SARS and the Internet

AndroidCat writes "In this story scientists who cracked SARS' genetic code credit the Internet as a key: 'The Internet has had a profound impact on how this data has been shared and how scientists have collaborated.' The Internet has also been useful in containing the outbreak by facilitating online discussion by ER doctors. Not mentioned in the stories is that Toronto researchers who were in quarantine were able to stay in touch. Slashdot has also covered Distributed Computing Attacking SARS. Go Internet!"

Comments

SARS and distributed computing

[Musashi Miyamoto]

It is a shame that though a large number of the Internet community will altruistically join the fight against SARS, voluteering thier computer's processing power and the electricity used to keep it running, while the likely (pecuniary) beneficiary will be a giant biotechnology firm, which will quickly patent any findings that are uncovered by the distributed computing program.

Since you volunteer your computer, I would bet that this fact does not need to be stated in any EULA.

Internet good in another way too

[elliotj]

One of the major problems facing us with regard to pandemics thesedays is air travel. In the past, SARS would not have spread directly from Hong Kong to Toronto for example.

The Internet also provides help in this area by making it less necessary to make physical trips to do business or keep in touch with friends and family.

One of the recent trends in Business Continuity Planning for example is considering the idea of a the virtual workplace as a hot site. How useful is a physical backup location if your workers can't sit in the same room together for medical reasons? For this reason, I suspect the Internet will continue to play an increasingly important role in emergency management.