Measles Transmission Correlates with Light Density

[Mal12345]

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/12/scienceshot-measles-transmission.html

It was an "off-the-wall idea," says Matthew Ferrari, one of the scientists, but it worked. In the paper, the team shows that upswings in brightness correlate well with measles outbreaks. Nighttime shots could find much wider use as an indicator of population density, the researchers say, for instance, in studies of economic development or during refugee crises.

 

[iwakar]

The light indicates human presence and activity yes? The actual cause of the outbreaks is close human contact of large convergent populations yes? So now that they have a handy way of viewing this population migration and subsequent increased risk for measles outbreaks, how do they plan to apply the information? Ultimately, how useful can it prove?

/rings bell for Ne-service