In the Blink of an Eye

It’s a simple concept. Flight patterns and common aviation hubs are more accurate predictors of the spread of disease than distances traveled on foot, slow boat, or horse. Brockmann had a lightbulb go off when a student, Daniel Grady, biked to his office at Northwestern University and remarked that no matter how he traveled--by subway, bus, or bike--it always took the same amount of time to get there.

“And that is when it started,” Brockmann said. “In the modern world that’s so connected, old school, conventional geographic distance is not so meaningful anymore.”

In the blink of an eye, 12 Monkeys anyone?

Click here to get an in depth take on just how fast a pandemic could spread from London Heathrow Airport to 80 countries. Scary does not begin to say just how disruptive this event would be.