Les Jones: "Where's George" Helps Epidemiologists

January 30, 2006

Science > "Where's George" Helps Epidemiologists

From Yahoo News via Marginal Revolutions.

Using the popular "Where's George?" Web site that tracks U.S. dollars, researchers developed a mathematical tool that could help chart the path of an infectious disease.
...

Researchers found that most of the money (57 percent) traveled between 30 miles and 500 miles over about nine months in the United States. About a quarter of the bills moved more than 500 miles.

By analyzing the movement of money — and human travel — over different distances, the scientists found that the money followed a predictable pattern. The method could be used to create more realistic disease models that track the spread of germs and perhaps prevent outbreaks, they say.

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Comments

Cool! I have several bills floating out there being tracked by Where's George? and have used the site for a while now but was not aware of it being used to track a disease.

Thanks for the link.

Posted by: Frank at January 30, 2006

- Where's George (Washington, Not Bush)?

Yeah, as if anyone ever had any trouble locating GWB/a>.

Posted by: Chris Wage at January 30, 2006

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