A simulator showing how outbreaks of avian flu or SARS might spread around the world would be a great help in the struggle to contain such diseases. Such is the vision of researchers at the World Health Organization, who last week said that to effectively confront emerging infectious diseases they need a massive chunk of computing power.
The global epidemic simulator (GES) would mimic climate simulators, which monitor the movement and behaviour of weather systems. It would record where disease outbreaks occur, where they are heading and, crucially, allow scientists to try out virtual mitigation measures to see which might…
