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.

It will not be out of place to place the essence of education over just emancipating man from the shackles of ignorance but also to build him into civilization. The Microsoft Encarta dictionary, captures Education as the impartation and acquisition of knowledge through teaching and learning, especially at a school or similar institution. Suffice me then to state that my hauling today is towards Nigerian institutions and not the process of learning how to read and write; those are fasts no one can scratch.

If you had started the odyssey with me then you will agree with me that the definition stated above is not holistic enough as it has not captured what an educated society should look like. Having that in mind, it becomes easy to create a mental picture of the society a civilized mind will create. One can be caught lying to others but what you shouldn’t be caught doing is lying to yourself.

Question: Has the school given us education? Why do you finish schooling and the best suggestion ever is still about going off to learn a trade or skill? Permit me, therefore, to say that Nigerian tertiary education is a bluff, a mere social status, an institution that people enter and joke around, a make-believe cycle that trick people into believing that they have been given a future. A system that produces automobile engineers that can’t repair cars, not to talk of making one, a broadcaster that cannot edit their voice records or videos, nurses that cannot administer injections; the list is endless. Though this article might not be applicable to all disciplines; however, the majority of faculty in our education system falls under this pathetic cycle.

Just a week ago some of my students were discussing the yahoo yahoo rave destroying the fabric of our society with me, their submission was/is pathetic. They feel the scam scheme has helped Nigerian youth to have ‘a life’. Waiting for you in any way agree with them, you are not fit to read this piece beyond this point because you are either too young, infected and corrupted. If an educational system brings in young boys that will later graduate as yahoo boys or with the belief of get rich quick mentality, then something is wrong somewhere. Impacting is lost.

The Devils Cycle

It is clear that to hold important posts in Nigeria, you have to be educated. Positions that people occupying are to make decisions millions of other people in the nation. It is then understandable that educated people (and by educated I mean people that graduated from university) run the country. That means they all have to be in the womb of the educational system before they get born to rule. But what has the mother prepared them to become? Have you seen the political scientists curriculum? The sociologists, communicators, and other social science subjects in the country? Are their curriculum designed to tackle (real) societal problems and enact positive changes that are peculiar to the black nation? Does our school recognizes the apparent nature of our politics and policy and groom the coming generation to fix them? And these people are to be future leaders, right? Carrying forward the irrelevances and/or cluelessness that the fathers let down to the children to put the madness on repeat.

NUC: Fathers will not be at the market square to see the head of a child loop-sided pass over

The NUC is the body that is meant to checkmate the universities so that they can perform their role of ‘education’. It will sound ridiculous asking if NUC understands what education is because they are (to be) educators and professors. Let me see your hands up if you also wonder the usefulness of professors in this black nation.

For you to be approved to run a programme in university, the NUC must accredit the programme. Ok, we all know this happens; that most universities at the point of accreditation know they have to meet up with the requirements. Due to either short of money (which is an ever standing problem), or just Blackman mentality of always trying to jump the line, the universities go around hiring make-believe equipment and loan senior staff from other universities to pass accreditation so that they can continue producing more internally-destroyed-graduates. The fun part is that the NUC knows that this is how things are done, they know that many universities can’t meet up with the outrageous and archaic requirements which are an extension of an apparently failed system. Yet they go ahead and accredit the programme if the make-believe is convincing enough. I should also mention that a lot of money and bribes go in and out of that exercise and the ridiculous requirements keep the university at the mercy of the NUC so that they can extort from them. So how can a body that does these be able to build a sustainable curriculum that will educate the nation; education expected to engage its goal of developing the nation?

The Paperwork

I have always tried to logically track the to the genesis of this problem, will you be interested in my theory?

The colonial masters brought in education as we cant do that ourselves; we were probably busy with building juju cults and undocumented wisdom. Their idea is understandable. Since this part of the world to them is the place where they mine slaves for exportation, exploitation and building their own world. They designed the educational system to build slave masters. Where the masters do the thinking, do paperwork (write papers, this might be the origin of the millions of useless theses we are so much concerned about to dictate hierarchical movement in our educational system), the slaves (black men who apparently owns the land) will execute the plan. And after they were gone, we adopt the system forgetting that we are no more slaves; that we need to plan from the paper (research works) to the field; that no one will execute the paperwork but us. Now, someone will blame the colonial masters. Wait, were they in league with our gods or God to colonize us? Were they not men like them? Did they have two heads and double organs? If we were not stupid like they felt, how come the history went that shameful and blames are still placed on them that ironically make them seem like superhuman that can put a jinx on others? Isn’t it time to learn and move on? Well, lets forgive the past because we were not there and did not know how things were. Maybe forefathers actually lived on trees and the Alaafin was not exposed enough to note that mirror and gun power do not worth an exchange of a man like himself… of his race to be given out as slaves. And all those brags about voodoo?(sigh). But this is the present. It’s almost half a century now and the curriculum is still trash while the world is moving in jet speed but our contents are from the notes from the colonial days, ehn, our Professors?

