Networks

Albert-László Barabási explains how the same organizing principles shape everything from the internet to the cell, and how mapping the networks inside our bodies could change how we treat disease and think about food.

Evolutionary biologist Toby Kiers explains how fungal networks in soil trade nutrients with plants, help keep carbon underground, and strike bargains without having a brain.

A vast meshwork of soil-bound fungi governs life aboveground. In Alaska, and at field sites around the world, researchers are racing to understand exactly how, with essential stores of carbon at stake.

A canonical problem in computer science is to find the shortest route to every point in a network. A new approach beats the classic algorithm taught in textbooks.

Maria Chudnovsky reflects on her journey in graph theory, her groundbreaking solution to the long-standing perfect graph problem, and the unexpected ways this abstract field intersects with everyday life.

The brain’s astounding cellular diversity and networked complexity could show how to make AI better.

According to mathematical legend, Peter Sarnak and Noga Alon made a bet about optimal graphs in the late 1980s. They’ve now both been proved wrong.

Our computers can get a lot more done when they share the load with other machines.

Knowing a little about the local connections on flight maps and other networks can reveal a lot about a system’s global structure.