Australian Museum Eureka Prizes

How Kevin Bacon Cured Cancer

If Kevin Bacon can be linked by six steps to every actor who ever worked in Hollywood, as the small-world trivia game suggests, could he cure cancer? Well, Kevin himself may not, but network science - based on an emerging theory of interconnectedness - just might.

‘How Kevin Bacon Cured Cancer', a television documentary which explores the science behind ‘six degrees of separation', has won the Australian Government Eureka Prize for Science Journalism and $10,000 for the three people who made it: Annamaria Talas, Aline Jacques and Simon Nasht.

The Australian Museum Eureka Prizes are the most prestigious awards in Australian science. The winners were announced last night in Sydney, at a star-studded formal dinner, attended by the country's most inspiring minds.

Turning twenty this year, ‘The Eurekas,' as they are fondly known, have become the most coveted science awards in this country. Every scientist knows a ‘eureka' moment comes after decades of singular dedication, deep inquiry and rich collaboration. Receiving an Australian Museum Eureka Prize is regarded as a pinnacle achievement for any Australian scientist.

"The fact that a popular game of the ‘90s has significantly contributed to a whole new branch of learning demonstrates the serendipity of science," says Frank Howarth, Director of the Australian Museum.

"The documentary makers have shown that all major problems in science today depend on networks. Network theory can explain how economic markets function, how societies change; it can predict the spread of the next flu virus and yes, it may even help us to cure cancer. And the documentary makers test network theory for themselves in the course of the program."

The documentary tells the story of two American mathematicians, Duncan Watts and Steven Strogatz, who became interested a decade ago in group behaviour and social networks. Was it really possible that the world's six billion people were connected by just a few steps, as suggested by ‘six degrees of separation'?

The duo developed a mathematical model which predicted that all networks - even those without people - would conform to this model.

To test their formula, they turned to the only network that had been studied: some years earlier, an IT student had converted the Kevin Bacon game into a website program, outlining the path from every Hollywood actor to Kevin Bacon.

They applied their model and confirmed it worked perfectly - for human networks.

But to prove it was universal, they had to verify that the same ‘small worlds' existed in networks without people. So they turned to America's power grid, showing that each bit, wherever across the country, was only ‘a few hops' away from another.

From here, they moved to the central nervous system, and found that ‘every neuron is only a few synapses away from another'.

As the documentary makers say: ‘They had uncovered the invisible links that make the big world small.'

Network theory is being used in many areas, including US military strategies against terrorism. It helps understand the resilience of computer viruses, such as the ‘I love you' virus which infiltrated the Pentagon, the CIA and London's Houses of Parliament. Its predictive power is also being used to study the spread of HIV and other diseases, and help health authorities combat pandemics.

Intertwined with the story of network theory, the documentary makers attempt their own test of ‘six degrees of separation'. They give a package to 40 people around the globe, with instructions to get it to Harvard geneticist, Dr Marc Vidal, by mailing it to someone they know who can help it reach its destination.

Both the story of network theory and the tracing of the packages end with a visit to the Boston lab of Dr Vidal. It's revealed that he uses network theory in his work on breast cancer.

‘How Kevin Bacon Cured Cancer' has been broadcast on the ABC, the Discovery Channel in Canada and the Science Channel in the US. It is directed by Annamaria Talas, produced by Aline Jacques, with executive producer and co-writer Simon Nasht.

The $10,000 Australian Government Eureka Prize for Science Journalism is awarded to an Australian journalist or communicator for a particular work or for overall performance in the field of science journalism.