Contents
- Topic of the week: how AI will change medicine
- Article of the Week: Why there are so many Korean esports players in the world
- Week number
- Technology of the week: AI is looking for new nutrients
- Idea of the week: a robot with two hemispheres of the “brain”
- One line
- Event of the week
- What to listen
- What to see
Digital algorithms are transforming medicine, in South Korea, cybersportsmen do not become from a good life, and American scientists have made a robot with two hemispheres
Topic of the week: how AI will change medicine
Digital algorithms are transforming all spheres of public life, including medicine. According to a survey by consulting firm Software Advice, 97% of people dislike waiting for an appointment at the hospital. Often this is due to the fact that doctors or patients themselves do not allocate time incorrectly. Artificial intelligence will optimize the schedule and cope with queues in medical institutions. In addition, digital algorithms will be able to analyze the workload of hospitals and redirect patients to free doctors.
Using AI, researchers will be able to create new medicines faster. For example, in 2015, the American biotech startup Atomwise used neural networks to identify two potential cures for Ebola in just one day. Digital algorithms are better than humans at finding patterns in large datasets, providing doctors with effective solutions for the early diagnosis of dangerous diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases. All this will make medicines more affordable, as well as save more lives.
Neural networks will benefit not only patients, but also hospital staff. Automation will reduce paperwork and allow doctors to spend more time with patients. In addition, digital algorithms will learn to recognize when patients really need help and call the doctor on time. This will reduce the number of false calls, and doctors and nurses will focus on the most dangerous cases and will not miss messages about them.
Despite the fact that artificial intelligence performs many tasks better than humans, it will not be able to completely replace doctors. The doctor not only diagnoses the disease and prescribes the right dose of the drug, but also communicates with the patient. Proper communication is a guarantee that the patient will recover sooner and not refuse treatment. In addition, robots and AI do not know how to quickly respond to unexpected changes in the patient’s condition. At such moments, more than ever, the experience of a doctor is needed.
Article of the Week: Why there are so many Korean esports players in the world
Professional players from South Korea often win team competitions and are considered among the best gamers in the world. An interesting pattern is that most Korean esports players are the children of low-wage workers.
About 70% of South Koreans continue their studies at universities after school. However, the entrance exams are so difficult that they can only be passed after classes with tutors or after completing preparatory courses. But not all parents can pay for additional education, so children from poorer families often have a lot of free time in their senior classes and go to Internet cafes. The cost of renting a computer is low, only about $1 per hour. As a result, children from working families spend several hours a day playing video games. For them, this is an escape from everyday problems and one of the ways to climb higher on the social ladder.
Week number
From January to June 2020, the authorities sent to Yandex 15,4 тыс. queries to get user data. The company refused to provide information in 2,5 тыс. cases.
Source: Yandex
Technology of the week: AI is looking for new nutrients
Science still knows little about the health benefits of phytonutrients, the chemicals that plants produce. American startup Brightseed wants to make a difference with an AI-powered digital platform. A specially trained neural network looks for new substances and predicts how they will affect a person. So, AI has already found phytonutrients in black pepper that are useful in the treatment of metabolic diseases, including diabetes. After the digital algorithm finds the right substance, the company’s employees synthesize it in the laboratory and develop medicines based on it. It is expected that their clinical trials could begin as early as 2021. Brightseed works with research institutes and agricultural and food companies such as Danone’s North America division.
Idea of the week: a robot with two hemispheres of the “brain”
One of the problems that roboticists are constantly solving is how to make machines more powerful, but at the same time using less energy. To cope with this problem, scientists from the University of Southern California proposed to make the “brain” of the robot look like a human and divide all the electronics into two groups – “hemispheres”. One of them is responsible for vision and hearing, and the second controls the movement of the car. A hybrid system will help implement the idea, which includes analog and digital microcircuits, as well as memristors – resistors that change their resistance depending on which charge has passed through them before. Thanks to the new solution, the robot has learned to process several data streams at once, which are necessary for movement and balance. The whole process takes only 6 microseconds – 500 times less time than before.
One line
- Facebook users will be able to play cloud video games without leaving the social network.
- American startup MeliBio produces honey without bees.
- The German Antimonopoly Service launched an investigation into Amazon.
- Waymo and Daimler will jointly develop self-driving trucks.
- RSC Energia has patented a quadrocopter that can be charged from space.
- Panasonic is developing a new battery for Tesla vehicles.
- Microsoft reported a cyberattack by Iranian hackers on its users.
Event of the week
The International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) is held annually in late October in Las Vegas, but due to the pandemic it was moved online. After registering on the site, you can get free access to video lectures and master classes by researchers and employees of technology companies. All materials will be available until the end of November 2020.
What to listen
Release of the Gadget Lab podcast, in which Wired journalists talk about the antitrust investigation against Google Corporation. They discuss how the process can end, and how it will change the work of Internet search engines, as well as Android and iOS operating systems.
What to see
The short film “Solicitors” written by the GPT-3 neural network. A man comes to visit a woman and tells her about the accident that happened to him. At the end of the audience, an unexpected twist awaits.
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