Category: HealthRevolution

Apple Releases macOS 10.15.5 With Battery Health Feature

Apple has released macOS 10.15.5 with a new feature that should help maximize the lifespan of MacBook batteries.

Like all lithium-ion batteries, the batteries in Apple’s notebooks age and gradually deteriorate over time. The older a battery is, the less maximum capacity it has compared to when it was new. This means that a MacBook Air that once achieved 10 hours of battery life may only achieve five or six. Leaving a notebook plugged in much of the time can accelerate that decay.

In macOS Catalina 10.15.5, Apple has introduced a new feature designed to help alleviate these issues and extend a battery’s lifespan. According to Apple’s documentation, the new feature monitors your battery’s charing patterns and temperature history, and alters how your Mac notebook charges.

“Based on the measurements that it collects, battery health management may reduce your battery’s maximum charge when in this mode. This happens as needed to ensure that your battery charges to a level that’s optimized for your usage—reducing wear on the battery, and slowing its chemical aging.

“While battery health management benefits your battery’s long-term lifespan, it can also reduce the amount of time your Mac runs on one battery charge when capacity limits are applied. If your priority is making your Mac notebook last as long as possible before recharging, you can turn the feature off.”

The release also provides information on the battery’s health in the Energy Saver preferences, much as iPhones show battery health under the Battery settings in iOS.

macOS 10.15.5 also includes the ability to control the prominence of video tiles in Group FaceTime calls, as well as calibration controls to fine-tune the Pro Display XDR.

Overall, this is a welcome release. The battery health features, in particular, are an excellent improvement for individuals (such as yours truly) that rely on a Mac notebook as their primary machine.

May 27, 2020
How Epidemics Spur Innovative Thinking
COVID-19 has thrown the world into disarray, but looking at past epidemics would tell a different story. Past epidemics have brought about some of the most famous theories, classic literature, medicine, and more.

Past Epidemics

During the Black Death in the mid-1300s, it was so deadly that it has been estimated to have killed between 30% to 60% of the total population in Europe. This led to the change of the social and economic systems that were already in place in Europe Led to the creation of a middle class and interest was sparked in the masses in art, literacy, and experimentation.

During the Plague in England, in 1592, the Plague broke out in London and caused the closing of theatres in London for 6 months which forced Shakespeare to turn to write poems for money. During this time he most likely wrote Venus and Adonis, and The Rape of Lucrece.

In 1606, the Plague broke out again in London, closing theatres again for a few more months, forcing Shakespeare back home. He then likely wrote Macbeth, King Lear, and Antony & Cleopatra.

From 1665 to 1666, the last major outbreak of the Plague hit England, causing Isaac Newton to flee to the countryside to avoid the outbreak. While he was in the countryside, he developed some of his famous theories on the laws of motion, calculus, optics, and gravity.

During the Spanish Flu, in 1918, an outbreak of the Spanish Flu infected 1 out of every 3 people worldwide and killed an estimated 50 to 100 million people of those infected. Many people didn’t have access to a doctor, and those who did, they weren’t able to report influenza as a virus. Efforts such as quarantine were no longer effective as the virus had already spread around the world. This gave rise to a new interest in the underlying causes of disease and a new approach to public health safety. By 1925, the U.S. had set up a new national disease reporting program that all states were using. By 1935, the first national survey was deployed in the U.S. and by 1945, the first effective flu vaccine was developed. All of these innovations trace back to the 1918 epidemic.

How Innovators Are Responding To COVID-19

Shortages of vital and basic necessities have caused other companies from different areas to help.
- Ventilators
  - When an Italian hospital ran out of much-needed ventilator valves, a local 3D printing company, Isinnova, designed and then distributed 3D printed valves. These 3D printed valves only cost $1, and when compared to the normal cost, which is a whopping $10,000, this price reduction can mean a lot for hospitals the world over.
- Protective Equipment
  - Distilleries have started to make hand sanitizer to help compensate for the newly increased demand. Some distilleries used alcohol waste, many are now switching to create grain neutral spirits and retrofitting their equipment to keep supplies lasting long enough.
Necessity is the mother of invention, so what will we gain from this pandemic? Learn more about innovations from previous epidemics as well as those that were spurred on due to COVID-19 here.

Epidemics and Innovation

This story originally appeared on Kivo Daily
April 29, 2020
The Science Behind Face Masks

Seeing people wear a mask in stores, on the street, public transportation, and more is becoming more prominent than ever. Originally, the WHO and the CDC both repeatedly were against many wearing face masks, but on April 3, 2020, the CDC reversed its decision and announced that healthy people should wear masks to help slow the spread and reduce risk of exposure.

In China, an estimated amount of more than 80% of infections with COVID-19 went undocumented and unnoticed. These undocumented cases, while none of the transmitters showed symptoms, still spread COVID-19 everywhere they went. These undocumented cases accounted for over 75% of total transmissions in China.

How Masks Slow the Spread of COVID-19

Masks are utilized to slow the spread of COVID-19 because they can trap contagious particles from an infected individual from spreading. In lab testing, it was found that wearing a face mask could prevent particles from getting through – confirming that a mask can protect others from the wearer.

The reason this works is that a large number of transmissions are passed through asymptomatic carriers. These masks, according to one study, combined with frequently using hand sanitizer, can reduce flu transmissions by up to 50% or more. COVID-19, being estimated at nearly 3 times more contagious, even a small decrease in infection rates could mean a huge difference. Since the creation of the N95 respirator, which proved to be very good at stopping the spread of tuberculosis and other viruses, very little research has been done on cloth masks.

