Most networked systems of scientific interest are characterized by temporal links, meaning the network's structure changes over time. Link temporality has been shown to hinder many dynamical processes, from information spreading to accessibility, by disrupting network paths. Considering the ubiquity of temporal networks in nature, we ask: Are there any advantages of the networks' temporality? We use an analytical framework to show that temporal networks can, compared to their static counterparts, reach controllability faster, demand orders of magnitude less control energy, and have control trajectories, that are considerably more compact than those characterizing static networks. Thus, temporality ensures a degree of flexibility that would be unattainable in static networks, enhancing our ability to control them.
Population structure is a key determinant in fostering cooperation among naturally selfinterested individuals in microbial populations, social insect groups, and human societies. Traditional research has focused on static structures, and yet most real interactions are finite in duration and changing in time, forming a temporal network. This raises the question of whether cooperation can emerge and persist despite an intrinsically fragmented population structure. Here we develop a framework to study the evolution of cooperation on temporal networks. Surprisingly, we find that network temporality actually enhances the evolution of cooperation relative to comparable static networks, despite the fact that bursty interaction patterns generally impede cooperation. We resolve this tension by proposing a measure to quantify the amount of temporality in a network, revealing an intermediate level that maximally boosts cooperation. Our results open a new avenue for investigating the evolution of cooperation and other emergent behaviours in more realistic structured populations.
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