In the streaming series Shantaram, gangster Khaderbhai says "all the answers to life's questions can be found in Shakespeare".
The quote came to mind when University of Newcastle Professor Pablo Moscato told us about a study he did that involved Shakespeare.
The professor is a brilliant scientist whose brain is on a level that most of us could never comprehend.
As we reported a few years back, he created a new field of computing that is spreading across the world. His invention of "memetic algorithms" has been listed among science's hottest research fields.
Anyhow, we were surprised to know that Professor Moscato was delving into Shakespeare. His study is titled, "Multiple regression techniques for modelling dates of first performances of Shakespeare-era plays".
We asked him what inspired the study and he said "cancer and Alzheimer's are inspiring motivations".
Shakespeare's plays apparently have "an underlying common thread" with these diseases.
The study used 181 Shakespeare-era plays from the period 1585 to 1610 and calculated a set of probabilities of individual words used in the plays.
"The techniques that computational linguistics and computer scientists use to analyse the Bard's works are also used in cancer diagnostic procedures. It's all down to the quantification of subtle variations of attributes present in large amounts of data," Professor Moscato wrote in an article in The Conversation.
"The idea that variations on the use of words over time can give clues about psychological problems or even markers of depression in the work of suicidal poets has already been discussed."
He said this simple idea may provide dividends in other areas, such as diagnostics, medical algorithms and molecular medicine.
While the professor's team concentrates on developing molecular signatures of disease states based on a combination of biomarkers, the analysis of Shakespeare's works is considered useful for the new method it fosters.
It is helping scientists to avoid potential pitfalls during the processing of data. Such sophisticated methods are apparently necessary for personalised medicine to make further progress.
As Shakespeare said: "We know what we are, but know not what we may be".
Magic and Madness of Love
Speaking of Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream will be performed among the fig trees of Pacific Park in Newcastle in late January.
The play will be performed by "10 local actors and one local dog".
It's billed as a celebration of the "magic and madness of love and how the natural world can transform us and alter our ways of seeing".
Director Janie Gibson has returned to her hometown of Newcastle, after travelling the world.
"A Midsummer Night's Dream is such a fun play. It brings out a spirit of joy and silliness in the rehearsal room. But in this work, Shakespeare is also asking some very deep questions about love.
"In Midsummer, we see how love and the forces of the natural world have the power to transform. They can overcome oppressive and archaic laws, they can instill chaos and madness, and ultimately they can make us see anew."
Get tickets through Civic Theatre.
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