Believe it or not, this is not a still from a movie. The image below—released earlier this year at the 2014 Game Developers Conference—showcases the lifelike graphics of today’s video-game chips.
So lifelike, in fact, they’re catching the attention of those outside the gaming industry…
Professor Steve Jiang is one of those outsiders.
Prof. Jiang is the director in the Division of Medical Physics and Engineering at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. His team is using the same video-game chips to aid cancer patients.
According to Jiang, the chips can slash the time required to calculate a radiotherapy dose: They can reduce the most complex proton-radiotherapy calculation from 70 hours to just 10 seconds.
No, that’s not a typo: It really is 25,000 times faster.
Faster Math = Better Healthcare
“That’s an astonishing improvement in processing speed,” says Jiang. “We should really thank video gamers. The popularity of video games has resulted in a tool that is very beneficial for scientific computing in medicine. The quicker results mean increased convenience for patients and physicians, and translate in a significant way to better patient care.”
“That’s an astonishing improvement in processing speed,” says Jiang. “We should really thank video gamers. The popularity of video games has resulted in a tool that is very beneficial for scientific computing in medicine. The quicker results mean increased convenience for patients and physicians, and translate in a significant way to better patient care.”
To make these calculations, Jiang is using a chip known as a 3D graphics processing unit (GPU), which helps produce the stunning graphics of today’s games.
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| Dr. Steve Jiang, UT Southwestern’s director of the Division of Medical Physics and Engineering, and Professor and Vice Chairman of Radiation Oncology |
Radiotherapy is often delivered in many treatments, spanning weeks—during which time a patient’s tumor can change. Jiang’s GPU-based system allows for more accurate treatment plans, based on daily recalculations that adapt to changes in a patient’s tumor, such as weight, size, or shape.
This allows doctors to treat the disease, but not risk harming the healthy tissue around the tumor.
Although most commonly found in gaming devices such as PCs, video-game consoles, and smartphones, GPUs are starting to become an integral part of other industries:
- Doctors such as Jiang are using GPUs to better visualize cancerous tumors.
- Hollywood directors are using them to create mind-blowing special effects for films such as Avatar, Inception, and Life of Pi.
- Auto manufacturers, such as Audi, BMW and Tesla, are building them into the touchscreens of cars.
These small computer chips, first created by NVIDIA in 1996, have come along way since their creation—especially if you’re going by the odometer in a BMW.
But they weren’t originally destined for these uses.
Going Beyond GamingIn fact, the first GPUs were developed strictly for PC gaming, where they would have remained—but for NVIDIA’s CEO. He challenged his CIO and engineers to take the GPU beyond the game.
A few years ago, NVIDIA co-founder Jen-Hsun Huang challenged his thousands of engineers to think outside the video-game box. He wanted them to find new ways to apply the GPU’s performance to new lines of business, such as supercomputing, automotive navigation and healthcare.
Inspired, the engineers went to work, but quickly hit a roadblock: Each time they ran a simulation of a new GPU design, they’d have to wait for the infrastructure to catch up. This could sideline hundreds of engineers at a time, costing the company real money.
“Storage performance and reliability issues were constraining our engineers’ productivity,” says Bob Worrall, NVIDIA’s CIO. “Storage is the most critical aspect of our infrastructure. The slightest delays can harm our brand and the promise that we’ve made to the market.”
Instead of trying to solve the problem internally, Worrall looked for expertise outside of the company. Worrall finished his technical evaluations of several providers and found the solution to NVIDIA’s problem.
“I bet my job on the decision,” says Worrall.
Video: Solving our biggest problems
For Worrall and his team, that gamble paid off. NVIDIA now innovates more quickly, and delivers groundbreaking technologies across many industries.
The company’s GPUs are now used to research cancer and HIV, support auto manufacturers develop self-driving cars, accelerate the discovery of oil and natural gas, and even help NASA drive the Curiosity Rover on Mars.
The Bottom Line
Doubling the speed of innovation enabled breakthroughs that are changing the graphics game as we know it—and improving our quality of life.
Doubling the speed of innovation enabled breakthroughs that are changing the graphics game as we know it—and improving our quality of life.
Source: FORBES.COM
