Lifeboat Foundation

A suite of improvements enables the NexGen 7T to image sub-microliter neuron clusters.

Artificial intelligence tools hold promise for applications ranging from autonomous vehicles to the interpretation of medical images. However, a new study finds these AI tools are more vulnerable than previously thought to targeted attacks that effectively force AI systems to make bad decisions.

At issue are so-called “adversarial attacks,” in which someone manipulates the data being fed into an AI system in order to confuse it. For example, someone might know that putting a specific type of sticker at a specific spot on a stop sign could effectively make the stop sign invisible to an AI system. Or a hacker could install code on an X-ray machine that alters the image data in a way that causes an AI system to make inaccurate diagnoses.

“For the most part, you can make all sorts of changes to a stop sign, and an AI that has been trained to identify stop signs will still know it’s a stop sign,” says Tianfu Wu, co-author of a paper on the new work and an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at North Carolina State University. “However, if the AI has a vulnerability, and an attacker knows the vulnerability, the attacker could take advantage of the vulnerability and cause an accident.”

Worldwide, more than one billion people are obese. Obesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and some cancers. But permanently losing weight isn’t easy: complex interactions between body systems such as gut physiology, hormones, and the brain are known to work against it. One method for weight loss is intermittent energy restriction (IER), where days of relative fasting alternate with days of eating normally.

“Here we show that an IER diet changes the human brain-gut-microbiome axis. The observed changes in the gut microbiome and in the activity in addition-related brain regions during and after weight loss are highly dynamic and coupled over time,” said last author Dr. Qiang Zeng, a researcher at the Health Management Institute of the PLA General Hospital in Beijing. The study has been published in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology.

The authors used metagenomics on stool samples, blood measurements, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study changes in the composition of the gut microbiome, physiological parameters and serum composition, and brain activity in 25 obese Chinese women and men on an IER diet. Participants were on average 27 years old, with a BMI between 28 and 45.

Researchers have cracked the second ‘code of life’. In an exclusive interview with Technology Networks they explain how.

By Chuck Brooks

Every new year creates a new opportunity for optimism and predictions. In the past couple of years, emerging technology has permeated almost all areas of our lives. There is much to explore! In this article, I focus on three evolving technology areas that are already impacting our future but are only at the early stages of true potential: artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and space systems.

In addition to my own thoughts and perspectives, I reached out to several well-known subject matter experts on those very topic areas to share their valued insights.

Continue reading “Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing, and Space are 3 Tech areas to Watch in 2024” »

A win for all developers?

A jury found that Google turned its Google Play app store and Google Play Billing service into an illegal monopoly in a case against Fortnite-maker Epic Games, which sued the company for allegedly running illegal app store monopolies.

UK and U.S. competition watchdogs bring the alliance under their lens.

Global regulators are examining Microsoft’s $13 billion investment in OpenAI.

The intrusions are part of a broader effort to develop ways to sow chaos or snarl logistics in the event of a U.S.-China conflict in the Pacific, officials say.

While both China and the United States of America have accused each other of conducting cyberattacks for years now, recently, China’s People’s Liberation Army allegedly involved in a series of cyber intrusions referred to as “Volt Typhoon.”

The Washington Post reported earlier this morning that these attacks targeted critical American infrastructure, including water utility systems in Hawaii, major ports on the West Coast, and an oil and gas pipeline, according to experts.

Continue reading “Chinese hackers allegedly target US infrastructure as ‘Volt Typhoon’” »

The government cracks down on geographic data theft, citing national security concerns across key industries.

China has upped the ante on espionage and introduced stricter warnings on possessing unauthorized information related to national interests.