MIT

A team of MIT mathematicians has developed a model that describes how and under what conditions pointless traffic jams form. Key to the research is that the mathematics of these "jamitons" are similar to equations that describe detonation waves, produced by explosions. That discovery enabled the team to solve traffic jam equations that were first theorized in the 1950s. American drivers languished in traffic delays for a total of 4.2 billion hours in 2005, up from 4 billion the year before, according to the Texas Traffic Institute’s urban mobility report. That’s about 38 hours per driver... But there is a solution, MIT mathematicians say: "you're stuck in traffic until all of the sudden, it clears."



RECIPE

"Slit the vanilla pod in half lenghthways with a sharp knife and scrape down the length of each half to remove the seeds. Put the seeds in a bowl with the cars, the trucks and the sugar. Mush up with the end of a whisk, making sure you leave some chunks of cars. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and place on a medium heat. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 5 minutes to a couple of hours."