Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Blog – Page 2577

Paul Bunn, MD, University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, CO, discusses the survival rates of patients with stage IV lung cancer, which remain suboptimal. For patients who have a high PD-L1 tumor proportion score (TPS), approximately a third of patients survive 5 years after initial diagnosis, and further statistical analysis is required to assess whether co-morbidities contribute to patient mortality after the 5 year mark. Despite the lack of available therapies for patients with late stage lung cancer, Prof. Bunn highlights treatment options for early stage lung cancer including immunotherapy and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) for patients with driver mutations. This interview took place at the 2022 Targeted Therapies of Lung Cancer Meeting (TTLC 2022).

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To make its weather predictions, it analyzes 60 million daily observations from satellite, aircraft, and ground-based reports, using what we know about atmospheric physics to determine what the weather is likely to be like across the globe over the next 15 days.

This can literally save lives — if people know in advance that hurricanes or winter storms are heading their way, they can take action to prepare — but because the model is so complex, it must be run on a supercomputer over the course of several hours, which also makes it expensive.

The AIs: AI-based weather forecasting models are starting to catch up with traditional ones, like the European Model.

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Imagine that a soldier has a tiny computer device injected into their bloodstream that can be guided with a magnet to specific regions of their brain. With training, the soldier could then control weapon systems thousands of miles away using their thoughts alone. Embedding a similar type of computer in a soldier’s brain could suppress their fear and anxiety, allowing them to carry out combat missions more efficiently. Going one step further, a device equipped with an artificial intelligence system could directly control a soldier’s behavior by predicting what options they would choose in their current situation.

While these examples may sound like science fiction, the science to develop neurotechnologies like these is already in development. Brain-computer interfaces, or BCI, are technologies that decode and transmit brain signals to an external device to carry out a desired action. Basically, a user would only need to think about what they want to do, and a computer would do it for them.

BCIs are currently being tested in people with severe neuromuscular disorders to help them recover everyday functions like communication and mobility. For example, patients can turn on a light switch by visualizing the action and having a BCI decode their brain signals and transmit it to the switch. Likewise, patients can focus on specific letters, words or phrases on a computer screen that a BCI can move a cursor to select.

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