Science & Technology News – Page 260

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Healthcare, Medicine, Science & Technology News

How hospitals are using AI to save their sickest patients and curb ‘alarm fatigue’

August 12, 2019

Early tests suggest artificial intelligence can improve patient care in hospitals’ intensive care units while helping curb “alarm fatigue.”Woody Harrington / for NBC News

Early tests show artificial “assistants” can help doctors and nurses spot potentially deadly problems in time to take life-saving action.

From interpreting CT scans to diagnosing eye disease, artificial intelligence is taking on medical tasks once reserved for only highly trained medical specialists — and in many cases outperforming its human counterparts.

Now AI is starting to show up in intensive care units, where hospitals treat their sickest patients. Doctors who have used the new systems say AI may be better at responding to the vast trove of medical data collected from ICU patients — and may help save patients who are teetering between life and death.

Continue reading… “How hospitals are using AI to save their sickest patients and curb ‘alarm fatigue’”

AI, App, facebook, Science & Technology News, Transportation

Facebook opens up its AI tool to OpenStreetMap users

August 12, 2019

Volunteers can add unmapped roads, bridges and buildings.

Plugging a new address into your smartphone’s map app can show you where to go in seconds. But in places like rural Bangladesh and Indonesia, there are millions of miles of roads that are still uncharted territory. Facebook now hopes its AI technology will make it easier for volunteers on OpenStreetMap to add unmapped areas.

The social media giant announced today that it is opening its Map with AI tool to the entire OSM community, allowing anyone to use the tool to identify areas in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. Eventually, the company hopes to expand its mapping tool to cover the entire world.

Continue reading… “Facebook opens up its AI tool to OpenStreetMap users”

Automation, Automobiles, Driverless cars, Science & Technology News

Bosch and Daimler get approval for Level 4 automated parking in Germany

August 9, 2019

It’ll be put to use at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.

The car’s indicators turn turquoise when the car is operating autonomously, telling pedestrians that there’s no driver behind the wheel.

Back in 2017, Bosch and Daimler teamed up to operate a pilot program for its driverless valet service. Clearly, it worked well enough, because that program has just been given clearance to operate as more than just a pilot.

Continue reading… “Bosch and Daimler get approval for Level 4 automated parking in Germany”

City Planning, Engineering, Housing, Science & Technology News

MbS goes Elon Musk on steroids: Seeks flying cars, electric dinosaurs, robot maids, & glowing sand for Barren Saudi desert

August 9, 2019

In northwest Saudi Arabia, where most people see a barren wasteland, Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has envisioned the future, and according to the Wall Street Journal, it is something straight out of an Elon Musk wet dream, complete with flying taxis, robot maids, robot dinosaurs, robot martial arts, endless booze and glow-in-the-dark sand, among other things.

Perhaps MbS has been following Elon Musk’s Twitter account a little too closely. Or perhaps he has joined him in a microdosing regimen. Regardless, MbS has hatched a $500 billion plan to cover 10,000 square miles of this desert to attract the “world’s greatest minds and best talents” to the world’s best paying jobs in the world’s most livable city.

A true modern day, pardon, future Shangri-La.

Continue reading… “MbS goes Elon Musk on steroids: Seeks flying cars, electric dinosaurs, robot maids, & glowing sand for Barren Saudi desert”

Bitcoin, government, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

IRS says it’s sending warning letter to US cryptocurrency owners

August 11, 2019

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced Friday that it has begun sending letters to taxpayers who own cryptocurrency, advising them to pay any back taxes they may owe or to file amended tax returns regarding their holdings.

In a news bulletin, the agency said that it began mailing what it called “educational letters” last week. According to the statement, there are three variations of the letter that were sent.

The IRS further said that it will have sent such letters to “more than 10,000 taxpayers” by the end of this month,” adding that “the names of these taxpayers were obtained through various ongoing IRS compliance efforts.”

Continue reading… “IRS says it’s sending warning letter to US cryptocurrency owners”

3D Printer, Home Technology, Housing, Science & Technology News

3D printer builds 500-square-foot home in under 12 hours

August 9, 2019

S-Squared 3D Printer’s Autonomous Robotic Construction System, (ARCS)

ARCS is a patent pending technology that allows multiple machines to work together to create a home with little or no human assistance. Delays in building projects are a thing of the past now that building a 3D printed home is possible in hours — not days or months. The 3D building process ushers in a new level of affordability for homeowners and businesses like never before. In addition, this new technology can reduce construction costs by as much as 70%.

