Two new staff members have joined the ICTP Condensed Matter Physics group. Italian-born Matteo Marsili received his undergraduate degree from the University of Rome La Sapienza and his master's and doctorate degrees from the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA). He has held postdoctorate positions at the University of Manchester in the UK, and the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. Most recently, he has been an INFM (Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia) researcher at SISSA. His research has focussed on the interdisciplinary applications of statistical physics to economic and social systems where he has made noteworthy contributions to minority game theory. Argentinean-born Marcelo Osvaldo Magnasco received his undergraduate degree in physics from the University of La Plata, Argentina, and his master of science and doctorate degrees from the University of Chicago, USA. He most recently served as associate professor in the mathematical physics laboratory at Rockefeller University in New York City. Magnasco's primary areas of research focus on biological physics and computational neural science, in which he has made noteworthy contributions to our understanding of the dynamics of the cochlea (the hearing organ) and higher oratory functions.