Dr Alex Mesoudi from the SBCS has developed a computer model of 1,000 people to help them understand how copycat suicides occur. Various celebrity suicides have been linked to an increase in suicide rates, but this new research goes beyond the social influences affecting those who have already taken their own lives. Dr Mesoudi said: “The computer simulations strongly support the proposed link between the mass reporting of a prestigious celebrity's suicide and an increase in national suicide figures.” This story featured in the New Scientist and Science Daily.