We review results on the scaling of the optimal path length in random
networks with weighted links or nodes. In strong disorder we find that the
length of the optimal path increases dramatically compared to the known small
world result for the minimum distance. For Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi (ER) and scale
free networks (SF), with parameter λ (λ>3), we find that the
small-world nature is destroyed. We also find numerically that for weak
disorder the length of the optimal path scales logaritmically with the size of
the networks studied. We also review the transition between the strong and weak
disorder regimes in the scaling properties of the length of the optimal path
for ER and SF networks and for a general distribution of weights, and suggest
that for any distribution of weigths, the distribution of optimal path lengths
has a universal form which is controlled by the scaling parameter
Z=ℓ∞/A where A plays the role of the disorder strength, and
ℓ∞ is the length of the optimal path in strong disorder. The
relation for A is derived analytically and supported by numerical
simulations. We then study the minimum spanning tree (MST) and show that it is
composed of percolation clusters, which we regard as "super-nodes", connected
by a scale-free tree. We furthermore show that the MST can be partitioned into
two distinct components. One component the {\it superhighways}, for which the
nodes with high centrality dominate, corresponds to the largest cluster at the
percolation threshold which is a subset of the MST. In the other component,
{\it roads}, low centrality nodes dominate. We demonstrate the significance
identifying the superhighways by showing that one can improve significantly the
global transport by improving a very small fraction of the network.Comment: review, accepted at IJB