The Role of Airports In Epidemics [Video]

People often joke about how they’ve caught their latest case of the sniffles from a recent flight, but airports can become much more serious disease hubs. Check out this video and accompanying study for a peek at the most aggressive transmission centers.

The study, from MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, focuses on airports as they serve as the point of first contact for many travelers. Historically models of disease transmission via travel centers was treated as largely random, MIT News highlights how this model breaks from that:

Juanes’ studies of the flow of fluids through fracture networks in subsurface rock and the research of CEE’s Marta González, who uses cellphone data to model human mobility patterns and trace contagion processes in social networks, laid the basis for determining individual travel patterns among airports in the new study. Existing models typically assume a random, homogenous diffusion of travelers from one airport to the next.

However, people don’t travel randomly; they tend to create patterns that can be replicated. Using González’s work on human mobility patterns, Juanes and his research group — including graduate student Christos Nicolaides and research associate Luis Cueto-Felgueroso — applied Monte Carlo simulations to determine the likelihood of any single traveler flying from one airport to another.

Hit up the link below to read more about their research.

New Model of Disease Contagion Ranks U.S. Airports [MIT News]

More stories

What Is IPv6, and Why Does It Matter?

IPv4 addresses on the public Internet are running low. Microsoft paid $7.5 million for Nortel’s 666,624 IP addresses when Nortel went bankrupt in 2011 – that’s over $8 an IP address. IPv4 has technical problems, and IPv6 is the solution.

The Best Websites for Downloading, Renting, and Purchasing Audiobooks

We recently published a list of websites where you can download free eBooks, or purchase, borrow, or rent eBooks. However, if you would rather listen to your favorite books, here are some websites offering audiobooks you can download, rent, or purchase, some free, some not.

Desktop Fun: Abstract Textures Wallpaper Collection Series 2

Two years ago we shared a wonderful collection of Abstract Texture wallpapers with you and today we are back with more. Add unique textures, patterns, and more to your desktop with the second in our series of Abstract Textures Wallpaper collections.

What You Said: Your Favorite Geek Movies

Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite geek movie; now we’re back to highlight the top ten HTG reader picks. Read on the check out the list of movies that range from funny to serious Sci-Fi and everything in between.