Hot MedFax

Wouldn't it be great if, instead of having to go for a colonoscopy (and all that icky prep), you could just, well, breathe. A new device using people's breath is now diagnosing diseases from asthma to kidney and liver disease. According to a story at mdtmag.com, "The highly sensitive, low-power, low-cost infrared emitter developed by Cambridge CMOS Sensors (CCMOSS) is capable of identifying more than 35 biomarkers present in exhaled breath in concentrations as low as one part per million, and is being developed for use as a non-invasive medical testing device and other applications." In English this means you just breathe into a tube and software does all the rest.  Asthmatics (like me) emit higher than normal levels of nitric oxide (news to me!), while glucose can be a sign of kidney failure. Experts are coming up with new ways to do just about anything non-invasively.  A new test can tell whether you have or will develop Parkinson's simply by talking on th...

So they caught him. I, too, was glued to the TV Friday night and cheered out loud and even clapped when CNN said they got him, then ran down the hall to tell my husband, who was annoyed Bill O’Reilly wasn’t on. But then my joy turned to sadness and even sorrow, when photos showed the suspected bomber climbing out of the boat, all bloodied and diminished, defeated, despairing.  It’s all over, for him. I read everything I could get my hands on, how he idolized his older brother and “followed him like a puppy,” as one paper reported it; was happy-go-lucky and a partier, as high school friends described him.  But what I really wanted to know was why someone, anyone, would do something like this. I guess it’s as useless – and pointless – as wondering why Adam Lanza shot up an elementary school.  As an old reporter friend at this very paper told me years ago, “You’re not a murderer, so you don’t think like one.” What was more disturbing, though, was th...

Under the category of hard to believe -- and harder to take -- comes a story in The New York Times today that says that computers are now grading essays, and if you get a bad grade, they'll help you do it again and get a better one. Now, this is certainly not for me!  As someone who can hardly bear an editor's comments, I don't know how I'd feel about having a computer judge my writing. It's not just computer software that crunches numbers, its stuff that uses artificial intelligence.  But  I still fail to see how a computer can remotely judge writing, and, even more important, foster creativity. Some if I like, like being able to just push send and your essay goes to the computer.  The really weird thing is that your grade comes back almost immediately, along with help to make the next draft better.  Only, it wasn't a draft.  It was your final effort. But anyway. . . John Markoff notes that computers have been used for some time to grade...