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Creating AI that’s Fair and Accurate: Framework moves Beyond Binary Decisions to offer a more Nuanced Approach

AI that's fair and accurate
Credit: MIT CSAIL

Two of the trickiest qualities to balance in the world of machine learning are fairness and accuracy. Algorithms optimized for accuracy may unintentionally perpetuate bias against specific groups, while those prioritizing fairness may compromise accuracy by misclassifying some data points.

With this challenge in mind, a team from CSAIL has taken the lead in devising a framework that enables a more nuanced approach to balancing these qualities.

Instead of forcing a binary decision in labeling all data points as “good” or “bad,” their framework uses their Reject Option Classification (ROC) algorithm which assigns a third category of “rejected samples,” allowing it to identify instances where the model might be less certain or where predictions could potentially le...

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Mining Old Data from NASA’s Voyager 2 Solves Several Uranus Mysteries

When NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Uranus in 1986, it provided scientists’ first—and, so far, only—close glimpse of this strange, sideways-rotating outer planet. Alongside the discovery of new moons and rings, baffling new mysteries confronted scientists. The energized particles around the planet defied their understanding of how magnetic fields work to trap particle radiation, and Uranus earned a reputation as an outlier in our solar system.

Now, new research analyzing the data collected during that flyby 38 years ago has found that the source of that particular mystery is a cosmic coincidence...

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New Option for Treating Prostate Cancer

(c) 2024 Antonio Marca/Shutterstock

Innovative strategy reduces tumor growth and strengthens the immune system against tumor cells. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide. Despite medical advances in recent years, this type of tumour is still responsible for one in eight male cancer deaths in Austria alone. An international research team led by MedUni Vienna has now investigated a new strategy for the development of treatment options that not only slow tumour growth, but also stimulate the immune system to combat tumour cells. The results of the study have just been published in the top journal Molecular Cancer.

The scientific team focused its investigations on the GP130 signalling pathway, which researchers expect to have a major potential in the fight against cancer.

The background: th...

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New Material to make Next Generation of Electronics Faster and More Efficient

Three scientists in lab coats examining equipment in a high-tech laboratory.
Researchers in the Quantum Materials Design and Synthesis Group (from left to right) Zhifei Yang, Bharat Jalan, and Fengdeng Liu who worked to create a new material to help improve the next generation of high-power electronics. Credit: Kalie Pluchel/University of Minnesota

With the increase of new technology and artificial intelligence, the demand for efficient and powerful semiconductors continues to grow. Researchers at the University of Minnesota have achieved a new material that will be pivotal in making the next generation of high-power electronics faster, transparent and more efficient. This artificially designed material allows electrons to move faster while remaining transparent to both visible and ultraviolet light, breaking the previous record.

The research, published in S...

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