Big Data

Taken in aggregate, the billions of online searches we make every day say a lot about our most private thoughts and biases.

Science

I, Robot: Our Changing Relationship With Technology

5:00pm October 03, 2019

Do you ever catch yourself yelling at your Alexa? Or typing questions into Google that you would never ask aloud? This week, we explore our changing relationship with technology.

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UK Biobank has granted 10,000 qualified scientists access to its large database of genetic sequences and other medical data, but other organizations with databases have been far more restrictive in giving access.

How Should Scientists' Access To Health Databanks Be Managed?

11:16am September 06, 2019

by Richard Harris

Medical and genetic data from more than a million Americans are now in scientific databases. Some programs hoard the data, while others share widely with scientists, hoping to speed medical discovery.

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UK Biobank, based in Manchester, England, is the largest blood-based research project in the world. The research project will involve at least 500,000 people across the U.K., and follow their health for next 30 years or more, providing a resource for scie

UK Biobank Requires Earth's Geneticists To Cooperate, Not Compete

8:19am August 31, 2019

by Richard Harris

A project that shares medical information from 500,000 volunteers is driving innovative research around the world. The richness of the database means scientists are motivated to make it even better.

According to the law in most states, health care providers own patients' medical records. But federal privacy law governs how that information can be used. And whether or not you can profit from your own medical data is murky.

If Your Medical Information Becomes A Moneymaker, Could You Get A Cut?

6:49pm October 15, 2018

by Richard Harris

Sometimes discoveries derived from patients' medical data become the foundation of new profit-making companies. A fledgling industry wants to help patients get a cut of the cash.

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Medical imaging and personal health data are collected and used to develop a commercial products. Should patients have some say over this use?

Health & Safety

When Scientists Develop Products From Personal Medical Data, Who Gets To Profit?

6:18pm May 31, 2018

by Richard Harris

Data from patient medical records are being used to develop commercial products. What rights do we have over the use of our personal health information?

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Artist Laurie Frick uses data in her work.

Arts

An Artist Sees Data So Powerful It Can Help Us Pick Better Friends

9:44am February 26, 2018

by Laura Sydell

It can feel intrusive to have so much data collected about us, but Laurie Frick is optimistic about how big data will evolve. She says it could help us evaluate how we respond to other people.

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Adam Frank, who has been working with computational science since its initial stages, weighs in on the new threat of computational propaganda.

Science

Computational Propaganda: Bots, Targeting And The Future

3:19pm February 09, 2018

by Adam Frank

Computational propaganda was invented by people who realized the possibilities emerging from the intersection of new technologies and behaviors they create — and it's frightening, says Adam Frank.

Careful custody of blood tests and tissue samples is essential to the success of precision medicine.

Precision Medical Treatments Have A Quality Control Problem

11:55am December 29, 2017

by Richard Harris

The goal is to customize treatments for cancer and other diseases to a patient's own biology. But something as simple as failing to take care of tissue samples en route to the lab can derail that.

Network Theory has hundreds of applications, says physicist Adam Frank.

Science

The Big Idea Behind Big Data

11:02am November 17, 2017

by Adam Frank

As we find our way in a world shaped by Big Data, it's not the reams of information we gather but the networks they illuminate that's the newest addition to science's index of things, says Adam Frank.

Gentrification brings with it new restaurants, businesses and housing but often pushes out longtime residents.

What Does It Take To See Gentrification Before It Happens?

2:57pm August 29, 2017

by Adam Frank

The great hope of urban advocates is to democratize data, allowing residents to see more clearly how a neighborhood is changing — but knowledge of those changes may accelerate them, says Adam Frank.