A comparison of the efforts in mass communication during the Indian plague outbreak that occurred in 1994 with those during SARS is illustrative of the changes that have resulted from the large increase in numbers of travelers, the decreased time in transiting the globe, and the massive demand for instant information (4 ).
One man occupied with the question was English astronomer Edmund Halley who speculated that observing the transit from extreme parts of the globe would help scientists come close to the calculation.
Dubai itself is not just a big tourist destination, but a major transit hub for people criss-crossing the globe.
Transit and transit-oriented developments (TODs) are gaining momentum across the globe to enable transport sustainability.
Now Jay Walder, the public transportation expert who helped turn London's aging transit system into an (albeit expensive) envy of the globe, wants to take his brand of high-tech transit reform to the city where he got his start, New York.
In the 18th century astronomers set out to far-flung corners of the globe to time the transit of Venus.
Other cities across the globe are ambitiously building transit systems with the intent of supplanting New York's dominance.
Had I read this book when it came out in hardback a year before, I would have changed my tune: I'd have made a great deal of effort to see it, in honour of the scientists who had travelled to the most remote, far-flung and desolate parts of the globe to observe the transits of 1761 and 1769.
You can find out more about the events and viewing opportunities for next week's Transit of Venus here, and while you're watching that small black dot march across the surface of the sun, spare a thought for the adventurers and explorers who travelled to the farthest corners of the globe to measure the transits of 1761 and 1769.
By precisely timing the transit's length from many different points around the globe, the reasoning went, scientists could calculate the Earth-sun distance using the principles of parallax.
