The 2017 Data Stories competition from Science magazine is now open–and is using a graphic generated from data provided by Prof. John Drake and his lab to help explain the concept.

The “Data Stories” header on the competition web page is based on Drake’s research on the Ebola epidemic in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. The graphic is also featured in a video advertising the competition.

“The blue and purple lines represent the daily probability that an uninfected district would become infected each day of the epidemic,” said Drake. “It underscores that your local hazard of infection changes depending on what goes on with your neighbors.”

The Data Stories competition encourages scientists to bring their discoveries and insights to life using data visualization. For more information about contest rules and guidelines, see http://www.sciencemag.org/projects/data-stories.