Wide Angle: Scientific Data Collection Goes Mobile

October 22, 2009

Nearly seven years of covering developments in global technology have taught me two things. First, I remain woefully, albeit sometimes blissfully, ignorant of all the great things that people are doing with technology across the globe. (That's OK, though, as I continue to find great stories to share.)And second, which kind of follows that: tech alone will not save the world, and its ridiculous to think that it will. You need people. Not just "idea" people who are trying to come up with the Next Big Thing that all of us will be willing to part with hundreds of dollars to buy. Instead, I'm talking  about people who find novel ways to take some tools that are already available, and make the most of them. People like David Aanensen, a Bioinfomatician in the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College in London. He and his team have created an app for the Google Android operating system called EpiCollect. The idea is elegantly simple: many scientists are out in the field gathering information on different infectious disease organisms worldwide. Much of that data ends up in databases at Imperial College. Geography is often of significance in comparing disease organisms across the planet. So, why not devise an open source smartphone app that allows the user in the field to enter relevent information directly into the phone, where it is automatically geo-tagged by the phone's on-board GPS? Then, when there is a strong mobile data signal, the information on phone will synch directly back to the main database back in the lab. Indeed, why not?

Listen in as David Aanensen describes what finally got them to start working on EpiCollect in earnest:

Download or listen to the David Aanensen podcast

Wide Angle: Geo-engineering and the Water Cycle

October 09, 2009

When Mt. Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines in 1991, the resulting effect on global climate was staggering. The eruption sent so many millions tons of debris and aerosols into the stratosphere that it, quite literally, blocked the sun. Despite the fact that greenhouse gas emissions continued their steady rise in the year that followed the eruption, the stratospheric debris from Pinatubo caused global temperatures to drop during that time by almost a degree. Scientists hoping to find geo-engineering solutions to cooling the earth took note. Would there be a way to mimic the Pinatubo eruption, without the destruction and sulfur dioxide, and block or reflect enough of the sunlight to stop the heating of the earth? Lots of ideas have been floated, ranging from satellites that deploy giant parasol-like fans, to simply painting roofs a more reflective white. You can read a couple of posts from our friends at Treehugger to find out more: here and here. Here's the thing, though. You can't dramatically tinker with a complex system and not expect the unexpected. In the year after the Pinatubo eruption, scientists noted interesting, and potentially devastating, effects on the water cycle in certain parts of the world. And that's led some scientists to ask just exactly what effects large-scale bio-engineering might have on the earth's water cycle. Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist with the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology on the Stanford University campus, is running some modeling tests to try the answer those questions about geo-engineering and the water cycle. I caught up with him for this week's podcast, and he started by giving a bit more background on what happened to the Ganges River in India after the Pinatubo eruption:

(Photo by USGS)

Wide Angle: High-Speed (and Really Not So High-Speed) Rail

September 11, 2009

One of the joys of working the tech angles on an international news program is that it can really help keep things in perspective. For example, I was putting together the latest episode of my weekly technology podcast for PRI's The World this morning. It dovetails nicely with Discovery's Wide Angle on High-Speed Rail. We've been looking for ways to cover the Obama Administration's plan to use eight billion dollars in stimulus money to start building out a high-speed rail system for the United States (you can read details here, and see a map here). Naturally, there are plenty of international models out there that the United States could look to. There's Japan and the shinkansen, and of course European countries have built out extensive systems. We ended up looking into the European angle, with a report from France. So, naturally I'd give you a picture like this, of France's high-speed TGV.

But the whole discussion of high-tech, high-speed trains put me in mind of a piece I ran on the tech podcast a couple of years ago. I vaguely remembered it -- something about Cambodians constructing their own railway. I went back and looked it up: Battambang's Bamboo Railway. I always find it helpful to keep stories like this in mind when we're spending lots of time, energy and pixels on high-speed rail. By Cambodia's standards, even the Amtrak regional trains would be wicked fast. Here's a video I found of the bamboo railway:

Here's the first part of this week's podcast. Compare and contrast for yourself. You can download it, or listen on the player right here:

Wide Angle: 3D Electronic Health Records in Denmark

September 02, 2009

Electronic health records don't have to be just flickering screens with boring data entry boxes. In fact, IBM has partnered with Thy-Mors Hospital in Denmark to trial something called VPR, visual patient records. I could waffle on with a description of what this three dimensional record system looks like, but it would be much better, and easier, if you see it in action:

So, in contrast to last week's look at e-health records for the developing world, this week, we're bringing you more about this "avatar"-based record system in Denmark. I spoke with Kurt Nielsen, an executive at the Thy-Mors Hospital in Denmark. Nielsen told me that the hospital has been using some form of electronic records at the hospital for a decade now, making it "a bit of a leader" in this regard in Denmark. He also mentioned that the Danish government has made the roll-out of electronic records a priority, and is working to combine all the different e-record systems together into a national system.

