Sunday 19 May 2019

Heroin overdose ED visits decreased from 2017 to 2018

(HealthDay)—From 2017 to 2018, there was a decrease in heroin overdose emergency department visits, although the declines were not consistent among states, according to a study published online May 16 in the American Journal of Public Health.

* This article was originally published here

As bitcoin gyrates, less euphoria in evidence at blockchain gathering

The vibe at a gathering this week for blockchain enthusiasts felt decidedly less exuberant than its predecessor a year ago after dizzying swings in bitcoin.

* This article was originally published here

Dirty data: Firms count environmental costs of digital planet

Technology is often touted as a solution to the world's environmental challenges, but it is also part of the problem: industry executives are facing rising pressure to clean up their energy and resource-intensive business.

* This article was originally published here

Artificial intelligence shines light on the dark web

Beneath the surface web, the public form of the internet you use daily to check email or read news articles, exists a concealed "dark web." Host to anonymous, password-protected sites, the dark web is where criminal marketplaces thrive in the advertising and selling of weapons, drugs, and trafficked persons. Law enforcement agencies work continuously to stop these activities, but the challenges they face in investigating and prosecuting the real-world people behind the users who post on these sites are tremendous.

* This article was originally published here

First anticoagulant approved for preventing VTE recurrence in children

(HealthDay)—Fragmin (dalteparin sodium) injection has been granted the first approval for subcutaneous use in preventing recurrence of symptomatic venous thromboembolism (VTE) in children aged 1 month or older, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced.

* This article was originally published here

New AI sees like a human, filling in the blanks

Computer scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have taught an artificial intelligence agent how to do something that usually only humans can do—take a few quick glimpses around and infer its whole environment, a skill necessary for the development of effective search-and-rescue robots that one day can improve the effectiveness of dangerous missions. The team, led by professor Kristen Grauman, Ph.D. candidate Santhosh Ramakrishnan and former Ph.D. candidate Dinesh Jayaraman (now at the University of California, Berkeley) published their results today in the journal Science Robotics.

* This article was originally published here

Experimental brain-controlled hearing aid decodes, identifies who you want to hear

Our brains have a remarkable knack for picking out individual voices in a noisy environment, like a crowded coffee shop or a busy city street. This is something that even the most advanced hearing aids struggle to do. But now Columbia engineers are announcing an experimental technology that mimics the brain's natural aptitude for detecting and amplifying any one voice from many. Powered by artificial intelligence, this brain-controlled hearing aid acts as an automatic filter, monitoring wearers' brain waves and boosting the voice they want to focus on.

* This article was originally published here

Eating ultra-processed foods will make you gain weight. Here's the scientific proof

For four weeks, 20 healthy volunteers checked into a research center hospital and were served a variety of tempting meals: cinnamon french toast, stir-fry beef with broccoli and onions, turkey quesadillas and shrimp scampi. Researchers scrutinized everything that was eaten and came away with the first hard evidence to support a long-held suspicion: Heavily processed foods could be a leading factor in America's obesity epidemic.

* This article was originally published here

A social perception scheme for behavior planning of autonomous cars

To navigate dynamic environments, autonomous vehicles (AVs) should be able to process all information available to them and use it to generate effective driving strategies. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have recently proposed a social perception scheme for planning the behavior of autonomous cars, which could help to develop AVs that are better equipped to deal with uncertainty in their surrounding environment.

* This article was originally published here

New laws of robotics needed to tackle AI: expert

Decades after Isaac Asimov first wrote his laws for robots, their ever-expanding role in our lives requires a radical new set of rules, legal and AI expert Frank Pasquale warned on Thursday.

* This article was originally published here

Sedimentary, dear Johnson: Is NASA looking at the wrong rocks for clues to Martian life?

In 2020, NASA and European-Russian missions will look for evidence of past life on Mars. But while volcanic, igneous rock predominates on the Red Planet, virtually the entire Earth fossil record comes from sedimentary rocks.

* This article was originally published here

Clinical trial improves treatment of genetic rickets

A new study shows a drug developed in conjunction with investigators at Indiana University School of Medicine to alleviate symptoms of a rare musculoskeletal condition is significantly more effective than conventional therapies. The findings are published in Lancet.

* This article was originally published here

Eyes in the sky project will show power plant pollution marks

Air pollution is responsible for millions of deaths every year, worldwide. According to a State of Global Air report, air pollution is the fifth greatest global mortality risk.

* This article was originally published here