ICTP will continue its series of informal lectures by visiting scientists on Friday, 20 May, at 17.00 hours, when Albert Barabasi, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA, speaks on “From the Cell to the Web". Barabasi, whose talk will take place in the Main Lecture Hall, will describe how organic and non-organic networks share the same complex topology. He will also examine how such complexity helps to shield the systems from failures and external attacks. This insight has many potential wide-ranging applications that include new drug development, greater security for electronic communications, and investigations into gene functions and behavioural development. ICTP scientists and staff and the public are invited to attend.