Weak Links (eBook)

Peter Csermely (50) is a professor at the Semmelweis University in Budapest. A former Fogarty Fellow at Harvard University, his main fields of study are molecular chaperones and networks. In 1996 Dr. Csermely launched a highly successful initiative providing research opportunities for more than 10,000 gifted high school students. He also established the Hungarian National Talent Support Council and the Network of Youth Excellence, www.nyex.info, promoting similar activities in 33 countries. He has published 11 books and more than 200 research papers. Dr. Csermely holds several distinguished appointments including membership of the Wise Persons' Council of the Hungarian President, vice-president of the Hungarian Biochemical Society and has been recipient of numerous international fellowships and awards, for example the 2003 Science Communication Award of the European Molecular Biology Organization and the 2004 Descartes Award of the European Union for Science Communication.

Preface 7
Preface to the First Edition 10
Contents 21
1 A Principle is Born: The Granovetter Study 24
2 Why Do We Like Networks? 28
2.1 Small-Worldness 30
2.2 Scale-Freeness 36
2.3 Nestedness 56
2.4 Weak-Linkedness 73
3 Network Stability 76
3.1 Perturbations. Good and Bad Noise 76
3.2 Life as a Relaxation Phenomenon: Dissipate Locally, Connect Globally 85
3.3 Network Failures 97
3.4 Topological Phase Transitions of Networks 103
3.5 Nestedness and Stability: Sync 109
3.6 How Can We Stabilize Networks? Engineers or Tinkerers 120
4 Weak Links as Stabilizers of Complex Systems 124
4.1 An Emerging Synthesis: Weak Links Stabilize Complex Systems 124
4.2 Weak Links: A Starting De.nition 129
4.3 Stability: A Starting Definition 132
4.4 Complex Systems 134
4.5 Weak Links and System Degeneracy 136
5 Atoms, Molecules and Macromolecules 140
5.1 Protein Folding Problems 140
5.2 Energy Landscapes 144
5.3 Weak Bonds in Protein and RNA Folding 148
6 Weak Links and Cellular Stability 154
6.1 Cellular Networks 154
6.2 Stability of the Cellular Net 157
6.3 Stress, Diversity and Jumps in Evolution 168
6.4 Cancer, Disease and Aging 179
7 Weak Links and the Stability of Organisms 186
7.1 Immunological Networks 186
7.2 Transport Systems 191
7.3 Muscle Net 192
7.4 The Neuro-Glial Network 195
7.5 Psycho Net 199
8 Social Nets 209
8.1 Animal Communities 209
8.2 A Novel Explanation of the Menopause 212
8.3 Stability of Human Societies 214
8.4 Firms and Human Organisations 229
8.5 Dark Networks and Terror Nets 236
8.6 Pseudo-Grooming 237
9 Networks of Human Culture 246
9.1 The Language Net 246
9.2 Novels, Plays, and Films as Networks 251
9.3 Our Engineered Space 258
9.4 Software Nets 265
9.5 Engineers and Tinkerers: An Emerging Synthesis 267
10 The Global Web 270
10.1 The World Trade Web 270
10.2 Turning Points in History 274
10.3 Weak Links: A Part of Social Capital 285
11 The Ecoweb 291
11.1 Weak Links and the Stability of Ecosystems 291
11.2 Omnivory 295
11.3 The Weak Links of Gaia 298
12 Conclusions and Perspectives 304
12.1 The Unity of the Weakly-Linked World: A Summary 304
12.2 Revisiting the De.nitions: A Synthesis 310
12.3 Prospects and Extensions 333
12.4 Weak Links and Our Lives 337
A Useful Links 342
B Glossary 345
References 357
Index 406