Making the internet more like E-Coli

Does the net work in a similar way to the bacteria that makes us ill?There’s fascinating article on Discover today about a control theorist called John Doyle working on ways to improve internet speeds. He compares the structure of the internet to the E-Coli bacteria – both structures resemble a bow tie in the way they homogenize information or DNA into a small knot in the centre then spread them out to their respective destinations. With the oncoming prospect of RFID on most products and wireless nodes popping up all over the place, having an internet structure that doesn’t collapse under the weight of all the signals broadcast across it is essential. Doyle thinks that by letting computers use more information about internet traffic flow and speed, they can use the quickest route more easily, speeding up transmission of data by a huge amount.

[story via Discover magazine, image by sdbrown]

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