The Science of Kevin Bacon

When mathematician Steven Strogatz and his PhD student Duncan Watts set out to investigate why some crickets chirp in unison the young Australian got inspired by his father's words in a phone call: "Did you know that you are only six handshakes from any person on Earth?" Watts thought this might explain why his crickets are such good synchronizers but he had no idea that this question would lead him to a major discovery in an emerging branch of research - network science...