Computer Science

Missing link found

Missing link is the query that stands today on the new logo Google cause a team of researchers yesterday unveiled a fossil of a primate that is the link between man and monkey but more that could be see as a demnstration of the scale-free networks developped by Barabási and other scientist a major contributor to the development of real-world network theory from the web to the evoution theory.

A team of researchers unveiled on 19th May 2009 a fossil of a primate 47 million years almost perfectly intact, they say that is the much-sought missing link between man and monkey.
Officially known as Darwinius masillae, the fossil of lemur-like had opposable thumbs like humans and nails instead of claws.
The size of the hind feet bear out the theory of evolution Darwin's view that evolutionary changes have brought the primates standing in an upright position.
Paleontologist Jorn Hurum said: "The fossil, he says, bridges the evolutionary split between higher primates such as monkeys, apes, and humans and their more distant relatives such as lemurs."
This discovery is the scientific equivalent of the Holy Grail. The photograph of this fossil is probably the one that will be shown in all the textbooks for the next 100 years.
It was kept in a private collection until it was offered for sale in 2006 to Dr Jorn Hurum, professor of vertebrate technology at the University of Oslo Natural History Museum, who said: "We are not dealing with our grand, grand, grand, grand, grandmother, but perhaps with our grand, grand, grand, aunt."
The skeleton has been put on display at New York's Museum of Natural History.

The evolution is going to be see more as a network which has to be expanding, growing. This precondition of growth is very important as the idea of emergence comes with it. It is constantly evolving and adapting. Another condition is on preferential attachment, that is, nodes (species) will wish to link themselves to hubs (species) with the most connections. A third condition is what is termed competitive fitness which in network terms means its rate of attraction. That will be see as the preferential attachment described by Barabási for the scale-free network concept.
Barabási has been a major contributor to the development of real-world network theory, together with several other scientists from physics, mathematics, and computer science till the network of the web and the evoution theory.
"... a revolution in the making when it comes to understanding the complex, interconnected world around" [by CCNR]

• see Google News

• see National Geographic

• see New York's Museum of Natural History

• see Barabási (Northeastern University)

• see Barabási (Notre Dame University)

• see Center for Complex Network Research (CCNR)


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