Masks Are Not Worn For Social Reason In the U.S.

Wearing a mask, while becoming more common is still not worn by many for social reasons. “We need to change our perception that masks are only for sick people and that it’s weird or shameful to wear one… If more people donned masks it would become a social norm as well as a public health good” says Robert Hecht, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology in the Yale School of Medicine.

In countries where wearing a face mask is common, like China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, experts noticed that the oncoming spread of COVID-19 was much more controlled because face masks in those countries are more than recommended, they are culturally expected. In the U.S., people of color are afraid of wearing a face mask in public for fear of being mistaken as a robber. On March 18, 2020, a police officer kicked 2 black men out of a Walmart for wearing face coverings.

90% of U.S. Cities Report a Shortage of Face Masks

Nearly 90% of U.S. cities are reporting a shortage of face masks that are needed to protect emergency responders and healthcare workers. Making a face mask at home is a good way to not cut into that already dwindling supply. A study looking at the effectiveness of homemade masks showed that masks made with higher thread count fabrics, finer mesh gauze, and more layers were more effective at filtering particles in the air.

Taking on and off your mask safely is also important. Use hand sanitizer before putting your mask on and after you take it off and while wearing it, avoid touching it or adjusting it.

Learn more about how face masks might be helping to prevent the spread of COVID-19 here.

This article originally appeared on Kivo Daily

April 24, 2020
Google Cloud Makes Healthcare API Publicly Available

Google Cloud has announced the general availability of its Healthcare API in an effort to help fight COVID-19.

As the pandemic continues to take a toll, cloud computing and big data are emerging as important factors in the fight to control it. Now, more than ever, the ability to share data is vital. The CMS and ONC released rules a few months ago to aid in that goal, based on the 21st Century Cures Act. As Google points out, however, the necessary tools still need to be created to capitalize on those rules and provide healthcare professionals what they need.

“To address this gap, we’ve made our Cloud Healthcare API generally available today to the industry at-large,” writes Joe Corkery, MD, Director of Product, Healthcare and Life Sciences, and Aashima Gupta, Director of Industry Solutions, Healthcare and Life Sciences. “The API allows healthcare organizations to ingest and manage key data from a range of inputs and systems—and then better understand that data through the application of analytics and machine learning in real time, at scale. It also enables providers to easily interact with that data using Web-friendly, REST-based endpoints and health plans to rapidly get up and running with a cloud based FHIR server providing the capabilities needed to implement, scale and support interoperability and patient access.”

Google’s announcement is good news for the medical community, and will hopefully aid in the creation of the tools professionals need to continue combatting COVID-19.

April 22, 2020
The Social Impact Of Mixing Business And Medicine
With healthcare costs soaring and Coronavirus running rampant, some are wondering what’s going to be. In the U.S. healthcare spending is over 18% of Gross Domestic Product as compared to the 8.8% of GDP spent in countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation Development.

From 2007 to 2014 Americans with health insurance saw their health spending increase by 20% on average. The skyrocketing prices of prescriptions may have a part to play. From 2009 to 2016 the cost of EpiPens rose from $100 to $600, and from 2012 to 2016 the rise of insulin prices increased diabetics’ spending by $2,841 every year.

The problem is that health insurance is big business, in 2019 the 5 largest health insurance and pharmacy benefit providers in the U.S. made more than the 5 largest tech companies.
- UnitedHealth Group
- CVSHealth
- Cigna
- Anthem
- Humana
- $787 Billion
- Facebook
- Amazon
- Apple
- Netflix
- Google
- $783 Billion
1 in 3 Americans says they or a family member delayed seeking treatment due to healthcare costs. Many low-income families have to choose between paying for groceries, heat, or electricity and medical costs. And things may be getting harder, it is predicted that by 2027 healthcare spending will reach $6 Trillion a year.

Americans are 2-3 times more likely than Canadians to ignore medical advice due to cost. The unfortunate result is avoidable death. With the younger generations being most affected, over half of Millennials and Gen x delayed or avoided care due to cost. Every year delaying or avoiding care leads to 125,000 avoidable deaths and makes up 10% more hospitalizations.

Those who do seek medical care don’t always follow through, 30% out of patients in Texas, who had a claim denied, paid for care out of pocket, another 14% appealed and received benefits, leaving over half not pursuing medical care.

What’s more, 67% of medication non-adherence is linked to the high cost of healthcare, with 20-30% of prescriptions never filled. Many simply can’t afford the high costs of medication, but it’s costing a lot more in the long run. For patients with chronic diseases especially, abstaining from treatment can cost anywhere from $949 to $44,190, due to worsening symptoms, complications, and hospital re-admittance.

Every year, more than 26,000 Americans die due to a lack of health insurance, with those uninsured being 25-80% more at risk for death. Of the uninsured, more than 8 in 10 are low-income families, and more than 7 in 10 have at least one full

Time worker in their family. Minorities make up 43% of the population, but over 50% of those uninsured.
- 22% of the uninsured are Native Americans
- 19% of the uninsured are Hispanic Americans
- 11% of the uninsured are African Americans
Since 2016, the total of uninsured has gone up by 1.2 million

On March 20, 2020, a 17-year-old with symptoms of COVID-19 went to an urgent care facility in California to seek treatment. Due to a lack of insurance, he was denied care and sent to a local hospital instead. He went into cardiac arrest before reaching the hospital and died 6 hours later.

