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If a Network Is Broken, Break It More

Posted by Soulskill on from the somebody-fetch-my-wire-snips dept.

New submitter Aras Esor writes "When a network is broken — an electrical grid, the World Wide Web, your neurological system — one math model created by a PhD student at Northwestern University suggests that the best way to fix it may be to break it a little more. 'Take the web of interactions within a cell. If you knock out an important gene, you will significantly damage the cell's growth rate. However, it is possible to repair this damage not by replacing the lost gene, which is a very challenging task, but by removing additional genes. The key lies in finding the specific changes that would bring a network from the undesirable state A to the preferred state B. Cornelius's mathematical model (abstract) provides a general method to pinpoint those changes in any network, from the metabolism of a single cell to an entire food web.'"

7 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. In Soviet Russia by Roachie · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... network break YOU!!!

    --
    This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
    1. Re:In Soviet Russia by Cenan · · Score: 5, Funny

      string.Replace("Soviet Russia", "NSA America");

      --
      ... whatever ...
  2. broke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
    If it IS broke.... don't fix it.

    1. Re:broke by crutchy · · Score: 2, Funny

      If it IS broke.... don't fix it.

      ahh you must work for microsoft

  3. It seems that by illestov · · Score: 3, Funny

    my company's IT department has figured this out a long time ago

  4. Finally by Chrisq · · Score: 4, Funny

    An explanation of why they followed XP with Vista

  5. Re:Redundant Array of Inexpensive Dishes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Send your backups offsite.