Futurity

Sims-like disaster models help plan for human freak-outs

How will people react in the face of an outbreak or natural disaster? Computer models that are a bit like "The Sims" could give us an idea.
A scared man's eyes are wide looking off camera while he's outside on the street

Computer models are helping public health researchers plan for disasters.

For instance, if a plume of toxic smoke was to hit downtown Los Angeles, would you be better staying inside your building or dashing for the street? Computer models help researchers test out different scenarios to answer just these kinds of questions.

Joshua M. Epstein, a professor in the College of Global Public Health at New York University, research uses “agent-based modeling”—kind of like a more serious version of the game The Sims—to predict how real people with real emotions will respond and interact in the case of a major emergency.

Here, Epstein explains his work and how it could help save lives:

Source: New York University

The post Sims-like disaster models help plan for human freak-outs appeared first on Futurity.

More from Futurity

Futurity4 min read
Folic Acid In Table Salt Prevents Birth Defects
Researchers have proven, for the first time in a field study, that using folic acid-fortified iodized table salt can prevent multiple severe birth defects. The importance of women having enough folic acid in their bodies before and during pregnancy t
Futurity2 min readEmigration, Immigration, and Refugees
Pandemic Took A Toll On Undocumented Immigrants’ Mental Health
Four years after the US shut down in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, new research suggests undocumented immigrants’ mental health challenges were compounded due to stresses stemming from their unauthorized status. The study, published in the Journ
Futurity3 min read
Supervolcano May Have Paved Way For Humans Leaving Africa
Researchers working in the Horn of Africa have uncovered evidence showing how Middle Stone Age humans survived in the wake of the eruption of Toba, one of the largest supervolcanoes in history, some 74,000 years ago. The behavioral flexibility of the

Related Books & Audiobooks