Human behavior is 93 percent predictable, a group of leading Northeastern University network scientists recently found. Distinguished Professor of Physics Albert-László Barabási and his team studied the mobility patterns of anonymous cell-phone users and concluded that, despite the common perception that our actions are random and unpredictable, human mobility follows surprisingly regular patterns. The team’s research is published in the current issue of Science magazine. Barabási, who is also director of Northeastern’s Center for Complex Network Research, and his team studied the real-time trajectory of 100,000 anonymous cell-phone users. We now know that when it comes to processes driven by human mobility—such as epidemic modeling, urban planning, and traffic engineering—it is scientifically possible to predict people’s movement.
Related articles
- TurboTax – State Tax Tips for Millionaires (turbotax.intuit.com)
- Carbon nanotechnology – stronger than Kevlar, light as a tee-shirt, and cheap all over (nanowerk.com)