Today: making radiology faster, more accurate, and more affordable for Australia and the world.
A deal signed today means a ‘deep learning system’ will soon help Australian radiologists to find cancers and breaks that are often missed, and to ignore lumps that don’t matter. Then it will bring modern medical diagnostics to developing countries where radiologists are in short supply.
In a global first, Melbourne headquartered radiology business Capitol Health announced this morning that it will implement the machine-learning system developed by Melbourne and Silicon Valley tech guru Jeremy Howard through his latest start-up business Enlitic. More below.
Next week: building liveable cities with data.
UK urban science guru Mike Batty will be in Australia talking about using big data to improve the London Tube, how it helped with the 2012 Olympic Games, and how it is being used to help London prepare for sea level rise.
It’s all about using the data generated by the tech embedded in our day-to-day lives, such as smartphones and transport ticketing systems, to help shape cities. He will have limited availability for media interviews next Wednesday to Friday. More below.
Science back in the news
It was great to see that the announcement of the new Chief Scientist was so newsworthy that the Herald Sun gave it the exclusive treatment.
Neuroscientist, engineer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, publisher, former Chancellor of Monash University, and just a nice guy, Dr Alan Finkel AO will be our new Chief Scientist.
The new Chief Scientist is also a magazine publisher—the cofounder of Cosmos magazine—and a patron of the Australian Science Media Centre.
The washing will take longer to dry in a warming world
That’s the counterintuitive implications of Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science winner Graham Farquhar. He has shown that wind speeds are slowing and so is evaporation. What does it mean?
There are several great backstories to explore in last week’s Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science. This is just one. More on the winners below.
On the horizon
In two weeks the winner of the CSL Florey Medal will be announced at a gala dinner at Parliament House. The Florey Medal is a life achievement award, given biennially—along with a $50,000 cash prize—to a top Australian biomedical researcher. Can’t say more now, but the winner is someone who has changed paradigms and has a cracking new project to announce. Call me for a heads-up on embargo.
Kind regards,
Niall
Computers learning to find Australian cancers and broken bones that people miss
Making radiology faster, more accurate, and more affordable for Australia and the world
A deal signed today means a ‘deep learning system’ will soon help Australian radiologists to find cancers and breaks that are often missed, and to ignore lumps that don’t matter. Then it will bring modern medical diagnostics to developing countries where radiologists are in short supply. In a global first, Melbourne-headquartered radiology business Capitol Health announced this morning that it will implement the machine-learning system developed by Silicon Valley start-up Enlitic.
Founded by Melbourne serial entrepreneur Jeremy Howard, Enlitic has created computer learning systems that can take millions of scans, tests and medical records and learn from them to help doctors rapidly diagnose problems.
“This is the beginning of a transformation of global health services,” says Jeremy.
Radiologists view hundreds of X-rays and other medical images every week looking for the unusual. Sometimes they’re looking for something they’ve never actually seen before. Sometimes they’re looking at something that’s just four pixels in a two-million-pixel image.
“The new system will learn from a million scans held by Capitol.
“And it will keep learning from every ultrasound, CT, MRI, PET, and X-ray we perform,” says Capitol Managing Director John Conidi.
“Within a year this system will be implemented across our clinics. Our radiologists will be able to work faster, provide more accurate results and save more lives. Many unnecessary, expensive and dangerous procedures will be avoided,” he says.
“This system will transform Western healthcare,” says Jeremy Howard. “The more data and computing time it gets, the more it learns and the more accurate it becomes. Eventually it will handle lab tests, patient histories, and genomic information. It will take much of the guess work out of medicine.
“In developing countries our impact will be even more profound. Most medical images are never seen by a doctor. Our system will enable a remote health worker to do an ultrascan and get a result in minutes.”
Media Contact for Capitol Health Limited:
- John Conidi, Managing Director, Capitol Health Limited, +61 3 9348 3333, investors@capitolhealth.com.au
Media Contact for Enlitic:
- Jeremy Howard, Founder and CEO, Enlitic, press@enlitic.com
- Mark de la Vina, Consort Partners, +1 415-282-4795
More at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/media-releases/enlitic
‘Future cities: the good, the bad and the ugly’ – big data and urban planning guru in Australia
- How might urban models, smart cities and big data shape our future cities?
- How is big data being used to improve the London Tube system?
- How useful was modern urban modelling in predicting the impacts of a big infrastructure project like the 2012 Olympic Games?
- And how might this approach help London and the Thames Gateway prepare for the climate change adaptation challenges of sea level rise?
World-renowned British urban planner and geographer Professor Mike Batty—winner of the prestigious Vautrin Lud Prize—will deliver the AURIN Lecture ‘Future cities: the good, the bad and the ugly’ on Friday 6 November in Melbourne. He will be joined by a panel of Australian experts to discuss how big data and decision science can predict and shape Australia’s changing cities.
This is a unique opportunity to hear from one of the world’s leading experts about how complex modelling tools and data—generated by the technology embedded in our day-to-day urban lives—makes scientific urban modelling both possible and incredibly useful.
Media contact:
Tanya Ha on tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or +61 404 083 863
Media overview: 2015 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science
The 2015 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science were announced last Wednesday at the Great Hall Parliament House. There was plenty of press coverage. But several of them have interesting backstories and would make great profiles and feature material.
The winners are:
- Graham Farquhar, feeding the world, and asking where the wind went, Prime Minister’s Prize for Science (ANU, Canberra)
- Graeme Jameson, how trillions of bubbles earned nearly $100 billion for Australia, inaugural Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation (The University of Newcastle)
- Cyrille Boyer, making polymers with light, Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year (UNSW)
- Jane Elith, where are the animals we want to conserve, and the invaders we want to control? Frank Fenner Prize for Life Scientist of the Year (The University of Melbourne)
- Ken Silburn, Sydney students jumping into science and space, Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools (Casula High School, SW Sydney)
- Rebecca Johnson, improved primary science teaching at no extra cost, Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools (Windaroo State School, Logan, Brisbane)
Full biographies, photos and videos are available here
Please use the official website link in reporting: http://science.gov.au/pmscienceprizes
Media contact:
Niall Byrne on niall@scienceinpublic.com.au or +61 417 131 977
More about Science in Public
We’re always happy to help put you in contact with scientists. Our work is funded by the science world – from the Prime Minister’s Science Prizes to Nature. We’re keen to suggest interesting people and stories – and not just those of our clients’.
If you’re looking for ideas or people for features we know hundreds of science prize winners past, present, and future and are always happy to chew the fat about the developing themes in Australian science.
Feel free to pass these stories along to colleagues. And between bulletins, you can follow me on Twitter (@scienceinpublic) for more science news and story tips.
Kind regards,
________
Niall Byrne
Creative Director
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