These are the lamentable social impacts of mixing business with medicine. Those who need care may be turned away, those who cannot afford care are left untreated, and those who are untreated may perish.

Learn more about mixing business and medicine here.

This story originally appeared on Kivo Daily
April 22, 2020
How Tech Has Led The Way During the Coronavirus Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic is a new frontier and tech is rapidly evolving to deal with the new challenges we all are facing. We are now seeing each day how technology is being put to use as a valuable resource to deal with this unprecedented global health crisis. Coronavirus is changing the world as we know it, but tech is hard at work to make the “new normal” safer and more comfortable.

Telemedicine is bridging the gap during quarantine

As mandatory isolation and self-quarantine measures swept the globe, those with pre-existing medical conditions have still needed medical care. Telemedicine has allowed doctors to consult with patients via videoconferencing apps, allowing uninterrupted medical care. TelaDoc has been one of the leaders in telemedicine technology. Technology to connect health care providers and patients has also been used to help those who believe they may be infected with coronavirus.

Technology is being used to track the spread of viral pathogens.

Nextstrain is an open-source project with data sequencing and visualization tools that are updated with current publicly available data on pathogen genomes. The goal of Nextstrain is to help health professionals and the public understand how pathogens evolve and spread so that the response to outbreaks can be improved.

AI technology is searching for antibodies

AbCellera and Lilly are using AI to analyze millions of immune cells in search of antibodies. As these antibodies are found they can be used in COVID-19 therapies to help patients recover faster. They claim they have already found 500 antibodies in cells from recovered coronavirus patients.

3D printing ventilators for COVID-19 patients

As coronavirus patients fill hospital beds, there has been much concern about the number of ventilators needed vs the overwhelming number of patients who need them. To combat the shortage, 3D printer owners are collaborating and sharing open-source designs to print all the components to make ventilators.

All social events are now virtual via video calls

Downloads of video calling apps have seen a huge increase during coronavirus quarantine. As Easter Sunday came and went many families used Skype, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Google Hangouts, Zoom and other apps to visit with each other virtually. Many musical artists have also provided free concert streams to help fans stay entertained while in quarantine. While it’s not quite like a live event, these online concerts have provided many with entertainment and a distraction from the boredom of staying at home.

Remote workers attend virtual meetings

Using much of the same technology and apps workers who may have previously been furloughed are now working remotely. Technology allows workers to attend virtual meetings and prepare and deliver work online without interruption. Before this technology was available it would have been impossible for many of these jobs to be done remotely and more people would have become unemployed.

All students are online students now

With schools of all levels closed during the pandemic, educators have converted traditional coursework into online learning. While online education is not new and has become extremely popular in recent years, coronavirus forced those unfamiliar with online school to adapt quickly. The CARES Act provided $14.3 billion for higher education to offset the expenses of massive disruption on college campuses across the US. College students are also getting help from the CARES Act with student loan payments deferred through September 30, 2020 and some loans have had the interest rate temporarily dropped to 0%.

April 20, 2020
There Is No Aspect of Healthcare That Is Not Being Transformed Digitally, Says AMA Chief Experience Officer

“A lot of times it’s better to think about (digital transformation) in retrospect after you’ve gotten something done, but the digital platform is essential in helping you achieve your business objectives, and that’s really what it boils down to,” says AMA Chief Experience Officer Todd Unger. “Even though my purview here is mostly communicating between us and physicians, ultimately, I’m there to help them in what they care the most about, which is patient care. There is no aspect of healthcare right now that is not being transformed digitally.”

Todd Unger, Chief Experience Officer for the American Medical Association, discusses how digital transformation is ultimately about improving patient care in a video interview (watch below) with industry analyst Michael Krigsman on CXOTALK:

I Don’t Start Anything That I Do With Digital Blinders On

I don’t start anything that I do with digital blinders on. The first thing is to figure out what the job that you’re trying to get done is. Inevitably, of course, these days, if you’re trying to meet people where they are, that does involve digital platforms. We are, in essence, like any other subscription business in that we have something that we’re trying to get people to belong to. If you’re going to communicate with people and build a subscription business, you do need to have that platform in place.

I think, basically, today, most organizations or businesses, they have to act in three ways. They’ve got to have the consumer product focus of a company like Proctor & Gamble. They need to have the publishing experience and content management experience of a New York Times or Washington Post, and they need to have the data and analytics platform and skillset of like an Amazon. That’s a tough organization to build these days. But if you’re going to succeed in creating a member experience and really interacting with people, you’ve got to be able to do all three things.

There Is No Aspect of Healthcare That Is Not Being Transformed Digitally

I think digital transformation is a bizarre and scary term. I don’t walk in the door saying, “We need to have a digital transformation,” because that is really kind of meaningless to people. A lot of times I would say it’s better to think about that in retrospect after you’ve gotten something done, but the digital platform is essential in helping you achieve your business objectives, and that’s really what it boils down to.

Even though my purview here is mostly communicating between us and physicians, ultimately, I’m there to help them in what they care the most about, which is patient care. There is no aspect of healthcare right now that is not being transformed digitally. One of the most exciting places, and I think it probably has more relevance on the long-term care side, is remote patient monitoring. You look around at most systems and they’re equipping themselves to have people not come to the hospital, not come into the office, but to provide people with the technology to be able to do what they need to do from home and to be able to communicate with them from a remote place and have their progress monitored.

