You might think you know what big data is capable of, but until you’ve explored what the medical profession can do with it, chances are you probably know very little. Big data isn’t just about Facebook monitoring every aspect of our lives, or companies recording the minute details of each transaction they make. It can also be used to build some pretty impressive graphic visualizations, and few are quite as, well – graphic – as those associated with the human body.

The first one we’re going to look at is fairly tame, though it’s certainly interesting enough. We all suffer from ailments from time to time, but have you ever noticed, or suspected, a relationship between certain medical problems? For example, when you get heartburn do you sometimes feel nauseous too? Or if you suffer from migraines, have you ever noticed that your neck aches as well?

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Believe me, it’s not just your imagination, as this extensive disease network from MIT SENSEable City Lab demonstrates. By taking data from more than 7.2 million medical records, they’ve been able to create a wonderful (or in some cases, alarming) visualization that shows the relationship between various medical conditions, and how common these associations really are. Take a closer look at any conditions that you suffer from and confirm for yourself what you already thought you knew.

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A bit more impressive, though not nearly as useful (but it’s cool, so we like it) is this short video from Healthymagination. Essentially it’s just a visual demonstration of the number of CT scans and MR scans performed in the world each day – but what an astonishing number it is, over 125,000 in just 24 hours, giving doctors around the world better insights into what’s really happening with their patients.

But even that is nothing compared to what Anders Ynnerman gets up to at the Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization at Linköping University in Sweden. At a recent TED Talk, Ynnerman gave us a rare glimpse into what big data and cutting edge graphics really means for the future of medicine, with a demonstration of the mind-blowing capabilities of their newest computer topography machine.

Using x-rays, the machines is able to perform a comprehensive scan of the human body in just 30 seconds, creating a highly accurate and interactive 3D visualization that has enormous benefits for science. The technology has already been adopted by pathologists to assist them with autopsies, where the ability to highlight foreign objects like bullets (rather than dig them out the old fashioned way!) and zoom in on different areas of the body offers tremendous advantages over traditional methods. What’s more, the body remains fully intact, preserving some dignity for the deceased persons in question.  Check out this video and prepare to be amazed:

Wouldn’t it be great if you could get your hands on something similar? Well, actually you can. If you fancy poking around the human body and looking at what does what, how things are connected and so on, you’re gonna love this super-cool interactive tool from BioDigitalMedia. The graphic isn’t just limited to the various inner workings of our anatomy in all its glory either – it also shows how a variety of different medical conditions affect it, such as headaches, HIV and worse (and yes, it does get worse!).

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The human body has always been a fascinating subject, but until recently it was almost impossible for doctors to fully absorb the daunting amounts of data we have collected about it. While the technology is still in its infancy, it’s clear that as technology progresses we’re far better able to understand the intricacies of human health, and as time goes by such an understanding is sure to benefit us all.