The ideas are presented in a clear way, with minimal mathematics, so even students without a deep knowledge of mathematics and statistical physics will be able to rely on this as a reference. Special attention is given to real networks, both natural and artificial. Collected empirical data and numerous real applications of existing theories are discussed in detail, as well as the topical problems of communication networks.

Another book on Networks.. $80? Damn.

Evolution of Networks: From Biological Nets to the Internet and WWW

Brian Greene, professor, and author of _The Elegant Universe_: "wonderfully lucid and thoroughly entertaining"
Gilbert Strang, MIT: "a terrific book"
New Scientist: "inspiring"

Looking interesting.. Something to add to my book list.

Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order

] China has revealed further details of its plans to
] explore the Moon - the first unmanned probe could be
] launched by 2005, say officials. They also hinted that
] the motivation for the missions is to mine the Moon's
] resources.
]
] The lunar program, named Chang'e after a legend about a
] fairy that visits the moon, would be in three phases.
] First an orbiter would be sent to the Moon, followed by a
] lander, and then finally a sample return craft.
]
] "We will be able to embark on a maiden unmanned mission
] within two and a half years if the government endorses
] the scheme now,'' Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist of
] China's lunar exploration programme, told The People's
] Daily.

New Scientist - China's moon plans

"We all felt like we needed to put on 'hard hats'! The sky was absolutely full of meteors," recalls astronomer Jim Young of JPL's Table Mountain Observatory. Earth had just plunged into a debris stream trailing comet Tempel-Tuttle; the resulting meteor storm, the 1966 Leonids, was literally dazzling.

This weekend it could happen again.

On March 1, 2003, around 2154 universal time (UT), our planet will encounter a stream of dusty comet debris "only 12,000 km from Earth. That's as close as the Leonid debris stream was in 1966," says Bill Cooke of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center's Space Environments Team.

Earth is approaching a cometary debris stream that might trigger an unusual Antarctic meteor shower this weekend | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

Although there are several possible benign explanations for the image -- such as a barely perceptable jiggle of the camera as it took the time exposure -- NASA's zeal to examine the photo demonstrates the lengths at which the agency is going to tap the resources of ordinary Americans in solving the puzzle.

S.F. man's astounding photo / Mysterious purple streak is shown hitting Columbia 7 minutes before it disintegrated

] President Bush is set to endorse using nuclear power to
] explore Mars and open up the outer Solar System.
]
] He is expected to back the US space agency's recent nuclear
] propulsion initiative, Project Prometheus, either in his
] State of the Union speech, due on 28 January, or later this
] year when he submits his 2004 budget to Congress.
]
] It is believed he will give the initiative $1bn over five
] years, arguing that nuclear propulsion represents an
] essential technology for the manned and unmanned exploration
] of space.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Nasa to go nuclear

] People in the genetics industy claim that it is a hoax.
] Nobody has seen pictures of the baby yet and there's been no
] scientific proof yet that they've cloned anything, but yet the
] media is jumping on this shit like it's proof.

According to the Washington Post, the Raelians claimed a similar cloning success back in 1978, but further investigation proved it to be a hoax.

The story is also interesting because it comments on the reputation of the ABC Science Correspondent, Michael Guillen, who's going to be conducting the DNA testing of the mother and baby to determine if the cloning is real or not. Evidently a few years back, the James Randi Foundation (http://www.randi.org) gave Guillen its annual "Pigasus" award, for his "indiscriminate promotion of pseudoscience and quackery."

Stay tuned...

Cloning a Previous Hoax?

I'm not ignoring the cloned baby stuff.. I just don't know how I feel about it yet.

On one side, I really don't like the idea of a bunch of cloned humans running around, for a number of reasons to large to fit here. The advancement of the species is aided by having a very diverse DNA pool. I fear these crazy cult groups would clone the wrong people, repeatedly. The last thing the world needs is 1,000 of that Rael guy running around, or that Cloanaid CEO lady. [shudder] I could care less about playing God, or the rage this seems to invoke in the religious communities.. But, I do endorse any excuse for sex, and I think that removing sex from breeding takes all the fun out of breeding!

On the other side, I really hope they are not full of shit, and have sucessfuly done it. I really like the idea of the history books reading that the first human clone was created by a nutty group of loons with dreams of immortality who thought that humans were genetically engineered by aliens. Thats the way I think the history books should read.. It pleases my sick sense of humor. At some point or another someone is going to do it, it might as well be a set of complete screwballs so in the context of history, its at least ha-ha funny.

] InFlow performs network analysis AND network
] visualization in one integrated product -- no passing
] files back and forth between different programs like
] other tools. Version 3.0 provides new metrics, new
] network layouts, new what-if analysis, and is designed to
] work with Microsoft Office and the WWW. We recommend
] Windows 2000 Professional, Pentium III or better, 256 MB
] RAM or better, and 8MB VRAM or better.

InFlow - Social Network Mapping & Measuring Software

This conclusion, described in Professor Barabasi's new book, "Linked: The New Science of Networks", could alter the way we think about all the networks that affect our lives.

Lessons From Networks, Online and Other