Driving The Future of Medicine

I’d say the final way that we (are an ally in patient care) is through something I don’t think a lot of people know about, which is driving the future of medicine. We are facilitating the changes that are happening in medicine right now. I talked about remote patient monitoring, but telemedicine is something that’s increasing in usage and all of the infrastructure that underlies that needs to get put into place to make sure that doctors have what they need to be able to do that and, from a technology payment standpoint, all of that kind of stuff.

The other thing and this is affecting every aspect of business out there is data. One of the key things about data right now in healthcare is, it’s not necessarily hooked up in a way that can connect the input when a patient comes in the door and the outcomes. There are different systems that underly that data input and the portability of that. We are putting in place an infrastructure and what we would call an innovation ecosystem to facilitate the flow of that data so that it can actually deliver better patient care in the end.

There Is No Aspect of Healthcare That Is Not Being Transformed Digitally – AMA Chief Experience Officer Todd Unger

April 14, 2020
Digital Therapeutics: The New Frontier Of Medicine?
When technology gets used in unusual ways, the result is usually a breakthrough. When it comes to treating things like Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Autism, addiction, depression, and more, digital therapies are making strides. Patients who once struggled to get any benefit from traditional treatments now have new ones at their fingertips in the form of apps, video games, and more.

Treating Parkinson’s Disease: The New Frontier

The general public has had less interaction with those suffering from Parkinson’s disease overall. With about 1% of the population being affected, this comes as no surprise. However when you look at the actual number, suddenly you’ll be shocked and wonder why you haven’t met such individuals personally. 10 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Unfortunately, many more are estimated to develop Parkinson’s. In a 2018 study, Parkinson’s disease was predicted to affect 1.2 million Americans by 2030. Looking ahead there will be a flood of people dealing with a so-far incurable condition. Nevertheless, there are exceedingly advanced methods of treatment, the most promising of which involves digital therapeutics.

InsightTec has developed and successfully implemented a method to surgically treat tremors prevalent in those with Parkinson’s without actually incising. Having treated over 3000 patients Exablate Neuro is an ultra sound-producing helmet made of piezoceramics (a class of metals with advantageous uses with ultrasonic transducers) that combines several technologies.

Utilizing Magnetic Resonance Imaging and advanced software, the helmet emits many focused and powerful ultrasonic blasts to make cuts in the brain without a scalpel. It can affect a localized area of 2-5mm accurately within less than 1mm. Exablate Neuro is equipped with a water cooling system for the patient, to prevent overheating of the skull during the procedure which could cause burns.

While this inspires new hope for those who deal with tremors daily, there are some criteria for patients to be prescribed the cutting edge procedure.
- Patients seeking treatment of Tremor Dominant Parkinson’s Disease (TDPD) must be 30 years or older
- A confirmed diagnosis of TDPD by medical history and exam by a specialist
- The tremor is disabling even with optimal medication therapy
- Be capable of withstanding the procedure with semi-sedation
- Able to communicate sensations during the procedure
- Can activate stop sonication button
For those who can meet these requirements the Exablate Neuro can reduce tremor frequency by over 20%, and improve the functioning of speaking, eating and drinking, writing, and dressing.4 That adds up to a better quality of life for many in areas of activity that we might take for granted. And with 60 treatment centers, treatment might be more attainable than one might think.

Video Games And Apps For Other Conditions

Video games are being used to treat Autism, depression, and Multiple Sclerosis, giving patients greater working memory, selective attention, and executive functioning. They are being tested to treat Lupus, Traumatic Brain Injuries, and more.

Apps are being developed to help treat addiction, as one of the biggest challenges to treatment is access. Apps work in conjunction with outpatient therapy and have been shown to produce results.

The emergence of cutting edge technologies has produced many such wonderful treatments like Exablate Neuro. Learn more about what other breakthroughs digital therapeutics can produce here.

This story originally appeared on Kivo Daily
April 6, 2020
China Relying on Robots to Help Fight Coronavirus

China may have finally turned a corner in its fight against the coronavirus, and it has robots to thank for helping it do so.

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic China has issued cutting edge technology in an effort to combat the virus. Early on Chinese authorities used AI-driven robots to scold people for being in public without wearing masks, while companies worked on using drones to deliver medicine and supplies to patients without endangering healthy people.

As China has continued to fight the pandemic, robots continue to play a significant role in the ongoing efforts to contain the spread of the virus. According to All About Circuits, in addition to the robots scolding people for not wearing masks, authorities are also relying on robots that scan crowds for raised temperatures, one of the earliest symptoms of infection. The robots “include high-resolution cameras and infrared thermometers that are capable of scanning the temperatures of up to 10 people at once who are in a radius of 5 meters. If one of these robots discovers somebody who is not wearing a mask or who has a high temperature, an alert is sent to the authorities.”

China’s success with robots is only possible due to a combination of 5G, AI, edge computing, cloud computing and IoT. The end result are robots capable of interacting with people in a way never before seen. As All About Circuits highlights, that interaction can be eerily lifelike:

“You there! The gentleman wearing a red coat holding an umbrella in your left hand—yes, you. You are not wearing a face mask, please put one on immediately. If you do not have one, come to the police car and we will provide you with one.”

With robots finally beginning to deliver on the promise proponents have long held out, it’s little wonder Microsoft, AT&T, Google Cloud and Verizon are all working hard to capitalize on the emerging technologies.

March 24, 2020
UK Regulators Find No 5G Health Risk
UK regulators have tested the electromagnetic fields (EMF) created by 5G and have found no cause for concern.

