Toward artificial intelligence that learns to write code

Learning to code involves recognizing how to structure a program, and how to fill in every last detail correctly. No wonder it can be so frustrating.

* This article was originally published here

New studies warn against complacency in efforts to tackle smoking

Three research papers published by The BMJ today examine smoking and efforts to deal with it, and highlight the importance of continued investment in international tobacco control, particularly in low and middle income countries.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers use facial quirks to unmask 'deepfakes'

After watching hours of video footage of former President Barack Obama delivering his weekly address, Shruti Agarwal began to notice a few quirks about the way Obama speaks.

* This article was originally published here

Melting of Himalayan glaciers has doubled in recent years

A newly comprehensive study shows that melting of Himalayan glaciers caused by rising temperatures has accelerated dramatically since the start of the 21st century. The analysis, spanning 40 years of satellite observations across India, China, Nepal and Bhutan, indicates that glaciers have been losing the equivalent of more than a vertical foot and half of ice each year since 2000—double the amount of melting that took place from 1975 to 2000. The study is the latest and perhaps most convincing indication that climate change is eating the Himalayas' glaciers, potentially threatening water supplies for hundreds of millions of people downstream across much of Asia.

* 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

Sickle cell drug showing promise in clinical trial

An investigational drug for the treatment of sickle cell disease is showing early promise in clinical trials for impacting biomarkers of the disease in patients, reported UConn School of Medicine researchers at the European Hematology Association Congress in Amsterdam this week.

* This article was originally published here

New approaches cut inappropriate antibiotic use by over 30%

A UC Davis study of nine emergency departments and urgent care centers in California and Colorado found educating physicians and patients about safe antibiotic use can cut overuse by one-third.

* This article was originally published here

Automated cryptocode generator is helping secure the web

Nearly every time you open up a secure Google Chrome browser, a new MIT-developed cryptographic system is helping better protect your data.

* This article was originally published here

New laser therapy seeks to halt the progression of age-related vision loss

There are 200 million people in the world living with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and in approximately a fifth of these cases, the disease progresses to an advanced stage, leading to visual impairment. Advanced AMD is divided into wet and dry forms. While wet AMD can be treated with medical injections, approximately four fifths of advanced AMD cases are of the dry form, for which there is currently no medical treatment.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers use biological evolution to inspire machine learning

As Charles Darwin wrote in at the end of his seminal 1859 book On the Origin of the Species, "whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved." Scientists have since long believed that the diversity and range of forms of life on Earth provide evidence that biological evolution spontaneously innovates in an open-ended way, constantly inventing new things. However, attempts to construct artificial simulations of evolutionary systems tend to run into limits in the complexity and novelty which they can produce. This is sometimes referred to as "the problem of open-endedness." Because of this difficulty, to date, scientists can't easily make artificial systems capable of exhibiting the richness and diversity of biological systems.

* This article was originally published here

A sound idea: A step towards quantum computing

A team at the University of Tsukuba studied a novel process for creating coherent lattice waves inside silicon crystals using ultrashort laser pulses. Using theoretical calculations combined with experimental results that were obtained at the University of Pittsburgh, they were able to show that coherent vibrational signals could be maintained inside the samples. This research may lead to quantum computers based on existing silicon devices that can rapidly perform tasks out of the reach of even the fastest supercomputers now available.

* This article was originally published here

NVIDIA going full stack for ARM boosts supercomputing presence

NVIDIA and ARM make one power couple for supercomputing. NVIDIA has announced its chips will work with ARM processors. Outside observers got busy earlier this week assessing why this was a big deal to empower both companies and the effort to explain was not at all difficult.

* This article was originally published here

New AI system manages road infrastructure via Google Street View

Geospatial scientists have developed a new program to monitor street signs needing replacement or repair by tapping into Google Street View images.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers find cause of rare, fatal disease that turns babies' lips and skin blue

Scientists used a gene editing method called CRISPR/Cas9 to generate mice that faithfully mimic a fatal respiratory disorder in newborn infants that turns their lips and skin blue. The new laboratory model allowed researchers to pinpoint the ailment's cause and develop a potential and desperately needed nanoparticle-based treatment.

* This article was originally published here

Corsica's 'cat-fox': On the trail of what may be a new species

In the forest undergrowth of northern Corsica, two wildlife rangers open a cage to reveal a striped, tawny-coated animal, one of 16 felines known as "cat-foxes" in the area and thought to be a new species.

* This article was originally published here

Urbach Tower offers view of self-shaping architecture

Oh, those leaning towers are so yesterday. Tech-watching sites, rather, are talking about a tower that does not lean; it is just as interesting as it is a self twisting tower. This is the Urbach Tower.

* This article was originally published here