Follow the money: Scientists will attempt to predict the spread of influenza epidemics by using insights gleaned from an internet website that tracks the spread of dollar bills.

A popular U.S. Web site that tracks the geographical circulation of money could offer new insights into predicting the spread of infectious diseases like bird flu.

Money, like diseases, is carried by people around the world, so what better way to plot the spread of a potential influenza pandemic than to track the circulation of dollar bills, researchers reasoned.

Researchers in Germany and the United States did just that to develop a mathematical model of human travel that can be used to plot the spread of future pandemics.

Here's the "Where's George?" website.