Predictions

This algorithm monitors social media to try and predict ISIS attacks

While much of the war against terror takes place in the air and on the ground, a new tool for fighting extremists does all its work online. 

A physicist from the University of Miami has created an algorithm that can scan the Islamic State's social media posts, a function that may eventually be used to predict the group's next terrorist attack. 

In the journal Science, Dr Neil Johnson and his team described the method of searching through roughly a year's worth of posts on the Russian-based social network Vkontakte, looking for pro-ISIS statements in different languages. 

The resulting data allowed Johnson and team to create a statistical model aimed at identifying behavioural patterns among online supporters of ISIS.