Page 32 - aruba-today-20170620

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 20 June 2017
‘Human Project’ study will ask 10,000 to share life’s data

By JENNIFER PELTZ analyzing computers aren’t
Associated Press connected to the internet,
NEW YORK (AP) — Wanted: Glimcher said.
10,000 New Yorkers inter- Lee Tien, a senior staff at-
ested in advancing sci- torney at the digital rights
ence by sharing a trove of group Electronic Frontier
personal information, from Foundation , credits the
cellphone locations and Human Project research-
credit-card swipes to blood ers with taking security
samples and life-changing seriously. But he wonders
events. For 20 years. whether authorities might
Researchers are gearing seek to get at the infor-
up to start recruiting par- mation for investigations,
ticipants from across the though Glimcher maintains
city next year for a study so that the researchers could
sweeping it’s called “The protect it from anything but
Human Project .” It aims major terrorism probes.
to channel different data Glimcher knows The Hu-
streams into a river of in- man Project aspires boldly.
sight on health, aging, edu- In fact, its frequently-asked-
cation and many other as- questions list includes: “Is
pects of human life. this possible? Are you cra-
“That’s what we’re all zy?”
about: putting the holistic He points to one of medi-
picture together,” says proj- cine’s most storied research
ect director Dr. Paul Glim- efforts: The Framingham
cher, a New York University In this Thursday, June 15, 2017, photo, people walk inside the Oculus, the new transit sta- Heart Study , launched in
neural science, economics tion at the World Trade Center Thursday, June 15, 2017, in New York. 1948. Some 15,000 residents
and psychology professor. up blood and urine tests sults will illuminate the inter- Protections include mul- of Framingham, Massachu-
There have been other — and an at-home fecal play between health, be- tiple rounds of encryption setts, have been examined
“big data” health studies, sample — will be requested havior and circumstances, and firewalls. Outside re- over the years. The initiative
and the National Institutes every three years. potentially shedding new searchers won’t be able has fueled more than 1,200
of Health plans to start full- Participants get $500 per light on conditions ranging to see any raw data, just studies and revealed that
scale recruitment as soon family for enrolling, plus a from asthma to Alzheimer’s anonymized subsets lim- blood pressure, cholesterol
as this fall for a million-per- say in directing some chari- disease. Their excitement ited to the information they and smoking were linked to
son project intended to table money to community comes with the responsibil- need. They’ll take nothing heart disease risk.
foster individualized treat- projects. ity of safeguarding the digi- with them but their analy- “If we could be seen as
ment. Researchers hope the re- tal savings of a lifetime. ses — by hand, since the having contributed to
But the $15 million-a-year American health care and
Human Project is breaking well-being and education
ground with the scope of in the United States in the
individual data it plans to way that Framingham did,
collect simultaneously, says but magnified a hundred-
Dr. Vasant Dhar, editor- fold by the tools of today’s
in-chief of the journal Big data, what a fantastic ac-
Data, which published a complishment that would
2015 paper about the proj- be,” says Glimcher.
ect. Nancy Spinale knows what
“It is very ambitious,” the it takes to be part of an ac-
NYU information systems complishment like that.
professor says. Her parents joined the
Participants will be invited Framingham study in 1948,
to join; researchers are she in 1971 and her hus-
tapping survey science to band and four children
create a demographically since then. Now 75 and
representative group. living on Cape Cod, the
They’ll start with tests of retired teacher still under-
everything from blood to goes an hourslong follow-
genetics to IQ. They’ll be up exam and interview ev-
asked for access to medi- ery couple of years.
cal, financial and edu- Her loved ones have got-
cational records, as well ten some personally useful
as cellphone data such information from exams.
as location and the num- And she’s gotten the pride
bers they call and text. of seeing studies come out,
They’ll also be given wear- with information that could
able activity trackers, spe- In this Thursday, June 15, 2017, photo, people walk inside the Oculus, the new transit sta- help everyone’s health.
cial scales, and surveys tion at the World Trade Center in New York. “That’s the ‘wow’ feeling,”
via smartphone. Follow- Associated Press she says.q