HealthMap: The Global Disease Alert Map

HealthMap.org is an online map tool that locates any reports of disease from a selection of news sources.  Available in multiple languages, HealthMap is a great use of the Google Maps API.  In fact, HealthMap is funded by Google, which explains why they are so dependent on the Google Maps data.

HealthMap brings together disparate data sources to achieve a unified and comprehensive view of the current global state of infectious diseases and their effect on human and animal health. This freely available Web site integrates outbreak data of varying reliability, ranging from news sources (such as Google News) to curated personal accounts (such as ProMED) to validated official alerts (such as World Health Organization). Through an automated text processing system, the data is aggregated by disease and displayed by location for user-friendly access to the original alert. HealthMap provides a jumping-off point for real-time information on emerging infectious diseases and has particular interest for public health officials and international travelers.

They also recently launched an iPhone app called Outbreaks Near Me, available for free in the iTunes app store.  The app allows you to view the maps from your iPhone and get alerts for outbreaks in your area.

Balance Your Media Diet (The Media Pyramid Infographic)

From Wired Magazine's "New Rules for Highly Evolved Humans" section of the August 2009 issue.

Practicing good nutrition keeps your mind sharp, your body fit, and your life long. The same could be said for consuming media. (Seriously, knowledge is power.) When you add it all up, the average American spends roughly nine hours a day glued to some kind of screen, and like your diet, quality is as important as quantity. Here areWired's suggested servings for optimal media health.

Found on Nathan's Flowingdata.com

New Hans Rosling video, using GapMinder (Must see!)

New TED Talk video of Hans Rosling talking to the U.S. State Department, "Let my dataset change your mindset".  Using the GapMinder software that was purchased by Google, Hans shows the third world isn't as far behind the U.S. as most people believe.

American health care on (4) napkins

Dan Roam, author of Back of the Napkin, has posted a napkin explanation of the American Health Care debate on his blog.  It took him 4 napkins to complete his explanation, but I think he did a really good job trying to help people understand a very complex issue.

He has also published a slideshow of the complete series up on SlideShare.net

Check out Dan's great book, Back of the Napkin.

Sugar Stacks: How Much Sugar is in your Food?

SugarStacks.com is a website dedicated to showing you how much sugar is in the food we eat.  Using a simple visual of stacked sugar cubes, you can see the sugar content of many different types of food.  I love that it's simple and visually gets one point across really well.  There are words on website, but you really don't need them.

We've used regular sugar cubes (4 grams of sugar each) to show how the sugars in your favorite foods literally stack up, gram for gram.  Compare foods, find out where sugar is hiding, and see how much of the sweet stuff you're really eating.

Found on Infosthetics.com, and as they note, the website doesn't differentiate between types of sugars, the white sugar cubes are used to represent them all.

The Future of Food

Wired magazine has a great series of nine infographics from the November issue about the world's food supply problems.

Forty years ago, advances in fertilizers and pesticides boosted crop yield and fed a growing planet. Today, demand for food fueled by rises in worldwide consumption of meat and protein is again outpacing farmers ability to keep up. It's time for the next Green Revolution.

Thanks for the link Ethel!  Here are a few more.  Check them all out on Wired.com.

 

Awesome Medical Visualizations

Really neat promotional video for Hybrid Medical Animation.  These guys do some amazing work.

Small Gambling Addiction Spending Visual

I love this very simple but powerful visual comparison of the gambling revenues and the money spent on gambling addiction support programs.  The author is only trying to communcate one point, and gets his message across very stongly.  I believe it was done by Tim Broderick, from the Daily Herald.

Found on InfographicsNews.blogspot.com.  Looks like Chiqui Esteban is starting a series of visual comparison graphics over there.

Anatomy of a Balloon Animal

Now here's an odd poster by Jason Freeny depicting the internal anatomy of balloon animals.  Check it out along with his other works at Moist Productions.  I especially liked that he included visual instructions on how to create the balloon animal at the bottom.

Thank Torquil for sending in the link!

Grocery Aisle Nutritional Values

Three different ways to view the grocery store from Wired Magazine Infoporn January 2008 (16.01) by Dan Marsiglio. Cost per Calorie, Calories by Weight and Sugar by Weight.

If you're trying to cut back on the sugar in your diet, stay away from the cereal aisle!