As a follow up to a previous post, Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) have set a new Internet2 land speed record using the next-generation Internet protocol IPv6. The team transferred one terabyte of data across 10,037 kilometers in less than one hour, from Sunnyvale, California, to Geneva, Switzerland. This corresponds to a sustained TCP rate of 2.38 gigabits per second for more than one hour. This is equivalent to transferring a full CD in 5.6 seconds.
Having multi-gigabit-per-second end-to-end networks can lead to new research and business models such as the formation of "virtual organizations" on a planetary scale. As speed and sustained throughput increase, people can begin sharing their collective computing and data resources. In particular, this is vital for projects on the frontiers of science and engineering, projects such as particle physics, astronomy, bioinformatics, global climate modeling, and seismology.
And of course, the entertainment industry will certainly be interested in helping to push this technology forward.
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So what happens when we apply creativity + technology to health and healthcare?
It can best be described as "Tedmed" a conference that recently took place in Philadelphia. In the words of Richard Saul Wurman the conference founder, "people know more about their cars than their bodies. I also believe they spend more effort studying all the details (hotels, flights, museums, restaurants, etc.) to plan for their vacations than they do to understand their own bodies, and the options and alternatives of healthcare, including testing, diets, exercise programs, and multiple treatment and surgery specifics. I see the growth of huge new business opportunities to help people understand their bodies better than ever before possible with the combined efforts of scientific and medical researchers, engineers, and information architects. Knowing all we can about our bodies is necessary to enhance our greatest journey, that of designing our lives. "
This 3 day conference which has become a braintrust of imagination applied to medical technology has brought together such world class 'thought leaders' as Marvin Minsky (MIT), Walt Mossberg (WSJ), Kary Mullis (Nobel Laureate), Steve Case (Founder of AOL), Oliver Sachs (Neurologist) and many more scientists, business executives, artists, and musicians.
As described in a New York Times article, "Richard Saul Wurman's personal medical data was discussed and dissected, portrayed in multicolored graphs and 3-D images before an audience... The data did not come from any standard physical exam. Its sources included an analysis of Wurman's genetic profile, an armband that monitored his physical activity, a "life shirt" that recorded his stress level, and a full-body scan taken last month." People want to know," Wurman's refrain went, and one of the main themes of the four-day gathering that he organized focused on exactly that: With the aid of a growing number of technological tools, people can now know far more than ever before about the state of their health."
Stephen Case, the founder of America Online, remarked about Tedmed, "I have the same instinct I had when I got involved with the Internet world 25 years ago, which is that something is bubbling. And it's pretty darn interesting."
In a recent Forbes article, Wurman pointed out, "It's a missing multibillion dollar industry," He figures that he's a good person to remedy the situation. "My only business is making what interests me understandable. Other people sell their expertise. I sell my lack of expertise. I take information from the undecipherable to the decipherable category."
In the very near future, he predicts, all your past blood tests and other medical data will be stored in a handheld gadget, allowing you or your doctor to access them at a moment's notice and spot early signs of disease. When you get sick, you will simply enter your symptoms and test results into a laptop and get a customized survey of treatment options, with listings of good doctors who can perform the treatment.
A number of these technologies were demonstrated and discussed including a SenseWear wearable body monitor that enables accurate, wireless, free-living data collection. Worn on the back of the upper arm, it utilizes a unique combination of sensors that continuously gather the following data: movement, heat flow, skin temperature, ambient temperature, and galvanic skin response.
With this level of interest and cast of characters, Tedmed will be a conference that can change our approach to medicine and health.
History of Tedmed.
The promise of a really fast Internet is becoming a reality. Imagine being able to download a entire movie in 5 seconds. Researchers at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, have developed a system called Fast TCP. In the current New Scientist, the technology of 'Fast TCP' is described. Essentially, fast TCP uses the same packet sizes as regular TCP, (approximately 1500 bytes) the hardware that carries messages around the net will still work. The difference is that the software and hardware on the sending computer will continually measures the time it takes for sent packets to arrive, and how long acknowledgements take to come back. This reveals if there are any delays on the line, giving early warnings of likely packet losses. The Fast TCP software uses this to predict the highest data rate the connection can support without losing data.
Since the packets are the same size as those used in TCP, none of the equipment along the internet itself will have to be modified, and no new hardware will be needed on computers receiving the data.
"The first practical test of Fast TCP took place in November at a supercomputing conference. Researchers from Caltech, Stanford and CERN near Geneva in Switzerland, sent data 10,000 kilometres from Sunnyvale, California, to CERN at an average rate of 925 megabits per second. Ordinary TCP managed just 266 megabits per second on the same routes.
By ganging 10 Fast TCP systems together, the researchers have achieved transmission speeds of over 8.6 gigabits per second, which is more than 6000 times the capacity of ordinary broadband links."