Email Utilized In Six Degrees of Separation Theory
WHITFIELD: Well, taking a look at some next news headline. The U.S. army says it was a flawless launch. Yesterday morning the army's new incinerator burned its first rocket, beginning a seven-year project to destroy againg chemical weapons at a mility depot outside Anniston, Alabama. The nerve agent inside the rocket was drained and will be incinerated along with agents from other rockets in a few weeks. Iceland says it plans to resume whaling despite a worldwide ban on the practice. Iceland says it will kill 38 Minke whales this year for scientific reasons. The government says it wants to study what's in the stomaches of the whales to see how many fish they're eating. Iceland's economy depends heavily on fishing. The leftover whale meat will be sold for food. And that leads critics to allege that Iceland is really resuming it's resuming its whale hunt for commercial reasons. The famed Matterhorn is losing permafrost as Switzerland endures its hottest summer in 250 years. The meltin ice is causing landslides. Last month the Matterhorn was declared offlimits to climbers for several days while work cruise shored up rock faces. Ever played the Bacon game? It's a game that shows how actor Kevin Bacon is linked to every other star in Hollywood. Science correspondent Anne Kellan is here with a study, just released, at the theory behind the Bacon game -- Ann.</s>KELLAN: Well the theory is, it's called six degrees of separation. It was created by social psychologist, Stanley Milgrim, back in 1967. It basically tries to explain what a small world this is, that any one of us in the United States is connected to another by a chain of no more than six people. Well, this theory has really never been proven, but it was just put to the test on a worldwide scale using email.</s>KELLAN: Kevin Bacon is more than a movie star. He's a game because he's in so many movie, the University of Virginia created a Web site, testing the six degrees of separation theory. Type in any movie star, and there are at most six contacts away from being in a film with Bacon. Turns out, we're all connected. A study released in the journal "Science" had people tracking down strangers using email. Columbia University set up a Web site called the "Small World Project." More than 60,000 people put it to the test. When you signed up, you were given a target person to find, knowing only their name, where they went to school and a general location where they lived now. To reach that target, you e-mail someone you think will get you closer to the target. That person e-mails someone else and on and on. Richard Griffiths who works at CNN got one of the e-mails from a friend in California and joined in. Their target, a student in Russia.</s>RICHARD GRIFFITHS, CNN: It worked. The friend in California sent it to me, I sent it on to a friend in Moscow, and she passed it on to somebody else, who passed it on to somebody else, and ultimately it got there.</s>KELLAN: It took nine e-mails.</s>GRIFFITHS: Ultimately, we were able to reach someone we'd never met with simple e-mail.</s>KELLAN: Lynn McConville e-mailed a colleague in Rockford, Illinois and five emails later, tracked down a person in western Australia. Pf tje 24,000 email chains most did not reach their target. Emails got lost, people got busy, but those that did, about 400 in all, less than 2 percent, made it in an average of six emails. Researchers say it's a tribute to the ability of humans to network with each other, even strangers, and how a little persistence can go a long way.</s>KELLAN: Now joining me now from our New York bureau, one of the researchers on the project, Robi Muhamad. Welcome, Robi. But, why didn't more people succeed in the chain? Did they just get discouraged or does say that the six degrees of separation doesn't work? What do you think?</s>ROBI MUHAMAD, SMALL WORLD PROJECT: Yes, the main reason is because of the lack of motivation from people to participate. So if we're stuck with the 20,000 people, and we have the respond rate of about 37 percent, at the second step, we have about 8,000 people, and at the third step, we have about 3,000 people and by the eighth step, we are only left with ten people.</s>KELLAN: So people just basically got discouraged. They weren't given enough incentive to go on and find that target person, huh?</s>MUHAMAD: Yes, that's correct. Our people do this for free. We don't provide any reward of any kind.</s>KELLAN: So one of your favorites, you were telling me, started in the U.K. Tell me about that chain.</s>MUHAMAD: Yes, it started from Eastborn U.K., a military officer there. Then, his target is a student in Siberia. So he sent to his uncle in Uganda. He sent it to his uncle, because his uncle has visited Russia before. So he sent it to Uganda, and his uncle sent it to his internal friend in Moscow. So then this student in Moscow sent it to Siberia, who is also a student, but this student in Siberia turns out to be in the same school with the target person. So it reached the Siberia from U.K. with just four steps, but went through like Uganda, which is very unlikely if you think beforehand.</s>KELLAN: No, six degrees of separations for the United States, you were saying that a 100 degrees of separation is more accurate for the world. Is that correct?</s>MUHAMAD: Well, actually, the number -- there's no reason why the number should be six. The number may or may not be six but it should be small, and I would say that it should be less than 100. Why the number is six is still a mystery.</s>KALLAN: To get people to join up, you still are looking people to hop on board and take -- to try out and see if they can reach a target?</s>MUHAMAD: Absolute. We hope more people to participate, because the more people we will certainly get more completed chains.</s>KALLAN: And the e-mail address is -- I mean the Web site is www.smallworldproject.columbia.edu</s>MUHAMAD: www.smallworld.columbia.edu</s>KALLAN: OK, smallworld.edu. Thank you so much for joining us today.</s>MUHAMAD: Glad to be here.</s>KALLAN: And it is a small world.</s>MUHAMAD: Yes, it is.</s>KALLAN: Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: Thanks a lot, Anne. Well, coming up, it was a happy ending to rival "Free Willie." John Zarella will join us live from the Florida Keys to tell us about this whale of a tale. We'll be right back.