ALL THE WORLD'S A NET

摘要

All researchers dream of making a discovery that will transform their field. Albert-Laszlo Barabasi can go one better. In just three years, his discovery has started making waves in fields as diverse as ecology, molecular biology, computer science and quantum physics. It all began when he found that sites on the Web form a network with unique mathematical properties. In itself, this may not seem very profound, but it soon emerged that these properties were not unique to the Web. We are surrounded by networks: social, sexual and professional. Ecosystems are networks, and even our bodies―and the pathogens that lay us low―are kept alive by networks of chemicals. Barabasi and others have found that many of these networks have the same architecture as the Web. They grow in much the same way and have the same strengths and weaknesses: understand one and you start to understand them all. Universal mathematical laws are rare in biology but, without meaning to, Barabasi seems to have uncovered one.