Science News Updates

HELLO.  Thank you for visiting Newstrecker. Sadly, a family member has gotten ill and that means I will resume sharing my newsy findings later...as soon as possible.  Wish us well.  Thank you for understanding.

Below is the latest set of news articles from May 13 & 14, 2025.

Hoping to return soon.
Lady Newstrecker 

 

AI
Newsletters | AI in Healthcare

AI tools that help inform patients are highly useful, but those that directly delve into patient data for communications cues are risky. That’s according to a small group of physicians asked by Stanford researc

hers to judge precision AI tools developed from a large dataset of diabetes patients’ expressed needs.

 

Newsletters | AI in Healthcare

What attributes tend to nudge clinicians toward accepting AI into their work lives? Several, of course—but the most broadly determinative can be trimmed to just two.

Patient portal messages can train AI to support personalized care in endocrinology (and beyond) | AIin.healthcare 
AI tools that help inform patients are highly useful, but those that directly delve into patient data for communications cues are risky. That’s according to a small group of physicians asked by Stanford researchers to judge precision AI tools developed from a large dataset of diabetes patients’ expressed needs.

 

First, do no AI: How not to help the world’s struggling healthcare systems  | AIin.Healthcare

An international team of researchers is calling on healthcare AI proponents to be more mindful of the technology’s unsuitability across much of the developing world. 

 

FDA Accelerates AI Integration for Scientific Reviews | MDDI
FDA plans agency-wide AI integration for scientific reviews by June 30, following a successful pilot.

‘AI models are capable of novel research’: OpenAI’s chief scientist on what to expect | Nature
OpenAI is best known for ChatGPT — the free-to-use, large language model-based chatbot that became a household name after its debut in 2022. The firm, in San Francisco, California, has since released a string of cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including ‘reasoning’ models that use step-by-step ‘thought’ processes to specialize in logical tasks.

MEDICINE AND HEALTH

University of Cincinnati develops cortisol measuring device | MedicalDevice-Network
The system comprises a disposable saliva collection device placed in the mouth of the patient.

HIV drugs offer 'substantial' Alzheimer's protection, new research indicates | ScienceDaily

The drugs, called NRTIs, have the potential to prevent a million cases of Alzheimer's every year, the researchers believe.

NIH plans to reduce animal testing in federally funded research | STAT 
New NIH office will promote human-based research and scale the use of non-animal approaches to biomedical research.

Discovery opens up for new ways to treat chlamydia | ScienceDaily

Cryptic peptides, which are expressed in pancreatic cancer cells, could be promising targets for T-cell therapies that attack pancreatic tumors, according to a new study.

Thrombectomies: Transforming blood clot extraction and stroke recovery treatment - Medical Device Network

Strokes remain one of the world’s biggest killers. Thrombectomy offers renewed hope, especially when supported by next-generation materials such as nitinol.

MRI breakthrough could revolutionize diagnosis of common heart problem aortic stenosis | ScienceDaily
Researchers have developed cutting-edge MRI technology to diagnose a common heart problem more quickly and accurately than ever before. Aortic stenosis is a progressive and potentially fatal condition, affecting about five per cent of 65-year-olds in the US -- with increasing prevalence in advancing age.

 

OTHER

Scientists turn lead into gold | Nature

The transmuted metal only lasted a fraction of a second before it was obliterated but can tell researchers more about how atoms change.

 

Scientists discover how some flowers mimic the smell of death | Popular Science 
With a few small modifications, a single gene that’s present in most plants and animals can turn flowers into stink factories. 

 

Robot that keeps food hot or cold could change up food delivery | TechXplore As demand for robotic delivery grows worldwide, an Australian-made design is leading the charge into a new era of temperature-controlled food delivery.

Eldercare robot helps people sit and stand, and catches them if they fall | Techxplore At less than one and a half inches tall, roughly the same height as a LEGO minifigure, the world's smallest self-contained bipedal robot can self-start from standstill, walk faster than a half mile per hour, turn, skip, and ascend small steps with just the power of its on-board battery, actuator, and control system.

Atmospheric water harvesting: Optimization of a hygroscopic hydrogel device improves efficiency | TechXplore A small team of engineers from the U.S., Chile and Ireland has found a way to extract more water from drier air, allowing for water production in arid places like the Atacama Desert. Their paper is published in Device.

How your brain splits vision and puts it back together - Earth.comWhile myths about “left-brained” or “right-brained” personalities persist, one long-known division of labor in the brain turns out to be even more significant than people realize.

Chimpanzees use rhythmic drumming to communicate in forests - Earth.com  Chimpanzees are not the usual suspects when we think about musical beats. Yet recent work suggests they use patterns that might rival the rhythms many of us tap with our fingers.