Category Physics

AI Accurately Diagnoses Genetic Condition from Facial Photographs

population
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A Yale School of Medicine team reports in a new study that an artificial intelligence (AI) model was able to reliably diagnose people living with Marfan syndrome from a simple facial photograph.

Marfan syndrome is a genetic disorder, affecting about 1 in 3,000 people, which impacts the body’s connective tissues. “Patients living with Marfan syndrome are usually very tall and thin,” said John Elefteriades, MD, professor of surgery at Yale School of Medicine and senior author of the study. “They have long faces and are prone to spine and joint issues. However, many are not diagnosed.”

Marfan syndrome increases the risk for aortic dissection, where the aorta splits suddenly after becoming enlarged...

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Researchers develop Next-Generation Cooling Material to Increase Summer Cooling Efficiency Without Electricity

Radiation-cooling liquid crystal materials, a partner to the king of summer, air conditioning
(Left) Schematic depicting the molecular arrangement and light-matter interaction in the cooling material: a photonic crystal based on spiral liquid crystals. (Right) Actual photographs of the materials in a variety of colors. Full-domain color is achieved by controlling the amount of additives (i.e., chiral dopants). Credit: Korea Institute of Science and Technology

Dr. Jin Gu, Kang and his team at the Nanophotonics Research Center at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) have developed a colorful radiation-cooling liquid crystal material that can cool without external power while simultaneously emitting color. The work is published in the Chemical Engineering Journal.

Radiative cooling is a powerless cooling technology that releases infrared radiation as heat throug...

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An Aerial Robot that can Independently Control its Own Position and Orientation

An aerial robot that can independently control its position and orientation
The aerial robot captured during exterior flight. Credit: Iriarte et al.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, are now used to capture images and carry out a wide range of missions in outdoor environments. While there are now several UAV designs with different advantages and characteristics, most conventional aerial robots are underactuated, meaning that they have fewer independent actuators than their degrees of freedom (DoF).

Underactuated systems are often more cost-effective and can be controlled using simpler control strategies than overactuated systems (i.e., robots that have more independent actuators than their DoF). Nonetheless, they are often less reliable and not as capable of precisely controlling their position and orientation.

Researchers at Tec...

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Soft Gold enables Connections between Nerves and Electronics

Close-up illustrating that the gold nanowires combined with soft silicon rubber are stretchable.
The soft electrodes developed by Klas Tybrandt’s research group at Linköping University are stretchable to follow the body’s movements without damaging tissue. They consist of extremely thin threads of gold and soft silicone rubber.THOR BALKHED

Gold does not readily lend itself to being turned into long, thin threads. But researchers at Linköping University in Sweden have now managed to create gold nanowires and develop soft electrodes that can be connected to the nervous system. The electrodes are soft as nerves, stretchable and electrically conductive, and are projected to last for a long time in the body.

Some people have a “heart of gold,” so why not “nerves of gold”? In the future, it may be possible to use this precious metal in soft interfaces to connect electronics to the ...

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