Do group sizes and individual hubs compete to trigger collective behavior?

Physicists studied how different types of disorder affect magnetic-like phase transitions in higher-order networks (where groups of three or more nodes interact, not just pairs). They found that large groups sharpen transitions into collective ordering, whereas high-degree "hub" nodes soften them. When both types of heterogeneity exist simultaneously, they compete, creating double transitions and wider hysteresis—revealing that diversity operates differently depending on whether it's in group size or node influence.