5G represents a fundamental shift in wireless technology, ushering in speeds never before possible with 4G. The fastest type of 5G, high-band mmWave, offers speeds measured in gigabits rather than megabits. Unfortunately, mmWave has extremely limited range, requiring towers, base stations and boosters to be placed every couple hundred meters to provide proper coverage.

That blanketing coverage, not to mention the higher frequency, has caused concern among experts and advocates who believe 5G’s EMF emissions pose serious health concerns. In an effort to provide clarity on those concerns, UK regulator Ofcom conducted tests in 16 locations, across 10 different cities, according to Ofcom’s report (PDF).

“The results so far indicate that:
- In all cases, the measured EMF levels from 5G-enabled mobile phone base stations are at small fractions of the levels identified in the ICNIRP Guidelines (the highest level being approximately 1.5% of the relevant level); and
- The contribution of 5G to the total emissions level observed is currently low – the highest level we observed in the band used for 5G was just 0.039% of the reference level.”
Ofcom acknowledges in the report that 5G adoption is still in the early stages, and says it will continue to monitor EMF measurements as the technology continues to roll out. In the interim, however, the study is good news for wireless carriers and customers alike.
February 25, 2020
Robotics And AI For Growing Cannabis?

A hundred years ago, hemp was farmed all over the United States by traditional means. Cannabis prohibition shut all those operations down, and while the 2018 Farm Bill legalized the production of hemp across the nation once again, its uses have shifted significantly. Whereas a hundred years ago hemp was mainly used for rope and fiber, these days it’s increasingly used for food and medicine, which means it needs to be as pure as possible. The best way to achieve that is through the use of hydroponics in a controlled, indoor environment, and that requires the help of tech like robotics and artificial intelligence.

Because hemp plants are bioaccumulators, that means that any pollution the plants come in contact with in the soil, air, or water will be trapped within the plants. The good news is that hemp plants generally don’t need pesticides or herbicides to grow well under normal growing conditions, so those hemp plants that are destined for fiber applications can be easily grown outdoors. But because of the risk of contamination from pollution, coupled with the risk of being cross-pollinated with the higher-THC variety of cannabis, hemp plants destined for medicinal or food uses are generally being grown indoors.

Cross contamination is also a concern for the legal marijuana industry. The illicit marijuana industry has benefited from prohibition because a lack of other plants that could cross-pollinate meant that growing illicit marijuana outdoors didn’t threaten the harvest. But because of two distinctly different but similar industries slowly becoming legalized across the nation, growing either outdoors means a risk of cross-pollination, which could render marijuana plants too weak for their target market and hemp plants too strong for thiers. By 2025, legal marijuana sales in the United States are expected to reach $23 billion. Protecting their plants from the threat of cross-contamination also means that the legal marijuana industry is going to increasingly rely on hydroponics, robotics, and artificial intelligence to produce a superior quality product.

Both types of plants are susceptible to mold and rot when humidity and ventilation are not well-controlled. This is where robotics and AI come in. AI can monitor the moisture levels in the air, the air flow, and photograph plants and scan for signs of mold or rot and then tell robotics how to respond. The robotics can be set up to hydrate or desiccate, circulate air, increase water or nutrients, and more. Systems like Farmbot can be used to grow a variety of plants and use robotics and AI to collect data and learn what plants need over time.

Vertical farming is another technology that is being used to make the production of cannabis plants as environmentally-friendly as possible. Systems like Agrify can be set up to be six levels high, and its integrated systems monitor growing conditions and make necessary adjustments. This makes the production both less reliant on human intervention and also more efficient of resources.
Learn more about the tech being used to grow cannabis from the infographic below!

February 24, 2020
First AI-Developed Drug Headed For Human Trials

The first drug developed using artificial intelligence (AI) is moving forward with human trials, ushering in a new era of medical research and development.

The drug, DSP-1181, is designed to treat obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and was created in a joint venture between the UK’s Exscientia and Japan’s Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma. Most significantly, while most drugs take five years to go to trial, DSP-1181 made it in just 12 months.

AI was directly responsible for the short development time, according to Exscienta chief executive, Professor Andrew Hopkins. He said the new drug was created using algorithms that AI was able to sift much faster than a human, comparing those algorithms of potential compounds to a database of parameters.

“There are billions of decisions needed to find the right molecules and it is a huge decision to precisely engineer a drug,” Professor Hopkins told the BBC.

“But the beauty of the algorithm is that they are agnostic, so can be applied to any disease,” he added.

While AI is increasingly being used in medicine, and specifically in diagnostic medicine, this is the first time a drug it was heavily involved in creating has made it to clinical trials. Needless to say, it won’t be the last.

February 13, 2020
Google Health Now Has 500 Employees

Google Health, the company’s latest initiative, now has some 500 employees, according to CNBC.

Google has a long, and not always successful, history in the health field. The company’s first “Google Health” initiative was in 2006 and failed to make headway, leading the company to shutter it. This latest endeavor, however, seems to be meeting with far more success.

According to the report, the new team is headquartered in Palo Alto offices that were formerly used by the Nest team. The team is led by David Feinberg, a relative newcomer to Google, having joined the company in 2019. The number of people working in the Google Health division is a testament to how important the new business is to Google, especially as it continues to develop revenue streams aside from its core search business.