But, to start, Nielsen told me more about VPR and the partnership with IBM:

Wide Angle: Open Source Electronic Medical Records for the Developing World

August 25, 2009

What a great opportunity this week to revisit a story I did a while back. Discovery Tech is delving into electronic health records, and the focus so far seems to be on the developed world. Well, as these coders at right could tell you, electronic health records may have even more impact on health in the developing world. These guys devote their time and skills to building out an open source, electronic medical record system called OpenMRS. The project has countless contributors, but the two main forces behind it are Partners in Health, and the Regenstrief Institute. Together, they make OpenMRS available, for free, via the Internet. Anyone around the world can download it, and begin to use it in their local hospital or clinic. Those local folks can also, in the true open source ethos, modify the program, and share those modifications with the rest of the community. When I reported on them last fall, OpenMRS was going strong, with users in Haiti, Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda.

So, I offer not one, but two audio podcasts for you. The first is for those of you who want a quick fix only. Here's the radio version of my piece on OpenMRS:

And if that piqued your interest, here's a longer version of my interview with Paul Biondich from Regenstrief and Hamish Fraser of Partners in Health. It begins with Paul Biondich giving a bit more background about how OpenMRS got its start:

(Photo by Clark Boyd)

Wide Angle: Retinal Implants to Battle Diabetic Retinopathy

August 18, 2009

Granted, the title of this post is truly a mouthful. But, stick with me here, because this podcast will introduce you to some very, very cool technology and some interesting scientific research. All you have to do, as they say, is keep your eye on the ball. Bad joke, sorry...not enough coffee yet this morning. Anyway, our current Wide Angle coverage is all about tissue engineering. My contribution is not quite engineering; perhaps better to call it a bit of re-engineering. The story starts with a somewhat chance meeting a decade ago between Elias Greenbaum, who is currently a Corporate Fellow at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and retinal surgeon Mark Humayun of The Doheny Eye Institute. Greenbaum's background is in the physics and chemistry of photosynthesis. Humayun was interested in developing retinal implants. However far apart those two areas of science sound, the two quickly realized there was overlap. A lot of overlap. Greenbaum studies how plant cells convert light energy into electrical energy. Humayun's work involved applying voltages and currents to the surviving retinal cells of blind people to see if it could stimulate macular regeneration. Together, they started work on developing retinal implants that would use photosynthetic style "reaction centers," instead of electrical current. That work continues.

But along the way, the team branched out a bit. They started to look circulatory complications that happen in diabetics. And that's where Greenbaum picks up the story in this Wide Angle podcast. Click here to download and take it with you, or simply listen using the player below.

(Eye schematic by Rhcastilhos via Wikimedia Commons)

Wide Angle: Jaws in 3-D

July 30, 2009

You may remember that back in the early 1980s, they did make a movie called JAWS-3D. A forgettable film, to say the least. But for our Wide Angle for Shark Week, they asked me to look into some very interesting shark research that's employing 3-D modeling to answer a basic question: just how nasty is the bite of a Great White? The short answer is "pretty nasty." I mean, I personally wouldn't want 1.8 tons of bite-force coming down on my leg, arm, or any other body part. But Dr. Steven Wroe, a research fellow at the University of New South Wales in Australia, and his team have published a paper  in the Journal of Zoology detailing a more nuanced view of the Great White's bite. Wroe studies bio-mechanics, and he finds the white "a fascinating animal" when it comes to the way those jaws, made from cartilage and not bone mind you, create the kind of force that strikes fear into the hearts of men and fish alike. I got Wroe on the line to talk a bit more about his research, and its possible implications, for my podcast this week. You can right click here to download it and take it with you, or listen right here via the player below.

I started by asking Dr. Wroe to give a little more detail on tools and methods he and his team use to measure the bite of a white shark:

Get more of the Wide Angle on sharks.

Ken Banks: Cell Phones on the Frontlines

June 25, 2009

I have to say, this Wide Angle assignment was a tough one. In my nearly 6 years of covering technology now, I have to say I've come across quite a few people who have very, very cool jobs. But few people with those cool jobs have the drive, energy and determination that the man at right does. This is Ken Banks, and his online home is kiwanja.net. The tagline for the site says it all: "where technology meets anthropology, conservation and the development." Ken is as close to a true "renaissance man" that I've come across in my forays into technology across the globe. His interests seem as wide and varied as his abilities. And the fact that he's managed to somehow combine those interests and abilities into a career is, even to this jaded journalist, inspiring.

Wide Angle: Extreme Close-Up On Mobile 3D TV

June 11, 2009

These glasses have been, of course, standard issue for any theater-goer wanting the full stereoscopic visual experience. In many ways, they're iconic, especially the cheap cardboard frame versions. But that's the beauty of the 3D cinema experience! Everyone's wearing silly-looking glasses, so you don't feel like a complete tool.

The question we're out to ask in this podcast, though, is this: can the 3D experience work on a mobile device?

Wide Angle: Wind Power for Antarctic Base Station

May 28, 2009

Wow. This is not your garden variety wind turbine installation, eh? This is Princess Elisabeth station in Antarctica. It's a Belgian research facility located "upon the Utsteinen nunatak in the Dronning Maud Land (East Antarctica)," according to the station website. Better yet, if you have Google Earth installed on your computer, you can fly right to it. Princess Elisabeth is designed to study the effects of climate change. Fittingly, it's also designed to be the first zero emission research station. Usually, diesel fuel is brought in to power generators for Antarctic stations. But not this one.