SXC.HU, SACHYNLong before Hurricane Sandy made landfall on the US Atlantic coast last October, meteorologists had predicted its course and likely impacts. Although the storm caused enormous damage, the early warnings allowed people to prepare or evacuate areas that were directly in its path. If the storm had caught coastal residents completely by surprise, there is no doubt that the death toll and devastation would have been far worse.
The development of computer simulations of weather has transformed our ability to predict the severity of “perfect storms” like Sandy. The accuracy of these predictions is based on the simulations’ ability to piece together many different kinds of data—including air pressure and temperature, water temperature, wind speeds, and ocean currents—into a faithful model of the extremely complex phenomenon that is weather. Within the last decade, computer simulations have similarly revolutionized the fields of mechanical design, finance, ecology, and aerospace operations, among many others.
Brain disorders like multiple sclerosis (MS) are “perfect storms” too. They should, therefore, be amenable to similar computer simulations. In MS, genetics, environment, and hundreds of other factors come together to elicit the immune system attack on neurons of the brain and ...
