The frenchman Pierre Bézier knew a thing or two about curves. But as World Cup fever tightens its grip around the globe, it is the footballers in Germany who are showing us just how much they know about the practical science of curving and bending the ball into the goal. Is there any essential curve-theory for World Cup stars like Beckham, Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry to read and brush-up on in their German hotels this summer?
It is not easy being a scientist. There are the four-plus years of struggle getting your PhD only to find yourself on the postdoc treadmill dealing with lab politics, grants, PIs and the distinct possibility that your current project might end up being a total waste of time. This postdoc limbo is valuable time, that if not spent productively leads to less papers and less career opportunities. And the whole time the only people that will ever appreciate your situation are your fellow scientific competitors. Well that may be about to change with the publication of Allegra Goodman's new novel Intuition. I came across this novel via the Nature Genetics Free Association blog. Read on for a mini review of the first three chapters.
I've just finished reading the book Linked by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi. It's a wonderful introduction to complex networks like the internet, social interactions, protein-protein interactions, etc.
It makes a solid but not to technical revision of the major revolutions in network thinking from the first works on random networks to network dynamics and evolution. He only dedicates one chapter of the book to biological/cell networks but it's still very worthwhile for anybody interested in the subject.
