Thursday 20 June 2019

Merkel boosts EU push for 2050 net zero emissions target

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday endorsed for the first time a European Union target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, putting pressure on reluctant coal-dependent eastern European countries.

* This article was originally published here

PizzaGAN gets the picture on how to make a pizza

Is nothing sacred? Who would dare to even attempt to talk about a machine-learning experiment that results in the perfect (gasp) pizza? It is difficult to contemplate, but a research quintet did not shy away from trying, and they worked to teach a machine how to make a great pie.

* This article was originally published here

Imaging results, health data combine in AI model to predict breast cancer

Women know the drill: Breast cancer is too commonly a cancer diagnosis to be ignored, as early detection could make a difference. While false positives may cause an enormous amount of undue stress, false negatives have an impact on how early a cancer is detected and subsequently treated.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers discover new genetic link to premenopausal breast cancer

University of Alberta researchers have added a new genetic marker to the breast cancer map, helping to expand the list of genetic mutations clinicians can watch for in cancer screenings.

* This article was originally published here

Restrictive approach to blood cell transfusions safe for heart surgery patients

In a recent clinical trial of higher risk patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass surgery, a restrictive approach to blood cell transfusions resulted in fewer transfusions without putting patients at increased risk of acute kidney injury. The findings appear in an upcoming issue of JASN.

* This article was originally published here

Robot circulatory system powers possibilities

Untethered robots suffer from a stamina problem. A possible solution: a circulating liquid—"robot blood"—to store energy and power its applications for sophisticated, long-duration tasks.

* This article was originally published here

Suicide rates increased for men, women from 1999 to 2017

(HealthDay)—From 1999 to 2017, there was an increase in suicide rates for women and men, according to a report published in the June Health E-Stats, a publication of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics.

* This article was originally published here

Waymo teams up with Renault, Nissan on robotaxis outside US

Self-driving car pioneer Waymo is teaming up with automakers Renault and Nissan to make its first journey outside the U.S. with a ride-hailing service that will dispatch a fleet of robotaxis in France and Japan.

* This article was originally published here

Signature of an ineffective immune response to cancer revealed

Our immune system is programmed to destroy cancer cells. Sometimes it has trouble slowing disease progression because it doesn't act quickly or strongly enough. In a study published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers from the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) revealed the genetic signature of this failed immune response for the first time.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers study super-repellent surfaces for safer fruits, vegetables

Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, TEES, were recently awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture to study and develop super-repellent and anti-fouling surfaces for foods.

* This article was originally published here

Artificial intelligence identifies 'kissing bugs' that spread Chagas disease

New research from the University of Kansas shows machine learning is capable of identifying insects that spread the incurable disease called Chagas with high precision, based on ordinary digital photos. The idea is to give public health officials where Chagas is prevalent a new tool to stem the spread of the disease and eventually to offer identification services directly to the general public.

* This article was originally published here

Endangered rhinos ready to be sent from Europe to Rwanda

Five critically endangered eastern black rhinos from wildlife parks in three European countries are ready to be transported back to their natural habitat in Rwanda, where the entire rhino population was wiped out during the genocide in the 1990s.

* This article was originally published here

Scientists make single-cell map to reprogram scar tissue into healthy heart cells

Every year 790,000 Americans suffer a heart attack, which leaves damaged scar tissue on the heart and limits its ability to beat efficiently. But what if scientists could reprogram scar tissue cells called fibroblasts into healthy heart muscle cells called cardiomyocytes? Researchers have made great strides on this front with lab experiments and research in mice, but human cardiac reprogramming has remained a great challenge.

* This article was originally published here

Using game theory to model poisoning attack scenarios

Poisoning attacks are among the greatest security threats for machine learning (ML) models. In this type of attack, an adversary tries to control a fraction of the data used to train neural networks and injects malicious data points to hinder a model's performance.

* This article was originally published here

Deep submersible dives shed light on rarely explored coral reefs

Just beyond where conventional scuba divers can go is an area of the ocean that still is largely unexplored. In waters this deep—about 100 to at least 500 feet below the surface—little to no light breaks through.

* This article was originally published here

All eyes on a new worm species

There's a worm at the bottom of the sea—and it's been discovered off the Scottish coast by a team of scientists from the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), Marine Scotland Science (MSS) and Thomson Environmental Consultants. But this isn't an ordinary worm—the newcomer has a unique anatomy with its eyes in its head and in its bottom.

* This article was originally published here

Study: More aggressive treatments needed to improve 5-year survival rate for glioblastoma

Despite improvements in median and short-term survival rates for patients with glioblastoma, the most common brain tumor in adults, the percentage of patients achieving five-year survival remains low, according to new Mayo Clinic research.

* This article was originally published here

Applying active inference body perception to a humanoid robot

A key challenge for robotics researchers is developing systems that can interact with humans and their surrounding environment in situations that involve varying degrees of uncertainty. In fact, while humans can continuously learn from their experiences and perceive their body as a whole as they interact with the world, robots do not yet have these capabilities.

* This article was originally published here

'Self-healing' polymer brings perovskite solar tech closer to market

A protective layer of epoxy resin helps prevent the leakage of pollutants from perovskite solar cells (PSCs), according to scientists from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST). Adding a "self-healing" polymer to the top of a PSC can radically reduce how much lead it discharges into the environment. This gives a strong boost to prospects for commercializing the technology.

* This article was originally published here

Facebook's currency Libra faces financial, privacy pushback

Facebook is getting a taste of the regulatory pushback it will face as it creates a new digital currency with corporate partners.

* This article was originally published here

New research shows importance of climate on spruce beetle flight

If the climate continues warming as predicted, spruce beetle outbreaks in the Rocky Mountains could become more frequent, a new multi-year study led by Colorado State University finds.

* This article was originally published here