BILD: If the sensor is connected to supporting electronics, it can wirelessly transmit data to the user’s mobile phone via Bluetooth. see more Image credit: Caltech One feature of the COVID-19 virus that makes it so difficult to contain is that it can easily be passed on to others from one person who is not yet showing signs of infection. The carrier of the virus may be very comfortable and do their daily chores – taking the virus to work, to a family member’s home, or to public gatherings. So a critical part of the global effort to contain the spread of the pandemic is developing tests that c ..read more

BILD: In one data set, REVISE uncovered a potential gender-specific bias in images that contained people (red boxes) and the musical instrument organ (blue boxes). Analysis of the distribution of the derived 3D distances … Show more Photo credit: Princeton Visual AI Lab Princeton University researchers have developed a tool that identifies potential distortions in image sets for training artificial intelligence (AI) systems. The work is part of a larger effort to remove and prevent the biases that have crept into AI systems that affect everything from credit services to court conviction progra ..read more

Rochester Institute of Technology professors received an award from the National Science Foundation for developing a hands-on data science course for non-computer majors. The course is offered first at RIT and then across the country to promote numeracy for everyone. RIT plans to offer the new Data Science Principles course from autumn 2021. During the course, students from different backgrounds can learn how to extract knowledge and patterns from data that are important to their subject – all without having to know how to program or code. The demand for data science knowledge extends beyond c ..read more

“It’s exciting. I love this stuff!” said Bashar Badran, Ph.D. “It’s so much fun.” Not many researchers have the chance to soar weightlessly 32,000 feet above the earth. Scientists at the Medical University of South Carolina usually conduct research in labs – controlled environments where they can carefully repeat experiments to verify the results. But looking at what real astronauts might experience in future space travel, some scientists recently went to heaven to do brain research in weightlessness. Neuroradiologist Donna Roberts, MD, and neuroscientist Badran worked together on the project ..read more

BILD: An aerial view of Belem, Brazil, a city on the Amazon delta in northeastern Brazil. A new study by IU researchers found that climate change is causing millions of people … to see more Image Credit: Photo by Eduardo Brondizio, Indiana University Thirty-one million people living in river deltas are at high risk of flooding and other effects of tropical cyclones and climate change, according to a study by Indiana University researchers. “To date, no one has successfully quantified the world’s population on river deltas and assessed the cumulative effects of climate change,” said Douglas Edm ..read more

Washington DC, October 2, 2020 – On Sunday, October 4, during the 2020 Alan C. Brown annual meeting, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) will present the JC Hunsaker Award in Aeronautical Engineering for innovative contributions to the design of commercial and military aircraft and especially leadership of the team that developed the F-117 Stealth Fighter. “This award, initiated by Professor and Mrs. Jerome C. Hunsaker, recognizes outstanding achievements in the field of aerospace engineering and is awarded every five years Prize money of $ 50,000. Brown retired as Director of Engineerin ..read more

Scientists have created a three-dimensional (3D) tumor model for ovarian cancer in the laboratory that could lead to a better understanding and better treatment of the disease. The international team, led by the University of Nottingham and Queen Mary University London, has created a multicellular 3D microenvironment that simulates the growth of tumor cells in ovarian cancer and is responsive to chemotherapy drugs. The research was published today in Science Advances (adding link) There is a need for improved 3D cancer models to study tumor growth and course in patients and to test responses t ..read more

One of the major challenges in developing effective, targeted cancer treatments is the heterogeneity of the cancer cells themselves. This variation makes it difficult for the immune system to recognize, respond to, and actively fight tumors. Now, however, new advances in nanotechnology are making it possible to deliver targeted, personalized “vaccines” to treat cancer. A new study published in Science Advances on October 2, 2020 shows the use of charged nanoscale organometallic scaffolds to generate free radicals using X-rays in tumor tissue to directly kill cancer cells. In addition, the same ..read more

CAMBRIDGE, MA – September 30, 2020 – The MIT Press Journal Rapid Reviews: COVID-19 (RRC: 19) has openly published the first official scientific peer reviews of pre-print research by Li-Meng Yan, Shu Kang and Jie Guan and Shanchang Hu, who claims to show that unusual features of the SARS-CoV-2 genome suggest sophisticated laboratory modification rather than natural evolution. Reviewers Robert Gallo, Takahiko Koyama and Adam Lauring rate the study as misleading and write that “the manuscript does not contain enough scientific evidence to support its claims”. The Rapid Reviews website provides pe ..read more

ITHACA, NY – For a low-income woman, the lack of a car meant long journeys on local transport with her children in tow, sometimes through cold or inclement weather. After buying a subsidized car through a nonprofit in Maryland, she was able to move to a house farther from bus stops, send her children to better schools, and get cheaper medical services. “So many different things open up to a person who is mobile,” the woman said to Nicholas Klein, assistant professor of urban and regional planning at Cornell University. In “Subsidizing Car Ownership for People and Households with Low Income”, p ..read more