World News
Find out what’s happening in Science & Society around the world. Discover changes to science policy and law, new scientific study results, Supreme Court rulings, debates about nature versus nurture, and news about the sharing of genetic information.
Thu, Aug 21
As AI spreads through health care, is the technology degrading providers’ skills?
AI use may be deskilling doctors, new Lancet study shows. The study suggests that, after having a specialized tool taken away, clinicians were less proficient at colonoscopies.
Mon, Aug 18
LISTEN: Brain Implants That Decode a Person’s Inner Voice May Threaten Privacy
A person can bite their tongue to avoid blurting out a secret, but a surgically implanted brain computer interface can reveal words that were never meant to be spoken. NPR’s Jon Hamilton reports on a new study that looks at the privacy concerns raised by technology that decodes signals in the brain.
Wed, Jul 23
AI in Health is Under-hyped: Google, Mayo Clinic, Duke Execs
Aspen Ideas Festival guests discuss about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare, particularly involving collaborations between tech companies like Google and prominent medical institutions such as Mayo Clinic and Duke University
Sun, Jul 20
WATCH: Stage 4 Lung Cancer Survivor | Alfonzo Grafton Shares His Story of Hope
Alfonzo’s stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis felt like the end, but an NIH-funded trial at Duke Cancer gave him new life. Now he’s back to dancing, family, and cheering on Duke Basketball.
Wed, Jul 16
Duke Innovates on Implementing and Assessing AI in Health Spaces
As artificial intelligence enters the healthcare space, Duke University researchers are working to make sure their application is safe and fair.
Large Language Models (LLMs) are making administrative tasks in healthcare more efficient. LLMs are a class of AI that includes ChatGPT and Meta’s LLaMa, among others. They respond to questions asked of them in a human-like way by predicting the most likely word order in a sentence based on the information they are trained on. They are being used to take medical notes and respond to patient portal messages.