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Google's AR Microscope Quickly Highlights Cancer Cells (uploadvr.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the search-and-destroy dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from UploadVR: Google Research this week revealed an AR microscope (ARM) capable of detecting cancerous cells in real-time with the help of machine learning. Locating cancer with a standard microscope is a difficult and time-consuming process, with a raft of information for doctors to study and investigate. With this new solution, though, the microscope is able to quickly locate cancerous cells and then highlight them as a doctor peers inside. The platform uses a modified light microscope integrated with image analysis and machine learning algorithms into its field of view. An AR display sits above a camera that communicates with the algorithm to display data as soon as it locates an issue. In order words, the microscope immediately begins looking for cancerous cells as soon as you place a sample beneath it. It's effectively doing the same job as a doctor just, according to Google, a lot faster. Google posted a video about the AR microscope on YouTube.

2 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. Don't let your kids be doctors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    honestly, much of what doctors do can be automated with machine learning. It's a broad subject with shallow depth. Machines are pretty good at taking care of living things, it turns out. This is a welcome solution to the "doctor shortage" in the USA.

    1. Re:Don't let your kids be doctors by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Interesting

      the stark worldwide need for physicians

      Actually, it is mostly an American problem. In Europe and Asia, nurses and pharmacists are much more empowered, and doctors are considered normal mortals rather than infallible demigods like they are in America.

      I once got sick while attending the Hannover Messe in Germany, and went to a clinic. I walked in the door, was greeted by a nurse, who measured my temperature, took a look at my throat, asked me a few questions, handed me a bottle of medicated syrup, and sent me back to my hotel. Total elapsed time: 5 minutes. Total out-of-pocket cost: $0. That would be unimaginable in America, and is why America's healthcare costs are so high.

      They system in China is similar. Every hospital or clinic has a screening/triage nurse at a desk by the front door. Most routine cases are handled there, and never even make it to the admissions desk. I once took my daughter to a clinic for an impacted tooth (dentistry and medicine are not separated in China like they are in America). Her baby tooth had not come out, and the adult tooth was erupting through the side of her gum. The screening nurse took a quick look, pulled some pliers out of a drawer and yanked out the baby tooth. She then gave my daughter some gauze to bite down on, and gave me a quick lecture about not letting her drink so much milk, which in her opinion caused my daughter's teeth to grow too quickly. The problem was solved. Total cost: $0.

      ... and yes, lawyers.

      This is a mostly American problem as well.