In spite of Google Health’s importance to the company, Google will need to navigate tricky waters to take full advantage of the new business. The company has recently come under scrutiny for its Project Nightingale, a partnership with healthcare group Ascension to collect data on millions of American patients. Revelations about the program renewed concerns and discussion about how much access Google should have in the day-to-day lives of Americans and whether it already had too much.

Provided Google can navigate the regulatory and privacy concerns surrounding its health initiatives, Google Health has the potential to become a critical part of the company’s future.

February 12, 2020
Experts Worried About Impact of Wuhan Lockdown

Wuhan may be known as the first place the new coronavirus was identified, but it’s also a center of transport and manufacturing. Now experts are concerned the former may have significant impacts on the latter, according to Bloomberg.

As of the time of writing, there have been nearly 2,800 cases of the virus across China and 15 cities have been put in lockdown. As the epicenter of the outbreak, “Wuhan itself has been effectively quarantined, with all routes in and out of the city closed or highly regulated,” according to CNN.

As Bloomberg points out, as “the capital of Hubei province, Wuhan is the biggest water, land and air transportation hub in inland China, according to the Ministry of Commerce. It’s also a major rail hub with multiple lines linking it to major cities, and a renowned education center.” The city has also been moving into high-tech industries, including chip-making and biomedicine.

With the city quarantined, experts fear it could have far reaching implications.

“Complicated supply chains and just-in-time production could mean that production outages in Wuhan factories have broader spillover effects,” Shaun Roache, Asia-Pacific chief economist at S&P Global Ratings, told Bloomberg.

With a world economy that is ever more connected, it’s too early to predict just how much impact the virus could have as more cities are quarantined or put in lockdown. But it’s a safe bet that the longer it goes on, the more the effects will be felt across industries.

January 27, 2020
AI Is Helping Scan For Diseases, Ease Scientist Workload

Yahoo Finance is reporting that artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used to scan for diseases amid a shortage of scientists.

It’s no secret the U.S. healthcare system needs help. With an aging population, increasing threat of litigation, expanding government regulation and more, the U.S. is expected to see a shortage of “nearly 122,000 physicians by 2032 as demand for physicians continues to grow faster than supply,” according to the AAMC.

Startup Proscia is positioning itself as the solution. The company “recently teamed up with Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to develop applications that incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) to advance the practice of pathology for multiple diseases.” The goal is to teach AI what to look for and then use it to handle the preliminary scans, flagging samples that require closer, human inspection.

“Most of what the pathologist is doing is spending time looking for that needle-in-a-haystack instance of tumor in a case that’s otherwise benign,” David West, co-founder and CEO, told Yahoo Finance.

West says Proscia is trying to overcome some of the challenges that have plagued AI in a medical setting, namely allowing an unintentional bias to creep into the AI as a result of training data that is too limited in scope.

“It’s where AI has always failed,” said West. “The scientific community and industry is just now beginning to think about the scalability challenges. So that’s where we’ve focused almost all of our work.”

If Proscia is successful, it could help pave the way for more efficient and accurate medical results.

January 14, 2020
Scientists Warn 5G May Pose Serious Health Risks

There have been several attempts to reassure the public that 5G is safe, with Australian telcos and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) weighing in most recently. With the 5G market starting to take off, not to mention the revolutionary potential the technology promises, it’s understandable why everyone wants to believe it is safe.

In spite of that, Joel M. Moskowitz, PhD, director of the Center for Family and Community Health in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, has written an op-ed in Scientific American to make the case that there is no reason to believe 5G is safe.

Moskowitz begins by saying, “we believe it is our ethical responsibility to inform the public about what the peer-reviewed scientific literature tells us about the health risks from wireless radiation.”

After highlighting the FCC’s recent decision not to change the cellular safety standards that were established back in the 1990s, Moskowitz continues:

“Yet, since the FCC adopted these limits based largely on research from the 1980s, the preponderance of peer-reviewed research, more than 500 studies, have found harmful biologic or health effects from exposure to RFR at intensities too low to cause significant heating.

“Citing this large body of research, more than 240 scientists who have published peer-reviewed research on the biologic and health effects of nonionizing electromagnetic fields (EMF) signed the International EMF Scientist Appeal, which calls for stronger exposure limits. The appeal makes the following assertions:

“‘Numerous recent scientific publications have shown that EMF affects living organisms at levels well below most international and national guidelines. Effects include increased cancer risk, cellular stress, increase in harmful free radicals, genetic damages, structural and functional changes of the reproductive system, learning and memory deficits, neurological disorders, and negative impacts on general well-being in humans. Damage goes well beyond the human race, as there is growing evidence of harmful effects to both plant and animal life.’”

Moskowitz then goes on to discuss the specific dangers of 5G, especially the millimeter wave (mmWave) variety that provides the revolutionary speed 5G promises. Because of its extremely short range, mmWave requires base stations, repeaters and cell antennas to be placed every couple of hundred meters apart, at the farthest. This results in a much greater saturation of electromagnetic fields (EMF) and radiation as previous generations of wireless technology.

Moskowitz ends his op-ed by suggesting that the only safe way to proceed is to “support the recommendations of the 250 scientists and medical doctors who signed the 5G Appeal that calls for an immediate moratorium on the deployment of 5G and demand that our government fund the research needed to adopt biologically based exposure limits that protect our health and safety.”

This is similar to the stand a number of Swiss cantons have taken, calling for a halt on 5G deployments until further research can be done.

