Rod McCullom

Artificial intelligence has transformed health care, using large datasets to improve diagnostics and treatment. But some AI-powered medical tools replicate racial bias — raising questions about whether these new technologies contributed to Covid-19’s disproportionate toll on Black Americans.

In recent years, a steadily increasing volume of data has demonstrated that peer victimization — the clinical term for bullying — impacts hundreds of millions of children and adolescents, with the effects sometimes lasting years and, possibly, decades. The problem is even recognized as a global health challenge by the World Health Organization and the United Nations. And yet, researchers maintain there is still a limited understanding of how the behavior may physically shape the developing br...

In recent years, a steadily increasing volume of data has demonstrated that peer victimization — the clinical term for bullying — impacts hundreds of millions of children and adolescents, with the effects sometimes lasting years and, possibly, decades. The problem is even recognized as a global health challenge by the World Health Organization and the United Nations. And yet, researchers maintain there is still a limited understanding of how the behavior may physically shape the developing br...

An estimated 5.7 million people in the U.S. have Alzheimer’s disease—the most common type of dementia—and that number is expected to more than double by 2050. Early diagnosis is crucial for patients to benefit from the few therapies available. But no single assay or scan can deliver a conclusive diagnosis while a person is alive; instead doctors have to conduct numerous clinical and neuropsychological tests. So there is growing interest in developing artificial intelligence to identify Alzhei...

While more data is needed, researchers hope that these kinds of algorithms will eventually make their way to the clinic, providing speedier diagnoses — and better care — for the millions of people who live with this progressive and irreversible degenerative disease.

About 115 people nationwide die every day from opioid overdoses, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A lack of timely, granular data exacerbates the crisis; one study showed opioid deaths were undercounted by as many as 70,000 between 1999 and 2015, making it difficult for governments to respond. But now Internet searches have emerged as a data source to predict overdose clusters in cities or even specific neighborhoods—information that could aid local interventi...

In the middle of the day on 11 April 2014, a hooded gunman ambushed Gakirah Barnes on the streets of Chicago’s South Side. A volley of bullets struck her in the chest, jaw and neck. The 17-year-old died in a hospital bed two hours later.
To many, her death was just another grim statistic from a city that has been struggling with gun violence. Last year, around 3,500 people were shot in Chicago, Illinois, of which 246 were aged 16 or younger; 38 of those children never celebrated another birth...

Tech and social media giants, along with video streaming services everywhere, are scrambling to develop and deploy automated content moderation systems capable of flagging, reviewing, and removing offensive posts with more speed and precision — and they are leaning on machine learning and other forms of artificial intelligence, or AI, to do it.

Eight years ago, New York University sociologist Patrick Sharkey published a paper whose conclusions shook the worlds of criminology and adolescent psychology. Researchers had long known that children exposed to violence and crime had poorer measures of memory, attention, planning, and focus — the cognitive processes collectively known as executive function — than peers whose lives were violence-free. But what Sharkey found, using data on 6,000 Chicago homicides from 1994 to 2002, was that a ...

The technology has titillated law-enforcement and corrections officials, and it may have useful applications for professionals working in drug treatment, elder-care centers, and other inpatient and outpatient facilities. However, the emergence of technologies like these has some observers feeling a bit uncomfortable about how, where, and to whom they are likely to be applied. More pointedly, the ability to glean detailed information about a person from a mere fingerprint—Do they smoke cigarettes? Use marijuana? Enjoy fatty foods? Drink alcohol?—raises a number of knotty questions.

California has long been at the vanguard of public health initiatives that were once derided as wrongheaded but are now considered mainstream: auto emissions tests, clean air and anti-smoking laws, bike helmet regulations, medical marijuana. But there’s at least one policy the state has had great cause to regret.
California’s anti-HIV law was harsh: Exposing an unknowing person to the virus was made a felony, punishable by up to eight years in prison.
In the mid-1980s, the HIV/AIDS epidemic w...

In late November, the city of Chicago surpassed 600 homicides—the overwhelming majority from handguns—for the second year in a row, and for only the third time since 2003, according to data reported by the Chicago Tribune. Sadly, in their efforts to address this seemingly intractable epidemic of gun violence, police officials seem to be placing unfounded faith in technology to solve the problem.

In late November, the city of Chicago surpassed 600 homicides — the overwhelming majority from handguns — for the second year in a row, and for only the third time since 2003, according to data reported by The Chicago Tribune.

The technology can detect gunfire, but there is no independent scientific research to demonstrate that it decreases gun violence.

That brings the total to more than 3,400 shootings across the city so far this year.

Sadly, in their efforts to address this seemingly intra...

The Los Angeles Police Department faced stiff opposition Tuesday, after it approved a year-long trial to use drones as a crime-fighting tool in hostage situations, high-speed chases, and other law-enforcement functions. The decision comes after years of criticism from electronic privacy and civil rights advocates, who fear the technology lacks transparency and is ripe for abuse by authorities.
Drones are likely to become a bedrock part of policing well before anyone has a chance to study thei...