Charting the Interplay between Structure and Dynamics in Complex Networks

PLoS Biology: Charting the Interplay between Structure and Dynamics in Complex Networks: "While intelligent-design proponents enjoy their 15 minutes of fame denying the role of evolutionary forces in generating complex networks in nature, scientists are probing the organizing principles that govern these networks. Traditional models of complex networks assumed that connections between units�such as genes, proteins, neurons, or species�occur randomly. These notions changed as studies of protein interaction networks and other biological systems revealed �small world� features�characterized by short paths between nodes and highly clustered connections�and varying levels of organization, with certain patterns of local connections occurring more frequently in complex networks than in random networks. What determines the abundance of these so-called network motifs in specific networks is not known."