Divide and conquer (IMAGE) American Institute of Physics Caption Divide and conquer: Red curve shows the effect of 10 infected individuals in a population of 1 million people. If the population is broken into groups of 100,000 each, three subpopulations experience desynchronized outbreaks (shorter colored curves). In the remaining seven subgroups, gray curve, the outbreak is extinguished. Credit Philip Bittihn and Ramin Golestanian Usage Restrictions Journalists may use this image only with appropriate credit. License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.