Like many Googlers, we're fascinated by trends in online search queries. Whether you're interested in U.S. elections , today's hot trends , or each year's Zeitgeist , patterns in Google search queries can be very informative. Last year, a small team of software engineers began to explore if we could go beyond simple trends and accurately model real-world phenomena using patterns in search queries. After meeting with the public health gurus on Google.org's Predict and Prevent team , we decided to   read more »