Sunday - April 30 2023, 19:47 UTC - 1 year ago

The findings by scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital reveal that the stability of the viral protein hemagglutinin can help to predict the pandemic potential of flu strains, and should be tested for when assessing flu strains to include in the annual vaccine. Factors such as a mutation that destabilizes the virus in vaccines, or a protective mutation that prevents this, may help to increase vaccine efficacy and predict pandemic potential.

Sunday - April 30 2023, 18:41 UTC - 1 year ago

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have uncovered the potential of an HIV drug, maraviroc, to clear toxic proteins associated with Huntington's disease, a specific form of dementia, and other neurodegenerative conditions. The study showed that, when the drug was administered to mice with dementia, they were able to restore the brain's capacity to eliminate toxic proteins. This, in turn, caused a reduction in brain cell death and a deceleration in memory loss. The findings suggest that the drug could potentially be a means to impede the development of neurodegenerative diseases.

Sunday - April 30 2023, 17:39 UTC - 1 year ago

Bernardo Subercaseaux, an undergraduate student at the University of Chile, ventured off to graduate school in Carnegie Mellon University to explore a combinatorics problem posed by Wayne Goddard and his collaborators in 2008. With the help of Marijn Heule, a computer scientist, their collaboration culminated in a proof that the problem can be solved with 15 numbers.

Sunday - April 30 2023, 16:18 UTC - 1 year ago

A study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research found that a single psychedelic experience can significantly alter beliefs about consciousness, purpose, and the universe. The study showed that nonphysicalist beliefs, such as the universe being conscious and inanimate objects having experiences, increased after psychedelic experiences. Results also showed that beliefs increased in specific areas and that higher ratings of mystical experience were associated with greater changes in beliefs.

Sunday - April 30 2023, 14:32 UTC - 1 year ago

Doctors are researching radiation therapy to rejuvenate sick heart cells, reduce the risk of sudden cardiac arrest, and provide viable options for life-threatening irregular heartbeats, in a more efficient one-time session. A study headed by Dr. Phillip Cuculich and Dr. Clifford Robinson, sponsored by Varian, is to investigate the safety and effectiveness of the procedure.

Sunday - April 30 2023, 13:28 UTC - 1 year ago

Randomness is a powerful tool in computer science, allowing us to solve questions with true-or-false answers very quickly. Pierre de Fermat developed a solution to tell if a given number is prime or composite, which can then be adjusted for use in a primality test. Scientists have discovered many ways to use randomness to solve other problems, and in 1993 a theorem was proven that showed that randomized algorithms cannot be replaced by deterministic algorithms in various instances.

Sunday - April 30 2023, 11:28 UTC - 1 year ago

AI can be used for a variety of applications in finance, including sentiment analysis and tailored financial guidance. AI models can help to predict stock prices, decipher monetary policy announcements, and create an optimal financial portfolio, providing valuable insights and helping people make more informed investment decisions.

Sunday - April 30 2023, 09:53 UTC - 1 year ago

A new research published in the journal Psychological Science suggests that lonely people may think differently than their peers regardless of their social network size. It was found that the brain activity of lonely participants was very dissimilar to that of both non-lonely participants and other lonely participants. This suggests that feeling disconnected from those around you may be a risk factor for loneliness.

Sunday - April 30 2023, 08:36 UTC - 1 year ago

Ground engineering is an essential part of building construction, involving thorough analysis of the soil and rock conditions at a building site to design foundations, retaining walls, and other structures that will support the weight of the building and resist the forces of nature and other factors. Ground engineers use a variety of methods and theories  to do this, and pile foundations are the most likely for structural support in deep foundations.

Sunday - April 30 2023, 06:52 UTC - 1 year ago

The Hubble Space Telescope has marked its 33rd year in orbit around the Earth with a remarkable image of nearby celestial nursery. With over one million observations, it is the most productive telescope in history, providing the world with unprecedented data and insights into the universe and its wonders.

Sunday - April 30 2023, 05:42 UTC - 1 year ago

The FDA recently approved a pill as a first-ever treatment for fecal transplants. This pill was created to prevent bacterial reinfections of Clostridium difficile (C. diff). This bacteria causes severe nausea, stomach ache, and diarrhea and has a significant risk of death. The pill is for adults 18 and over and is taken for three days in a row with four daily pills.

Sunday - April 30 2023, 03:57 UTC - 1 year ago

Cynthia Rudin, an expert in interpretable machine learning from Duke University, wants to replace 'black box' machine learning models with models that are easier to interpret and have real consequences. Her team is working to create accurate neural networks that display their work, which could be used for medical decision-making processes.

Sunday - April 30 2023, 02:19 UTC - 1 year ago

ChatGPT, an AI tool released by OpenAI, has quickly been embraced by politicians, with lawmakers using it to draft laws, give political speeches, and generate questions and answers. Experts are warning against rapid uptake of this controversial tool that has a notable liberal bias and is accused of fabricating 'facts'. AI use in politics is seen as a cliche generator and has limited value, with politicians using it for grandstanding and staff on the campaign trail potentially utilizing the bot for repetitive tasks, such as generating emails.

Sunday - April 30 2023, 01:07 UTC - 1 year ago

A research team from Imperial College London examined the claims of infant formula related to immunity and brain development. They found that a small number of clinical investigations were done on humans, and most claims were based on little or no evidence. Norwegian legislation to prevent undocumented claims from being used, as well as supportive social arrangements that allow many mothers to breastfeed, are in place.

Saturday - April 29 2023, 23:26 UTC - 1 year ago

OpenAI's AI chatbot, ChatGPT, has been available again in Italy after the company met the demands from regulators with the Italian data protection authority. OpenAI fulfilled a line of conditions including age-verification for users, a publicity campaign for informing Italians about the backstory, and added a tool ensuring that user's data is not exposed. This comes coupled with an increasing amount of attention from other regulators, with both France and Canada investigating possible issues with the AI system.

Saturday - April 29 2023, 21:30 UTC - 1 year ago

Researchers from Osaka University have developed FINDE, an algorithm that is able to discover and model the conservation laws of unknown systems. This could lead to scientific discoveries, or aid in engineering and physics simulations. FINDE was tested on a variety of datasets, and it was found to preserve the invariant quantities of known laws as well as finding that of unknown laws.

Saturday - April 29 2023, 19:58 UTC - 1 year ago

A research team from Université Paris-Saclay developed a 'curriculum learning' approach to improve the quality of model's predictions by carefully structuring the data used to train them. This technique can do this without any need of more intricate model architectures or additional principles from machine learning, allowing researchers to spot patterns hidden deep inside the data.

Saturday - April 29 2023, 18:35 UTC - 1 year ago

A Swiss public radio station caused a stir with its one-day experiment of using Artificial Intelligence to control its airwaves. Listeners heard an AI-produced broadcast from 6am to 7pm, featuring cloned voices of five real human presenters, as well as music composed entirely by computers instead of people.

Saturday - April 29 2023, 16:49 UTC - 1 year ago

A study done by scholars from the Stanford Digital Economy Lab and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology into the impact of generative AI deployed at a call center found access to AI assistance improved worker productivity by 14%, with the biggest impact on less experienced workers. Few studies have examined the impact on productivity, organizational structure, or morale of AI at workplace. Results of the study show that high-skilled workers may have less to gain from AI assistance because AI recommendations capture the knowledge embodied in their own behaviors.