Cops beat criminals with math

Sorry for any mathematicians out there who are fans of police brutality, but cops aren’t literally beating criminals with math. Boring as it may be, the police are only using math to find criminals and terrorists. Lead by Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne researcher Pedro Pinto, a team has developed an algorithm that could become a valuable ally for investigators, wherever a network is involved. "Using our method, we can find the source of all kinds of things circulating in a network just by 'listening' to a limited number of members of that network," explains Pinto.
When reconstructing the events proceeding the 9/11 terrorist attacks the system, “spit out the names of three potential suspects -- one of whom was found to be the mastermind of the attacks, according to the official enquiry." Incidentally the system also happens to be good for finding tumors, tracing sources of epidemics, and finding out who started that nasty rumor about you on facebook. Still, it’s no beating.