A lot of ailing Americans enter phrases like "flu symptoms"into Google & other search engines before they call their doctors. These searches form the basis of a new early warning system for fast-spreading flu outbreaks,developed by google.org,which may be able to detect regional outbreaks of the flu a week to 10 days before they are reported by the Centres for Disease Control & Prevention. The service at google.org/flutrends analyses these searches as they come in,creating graphs & maps of the United States.According to some health experts this new tool will help reduce the response time & potentially,save lives. read more