Another Angle on Social Medicine
Ok, I’m not talking about social medicine in the sense that it has been so hotly debated in the U.S. over the past several months. But medicine, as practiced with information coming from people engaged in social endeavors — social networking.
Earlier this month, the journal Lancet Neurology published a study showing that the generic drug lithium did nothing to slow the course of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a devastating neurological disease. The findings would likely have been a disappointment to patients–they refuted an earlier, much smaller study suggesting that lithium could alter the disease’s rapid decline–but many already suspected this outcome. Eighteen months earlier, PatientsLikeMe, a for-profit patient networking site and data aggregator based in Cambridge, MA, had come to a similar conclusion, much more quickly and at much less cost. ((Singer, Emily. “Patients.” Technology Review (2010): n. pag. Web. 15 May 2010. <http://bit.ly/b7Gv20>.))
This is similar to the Google project that predicts flu outbreaks based on people searching for “flue symptoms” and their geographic locations.
This is a pretty cool demonstration of a useful and intuitive way to display and walk through multi-faceted databases. Here’s some explanation from the "Well Formed Data" blog.
Scientists often become immersed in their data, and sometimes even lost. The AlloSphere, a unique virtual reality environment at the University of California, Santa Barbara, makes this easier by turning large data sets into immersive experiences of sight and sound. Inside its three-story metal sphere researchers can interpret and interact with their data in new and intriguing ways, including watching electrons spin from inside an atom or “flying” through an MRI scan of a patient’s brain as blood density levels play as music.
Wikitude’s AR app combines Wikipedia (Wikipedia) and geotagged information from its users and places it in your hands. But while it’s been on Android (Android) for some time, it hasn’t been on the iPhone. That’s because has Apple has only recently begun to accept AR on the iPhone, inadvertently starting with Yelp’s easter egg. 
