AI Now Used For Better Cancer Detection

Good Morning! We have lots of Good News for you today. From an exciting new sunscreen inspired by sea creatures to the U.S. announcing the phasing out of single-use plastics to an AI that can detect thousands more cancer cases than ever before. May this bundle of Good News excite you and brighten up your day!

A biotechnology company called Seaspire has invented an eco-friendly and potentially life-saving new sunscreen based on a pigment found in octopus skin. Called Xanthochrome, this promising sunscreen doesn’t just shield human skin against the harsh ultraviolet rays of the sun. It’s also healthy, as it contains protective antioxidants that fight to lessen skin damage. The best part is that, unlike many commercial sunscreens, Xanthochrome doesn’t wreak havoc on the ocean by destroying our precious coral reefs!

This exciting new sunscreen uses a synthesized form of xanthommatin, a molecule found in the skin of cephalopods and certain insects. In an octopus, this molecule controls the absorption of light wavelengths, basically mimicking what UV filters do in sunscreens. Using this cool molecule in sunscreen has shown to increase UV protection by 28% and block visible light by as much as 45%. According to Worldwide Cancer Research, more than 80% of skin cancers are caused by overexposure to UV radiation. Protecting our bodies from UV rays is as important as taking care of our planet.

As for Xanthochrome’s impact on coral reefs, scientists tested five times the amount needed in sunscreenon coral samples and the results showed zero negative effect. Sunscreen chemicals like Oxybenzone and Benzophenone can wash off when we swim in the ocean and damage coral’s DNA, cause bleaching and even death. With new biotech like this, we can protect our oceans, our skins, and the octopuses that inspired it in the first place.

Back in the 1940s, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs illegally transferred land in Minnesota without any consent from its owners, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. The Native American tribe has been fighting for the return of their ancestral land ever since, and in 2020 U.S. Congress finally passed a law reversing the massive land seizure. In June this year, the Department of Agriculture announced that the tribe would get almost 12,000 acres of Chippewa National Forest land back. That’s roughly four times the size of London Heathrow Airport.

The Leech Lake Band is situated in the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, home to the Ojibwe since the mid-1700s. Its swampy geography has made it the largest wild rice producing reservation in the United States. The tribe has the right to self-government and they practice control over hunting, fishing, and wild rice farming activities while the State of Minnesota pays them for conserving natural resources. The Ojibwe people have great respect for the land and believe that one must never take from nature without giving back. Just like many other Native American tribes, they adhere to the Seventh Generation principle which states that their actions need to benefit those for seven generations to come.

The restored land will considerably help the economical and residential development of the Leech Lake Band with future generations in mind. For instance, plans are already being made to build homes closer to schools and stores. ”This is one of the most monumental and positive developments to take place on Leech Lake since the first treaties were signed and the reservation was established in 1855,” Leech Lake Band Chairman Faron Jackson Sr. told reporters.

In mid-July, the Biden administration announced that the federal government — considered to be the biggest consumer goods purchaser in the world — would start phasing out the buying of single-use plastics. It also plans to impose stricter regulations on plastic manufacturers. Plastic pollution not only causes devastation in our oceans by killing both ocean and marine life, but plastic manufacturing also creates toxic air for surrounding communities. On top of that, the plastic industry emits up to four times more carbon than the airline industry. At its current rate of production, plastic could burn up to a fifth of our planet’s remaining carbon budget by 2050. It’s Good News, to hear the U.S. acknowledge that plastic is one of our biggest environmental challenges.

The federal government will be taking the lead in phasing out the purchase of single-use plastics for food and packaging by 2027 while working with industries, local communities and the private sector to find better alternatives and curb plastic pollution. The goal is to ban single-use plastics from all government operations by 2035, including the sale of products like bottles and straws in national parks and public lands. Some of these changes will be easy, like switching to refillable cartridges and using water re-fillers instead of single-use water bottles. Others will be slightly more challenging, like finding better solutions for single-use plastics in medical materials. The U.S. Navy will be focusing onreducing its plastic waste aboard ships and submarines, and U.S. military bases worldwide will phase out the use of plastic bags.

Since the United States generates more plastic waste than any other country in the world except for China, this is a vital environmental initiative that needs to be adopted and implemented worldwide if we want to save our lands and oceans.

Six years ago, sisters Fariba and Yulduz Hashimi started riding bikes on the unpaved roads of Faryab in Afghanistan. It was seen as controversial, because the conservative community did not think women should ride bikes. People threw stones and a rickshaw driver once intentionally ran into them simply because they were women riding in public wearing short clothing and helmets instead of head scarves. But the Hashimi sisters kept riding. They used fake names to get into a provincial race because even their family didn’t approve, and ended up taking home the gold and silver medal. It was there that the Afghanistan Cycling Federation spotted the sisters, and pulled them into the national team.

In 2021, the Taliban reclaimed power in Afghanistan. Violence erupted immediately, and the Hashimi sisters made the gut-wrenching decision to flee their beloved country. They managed to miss the suicide bomb at Kabul International Airport by five minutes and, along with fellow cyclists, made their way to Italy. Once there, they focused on their training and accepted memberships with elite training centers around Europe. Now, they will compete at the Olympics under the flag of Afghanistan — something no longer allowed back home for women under Taliban rule.

Gender-based discrimination has been rife under Taliban law. Girls are prohibited from going to school past the age of 12, and women are banned from attending universities, parks, and participating in sports. The regime has been rounding up women and detaining them for violating strict dress codes, and some women have been ordered to only go out in public with a male chaperone. For the Hashimi sisters, representing their country at the Olympics means giving a voice to the oppressed. 

As Fariba told CBS News: “I am proud to represent Afghan women, who are demonstrating their ability to accomplish incredible things. Afghan women are excelling in sports, the Olympics, politics, and education, despite facing numerous challenges. Their voices deserve to be heard worldwide. The oppression against women and girls in Afghanistan must come to an end.”

However you may feel about artificial intelligence these days, there’s no denying that it’s great at analyzing data, and a lot of it. This valuable capability is now helping General Practitioners (GPs) in England detect more cases of cancer by using a special algorithm that scans through patients’ records and finds warning signs and patterns! Called “C the Signs,” this AI bumps the rate of detecting cancer from 58.7% up to 66%. You may think that an 8% increase doesn’t sound like much, but consider that England sees around 392,000 new cancer cases on an annual basis. That means C the Signs can potentially diagnose an extra 29,000 cases — in England alone — every year!

The AI works by looking at patients’ medical histories, their treatments and prescriptions, and any available test results. It also analyzes their personal information, because factors such as age and familial history can put someone at risk of cancer. The tool also acts as a GP assistant. It can prompt doctors to ask their patients about new or additional symptoms to get more accurate readings, and it can recommend tests or clinical trials in cases of cancer risk detection. 

What makes this AI great is that it’s not just good at early detection, but it also does it faster. The algorithm was created by GP Bea Bakshi and her colleague Miles Payling after Bakshi met with a hospital patient who received a late pancreatic cancer diagnosis. The patient died three weeks later, and Bakshi now wants to prevent late diagnosis as much as possible. “Patients visit GPs between three and five times before they are recognised as being at risk of cancer,” Bakshi explained to The Guardian. “GPs detect an average of eight cases of cancer a year.”

Right now, around 15% of medical practices in England are using this new algorithm, and the rate percentages show the difference. If more healthcare practitioners around the world can implement it, too, we could possibly see hundreds of thousands of early detections in the future, and give people a better chance at treating and overcoming the Big C.

That’s it for today! We hope this Good News update has colored up your day like octopuses color up our oceans. Have a wonderful week, and keep it green. 🌻

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