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Stress-testing AI vision systems: Rethinking how adversarial images are generated

Deep neural networks (DNNs) have become a cornerstone of modern AI technology, driving a thriving field of research in image-related tasks. These systems have found applications in medical diagnosis, automated data processing, computer vision, and various forms of industrial automation, to name a few.

As reliance on AI models grows, so does the need to test them thoroughly using adversarial examples. Simply put, adversarial examples are images that have been strategically modified with noise to trick an AI into making a mistake. Understanding adversarial image generation techniques is essential for identifying vulnerabilities in DNNs and for developing more secure, reliable systems.

GNSS-only method delivers stable positioning for autonomous vehicles in urban areas

Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are vital for positioning autonomous vehicles, buses, drones, and outdoor robots. Yet its accuracy often degrades in dense urban areas due to signal blockage and reflections.

Now, researchers have developed a GNSS-only method that delivers stable, accurate positioning without relying on fragile carrier-phase ambiguity resolution. Tested across six challenging urban scenarios, the approach consistently outperformed existing methods, enabling safer and more reliable autonomous navigation.

Scientists Say They’ve Made a Pill That Could Let You Live to 150

They’ve been promising eternal youth since the first snake-oil salesman bottled spring water. Now a Chinese biotech startup says it might actually have the chemistry right. Lonvi Biosciences claims its new pill could stretch human life to 150 years.

The Shenzhen-based company, backed by China’s booming longevity sector, says it has developed a pill that could theoretically extend human life to 150 years. The company’s formula targets so-called “zombie cells”—aging cells that refuse to die, triggering inflammation and age-related disease. “This is not just another pill. This is the Holy Grail,” said CEO Ip Zhu, describing the capsule as a breakthrough that could make extreme longevity a reality.

The drug’s key ingredient, procyanidin C1 (PCC1), is derived from grape seeds and has shown lifespan extension in lab animals. In Lonvi’s own mouse trials, the treatment reportedly increased overall lifespan by 9.4 percent and extended life by 64 percent from the first day of treatment. “Living to 150 is definitely realistic,” said Chief Technology Officer Lyu Qinghua in an interview with The New York Times. “In a few years, this will be the reality.”

Overlooked molecule points to new treatments for drug resistant fungal infections

Fungal infections kill millions of people each year, and modern medicine is struggling to keep up. But researchers at McMaster University have identified a molecule that may help turn the tide—butyrolactolA, a chemical compound that targets a deadly, disease-causing fungi called Cryptococcus neoformans.

Infections caused by Cryptococcus are extremely dangerous. The pathogen, which can cause pneumonia-like symptoms, is notoriously drug-resistant, and it often preys on people with weakened immune systems, like cancer patients or those living with HIV. And the same can be said about other fungal pathogens, like Candida auris or Aspergillus fumigatus—both of which, like Cryptococcus, have been declared priority pathogens by the World Health Organization.

Despite the threat, though, doctors have only three treatment options for fungal infections.

With some help from AI, your next move can be predicted

AI might know where you’re going before you do. Researchers at Northeastern University used large language models, the kind of advanced artificial intelligence normally designed to process and generate language, to predict human movement.

How RHYTHM predicts human movement RHYTHM, their innovative tool, “can revolutionize the forecasting of human movements,” forecasting “where you’re going to be in the next 30 minutes or the next 25 hours,” said Ryan Wang, an associate professor and vice chair of research in civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern.

The hope is that RHYTHM will improve domains like transportation and traffic planning to make our lives easier, but in extreme cases, RHYTHM could even be deployed to respond to natural disasters, highway accidents and terrorist attacks.

Nearby super-Earth may be our best chance yet to find alien life

A nearby super-Earth may be one of the best chances yet to search for life beyond our solar system. A newly detected super-Earth just 20 light-years away is giving scientists one of the most promising chances yet to search for life beyond our solar system. The discovery of the exoplanet orbiting in the habitable zone of its star was made possible by advanced spectrographs designed at Penn State and by decades of observations from telescopes around the world.

A possible “super-Earth” located less than 20 light-years from Earth is giving researchers renewed optimism in the search for planets that might host life. The newly identified world, GJ 251 c, earned its “super-Earth” label because current data indicate it is almost four times the mass of Earth and is likely a rocky planet.

“We look for these types of planets because they are our best chance at finding life elsewhere,” said Suvrath Mahadevan, the Verne M. Willaman Professor of Astronomy at Penn State and co-author of a recent paper in The Astronomical Journal. “The exoplanet is in the habitable or the ‘Goldilocks Zone,’ the right distance from its star that liquid water could exist on its surface, if it has the right atmosphere.”

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Targeting key proteins in fight against ALS

Northwestern Medicine scientists have zeroed in on a cellular gatekeeper that may hold promise for treating abnormal protein accumulation in neurodegenerative diseases, according to a study published in Nature Communications. “In all neurodegenerative diseases, there is an accumulation of misfolded proteins,” said Robert Kalb, MD, the Joan and Paul Rubschlager Professor, chief of Neuromuscular Disease in the Ken and Ruth Davee Department of Neurology, and director of the Les Turner ALS Center, who was senior author of the study.

“We think that these misfolded proteins are a target for disease—the disease is actually driven by the accumulation of these misfolded proteins.”

In the current study, Kalb and his collaborators aimed to investigate the role of RAD23, a protein that is involved in the identification and disposal of damaged or misfolded proteins. Under normal circumstances, elimination of misfolded proteins is essential for maintaining a healthy collection of proteins in cells, a process known as protein homeostasis, or proteostasis.

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