And let’s talk about those papers that the system have been busy writing. Promotion is determined in Nigeria Universities, not on the quality of students trained but by how many papers you’ve written is an academician. Now imagine how many academicians are present in Nigeria, then imagine how many papers have been written, now imagine where we are still at don’t cry yet.

The Wikipedia online encyclopedia defines the paper as an essay or article, particularly an academic one, read at a conference, or submitted for publication. That does not carry enough description so we go the way of Wikipedia which defines academic papers as a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to particular disciplines published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny and discussion of research. They are usually peer-reviewed or refereed. Content typically takes the form of articles presenting original research, review articles, and book reviews. The purpose of an academic journal, according to the first editor of the world’s oldest academic journal Henry Oldenburg, is to give researchers a venue to “impart their knowledge to one another, and contribute what they can to the Grand design of improving natural knowledge, and perfecting all Philosophical Arts, and Sciences.

The important part of the definition is the purpose of academic papers. After imagining how many papers that are written in Nigeria one will not be mistaken to believe that the growth in every sector in Nigeria will be astronomical. Is that the case? As a matter of fact, if producing paper in the literal sense of it is what is done, I mean making papers from wood, then you know by now we will be exporting papers as a major. Have we asked ourselves what these papers have done for us? Will it be hard to figure out that 90% of academic papers are wuruwuru (scams) work done for the selfish sake of promotion and dull intention of bringing intangible change? But how has the NUC fixed this after years of its failures? And don’t be thinking I am scratching the surface here, because that is not the point. If you scratch the surface in the United Kingdom (where our masters came from), your nails will gather impressive developments from a system that is constantly checked for sanity. The efficiency and effectiveness of the educational sector at the tertiary level gives direct development to the country growth because it provides sound manpower/ Human Resources. So why can’t the board of NUC take time from their business routines and fix us a working curriculum for the sake of the nation, our children and for intellectual pride sake? A world where every paper counts from the pen to the field? This is possible and I think it is simple considering how the value we put on professorship and the money paid to them.

Don’t get me wrong I believe in research, however, imagine a world where only research is the thing? The implication of the failure in the system of our universities is no doubt serious, it means we are on the circle on foolishness in running a country that is not planning to be slaves to others in the future. Ironically, robots powered by AI are what others think will be slaves in the future, so we wont sell even if we are in the market for slavery. If the leaders are a disgrace and their thinking faculty are always called into question then one will face the place of intellectuals: Universities. Failure of the school system is simply asking a question on how we reason as a whole.

As at the time of writing this piece, I was listening to a Nigerian ‘technopreneur talking about how he got to be successful, after listening to him, what is clear in his submission is that he let us know his story will not be complete without highlighting that his Nigerian education has nothing to do with his accomplishment. Must it always be like this? It always seems that to be truly successful in Nigeria, you have to shit on your degree. Can we look forward to a future where lecturers in universities shall be rewarded with the impact they have on the students? If not, in this case, it will be good if promotion and ranks are (also) given when academicians impact on the surrounding environment. If we think towards these then our curriculum shall be holistic. While many great lecturers focus on students development as common-sense suggests, ones that are there for money are busy writing more (useless) papers, resulting into good ones remaining stagnant and unrewarded and the bad-eggs having the glory while they run after someone daughter to relax after frustrating them. They spend their time on their personal development which has nothing to do with communal and student development and they suffer the student with a ridiculous, fruitless and irrational task to cover-up their uselessness. These silly efforts and hardship many confused, fooled, derailed and misled Nigerians went through in universities delude them into thinking they have done something in life and have paid their price enough to sit and await the fruit of their labour. These deliver to us unemployed, not-employable frustrated youths who do not have a proactive heart”. And we also have yahoo boys and their advocates for product. Let us remember none of our universities makes the first 2000 in the world.

As a young man, I never thought I would be concerned about my generation this much, about the past and the future generation, about the race. I thought some older wise people that run things shall be busy with these. I thought as a troublesome young man my job is to be riding fast cars and using computers but when I look around, I see a lot of potholes and darkness in the nation then I understand where the disappointment and anger come from. If the system that builds men is corrupt then the future remains doomed. We might just leave the output for now and focus on the machine because the machine is bad. This is how I feel, and it can only get worse if things don’t get better.