Lifeboat Foundation

Now you can turn your smartphone into an eye doctor.

Well before the family came in to the Batson Children’s Specialty Clinic in Jackson, Mississippi, they knew something was wrong. Their child was born with multiple birth defects, and didn’t look like any of its kin. A couple of tests for genetic syndromes came back negative, but Omar Abdul-Rahman, Chief of Medical Genetics at the University of Mississippi, had a strong hunch that the child had Mowat-Wilson syndrome, a rare disease associated with challenging life-long symptoms like speech impediments and seizures.

So he pulled out one of his most prized physicians’ tools: his cell phone.

Using an app called Face2Gene, Abdul-Rahman snapped a quick photo of the child’s face. Within a matter of seconds, the app generated a list of potential diagnoses — and corroborated his hunch. “Sure enough, Mowat-Wilson syndrome came up on the list,” Abdul-Rahman recalls.

Continue reading “How machine learning Is revolutionizing the diagnosis of rare diseases” »

A new smartphone add-on has been demonstrated to detect cancer with 99% accuracy in the lab. The breakthrough could have significant implications for diagnostic capabilities in remote areas or when limited medical services are available.

Very cool; I do look forward to see where we land in the next 5 years on mobile imaging systems.

Years ago I remember developing software for a mobile blood gas analyzer to help researchers and doctors in some of the world’s most remote locations. And, the technology then did improve survival rates for so many. And, I see advances like this one doing so much for many who do not have access or the luxury of centralize labs, or hospitals, etc.

Continue reading “Now You Can Make Movies of Living Cells With Your Smartphone!” »

CTO Clive Brown announces new Oxford Nanopore sequencing and library prep devices during his keynote address to the company’s user group conference

Stop the presses! Not something we call on a regular bases at FLG towers because, well, our work is largely digital. But when the latest news from Oxford Nanopore landed on our desks this afternoon, this old print journalism adage felt rather apt.

Your daily round-up of some of the other security stories in the news

Groupon grief – was it password reuse?

The Telegraph reports that crooks have hijacked a number of Groupon accounts and used them to purchase expensive items like games consoles, iPhones and holidays. Some victims have suffered thousands of pounds of losses.

Continue reading “News in brief: Groupon grief; Apple encryption delay; post-quantum crypto” »

A column on #transhumanism I did for Flaunt:

Are you ready for the future? A Transhumanist future in which everyone around you—friends, family, and neighbors—has dipped into the cybernetic punch bowl? This is a future of contact lenses that see in the dark, endoskeleton artificial limbs that lift a half-ton, and brain chip implants that read your thoughts and instantly communicate them to others. Sound crazy? Indeed, it does. Nevertheless, it’s coming soon. Very soon. In fact, much of the technology already exists. It’s being sold commercially at your local superstore or being tested in laboratories right now around the world.

We’ve all heard about driverless test cars on the roads and how doctors in France are replacing people’s hearts with permanent robotic ones, but did you know there’s already a multi-billion dollar market for brainwave-reading headsets? Using electroencephalography (EEG) sensors that pick up and monitor brain activity, NeuroSky’s MindWave can attach to Google Glass and allow you to take a picture and post it to Facebook and Twitter just by thinking about it. Other headsets allow you to play video games on your iPhone with only your thoughts as well. In fact, a few months ago, the first mind-to-mind communication took place. A researcher in India projected a thought to a colleague in France, and using their headsets, they understood each other. Telepathy went from science fiction to reality, just like that.

Continue reading “Flaunt Magazine” »

Tune In, Take Control.

With OV, your day becomes more productive, enjoyable, and just a whole lot easier. Use your voice to play a song, order groceries and check the news. Switch seamlessly between the best music and calls, voice commands and real world conversations, without missing a beat and without touching your phone.

Commentary: These envelope-pushing phones will move everyone forward, but it will be years before they’re fully embraced.