Category: technology

Using Blockchain technology for refugees

All people have the right to prove who they are and allow them to access basic services of economic, social and political life. This blockchain prototype will allow decentralized and secure storage and access to personal and private information.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-and-accenture-develop-blockchain-id-system-for-refugees/

Quote

“Approximately one-sixth of the world’s population cannot participate in cultural, political, economic, and social life because they lack the most basic information: Documented proof of their existence,” Accenture said in an announcement.

and

“Our prototype is personal, private, and portable, empowering individuals to access and share appropriate information when convenient, and without the worry of using or losing paper documentation,” said David Treat, managing director at Accenture’s global blockchain business.

Chain 124

This is an amazing story about Chain 124, a series of 30 kidney transplants covering 60 operations started by one person. For that person it was an act of altruism. The story covers some of the amazing mathematical matching and high speed computer processing to make this happen.

Also check out the multimedia interactive that shows all the kidney exchanges that took four months from beginning to end.

3D printing breakthrough

The world of 3d printing of real and totally unique objects fascinates me. My good friend John Biehler has been creating quite a collection of 3d printed objects. Check some of them out at johnbiehler.com.

However, this story is not about unique items and out of production parts. It’s about using this technology to create a new jaw for an 83 year old woman. The BBC reports that doctors created a jaw bone to replace a diseased one in an 81 year old patient. The replacement “bone” was made of titanium, much like other medical replacement parts.

I think this is pretty amazing.