AI that uses Sketches to Detect Objects within an Image could Boost Tumor Detection, and Search for Rare Bird Species

Flock of birds - pixabay source

Teaching machine learning tools to detect specific objects in a specific image and discount others is a “game-changer” that could lead to advancements in cancer detection, according to leading researchers from the University of Surrey.

Surrey is set to present its unique sketch-based object detection tool at this year’s Computer Vision, Pattern, and Recognition Conference (CVPR). The tool allows the user to sketch an object, which the AI will use as a basis to search within an image to find something that matches the sketch — while discounting more general options.

Professor Yi-Zhe Song, leads this research at the University of Surrey’s Institute for People-Centred AI. He commented:

“An artist’s sketch is full of individual cues that words cannot convey concisely, reiterating...

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Astronomers explore the Properties of Ultra-Diffuse Galaxy UGC 9050-Dw1

Study explores the properties of ultra-diffuse galaxy UGC 9050-Dw1
HST ACS/WFC F555W/F814W composite color image of UGC 9050-Dw1, which consists of very diffuse stellar light and an amorphous blue central clump of a relatively higher surface brightness. The inset at the lower left depicts a high contrast zoom-in of the central region of the UDG. Credit: Fielder et al, 2023

Using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), astronomers have investigated an ultra-diffuse galaxy known as UGC 9050-Dw1. Results of the study, published June 9 on the pre-print server arXiv, yield important insights into the properties of this galaxy.

Ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) are extremely-low-density galaxies. The largest UDGs have sizes similar to the Milky Way, but have only about 1% as many stars as our home galaxy...

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Exoplanet may reveal Secrets about the Edge of Habitability

Carl Sagan Institute/R. Payne
Artist impression showing the exoplanet LP 890-9c’s potential evolution from a hot Earth to a desiccated Venus.

How close can a rocky planet be to a star, and still sustain water and life? A recently discovered exoplanet may be key to solving that Edge of Habitabilitymystery.

“Super-Earth” LP 890-9c (also named SPECULOOS-2c) is providing important insights about conditions at the inner edge of a star’s habitable zone and why Earth and Venus developed so differently, according to new research led by Lisa Kaltenegger, associate professor of astronomy at Cornell University.

Her team found LP 890-9c, which orbits close to the inner edge of its solar system’s habitable zone, would look vastly different depending on whether it still had warm oceans, a ste...

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Low-dose Aspirin may Increase Anaemia Risk in Healthy Older Adults: Study

Image credit: Christian Bowen via Unsplash

A new study analysing data from the landmark ASPREE trial has found that prolonged daily aspirin use increases the risk of anaemia by 20 per cent in people mostly aged 70 and over.

The results have prompted researchers to suggest that regular monitoring for anaemia be considered for older adults who take low-dose aspirin, and if older adults have concerns about their health or medications they should discuss them with their GP.

The Monash University-led study, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, followed 18,153 initially healthy older adults in Australia and the USA and recorded incidents of anaemia over an average 4.7 years.

The risk of developing anaemia was found to be 20 per cent higher in the aspirin group compared to those...

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