December 17, 2019
FCC Votes Against Changing Cell Phone Safety Rules; No Evidence of 5G Health Risks

With all four of the major U.S. carriers rolling out some form of 5G, there have been widespread concerns about potential health risks, especially regarding the millimeter wave (mmWave) variety.

Because mmWave has limited range, base stations and repeaters must be placed every couple to few hundred yards apart, blanketing areas with 5G signal and radio frequency (RF) emissions. Physicians, consumer groups and governments around the world have expressed concern, with some jurisdictions even putting a hold on further deployment until more research can be done.

In a recent report by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), however, the body voted unanimously not to make changes to the guidelines governing wireless safety, believing the current standards are sufficient.

“After reviewing the extensive record submitted in response to that inquiry, we find no appropriate basis for and thus decline to propose amendments to our existing limits at this time” the report reads. “We take to heart the findings of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), an expert agency regarding the health impacts of consumer products, that ‘[t]he weight of scientific evidence has not linked cell phones with any health problems.’ Despite requests from some to increase and others to decrease the existing limits, we believe they reflect the best available information concerning safe levels of RF exposure for workers and members of the general public, including inputs from our sister federal agencies charged with regulating safety and health and from well- established international standards.”

The FCC’s findings echo those by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA). According to ZDNet, Nathan Wahl, ARPANSA government international relations assistant director, told the Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts: “Our assessment of 5G is that it is safe.”

December 7, 2019
Nines Radiology Aims to Upend Radiology Using AI, Scores $16.5 Million In Funding

Nines Radiology has raised $16.5 million in Series A funding, according to a company press release.

Nines Radiology was founded in 2017 by self-driving-car pioneer David Stavens and NYC radiologist Dr. Alexander Kagen. The unlikely partnership aims to use technology, specifically artificial intelligence (AI), to revolutionize how radiologists interact with patients. In the company’s press release detailing a successful round of funding, the company also unveiled their mission.

“We have a fundamental belief that radiology reimagined with modern data science can significantly improve the lives of patients and clinicians alike,” said co-founder and CEO David Stavens. “We’re working to pioneer new approaches and innovations from clinical care, engineering and data science. Radiologists at Nines are care providers, innovators, builders, and thought leaders. Our radiologists provide the best patient care, while also working with our engineers to build the future.”

The company is betting on the ability of technology and AI to help cut through the complexity modern radiologists face on a day-to-day basis.

“Radiology exams are becoming ever more detailed and complex with advancements in imaging technology, which in turn increases the workload on radiologists,” said Dr. Kagen, who will serve as Chief Medical Officer for Nines in addition to his role at Mount Sinai. “Radiologists need to be at the forefront of reimagining the future of medicine. Nines is a place where radiologists are empowered to build technology that unlocks the next level of patient care.

“The right solution for radiologists is the one that results in the right interpretation. We are combining technology and clinical expertise to help radiologists intelligently prioritize their ever-growing imaging worklists. Nines is designed to help radiologists adapt and build toward a near-term future where technology plays an increasingly larger role in improving patient outcomes.”

Nines Radiology is yet another example of AI and machine learning being used to improve and revolutionize industries.

November 29, 2019
Secret Google Program Amasses Treasure Trove of Patient Health Data

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a secret Google program is collecting health data on millions of Americans—without patients or doctors knowing about it.

The program, dubbed “Project Nightingale,” began last year with “St. Louis-based Ascension, a Catholic chain of 2,600 hospitals, doctors’ offices and other facilities.” The partnership provides Google with information for patients in 21 different states.

The collected data includes “lab results, doctor diagnoses and hospitalization records, among other categories, and amounts to a complete health history, including patient names and dates of birth.”

Google is evidently using the data to design machine learning and AI-based software to help tailor patients’ treatment, recommending specific changes based on their history. Underscoring the focus the company is placing on this, some Google Brain employees are among those who have access. Google Brain is a research science division that has been responsible from some of the company’s most important breakthroughs.

Surprisingly, despite the volume and depth of data being collected, privacy experts say it’s likely legal. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 gives hospitals the right to share data with their business partners, so long as the data is “only to help the covered entity carry out its health care functions.” The law also allows hospitals to share the data without telling patients.

Following the WSJ’s report on the program, Google and Ascension issued press releases stating that the program falls within federal guidelines and includes robust data protections. The fact that both companies issued press releases, however, may indicate they fear potential backlash in a climate where consumers are more concerned than ever with their privacy.

November 12, 2019
OpenAI & Microsoft To Build AI That Will Change The World

“We’re working together with Microsoft to build next-generation supercomputers,” says OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman. “The real goal of OpenAI and what we’re trying to accomplish is to build what we call artificial general intelligence. They’re trying to build a computer system that is as capable as a human at being able to master a domain of study and being able to master more fields of study than any one human can. We think whoever builds artificial general intelligence will be the number one most valuable company in the world by a huge margin.”

Greg Brockman, OpenAI co-founder and chairman, discusses Microsoft’s $1 billion investment in OpenAI and how whoever invents artificial general intelligence first will become the most valuable company in the world. Brockman was interviewed by Bloomberg Technology:

OpenAI Working With Microsoft To Build AI That Will Change The World

We’re working together with Microsoft to build next-generation supercomputers. The real goal of OpenAI and what we’re trying to accomplish is to build what we call artificial general intelligence. They’re trying to build a computer system that is as capable as a human at being able to master a domain of study and being able to master more fields of study than any one human can. If we succeed the kind of thing that we want to be able to do is, for example, build a computer system that can solve medicine better than humans can. If you think about how humans solve medicine today we do it by increased specialization.

