Fairness in Machine Learning

by Isabella Grabski figures by Nicholas Lue It’s no secret that bias is present everywhere in our society, from our educational institutions to the criminal justice system. The manifestation of this bias can be as seemingly trivial as the timing of a judge’s lunch break or, more often, as fraught as race or economic class. We tend to attribute such discrimination to our own internalized … Continue reading Fairness in Machine Learning

Health Data Privacy: Updating HIPAA to match today’s technology challenges

by Jordan Harrod figures by Dan Utter In the modern era, maintaining the privacy of your personal information has become more challenging than ever. Cyberattacks and social media have resulted in the average person sharing more information than ever before, in ways that they may not be aware of. One area of data privacy that isn’t discussed often, however, is health data. In the past, … Continue reading Health Data Privacy: Updating HIPAA to match today’s technology challenges

A Tall Order: Using Machine Learning to Predict Height from Genetic Variation

A machine learning algorithm trained using 500,000 genetic profiles can predict the height of an individual within about one inch based solely on their genes. Such an algorithm shows great promise for accurate risk assessment of complex diseases and identifying targets for therapy. However, further validation is required to evaluate how the tool will extend to more genetically diverse populations, and standardized methods for assessing genetic variation are necessary. Continue reading A Tall Order: Using Machine Learning to Predict Height from Genetic Variation

Computational Biomedicine: How data can revolutionize the patient experience

by Aparna Nathan Hospitals are churning out medical data at an unprecedented rate. 153 billion gigabytes of health care data were produced in 2013, and we’re expected to reach 2300 billion gigabytes per year by 2020. That’s almost 9 billion MacBooks’ worth of storage each year, not even counting the hundreds of thousands of genomes sequenced each year. It’s more than a human can process … Continue reading Computational Biomedicine: How data can revolutionize the patient experience

AI advises chemists on how to make complex molecules

What is the hardest thing you think scientists need to do in a lab? Organic chemistry may not be the first thing that comes to mind, but multi-step organic syntheses are easily ranked a top challenge, even among experienced chemists. Nevertheless, computer scientists surprised us again with artificial intelligence (AI) which, despite having less chemistry experience than the average high-schooler, could prescribe recipes with success. … Continue reading AI advises chemists on how to make complex molecules

Recommended For You: How machine learning helps you choose what to consume next

by Jennifer Wei figures by Jeep Veerasak Srisuknimit Ever wonder how music-streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora find songs that you like? Or how Facebook and Google find stories that are interesting to you? Many technology companies use machine learning algorithms to give personalized product suggestions; these algorithms can be found everywhere on the internet. One such algorithm may have even led you to … Continue reading Recommended For You: How machine learning helps you choose what to consume next

Man < Machine: Computer Beats Top Human Go Player

Computers have been capable of beating the best human chess players for almost two decades, but a week-long stretch earlier this month marked the first instance of an artificial intelligence system toppling a champion Go player.  Google’s AlphaGo defeated Go grandmaster Lee Sedol 4-1 in a historic five-game match that drew comparisons to Deep Blue’s famous triumph over chess world champion Garry Kasparov in 1997. … Continue reading Man < Machine: Computer Beats Top Human Go Player