YOU might think the possibility of a connection between a mobile phone and the fruit fly is so unlikely it is not worth a second thought. Well, you would be wrong. The fruit fly is covered in a sensitive network of hairs genetically honed to detect air flow, physical contact and yeast molecules from ripening fruits. The distribution of these hairs dictates the flying, communication and food-location abilities of each fly. And a strain of fly migrating from one environment to another will adjust the distribution of hairs to near optimum within a few generations, using a genetic algorithm.

Now imagine standing on a fruit fly to flatten it, detach the wings and legs, and then suppose you could stretch this corpse over several hundred hectares. Magnify the hairs and their spatial distribution resembles that of the cellular phone antennas now dotting our landscape. To be more accurate, their distribution resembles the way in which antennas are deployed to meet the needs of urban and rural populations. There are more antennas in cities because there are more people making calls, and buildings reflect and attenuate the signals to create hot and cold spots. In rural areas, there are fewer people to make calls and fewer obstacles to inflict distortions in the signal propagation.

It is not just the average or normal activities of people with mobile phones that have to be accommodated; there is also the extraordinary clustering of callers promoted by train cancellations, traffic jams and public events. These artificial clusterings cause chaotic loading patterns at individual antenna sites. In an ideal world, mobile phone systems would always provide 100 per cent availability, but the number of channels is always finite. However, it is possible to use load sharing between contiguous cell sites to achieve a considerable service advantage. The question is how? Well, it turns out that the mechanism genetically evolved by the fruit fly involves a battle for superiority between 30 or 40 cells each wanting to grow individual hairs coupled to neurons. It is the strongest cell that wins this battle. This simple mechanism can be adapted to do a reasonably good job of optimising the availability of cellular base station sites and channels for mobile phone users.

I delight in the way in which techniques, concepts and ideas from one discipline cross the most unlikely borders to another apparently unrelated area. The realisation that many of the network and information system problems we now face seem to be better tackled organically is a primary example. Evolution instead of mechanisation is a significant change of direction also exemplified by studies of ants and fish as information and logistic agents.

Many people in industry and government advocate a focused education system with degree courses concentrated in narrow fields of expertise to satisfy the needs of today. But it is becoming clear that we also require a far broader class able to span the physical, life, economic, political and social sciences, while at the same time having a good grasp of art and the humanities. While the chances of creating a true polymath are now all but impossible, a sprinkling of people aspiring to that position would be extremely valuable. The likelihood is that there are many more ant and fly stories yet to unfold to our advantage.

Peter Cochrane is BT Head of Research. Opinions expressed in this column are his personal views and should not be taken as reflecting BT policy or intent.

Peter Cochrane holds the Collier Chair for the Public Understanding of Science & Technology at the University of Bristol. His home page is:
http://cochrane.org.uk