Thursday 9 May 2019

Climate change responsible for severe infectious disease in UK frogs

Climate change has already increased the spread and severity of a fatal disease caused by Ranavirus that infects common frogs (Rana temporaria) in the UK, according to research led by ZSL's Institute of Zoology, UCL and Queen Mary University of London published today in Global Change Biology.

* This article was originally published here

Officials seek to open major spillway on Mississippi River

Army Corps of Engineers officials in Louisiana aim to open a historic flood control structure above New Orleans on Tuesday for an unprecedented second time in one year.

* This article was originally published here

Weight-loss procedure works long-term, without surgery

Could people struggling with obesity make headway in their efforts to shed pounds without having to go under the knife?

* This article was originally published here

A multi-scale body-part mask guided attention network for person re-identification

Person re-identification entails the automated identification of the same person in multiple images from different cameras and with different backgrounds, angles or positions. Despite recent advances in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), person re-identification remains a highly challenging task, particularly due to the many variations in a person's pose, as well as other differences associated with lighting, occlusion, misalignment and background clutter.

* This article was originally published here

Mathematical framework explores how the brain keeps a beat

A new mathematical model demonstrates how neurons in the brain could work together to learn and keep a musical beat. The framework, developed by Amitabha Bose of New Jersey Institute of Technology and Aine Byrne and John Rinzel of New York University, is described in PLOS Computational Biology.

* This article was originally published here

Gravitational waves leave a detectable mark, physicists say

Gravitational waves, first detected in 2016, offer a new window on the universe, with the potential to tell us about everything from the time following the Big Bang to more recent events in galaxy centers.

* This article was originally published here

VisiBlends, a new approach to disrupt visual messaging

Visual blends, which join two objects in an unusual, eye-catching way, are an advanced graphic design technique used in advertising, marketing, and the media to draw attention to a specific message. These visual marriages are designed to precipitate an "aha!" moment in the viewer who grasps one idea from the union of two images. For instance, blending an image of an orange with an image of the sun could convey a beverage with Vitamin C.

* This article was originally published here

Scientists introduce novel perspective in robotic capability

University of Illinois researcher Amy LaViers has introduced a new point of view from which to observe robotic capabilities in her paper, "Counts of Mechanical, External Configurations Compared to Computational, Internal Configurations in Natural and Artificial Systems," published today in PLOS ONE, a leading interdisciplinary research journal.

* This article was originally published here

Assessing battery performance: Compared to what?

Scientists must often ask themselves, compared to what? How do the results we generate in the laboratory compare with those obtained by others? How do our theoretical calculations compare with experimental data?

* This article was originally published here

Meditation needs more research: Study finds 25 percent suffer unpleasant experiences

More than a quarter of people who regularly meditate have had a 'particularly unpleasant' psychological experience related to the practice, including feelings of fear and distorted emotions, a UCL-led study has found.

* This article was originally published here

Do most Americans believe in human-caused climate change?

What percentage of Americans believe in human-caused climate change?

* This article was originally published here

Smarter training of neural networks

These days, nearly all the artificial intelligence-based products in our lives rely on "deep neural networks" that automatically learn to process labeled data.

* This article was originally published here

Secrets of fluorescent microalgae could lead to super-efficient solar cells

Tiny light-emitting microalgae, found in the ocean, could hold the secret to the next generation of organic solar cells, according to new research carried out at the Universities of Birmingham and Utrecht.

* This article was originally published here

Making a case for robotic objects as anger outlets

Coochi coo. Robots have undergone impressive designs and engineering for social use, manifested in puppy-like robots with expressive, blinking eyes, to little space robots. These little pals and helpers appeal to the home-confined elderly and children. These are social robots designed to understand and respond to cues.

* This article was originally published here

Box of Pain: A new tracer and fault injector for distributed systems

In computer science, distributed systems are systems with components located on different devices, which communicate with one another. While these systems have become increasingly common, they are typically filled with bugs.

* This article was originally published here

Notre Dame's melted roof leaves astronomical lead levels

Notre Dame Cathedral's melted roof has left astronomically high lead levels in the plaza outside and adjacent roads.

* This article was originally published here

Wireless movement-tracking system could collect health and behavioral data

We live in a world of wireless signals flowing around us and bouncing off our bodies. MIT researchers are now leveraging those signal reflections to provide scientists and caregivers with valuable insights into people's behavior and health.

* This article was originally published here

Rideshare firms have snarled up San Francisco: study

The ride-hailing era ushered in by Uber and Lyft once promised to complement public transit, reduce car ownership and alleviate congestion.

* This article was originally published here

Diabetes linked to numerous cancers in large Chinese study

A new Journal of Diabetes study from China, which has the highest number of people with diabetes among all countries, found that type 2 diabetes was linked with an elevated risk of 11 types of cancer in men and 13 types of cancer in women.

* This article was originally published here

Design flaws create security vulnerabilities for 'smart home' internet-of-things devices

Researchers at North Carolina State University have identified design flaws in "smart home" Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices that allow third parties to prevent devices from sharing information. The flaws can be used to prevent security systems from signaling that there has been a break-in or uploading video of intruders.

* This article was originally published here