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News of the week selected by Impactscool – January 14th, 2019

14 January 2019 | Written by La redazione

The most important news about future and technology selected by Impactscool team

An AI recognizes genetic diseases from the face

In the USA, an artificial intelligence has been developed that can recognize genetic diseases based on certain facial features. DeepGestalt, this is the name of the AI, has been trained for three years, processing information from 17,000 images of people affected by over 200 genetic diseases.

According to the study, described in the journal Nature Medicine, in the testing phase the AI was able to recognize the disease in 90% of cases.

DeepGestalt promises to become a valuable tool for early diagnosis and targeted therapies even if, to date, it is able to identify a small number of diseases.

 

The eyes of insects for robots and autonomous cars

To ensure robots and self-driving machines have a broader peripheral vision, researchers are developing lenses that are inspired by insect eyes.

The compound eyes of insects and crustaceans, in fact, are made up of thousands of elementary units, called ommatidia, that reveal light and translate it into electrical signals that reach the brain. For this reason, they allow a wider peripheral vision and better detect movements.

 

In Japan there is a robot that replaces the deceased loved ones

Etsuko Ichihara, after the death of his grandmother, decided to create a robot that helps overcome the death of a loved one. It is called the Digital Shaman Project and is an invention that offers a “duplicate” of a relative or a friend who passed, with whom to converse for a few days after their death. The robot, on which a 3D mask of the deceased’s face is superimposed, is programmed to stay alive for 49 days, reproducing gestures, voice and distinctive traits of the person. Whoever wants to “continue living” through the duplicate must, as long as he or she is alive, collaborate with a technician who records all of his/her peculiarities within a software.

 

An underwater robot to save the Australian coral reef

Is the Australian coral reef in danger? An underwater robot arrives to its rescue. Created by some researchers, the Larvalbot, this is the name of the device, is programmed to release small larvae near the seabed, in the hope that from these new species of corals can be born. Australian corals, like others in the world, are at risk due to pollution and climate change.

 

Empathy towards animals is stored in DNA

A research by the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute and Scotland’s Rural College, published in the journal Animals, argues that the predisposition to take care of the animals could be “written” in our DNA. According to the study, in fact, those who show a high degree of care for other species share a variation in the gene that produces the neurotransmitter oxytocin, also known as the love hormone. Obviously, however, the researchers point out that social and environmental factors can also favor the development of this feature.

 

A solution to defend against drone attacks

According to the British press, the London airports of Gatwick and Heathrow are investing millions of pounds in military anti-drone technology. The choice of these investments came as a result of the unrest caused by the sighting of some drones near Gatwick between December 19 and 21, from which there have been delays and cancellations of a thousand flights and inconvenience for about 140 thousand passengers. For now the anti-drone technology used has not been revealed, but according to recent rumors it could be the Drone Dome system, developed in Israel, which allows blocking the communication between the drone and its operator and has the ability to intercept the aircraft in the ten kilometers radius.

Representatives of the British government will soon meet at the top of the country’s main airports to discuss the existing defense tools and evaluate the adoption of other systems even at smaller airports.

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