Practical knowledge for the twenty-first century (2) – science and systems

I sat in the tiered ranks of a lecture room in the University of Cape Town listening be­ mused to Professor Eric Topol, the Chief Academic Officer of Scripps Health. He was talking through the very latest science in his speciality of cardiac genetics. I was bemused because, unlike the academics and doctors around me, I was having difficulty keeping up with his flow of words and the accompanying slides.