Continue reading… “3D printer builds 500-square-foot home in under 12 hours”

Amazon.com, Science & Technology News, Shopping

Amazon’s revolutionary retail strategy? Recycling old ideas

August 9, 2019

I SOMETIMES THINK that if you could look in the safe behind Jeff Bezos’ desk, instead of the sports almanac from Back to the Future you’d find an Encyclopedia of Retail, written in maybe 1985. There would be Post-It notes on every page, and every one of those notes would have been turned into a team and maybe a product.

Amazon is so new, and so dramatic in its speed and scale and aggression, that we can easily forget how many of the things it’s doing are actually very old. And we can forget how many of the slightly dusty incumbent retailers we all grew up with were also once considered radical, daring, piratical new businesses that made people angry with their new ideas.

Continue reading… “Amazon’s revolutionary retail strategy? Recycling old ideas”

Engineering, new technology, Record Breaker, Science & Technology News, Transportation, Travel

World’s longest hyperloop track in the works for Saudi Arabia

August 9, 2019

A 35-km-long (21.- mi) hyperloop test track is planned for Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Economic City

Virgin Hyperloop One has expanded its relationship with Saudi Arabia, with the two announcing plans to develop a new test track in the country’s west. The facility would become the world’s longest Hyperloop tube, and would be used to test out the technology as the gulf nation eyes a wider rollout of the futuristic transport system.

Continue reading… “World’s longest hyperloop track in the works for Saudi Arabia”

Science & Technology News, Solar Energy, Solar Power, Transportation

France’s solar roadway experiment has failed

August 9, 2019

After nearly three years of use, Normandy’s photovoltaic highway is delivering disappointing results

Solar power highways are hitting a roadblock. Nearly three years after France built a 0.6-mile stretch of photovoltaic road in Normandy, the government is deeming it a disappointing experiment.

In 2016, France announced its bold plan to “pave” 1,000 kilometers (around 620 miles) with photovoltaic panels, which would generate 790kWh per day. When completed, the road was supposed to power up to 5 million homes. But that first 0.6-mile stretch, which engineers had originally estimated would power up to 5,000 homes, hasn’t lived up to expectations.

After installation, it was clear that the panels produced by the manufacturer Wattway couldn’t hold up under the wear and tear of highway traffic. According to Global Construction Review, “the 2,800 square meters of solar panels have degraded, peeled away and splintered, and 100m of them have been removed after being declared too damaged to repair.”

Continue reading… “France’s solar roadway experiment has failed”

Apple, Augmented Reality, Automobiles, Science & Technology News

Apple wants to put AR navigation in your car

August 9, 2019

Apple Maps could make driving easier with augmented reality navigation tips.

Apple is exploring ways to build augmented reality into Apple Maps. Rather than top-down views of roads and intersections, the company is considering overlaying route information onto live views of the road ahead of the car.

Apple Maps has always lagged behind Google Maps. Building in AR could help it jump ahead.

Continue reading… “Apple wants to put AR navigation in your car”

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Cancer, IBM, Science & Technology News

IBM just made its cancer-fighting AI projects open-source

August 9, 2019

IBM recently developed three artificial intelligence tools that could help medical researchers fight cancer.

Now, the company has decided to make all three tools open-source, meaning scientists will be able to use them in their research whenever they please, according to ZDNet. The tools are designed to streamline the cancer drug development process and help scientists stay on top of newly-published research — so, if they prove useful, it could mean more cancer treatments coming through the pipeline more rapidly than before.

Continue reading… “IBM just made its cancer-fighting AI projects open-source”

Health & Fitness, Healthcare, Medicine, Science & Technology News

New research uncovers compelling link between gut bacteria, obesity and the immune system

August 8, 2019

Researchers have discovered the immune system can directly alter populations of certain bacteria in the gut that affect how dietary fats are absorbed

An impressive new study from scientists at the University of Utah has described how an impaired immune system can alter the composition of the gut microbiome resulting in metabolic disease and obesity. Demonstrated in mouse experiments, the research suggests certain species of gut bacteria can prevent the gut from absorbing fat, pointing to exciting potential future anti-obesity therapies.

The research originated from an unexpected observation. Ongoing experiments in mice engineered to lack a gene called MyD88 surprisingly resulted in the animals gaining significant amounts of weight. The specific gene was being studied for its relationship to immune function in the gut. It was discovered that suppressing this gene resulted in lower production of immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies in the gut, but the real mystery was how this gut-related immune mechanism resulted in metabolic disease and obesity.

Continue reading… “New research uncovers compelling link between gut bacteria, obesity and the immune system”