I have a friend who’s going through medical procedures right now where he talks to a first doctor who does an ultrasound but can’t read it so he has to go to a different doctor who doesn’t really have context as to what’s going on. This is not a problem that we can solve by increasing the amount of knowledge that humans have to learn. There’s only so much we can fit in our minds. What we really need are tools that are capable of helping us solve these problems. That’s the kind of thing that we want to apply general intelligence to.

Our goal is to distribute the economic benefits of artificial general intelligence. You can imagine a general intelligence system that can generate huge amounts of value. If you look at the top ten most valuable companies in the world, seven of them are technology companies. We think whoever builds artificial general intelligence will be the number one by a huge margin. It’s really important that those benefits go to everyone rather than being locked up in one place.

Building Powerful Safe and Secure AI Technology

There’s a second part which is it’s really important that you keep these systems safe and secure and that you build them with ethics in the forefront. That’s something that both we and Microsoft are very aligned on doing from the beginning. What it really boils down to is that AI technology is becoming very powerful. That means that there’s both these amazing benefits and these amazing applications. Imagine a personalized tutor that can really understand you that is available for free to every person on the planet. That’s the kind of thing we should be able to build with the kind of systems that we want to create.

You also have to ask the questions of what are the risks. How can they be misused? Today, we already see AI technology, for example, deepfakes, that already has bad implications in the world. How do we maximize those benefits and mitigate the downsides? That’s our goal. Our goal is to push the technology forward and make sure that we’re capturing those benefits while making sure everyone benefits from them. But we also want to make sure that we keep it safe and secure to mitigate the downsides.

AI Computational Power Growing 5 Times Faster Than Moore’s Law

The timelines (of where AI will take us) are always really hard to predict. One story I really like thinking about is just looking, for example, at previous technological innovations. In 1878, Thomas Edison announced that he was going to create the incandescent lamp and gas securities in England fell. So British Parliament put together a commission of distinguished experts who came out to Menlo Park. They checked everything out. They said this isn’t going to work and one year later he shipped. I think that we’re in a similar sort of place here where it’s hard to predict what the future will be like.

We’re in this exponential right now where the computational power that we’re using is growing five times faster than Moore’s Law. What we do know is every year we’re going to have unprecedented AI technologies. We’ve been doing that for seven years and OpenAI has been doing it for three. This year we have systems that can understand and generate text. I think five years from now we should expect that we will have systems that you can really have meaningful conversations with. I think that we should see within a bunch of different domains, a lot of systems that can work with humans to augment what they can do much further than anything we can imagine today.

OpenAI Working With Microsoft To Build AI That Will Change The World – OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman

September 6, 2019
Every Sector of the Economy is Going to Benefit From Robotics and AI

“We are on the cusp of ubiquitous automation,” says ROBO Global President William Studebaker. “We have an undeniable inflection point because of the performance capabilities of computing and the cost curve declining such that these now are technologies that used to be science fiction but now have actual use applications. Fast forward six years later and we are at a launching pad in terms of the economic activity that we’re seeing and the innovations. Every sector of the economy is going to benefit from robotics and AI.”

William Studebaker, President and Chief Investment Officer of ROBO Global, discusses how robotics and AI are at an inflection point where soon every sector of the economy is going to benefit in an interview on CNBC:

Every Sector of the Economy is Going to Benefit From Robotics and AI

We were fortunate six years ago to develop an index that tracks the growth in robotics and AI because we saw these technologies changing the way we live and work. We are on the cusp of ubiquitous automation. We have an undeniable inflection point because of the performance capabilities of computing and the cost curve declining such that these now are technologies that used to be science fiction but now have actual use applications. Fast forward six years later and we are at a launching pad in terms of the economic activity that we’re seeing and the innovations. It’s being spread out to all parts of the economy. Every sector of the economy is going to benefit from robotics and AI.

We try to identify the companies that we think have the highest revenue threshold that corresponds directly to selling the technologies. We’re looking for high revenue purity. We’re also looking for large technological mode around their business and we have an interesting lens to capture this. We actually have seven PhDs on our team. They’re really the who’s who in robotics and AI that have built technologies, built businesses, or academic researchers, etc. That gives us a great lens to see not what yesterday’s winners are but what the future winners are likely to be. That gives us an interesting lens.

A World of Prediction, Prevention, and Individualizing Medicine

The official fee is 95 basis points. We do rebate securities lending which is effectively their 25 basis points. So the actual costs are 70 basis point to investors. With a team of industry experts that we have tracking this, I think that we do a pretty good job. We are generally the Alpha that investors are looking for. The index is up a little over 20 percent year-to-date and the last three years is probably close to up 15 percent. We think the inflection is starting here and we’ve got years if not decades of growth ahead of us.

Healthcare is probably one of the most exciting areas for investors to think about. Why? We’re going to a world of prediction, prevention, and individualizing medicine. Effectively, we’re going to create much healthier livelihoods for us but more pulling longer longevity. We live in a world that’s been historically sick care. We deal with the problem after it happens. We’re now going to a world of prevention, prediction, and individualizing medicine. A lot of healthcare structures tend to focus on therapies. We’re actually focused much more on the prediction and the prevention; diagnosis, medical instruments, regenerative medicine, and prevention. These are the kinds of technologies that investors need to embrace when they’re thinking about healthcare.

Every Sector of the Economy is Going to Benefit From Robotics and AI, says ROBO Global President William Studebaker

July 9, 2019