HHMI Investigators Jonathan Weissman and Jay Shendure have each created maps of the origin and outcome of vast numbers of cells in a developing mouse — information that could enable scientists to better understand development and disease.  

Nitrogen is one of life’s building blocks, but it’s only helpful in the right amounts. Too much nitrogen in water, for example, can lead to poor water quality and the gradual death of aquatic organisms. Microbes remove nitrogen from water by converting it to a gas that escapes into the atmosphere. But scientists have difficulty determining how much nitrogen is removed this way.

Researchers at The University of Texas at Arlington are developing AI-powered computational tools that can identify and characterize the biological “control switches” that help keep eyes healthy and reveal what causes eye disease.

A new study by Nottingham Trent University (NTU) and Integrated System Technologies Ltd has developed a low-cost, privacy-preserving home monitoring system that could help older people live independently for longer. The technology combines millimetre-wave radar, thermal sensors and smart plugs, using artificial intelligence to build a picture of a person's daily routines and identify potential health emergencies such as falls, strokes and heart attacks, without relying on cameras or wearable devices.

The researchers found that integrating data from all three technologies provided the most accurate monitoring of movement, posture and everyday activities. By learning an individual's normal behaviour patterns, the system can detect sudden emergencies as well as gradual declines in mobility or wellbeing, alerting carers or family members when intervention may be needed. The team believes the technology could form part of future assisted-living homes, enabling older adults to remain safely in their own homes while protecting their privacy.

Most of us now carry in our pockets devices capable of running small AI chatbots. These chatbots have little safety oversight to ensure they don’t provide information and answers with the potential to encourage self-harm, financial loss, or other extremist notions—especially when operating offline. Now, a team of two physicists publishing in the Cell Press journal Patterns on October 8 have developed a mathematical formula that predicts when AI models will switch from appropriate responses to potentially dangerous ones.  

A new approach to producing ammonia using renewable electricity has overcome a fundamental energy limitation of the technology, opening new possibilities for cleaner and potentially more cost-effective production of one of the world’s most important chemicals.