Can a computer game help health experts better plan for the next epidemic? It can, and it is. It started when a computerized illness that started as an intentional "challenge" for advanced players of the popular video game World of Warcraft back in 2005 soon did what many real illnesses do in the real world: it broke loose and began running rampant among computer characters of the game that the creators didn't intend. What's interesting is that how the computer game epidemic spread was very similar to how real ones do -- so similar in fact that it's helping real health experts fine tune how they do their research. The game is pointing out flaws in the current research system along with natural occurrences and social tendencies that surprisingly hadn't been thought of before.

Of course all the game designers had to do to fix their "epidemic" was reset the system and redo some programming. Too bad it doesn't work that way in the real world too.