Airports, germs and contagion networks

A paper from MIT researchers, A Metric of Influential Spreading during Contagion Dynamics through the Air Transportation Network, a study of contagion dynamics shows that airports are among the more hazardous locations on your travel itinerary. Published in PLoS One, the paper is freely downloadable at this link The authors write: “Characterizing the early-time behavior …

Some building science questions about new study of NIH outbreak of Klebsiella

The publication of a paper “Tracking a Hospital Outbreak of Carbapenem-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae with Whole-Genome Sequencing” has drawn a lot of attention, presumably in large part because it occurred at an NIH facility. [http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/4/148/148ra116.full.html, DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3004129] I work on the microBEnet project as a “building scientist” to help achieve the Sloan Foundation’s programs goals of …

‘Bring us your dirt’ — Exposure Society “citizen science”

The International Society of Exposure Science, ISES, will hold its annual conference October 23-27 in Baltimore. The Society has invited all participants to bring dust samples for its Metals in Dust Samples Study. “A special ISES Metals in House Dust Study will analyze house dust samples supplied by the meeting attendees and report results at …