Another use for the Cell: Medical Imaging

While not utilizing the unbridled power of the PlayStation 3 (debate amongst yourselves... no one has a time machine yet) directly, IBM and Mayo Clinic have been utilizing the Cell Processor in their medical imaging technology to detect things like cancer in the human body (and probably animals, too, but that'd be a different kind of clinic).

Here's an interesting bit from the press release to let you know how well the Cell and IBM's BladeCenter QS20 "Cell Blade" handled the workload: "For this imaging project, Mayo Clinic and IBM used 98 sets of images and ran the optimized registration application on the IBM BladeCenter QS20, in comparison with running the original application on a typical processor configuration. The application running on a typical processor configuration completed the registration of all 98 sets of images in approximately 7 hours. The team adapted a "mutual-information-based" 3-D linear registration algorithm application optimized for Cell/B.E. and completed the registration for all 98 sets of images in just 516 seconds, with no registration taking more than 20 seconds."

No matter what way you look at this, it's amazing. Sure, it does nothing to further the PS3 as a gaming system, but if you overlook what kind of potential this technology has, then you're missing out on something fantastic and lifechanging. Unless you think you're somehow you've got the Cancer Invulnerability +2 charm. A rare drop from the Zombie Doctor Lord on the 3rd floor of Brookhaven Hospital in Silent Hill.

[Also in Joystiq color!]