Scientists use tags to see how infections spread

A French-Italian team, including researchers from CNRS, Inserm and others, wanted to collect this data to see how infection spreads within a population.

Accordingly, 500 physicists and epidemiologists (who study patterns of health, infection) at the conclave wore radio tags, according to a CNRS statement.

They were able to communicate through very low intensity waves -- 1,000 times weaker than a mobile phone -- between one and two metres, when scientists met.

The processed data helped researchers model the dynamic of contacts which simulated how infection spread and, in the long term, how a better response during an epidemic could be organised.