Dr Steve Le Comber from the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences discusses the use of geographic profiling, which is often used to map a serial criminal’s activities, in tracking the foraging patterns of some fish and bats, tracking the spread of invasive plants, and helping locate the origin of malaria and cholera outbreaks. The Scientist reports that Dr Le Comber has been focusing on solving "real infectious disease mysteries", including malaria outbreaks in Egypt. By considering the locations of 139 malaria cases in 2005, geographic profiling identified six of the seven water sources found to be breeding malaria-carrying mosquitoes.