234

16.2

Such networks are also called scale invariant because they look the same at every scale,

similar to a fractal (see Sect. 9.5, Benoit Mandelbrot). Each section of a subnetwork of the

large network again looks exactly the same. Again, there are a few central nodes (in red)

that grow rapidly, and many marginal ones that grow very little or very slowly (in cyan).

Bioinformatic analyses then calculate further properties, such as the diameter of the net­

work (how far apart are the nodes?), how quickly information is passed on, how dominant

individual nodes are (“centrality”), and the like. The Cytoscape software already men­

tioned is very useful for this purpose. It has numerous plug-ins for various network bio­

logical analyses, such as the Network Analyzer (https://apps.cytoscape.org/apps/

networkanalyzer).

16  Bioinformatics Connects Life with the Universe and All the Rest