The tool also can be used to predict a person’s brain age and risk for a myriad of other chronic conditions as well.
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Autonomous gallbladder removal: Robot performs first realistic surgery without human help
A robot trained on videos of surgeries performed a lengthy phase of a gallbladder removal without human help. The robot operated for the first time on a lifelike patient, and during the operation, responded to and learned from voice commands from the team—like a novice surgeon working with a mentor.
The robot performed unflappably across trials and with the expertise of a skilled human surgeon, even during unexpected scenarios typical in real-life medical emergencies.
The work, led by Johns Hopkins University researchers, is a transformative advancement in surgical robotics, where robots can perform with both mechanical precision and human-like adaptability and understanding.
Quantum internet moves closer as researchers teleport light-based information
Quantum teleportation is a fascinating process that involves transferring a particle’s quantum state to another distant location, without moving or detecting the particle itself. This process could be central to the realization of a so-called “quantum internet,” a version of the internet that enables the safe and instant transmission of quantum information between devices within the same network.
Quantum teleportation is far from a recent idea, as it was experimentally realized several times in the past. Nonetheless, most previous demonstrations utilized frequency conversion rather than natively operating in the telecom band.
Researchers at Nanjing University recently demonstrated the teleportation of a telecom-wavelength photonic qubit (i.e., a quantum bit encoded in light at the same wavelengths supporting current communications) to a telecom quantum memory. Their paper, published in Physical Review Letters, could open new possibilities for the realization of scalable quantum networks and thus potentially a quantum internet.
The AI Revolution In Healthcare: How Data Science Is Transforming Drug Discovery And Medical Diagnosis
Going forward, AI has the potential to help balance needs across regions, ensuring care delivery doesn’t compromise chronic or long-term care in the face of emergencies.
Ethical Considerations And Systemic Impact
While AI holds significant promise in healthcare, its implementation must be approached thoughtfully. Challenges such as bias in training data, lack of interoperability and concerns around patient consent and data privacy (particularly under HIPAA) need to be proactively addressed. Effective deployment of AI requires close collaboration between policymakers, clinicians and technologists to establish standards that ensure equitable and inclusive outcomes.
Cosmic sculptor: Astronomers spot young planet shaping spiral arms in dusty stellar disk
Astronomers may have caught a still-forming planet in action, carving out an intricate pattern in the gas and dust that surrounds its young host star. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), they observed a planetary disk with prominent spiral arms, finding clear signs of a planet nestled in its inner regions. This is the first time astronomers have detected a planet candidate embedded inside a disk spiral.
“We will never witness the formation of Earth, but here, around a young star 440 light-years away, we may be watching a planet come into existence in real time,” says Francesco Maio, a doctoral researcher at the University of Florence, Italy, and lead author of this study, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
The potential planet-in-the-making was detected around the star HD 135344B, within a disk of gas and dust around it called a protoplanetary disk. The budding planet is estimated to be twice the size of Jupiter and as far from its host star as Neptune is from the sun. It has been observed shaping its surroundings within the protoplanetary disk as it grows into a fully formed planet.
Genetic test predicts obesity in childhood
What if we could prevent people from developing obesity? The World Obesity Federation expects more than half the global population to develop overweight or obesity by 2035. However, treatment strategies such as lifestyle change, surgery and medications are not universally available or effective.
By drawing on genetic data from over five million people, an international team of researchers has created a genetic test called a polygenic risk score (PGS) that predicts adulthood obesity already in early childhood. This finding could help to identify children and adolescents at higher genetic risk of developing obesity, who could benefit from targeted preventative strategies, such as lifestyle interventions, at a younger age.
“What makes the score so powerful is its ability to predict, before the age of five, whether a child is likely to develop obesity in adulthood, well before other risk factors start to shape their weight later in childhood. Intervening at this point can have a huge impact,” says Assistant Professor Roelof Smit from the NNF Center for Basic Metabolic Research (CBMR) at the University of Copenhagen and lead author of the research published in Nature Medicine.
