In a landmark breakthrough, Google has announced the development of artificial intelligence system that can be used to detect breast cancer more effectively than doctors would.

The system was developed through collaboration between Google and researchers, and has been proved successful according to Scientific Journal Nature where it was published on Wednesday.

Using the AI technology resulted in more accurate detection of cancer cells in the body, reducing cases of false results significantly. Health workers have had to deal with cases where test results say positive when it is negative or negative when it is positive. The program was trained to detect tens of thousands of mammograms from 25,856 women in the UK and 3,097 women in the US. The system was then used to identify the presence of breast cancer in mammograms of women who were known to have either biopsy-proven breast cancer or normal follow up imaging results at least 365 days later.

Early results show improvement in cancer detection compared to human experts. McKinney and colleagues, the authors of the programme report that the AI system outperformed both the historical decisions made by the radiologists who initially assessed mammograms, and the decisions of 6 expert radiologists who interpreted 500 randomly selected cases in a controlled study.

The program is part of series of studies investigating the use of artificial intelligence in a range of medical-imaging contexts.

The system was more accurate even though it has no patient’s previous health information to work with it. Compared to human experts, the program reduced false positives by 5.7% for US women and 12% for UK women. It reduced false negatives by 9.4% for US women and 2.7% for UK women.

Breast cancer screening programmes routinely measure their diagnostic performance – whether cancer is correctly detected (true positive) or missed (false positive). Some areas marked on mammograms might be identified as abnormal but turn out not to be cancerous (false Positive) upon further testing.

While the development beckons hope of future where AI would be relied on for early detection of cancer, there is a need to develop the system to accommodate medical diversity among other issues. The authors note that clinical trials will be needed to further assess the utility of this tool in medical practice. The research has been centered on a controlled environment which covers a little percent of varying world cancer cases.

For instance, the study did not include all the different mammography technologies currently in use, and most images were obtained using a mammography system from a single manufacturer. The study included examples of two types of mammogram: Tomosynthesis (3D mammography) and conventional digital (2D) mammography. There is a need to know how each of the systems performed individually for each technology.

Another reason not to celebrate yet is demographics. The demographics studied is only defined by age, and the performance of AI algorithms can be highly dependent on the population used in the training sets. So a representative sample of the general population is needed to be used in the development of the system to ensure that whatever results it yields will be widely applicable.

Another area of challenge comes from lessons learnt from Computer Aided Detection (CAD) of breast cancer. CAD is a computer system developed to interpret mammography in clinics. In the beginning of its experimental testing, it was promising but fell short in real-world settings. According to Nature, CAD marks mammograms to draw the interpreter’s attention to areas that might be abnormal. But analysis of a large sample of clinical mammography interpretations from the US Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium registry showed that CAD lacks diagnostic accuracy. The study went further to reveal that the programme worsened (sensitivity), the ability of radiologists to determine if cancer is present. So CAD instead of improving cancer detection improved likelihood of false positive result.

So in large scale, CAD failed to deliver the same result it offered during the experimental tests.

But unlike CAD, AI has the ability to learn from the data it acquired in the course of testing, which heightens the hope that science is getting close to beating the hurdles in early cancer detection.

Professor Ara Darzi, one of the authors of the paper and the director of the Cancer Research UK Imperial Center, told CNN that the AI system has been unexpectedly impressive.

“This is one of those transformational discoveries you have in your hand, which could disrupt the way we deliver screening in terms of improving accuracy and productivity,” he said.

While the new AI study beams with hope, harmonized and anonymized data stand in the way of its success if it’s not incorporated into issues needed to be addressed. The Nature concluded the report this way:

“To achieve the promise of AI in health care that is implied by McKinney and colleagues’ study, anonymized data in health records might thus have to be treated as precious resources of potential benefit to human health, in much time the same way as public utilities such as drinking water are currently treated. Clearly, however, if such AI systems are to be developed and used widely, attention must be paid to patient privacy, and to how data are stored and used, by whom, and with what type of oversight.”

The early hours of Friday came with the most interesting news of the year, the killing of the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, Maj. Gen. Qassim Soleimani, on the orders of the U.S. President, Donald Trump.

