Welcome to LSE IQ.
I'm Oliver Johnson and this is the podcast where we are social scientists and other experts to answer one intelligent question.
The project to sequence the first human genome was launched in 1990 and took 13 years to complete.
Today biomedical techniques mean
that the sequencing of a human genome can be done in less than 24 hours at a tiny fraction of the cost.
Similar advances in other biomedical technologies along with electronic health records and the information we generate through our mobile phones,
smartwatches or Fitbits,
our social media posts and search engine queries mean that there's a torrent of information about our bodies,
our health and our diseases out there.
Alongside this,
the tremendous growth in computing power and data storage means
that this big data can be stored and aggregated and then analyzed by sophisticated algorithms for connections,
comparisons and insights.
The promise of all of this is that big data will create opportunities for medical breakthroughs,
help tailor medical interventions to us as individuals and create technologies that will speed up and improve health care.
And of course during the Covid-19 pandemic we've also seen some countries use data generated from people's mobile phones to track and trace the disease.
All of this poses opportunities for the tech giants and others who want to be part of the gold rush for our data and to then sell solutions back to us.
In 2019 Google found itself embroiled in a scandal when it was discovered
that it had accessed the health details of millions of unaware U.S.
patients through a deal with the major health care provider Ascension.