Network identifies flu formerly known as swine

For those who question the power of networks, consider this. It was Mexico's "network of 11 disease surveillance units" that noticed the surge in cases of flu. Through simple pattern recognition across the network--when a critical mass of nodes shared information, epidemiologists were able to project doubling rates. See James F. Smith's article, "Network alerted Mexican officials to flu" in The Boston Globe's April 28, 2009, issue. (Long live the Globe, lest we forget that important story, i.e. tomorrow is May 1, deadline day, so to speak.)