ScienceDaily: Computers & Math News

HIV and syphilis biomarkers: Smartphone, finger prick, 15 minute diagnosis Posted: 04 Feb 2015 11:45 AM PST Medical researchers have developed a low-cost smartphone accessory that can perform a point-of-care test that simultaneously detects three infectious disease markers -- HIV and syphilis -- from a finger prick of blood in just 15 minutes. The device replicates, for the first time, all mechanical, optical, and electronic functions of a lab-based blood test without requiring any stored energy: all necessary power is drawn from the smartphone.

Programming safety into self-driving cars: Better AI algorithms for semi-autonomous vehicles Posted: 04 Feb 2015 08:19 AM PST For decades, researchers in artificial intelligence, or AI, worked on specialized problems, developing theoretical concepts and workable algorithms for various aspects of the field. Computer vision, planning and reasoning experts all struggled independently in areas that many thought would be easy to solve, but which proved incredibly difficult.

Security: Protecting customers charging electric vehicles on smart electricity grids Posted: 04 Feb 2015 06:01 AM PST As electricity grids become more sophisticated, grid administrators can collect instantaneous data on consumer and supplier behavior. The 'smart grid' then learns to improve the reliability, costs and sustainability of electricity distribution. However, smart grids present new security challenges, especially for mobile systems such as electric vehicles (EVs), which can be attacked both electronically and physically.

Full-color moving holograms in high resolution Posted: 04 Feb 2015 06:01 AM PST Three-dimensional (3D) movies, which require viewers to wear stereoscopic (i.e. Related to the technique of creating an impression of depth by showing two slightly offset flat images to each eye) glasses, have become very popular in recent years. However, the 3D effect produced by the glasses cannot provide perfect depth cues. Furthermore, it is not possible to move one's head and observe that objects appear different from different angles -- a real-life effect known as motion parallax. Now, researchers have developed a new way of generating high-resolution, full-color, 3D videos that uses holographic technology.

Artificially intelligent robot scientist 'Eve' could boost search for new drugs Posted: 03 Feb 2015 05:44 PM PST Eve, an artificially intelligent 'robot scientist' could make drug discovery faster and much cheaper, say researchers writing in the Royal Society journal Interface. The team has demonstrated the success of the approach as Eve discovered that a compound shown to have anti-cancer properties might also be used in the fight against malaria.

Machine learning offers insights into evolution of monkey faces, researchers find Posted: 03 Feb 2015 05:42 PM PST Computers are able to use monkey facial patterns not only to correctly identify species, but also distinguish individuals within species, a team of scientists has found. Their findings, which rely on computer algorithms to identify guenon monkeys, suggest that machine learning can be a tool in studying evolution and help to identify the factors that have led to facial differentiation in monkey evolution.

Handheld sensor to sniff out fish fraud Posted: 03 Feb 2015 09:34 AM PST Researchers have developed a handheld sensor capable of debunking fraudulent seafood species claims, helping to ensure that consumers are get what they pay for.

Range of options, prices brings in the crowdfunding bucks Posted: 02 Feb 2015 06:24 PM PST It doesn't work in the traditional marketplace, but in the world of crowdfunding, giving consumers options and the choice to pay more for essentially the same product makes sense, new research confirms.