Got the flu? Google will find out long before your GP In short, life happens in real time, and now the science is following suit. First responders to disasters are more reliant than ever on social media to locate victims, find disease outbreaks, and spread emergency information. This week, the Mind the Brain blog theorised that social media was becoming instrumental in the field of disaster psychiatry. By giving survivors of the Haitian earthquake, Hurricane Katrina and the Fukushima nuclear disaster a "virtual space" in which to gather, social media may soften the trauma of seeing physical communities destroyed. Accordingly, the culture of research is evolving almost as fast as the research itself. Academics with credible ideas but no money can bypass traditional funding agencies to appeal directly to private individuals online. This "crowdfunding" approach to science, devised to help cash-strapped start-ups, is exemplified by curelauncher.com. The site matches up cancer patients and potential donors with bona fide researchers conducting trials on emerging treatments. As projects lead to promising results, more scholars are choosing to publish online rather than in paper journals. The publications can be tweeted and retweeted, pushing up the number of citations, which is a key factor in bolstering academic reputations. Having an online identity also allows researchers to satisfy their institutions" "outreach" requirements, to spread news of their findings beyond university walls. For scientists, ignoring social media is no longer an option - which is why, after many months of dithering, I signed up on Twitter this week as @anjahuja. Twitter, says Dr Greaves, has proven so valuable in his research because people can send tweets directly to a hospital, identifying where a patient encountered a malodorous floor. While "urine" indicates poor care, the word "angels" is used by satisfied patients. None the less, what Dr Greaves describes as "the [online] cloud of patient experience" remains foggy: the algorithm is utterly confused by the phrase "cup of tea" because it crops up in as many positive hospital reviews as negative ones. That's the only reassuring news: whether a surgeon saves your life or amputates the wrong leg, you are guaranteed a mug of PG Tips.