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Empathy, the ability to understand what others are feeling and emotionally connect with their experiences, can be highly advantageous for humans, as it allows them to strengthen relationships and thrive in some professional settings. The development of tools for reliably measuring people’s empathy has thus been a key objective of many past psychology studies.

Most existing methods for measuring empathy rely on self-reports and questionnaires, such as the interpersonal reactivity index (IRI), the Empathy Quotient (EQ) test and the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ). Over the past few years, however, some scientists have been trying to develop alternative techniques for measuring empathy, some of which rely on machine learning algorithms or other computational models.

Researchers at Hong Kong Polytechnic University have recently introduced a new machine learning-based video analytics that could be used to predict the empathy of people captured in . Their framework, introduced in a preprint paper published in SSRN, could prove to be a valuable tool for conducting organizational psychology research, as well as other empathy-related studies.

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Oregon State University researchers are gaining a more detailed understanding of emissions from wood-burning stoves and developing technologies that allow stoves to operate much more cleanly and safely, potentially limiting particulate matter pollution by 95%.

The work has key implications for human health as wood-burning stoves are a leading source of PM2.5 emissions in the United States. PM2.5 refers to with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or smaller that can be inhaled deeply into the lungs and even enter the bloodstream. Exposure to PM2.5 is a known cause of cardiovascular disease and is linked to the onset and worsening of respiratory illness.

Even though a relatively small number of households use wood stoves, they are the U.S.’s third-largest source of particulate matter pollution, after wildfire smoke and agricultural dust, said Nordica MacCarty of the OSU College of Engineering.

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Connectivity is no longer a luxury—it is the backbone of how we live, work and move through the world. From smart homes to wearable tech, we rely on strong, seamless wireless networks. But with traditional radio frequency systems like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth reaching their limits in spectrum and precision, it is time for a rethink. What if we could use light to communicate indoors—precisely, silently and efficiently?

That is the vision behind our latest research. We have developed a indoor optical wireless communication (OWC) system that uses finely focused infrared beams to deliver lightning-fast, interference-free connections—while drastically reducing energy use. Imagine a network where every device gets its own invisible of light, targeted like a spotlight, without the clutter and chaos of traditional wireless signals. Our research is published in the IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society.

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A group of astronomers from across the globe, including a team from the University of Washington and led by Queen’s University Belfast, have revealed new research showing that millions of new solar system objects will be detected by a brand-new facility, which is expected to come online later in 2025.

The NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory is set to revolutionize our knowledge of the solar system’s “small bodies”—asteroids, comets and other .

The Rubin Observatory, under construction on the Cerro Pachón ridge in northern Chile, features the 8.4-meter Simonyi Survey Telescope with a unique three-mirror design capable of surveying the entire visible sky every few nights.

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A study led by biomedical scientists at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine shows how a genetic mutation associated with Crohn’s disease can worsen iron deficiency and anemia—one of the most common complications experienced by patients with inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD.

While IBD—a group of chronic inflammatory disorders that includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis—primarily affects the intestines, it can have effects beyond the gut. Iron deficient anemia is the most prevalent of these effects, contributing to and reduced quality of life, particularly during disease flare-ups.

The study, performed on serum samples from IBD patients, reports that patients carrying a loss-of-function mutation in the gene PTPN2 (protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 2) exhibit significant disruption in blood proteins that regulate . This mutation is found in 14–16% of the general population and 19–20% of the IBD population. A loss-of-function mutation is a genetic change that reduces or eliminates the normal function of a gene or its product, a protein.

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Continue reading “Resisting Age-Related Blood Pressure Changes: 336 Days Of Testing” | >

Progress is rarely linear, and AI is no exception.

As academics, independent developers, and the biggest tech companies in the world drive us closer to artificial general intelligence — a still hypothetical form of intelligence that matches human capabilities — they’ve hit some roadblocks. Many emerging models are prone to hallucinating, misinformation, and simple errors.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai referred to this phase of AI as AJI, or “artificial jagged intelligence,” on a recent episode of Lex Fridman’s podcast.

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Sarin (isopropyl methyl fluorophosphonate) is an organophosphorus nerve agent regulated by the Convention on the Banning of Chemical Weapons. It can enter the body through the respiratory system, skin, or eyes, paralyzing the central nervous system by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase, which can lead to death. Therefore, rapid and sensitive detection of trace sarin is vital for safety and environmental protection.

Due to its high toxicity, sarin’s use is strictly controlled, leading researchers to use diethyl chlorophosphate (DCP) as a safer simulant. The common fluorescence detection method takes advantage of DCP’s strong electrophilicity, using recognition sites like hydroxyl oxime and imine for fluorescence quenching to identify the target.

However, this method is affected by photobleaching, acid, and other environmental factors, limiting its application.

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