Lifeboat Foundation

If the properties of materials can be reliably predicted, then the process of developing new products for a huge range of industries can be streamlined and accelerated. In a study published in Advanced Intelligent Systems, researchers from The University of Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science used core-loss spectroscopy to determine the properties of organic molecules using machine learning.

The spectroscopy techniques energy loss near-edge structure (ELNES) and X-ray near-edge structure (XANES) are used to determine information about the electrons, and through that the atoms, in materials. They have high sensitivity and high resolution and have been used to investigate a range of materials from electronic devices to drug delivery systems.

However, connecting spectral data to the properties of a material—things like optical properties, electron conductivity, density, and stability—remains ambiguous. Machine learning (ML) approaches have been used to extract information for large complex sets of data. Such approaches use artificial neural networks, which are based on how our brains work, to constantly learn to solve problems. Although the group previously used ELNES/XANES spectra and ML to find out information about materials, what they found did not relate to the properties of the material itself. Therefore, the information could not be easily translated into developments.

While the pandemic is still raging, the chaos of the past 18 months has calmed a bit, and the dust is starting to settle. Now the time has come for healthcare CIOs and other health IT leaders to look forward and plan their IT investments – shaped, in no small part, by the lessons of the recent past.

From cryogenics to drugs the dream of immortality is closer than ever and now the world’s richest men including Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are putting their weight behind the research.

Conventional lung cancer treatments include surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy; however, these treatments are often poorly tolerated by patients. Cannabinoids have been studied for use as a primary cancer treatment. Cannabinoids, which are chemically similar to our own body’s endocannabinoids, can interact with signalling pathways to control the fate of cells, including cancer cells. We present a patient who declined conventional lung cancer treatment. Without the knowledge of her clinicians, she chose to self-administer ‘cannabidiol (CBD) oil’ orally 2–3 times daily. Serial imaging shows that her cancer reduced in size progressively from 41 mm to 10 mm over a period of 2.5 years. Previous studies have failed to agree on the usefulness of cannabinoids as a cancer treatment. This case appears to demonstrate a possible benefit of ‘CBD oil’ intake that may have resulted in the observed tumour regression. The use of cannabinoids as a potential cancer treatment justifies further research.

Field doctors still diagnose burns by sight, smell and touch. A smart bandage and smart phone camera may be all we need to change that — and prevent serious and lasting complications.

This article was produced for AMEDD by Scientific American Custom Media, a division separate from the magazine’s board of editors.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have successfully revived human heart tissue after it had been preserved in a subfreezing, supercooled state for up to three days.

Duke professor becomes second recipient of AAAI Squirrel AI Award for pioneering socially responsible AI.

Whether preventing explosions on electrical grids, spotting patterns among past crimes, or optimizing resources in the care of critically ill patients, Duke University computer scientist Cynthia Rudin wants artificial intelligence (AI) to show its work. Especially when it’s making decisions that deeply affect people’s lives.

Continue reading “A ‘New Nobel’ — Computer Scientist Wins $1 Million Artificial Intelligence Prize” »

Nature waded through the literature on the coronavirus — and summarized key papers as they appeared.

The pandemic has disrupted global supply chains and markets in ways that have led to backlogs of cargo ships at key ports.

Booming demand for consumer and goods, labor shortages, bad weather, and an array of COVID-related supply chain snarls are contributing to backlogs of cargo ships at ports around the world.

Among those seaports are the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach in Southern California, the two busiest container ports in the United States. On October 10 2021, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured this natural-color image of dozens of cargo ships waiting offshore for their turn to unload goods. On the same day, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA.