From the archives – I can’t figure out why I never posted this one. Here it is, as it was drafted in 2013. (Yes, I’m up to 2013!)
Jessica Lipnack blogged about a National Geographic article on networks that really caught my eye. The Parts of Life – Phenomena: The Loom.
Jessica wrote:
Carl Zimmer’s National Geographic article, “The Parts of Life,” merits reading — and rereading. The structure of networks, meaning their level of complexity, is difficult to understand but Zimmer moves carefully to lay out an experiment conducted by Jeff Clune (University of Wyoming), Jean-Baptiste Mouret (Pierre and Marie Curie University, Paris), and Hod Lipson (Cornell University). If I’ve got this right, their experiments indicated that “minimally-linked networks spontaneously produce[s] modules.”
From there I hopped to the National Geographic article. I was hoping it was referencing social networks, but it was natural, biological networks. But the ideas provoked some reflection.
Jessica also reminded me about a paper she was part of, Organizing on the Edge of Chaos. That old magnetic radar turned on again thinking “this will be helpful later this month!” Thanks, Jessica!