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"Since I’m no evolutionary expert, I shipped Slate’s data to Lauren Ancel Meyers, a biology professor at the University of Texas who models the spread of infectious diseases mathematically. Meyers says that around Day 39 of Fig. 1, we see the “classic exponential growth of an epidemic curve.” (Day 39 in this graph is Jan. 8.) She also explains that “25 Things” authors can be seen as “contagious” under what’s known as a “susceptible-infected-recovered” model for the spread of disease."

Evolution and Facebook’s “25 Random Things About Me” craze. - By Chris Wilson - Slate Magazine