Xbox 360 Fights Heart Disease?!?

[Johan]

Remember when the PS3 was going to cure cancer? (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16786&highlight=cures+cancer) Well, can the 360 fight heart disease? (http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1925332,00.html)

A computer scientist at the University of Warwick in England has devised a way to use an Xbox 360 to detect heart defects and help prevent heart attacks. The new tool has the potential to revolutionize the medical industry because it is both faster and cheaper than the computer systems that are currently used by scientists to perform complex heart research.

The system, detailed in a study in the August edition of the Journal of Computational Biology and Chemistry, is based on a video-game demo created by Simon Scarle two years ago when he was a software engineer at Microsoft's Rare studio, the division of the U.S.-based company that designs games for the Xbox 360. Scarle modified a chip in the console so that instead of producing graphics for the game, it now delivers data tracking how electrical signals in the heart move around damaged cardiac cells. This creates a model of the heart that allows doctors to identify heart defects or conditions such as arrhythmia, a disturbance in the normal rhythm of the heart that causes it to pump less effectively.

But Sony's not totally on the outside...

The Xbox 360 isn't the only video-game console that is being used for scientific research. At the University of Massachusetts campus in Dartmouth, scientists are using Sony PlayStations to simulate black-hole collisions to try to solve the mystery of what happens when a supermassive black hole swallows a star.

It's not just fun and games, eh?!?

[brandonjclark]

The amount of time and effort console vendors put into packing the highest specs that a certain price point can justify into a plastic box is by no means a mistake.

Console makers are some of the best hardware people in the world at making highly-capable machines at a low low price.

And research teams have the videogamer to thank for never giving up on their "entitled asses" and always demanding better shit for lower prices, forcing console makers to pony up what otherwise wouldn't be good business sense.

If it wasn't for geekrage, we might never have such powerful consoles right now, and people might not be solving world health issues and the like.

ALL HAIL THE GEEK-RAGED INTER-WEBS!

[Sasori the Medic]

I'd love to volunteer for that. Ever since I took some antibiotics 3 weeks ago I've been experiencing chest pains and irregular heart beats that has me quite spooked. It seems to be getting better but unemployment and lack of health insurance keeps me from seeing a cardiologist to make sure.

FML.

[dirtbag]

So when the patient goes, do you get a RRoD?

[Johan]

So when the patient goes, do you get a RRoD?

Alternatively, when you get a RRoD, does the patient go? ;)

It seems to be getting better but unemployment and lack of health insurance keeps me from seeing a cardiologist to make sure.

Try a local medical clinic. You don't need an expensive cardiologist to get an initial check-up. Go for it. They're not that expensive.

[Anenome]

So when the patient goes, do you get a RRoD?

Worry about that when they announce the MS brand Pace-makers >_>

[shpankey]

The Xbox 360 isn't the only video-game console that is being used for scientific research. At the University of Massachusetts campus in Dartmouth, scientists are using Sony PlayStations to simulate black-hole collisions to try to solve the mystery of what happens when a supermassive black hole swallows a star. I]
Well duh, it comes out on the other side. Another dimension. I've been there (it's how I got to this one, my other dimension sucked really bad).

[Samstag]

As if game exclusives aren't bad enough for the consumer, now we have to choose our consoles based on medical exclusives? Holy crap, do I go with the 360 and risk getting cancer, or buy a PS3 and hope my heart lasts long enough to play some Fat Princess?

It's a trick question. I have both, so I'm good to go until I get hit by a drunk driver.

[Johan]

I have both, so I'm good to go until I get hit by a drunk driver.

You need the Wii for that last one there... ;)

:waggle waggle:

[Evil_SPanKY]

It's not just fun and games, eh?!?

Until someone looses an eye....

[Playing Mantis]

This is good PR for Xbox 360...but I'm sure this can be done on a PC with a video card that supports stream processing. Remember that the 360 was released 4 years ago, so the capabilities for similar functions on PC are no doubt even more impressive.

Honestly, this is what we need to have happen in health-care equipment(in non-emergency situations). A 90% reduction in cost, with a huge increase in speed/accuracy.

[Krom]

Heart disease sku coming soon.