A suite of blogs on the latest advancements in technology that are shaping the future. From artificial intelligence and wearables to nano-sensors, cutting-edge diagnostics and less discussed medical cases.
Yes, there could be many different scenarios; when vaccine supply is limited, vaccinate those at risk of death. BioNTech claims their vaccine efficacy is consistent across age groups, but we won't know for sure until large clinical trials are completed. Also, older people are less willing to be vaccinated earlier. More variables to include in the model...
Pfizer selected New Mexico, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Texas for their pilot delivery program "due to the states' immunization infrastructures, urban and rural variations, size and population diversity". First batches of vaccine will probably go to frontline medical workers first, followed by frail old people. a paper in Medrxiv favored "older first" model based on evolutionary game theory and mobility data, for largest decrease in mortality rates.
Connectivity-driven innovation is cheaper. Science is becoming harder and is getting less bang for its buck.
We saw great progress in AI over the past few years but even this has taken far more effort and money than building social networks. Perhaps connectivity-driven innovation could help to speed up applied science innovation if power of the crowd is more efficiently utilized?
Most (if not all) new medicines came out of basic research supported by the NIH. This research was tweaked and patented by companies who profit from selling the drugs. Is start-to-finish government drug pipeline a better solution? Perhaps, but current academic culture doesn't support it. It's not just about pouring more taxpayer money.
You are right, according to medical journal "The Lancet", 85% of (government-funded) research funding is “avoidably wasted across the entire biomedical research range (e.g., clinical, health services, and basic science)” Government-funded medical R&D (budget for the NIH: $34.4 billion for 2019) needs smarter spending.
Mind uploading predictions are fascinating (Edmond Hamilton, 1936; Isaac Asimov, 1956, 1957; Arthur C. Clarke, 1956; Bertil Mårtensson, 1968).
Also predictions about automating boring and mundane human tasks:
Waldemar Kaempffert, 1950: "When Jane Dobson cleans house she simply turns the hose on everything... After the water has run down a drain in the middle of the floor (later concealed by a rug of synthetic fiber) Jane turns on a blast of hot air and dries everything."
"With the advent of frozen foods in the shape of bricks, cooking as an art is only a memory in the minds of old-people. A few die-hards still broil a chicken or roast a leg of lamb, but <by using ingredients in frozen bricks> Jane Dobson can serve a steak in less than three minutes, and an elaborate multi-course meal never takes more than half an hour to prepare.
"discarded linens and underwear are recycled and turned into candy."
Isaac Asimov, 1964: "Gadgetry will continue to relieve mankind of tedious jobs. Kitchen units will be devised that will prepare 'automeals,' heating water and converting it to coffee; toasting bread; frying, poaching or scrambling eggs, grilling bacon, and so on."
It should be possible, but might take a lot of effort. Smell-detecting dogs are trained from birth to 18 months and it takes another 6 months to specialize them on specific scent like diabetes. Small rodents could be trained too. In Harry Potter, Ron carried one in his breast pocket.
The authors suggest to introduce an extra field in death certificates indicating if it was a medical error, but the responsible parties may not acknowledge mistakes for fear of malpractice suits.
I suppose applicants with faces judged as competent and dominant (and looking like Zuckerberg, etc) tend to come out on top after video pitches in startup incubator applications.
In TIOBE index of programming language popularity (based on web searches), Ruby is ranked 18th, down from 11th in April 2014. It fluctuates, but the trend is downward - 14th in November 2014, 13th in November 2013 and 11th in January 2013. Javascript is still rising.
Actually, life expectancy of world class aerobic athletes (unlike power (anaerobic) ones) is a little higher than average according to studies in US, Spain, Germany, Poland...
Could be a little lower than life expectancy of those involved in moderate aerobic activities though, I guess.
The effect depends on field signal characteristics (frequency, amplitude, wave shape), duration of exposure, genetics and metabolism. Some bacteria can be negatively affected even by 10 mT.
In clinical trials people were "safely" exposed to up to 3 T.
Besides, Comprehensive health records as well as yearly physicals are meaningless for healthy people.
I also found that people don't trust paid services either, when it comes to their health (at least when provided by companies other than their health provider)
I like the idea behind Zenobase.
Aurametrix explored relationships between many different sources of data that could be related to health. It is not public now, but would be happy to share the insights.