APS) meeting in Minneapolis March 20-24, 2000, the largest gathering of physicists this year.

Wednesday, March 22, 12:30 PM---ECONOPHYSICS

Applying powerful data-analysis tools from the world of physics, some scientists have been working to provide new insights into the global economy. This year's March Meeting will feature the first-ever APS session devoted to the subject of econophysics. Studying the wealth of data generated by the world's financial markets over the years, the researchers will present their findings. For example, session (P5) organizer Gene Stanley of Boston University (617-353-2617, [email protected]) says that stock price fluctuations are not as extreme as conventionally believed. Bernd Rosenow of Harvard (617-495-1952, [email protected]) and colleagues have found that most of the correlations between stock prices are random, but some collections of stocks have correlations that are stable over time. Luis Amaral of Boston University (617-353-3891, [email protected]) and colleagues have uncovered a hitherto unknown similarity in the growth of sales at business firms and in the R&D expenditures at US research universities. Hideki Takayasu of Sony-Japan ([email protected]) and his colleagues have designed an electrical circuit with voltage fluctuations that are highly similar to the fluctuations in the yen-dollar rate. Their goal is to build a fast calculator for the prices of options which depend on exchange rates.

APS Virtual Pressroom, with over 20 lay-language papers: http://www.aps.org/meet/MAR00/baps/vpr

Journalists intending to attend the meeting should send in their request for a press badge to Ben Stein at [email protected].