Thursday 20 June 2019

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

A study describes the reaction mechanism of DNAzymes

A study from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) has published a study in the journal Nature Catalysis that describes the reaction mechanism used by the DNAzyme 9DB1, the first structurally available catalyser formed by DNA.

* This article was originally published here

Russia to release 100 illegally captured whales

Russian officials have launched an operation to release nearly 100 illegally captured whales whose confinement in Russia's far east has become a rallying cry for environmentalists.

* This article was originally published here

Facebook takes on the world of cryptocurrency with 'Libra' coin

Facebook unveiled plans Tuesday for a new global cryptocurrency called Libra, pledging to deliver a stable virtual money that lives on smartphones and could bring over a billion "unbanked" people into the financial system.

* This article was originally published here

Another vaping danger: E-cigarette explodes in teen's face

(HealthDay)—A vape pen exploded in the face of 17-year-old Nevada boy, breaking his jaw and requiring multiple surgeries to repair the damage, according to a case report in the latest New England Journal of Medicine.

* 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

Astronomers see 'warm' glow of Uranus's rings

The rings of Uranus are invisible to all but the largest telescopes—they weren't even discovered until 1977—but they're surprisingly bright in new heat images of the planet taken by two large telescopes in the high deserts of Chile.

* This article was originally published here

Mother sperm whale and baby dead in fishing net off Italy

A mother sperm whale and its baby have died after becoming tangled in a fishing net in the Tyrrhenian Sea off Italy's western coast, an Italian environmental group reported Thursday.

* This article was originally published here

Compact, low-cost fingerprint reader could reduce infant mortality around the world

A team of Michigan State University researchers have created Infant-Prints—a low-cost, high-resolution and portable solution to accurately identify infants in an effort to help reduce infant mortality around the world.

* This article was originally published here

Landmark study signals shift in thinking about stem cell differentiation

A pioneering new study led by Florida State University biologists could fundamentally change our understanding of how embryonic stem cells differentiate into specific cell types.

* 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

How to pack more plant protein into your everyday diet

(HealthDay)—You don't have to adopt a total vegetarian lifestyle to improve your health. You can get some of its advantages simply by replacing some of the animal proteins in your diet with plant-based ones.

* This article was originally published here

Measles vaccination linked to health, schooling benefits among children in LMICS

While the measles vaccine has eliminated the virus in many high-income countries, the global burden of disease persists with an estimated 245,000 measles cases and 68,000 measles-associated deaths worldwide in 2016. India alone accounted for 50 percent of measles cases and 30 percent of measles deaths in 2016. Although low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) account for a large proportion of global measles cases, high-income countries have recently seen a resurgence of measles outbreaks.

* This article was originally published here

Einstein's relativity document gifted to Nobel museum

The Nobel Museum in Stockholm has been gifted Albert Einstein's first paper published after he received the Nobel Prize in 1922 and discussing his then still controversial relativity theory.

* This article was originally published here

Poll: Tracking asteroids a favored focus for space program

Americans prefer a space program that focuses on potential asteroid impacts, scientific research and using robots to explore the cosmos over sending humans back to the moon or on to Mars, a new poll shows.

* This article was originally published here

Discovery of a 'holy grail' with the invention of universal computer memory

A new type of computer memory which could solve the digital technology energy crisis has been invented and patented by scientists from Lancaster University in the UK.

* This article was originally published here

In ovarian cancer care, focus on high-volume centers could come at a cost

Limiting ovarian cancer surgery to high-volume hospitals could improve survival but may also reduce access for many rural and underserved patients, a new study from researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons has found.

* This article was originally published here