Gen. Soleimani was killed by a drone strike in Baghdad amid heated tension between the U.S. and Iran. Earlier in the week, members of the Revolutionary Guard occupied the premises of the U.S Embassy in Iraq, until Trump sent reinforcement troops to disperse the protesters.

The two countries have been at loggerhead over nuclear weapon’s development by Tehran, and the tension escalated as the Trump administration annulled the nuclear deal secured by the Obama administration that restrained Iran from further enriching its nuclear plant with more uranium.

The strike has added to the grudge that was regurgitated by the death of American contractor, killed in Iraq in late December.

Gen. Soleiman was the genius behind many activities of Iran’s revolutionary movement and his death has become unacceptable to Tehran that they have announced plans for retaliation.

Tehran convened an emergency security meeting where after, the country’s supreme leader called for three days mourning and retaliation.

“His departure to God does not end his path or his mission. But a forceful revenge awaits the criminals who have his blood and the blood of the other martyrs last night on their hand,” the statement from Iranian leader, Ali Khamenei said.

The United States and its allies are bracing up for retaliation: A possible Iranian strike, cyber-attack or probably Tehran-backed terrorist attack.

Meanwhile, one notable outcome of the Soleimani’s death has been a spike in crude oil prices. The price went up 4 percent as soon as the news broke, and Iran’s announcement for retaliation has made sure the global benchmark jumped 4.3 percent to $69.08 per barrel. U.S oil futures gained 4.1 percent to reach $63.69 per barrel.

This is the highest surge in oil gains in months, spurred by political tension that nobody knows how long it will last. However, response from Iran is expected to keep the suspense on and the price of oil hanging right on top of the political tension.

Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst for Asia Pacific at Onda, pointed out in a research: “An indirect response is the most apparent course of action, and oil installations and tankers were my first thoughts,” he said.

In September last year, a devastating attack on Saudi Aramco’s oil facility left a debilitating effects that instigated a sudden spike in oil prices. The U.S oil futures jumped 14.7% to settle at $62.90 per barrel. The futures of Brent crude, the global benchmark, settled up 14.6% at $69.02 per barrel. Gasoline futures were also up more than 13%. It was the highest rise in the oil industry since January 2009.

But the prices went back down upon Saudi Government’s assurance that its oil reserves will be enough to meet supply demand until the damaged facilities are rehabilitated. Donald Trump also authorized the use of oil from the U.S emergency supply (Strategic Petroleum Reserve) to keep the markets’ supply flowing.

A spate of attacks in June last year demonstrated the kind of impact Thursday night’s incident in Iraq could have on global oil. Two ships carrying oil were struck near the Strait of Hormuz, in the Gulf of Oman, a strategic Choke point for roughly 30% of the world’s sea-borne crude oil tankers. It caused a temporary rise in the price of oil globally. The incident only highlighted how important the Middle East region is to the oil industry.

The Strait of Hormuz commands the passage of nearly 30% of oil moving over the world oceans. There are only two shipping channels in the passage that can handle supertankers, and they are only two miles wide heading in and out of the Gulf, giving ships no other options than to pass through Iranian and Omani territorial waters.

With its territorial capacity, the region is commanding roughly 80% of crude oil destined for Asia, and it has been noted as the reason for the enhanced output in the U.S oil. So the world economy would be in jeopardy without it.

Analysts at the Eurasia Group pointed that possible Iranian retaliation may be centered on disrupting oil activities in the Gulf region.

“Iran will also likely resume harassment of commercial shipping in the Gulf and may launch military exercises to temporarily disrupt shipping,” they noted.

In the event the analysis comes true, oil price is likely going to spike further globally. But one thing uncertain is how long the faceoff between the U.S and Iran will last, and if the spike will be sustained.

Investors are turning to bonds in gold that has shown consistent growth for the past four months as the realities from Bagdad hit stock markets. The index is seeing a notable drop in Europe, and foreshadowing a bleak future if the escalation is not contained.

Investment director at AJ Bell, Russ Mould noted: “It’s never likely to be good news for the markets when ‘World War III’ is trending on Twitter.”

The stability of the world economy is solely waiting on what Iran does in retaliation to the killing of its General.