- News>
- Internet & Social Media
Comparing earth`s biological network to the Internet
Washington, Dec 30: As the earth undergoes the largest mass extinction since the elimination of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, one of the biggest unsettled questions is the phenomenon`s effect on the intricate biological network upon which all life depends.
Washington, Dec 30: As the earth undergoes the largest mass extinction since the elimination of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, one of the biggest unsettled questions is the phenomenon's effect on the intricate biological network upon which all life depends.
Some have argued, for instance, that the disappearance of even a few species starts a reaction down the chain of life, with animals types toppling like dominoes in a line until the last one -- that is to say, humans -- is felled. Naturalist Aldo Leopold expressed this point of view when he said the first rule of intelligent tinkering was saving all the parts.
Yet recent research has indicated in order to have a functioning network, it might not be necessary to have all the parts. Curiously, some tantalizing evidence emerges from a decidedly inorganic network -- the Internet.
Alun Lloyd of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ and Robert May of Oxford University in England, writing in the May 18, 2002, issue of the journal Science, said, the study of communications networks ... has interesting parallels both with conventional epidemiology and with the ability of ecosystems to handle disturbances. The two scientists have looked at how computer viruses propagate through a network and related it to the transmission of contagious diseases such as AIDS in humans and in ecological networks.
The landscape of the Internet is not flat and uniform. Some of its nodes, such as university servers, large corporations or America Online, have a lot of connections to other points. On the other hand, personal web pages will have relatively few connections.
In this landscape, AOL, Microsoft and other highly connected nodes are the mountains and the rest of us are out there in the desert.
This has important implications for the spread of computer viruses, real viruses and the dominoes of extinction.
The first is if a virus attacks a relatively loosely connected node -- one of us out in the internet desert -- the virus will spread very slowly. A few dominoes might topple, but the overall network will remain intact.
Bureau Report
Some have argued, for instance, that the disappearance of even a few species starts a reaction down the chain of life, with animals types toppling like dominoes in a line until the last one -- that is to say, humans -- is felled. Naturalist Aldo Leopold expressed this point of view when he said the first rule of intelligent tinkering was saving all the parts.
Yet recent research has indicated in order to have a functioning network, it might not be necessary to have all the parts. Curiously, some tantalizing evidence emerges from a decidedly inorganic network -- the Internet.
Alun Lloyd of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ and Robert May of Oxford University in England, writing in the May 18, 2002, issue of the journal Science, said, the study of communications networks ... has interesting parallels both with conventional epidemiology and with the ability of ecosystems to handle disturbances. The two scientists have looked at how computer viruses propagate through a network and related it to the transmission of contagious diseases such as AIDS in humans and in ecological networks.
The landscape of the Internet is not flat and uniform. Some of its nodes, such as university servers, large corporations or America Online, have a lot of connections to other points. On the other hand, personal web pages will have relatively few connections.
In this landscape, AOL, Microsoft and other highly connected nodes are the mountains and the rest of us are out there in the desert.
This has important implications for the spread of computer viruses, real viruses and the dominoes of extinction.
The first is if a virus attacks a relatively loosely connected node -- one of us out in the internet desert -- the virus will spread very slowly. A few dominoes might topple, but the overall network will remain intact.
Bureau Report