Reliable predictions of the best commuting routes could save time and energy under normal conditions, and could save lives during emergency evacuations following a natural disaster. Writing in the journal Nature Communications, researchers including Professor Marta Gonzalez and including Zoltan Toroczkai and Yihui Ren at Notre Dame, have devised what they call an effective and relatively simple formula for making such predictions. They use a computer modeling system called a radiation model, which easily handles transportation changes such as construction or emergencies, and can be applied in areas with little initial data. In disaster situations, Gonzales says the model might make it easier “to know how the system is going to be disrupted,” and identify critical points that may produce bottlenecks. Read the MIT News story: https://newsoffice-mit-edu.ezproxy.canberra.edu.au/2014/model-predicts-traffic-flow-1106