Biology

A machine learning method could help chemists formulate pesticides that target harmful insects but leave bees alone. Researchers at Oregon State University developed models that classify whether or not a chemical is fatally toxic to bees.

People who suffer from gastrointestinal conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome are number two when it comes to describing the characteristics of their own poop.

The computational systems known as cellular automata reproduce patterns of pixels by iteratively applying simple rules based loosely on the behavior of biological cells. New work extends their utility from reproducing images to generating new ones.

A new machine learning technique is boosting algae as a renewable, carbon-neural source of fuel for airplanes and other vehicles typically powered by fossil fuels.

Every gene in the human genome exists in a variety of mutations, and some encode protein variants that cause cells to malfunction, resulting in illness. Yet which mutations are associated with disease is largely unknown.

An insect-sorting robot could help scientists grapple with the global biodiversity crisis. An automated insect classifier sucks in tiny arthropods, classifies them, and maps their most important identifying features.

Transformer models trained on sequences of amino acids that form proteins have had success classifying and generating viable sequences. New research shows that they also capture information about protein structure.

A combination of computer vision and drones could help restore dwindling killer whale populations. Researchers at Oregon State University and conservation groups SR3 and Vulcan developed a system that assesses the health of orcas.

The U.S. government aims to turbocharge biomedical AI research. The National Institutes of Health, which invests $41.7 billion annually in medical research, announced a program called Bridge to Artificial Intelligence (Bridge2AI) to promote machine learning in human biology and medicine.

Many medical drugs work by modulating the body’s production of specific proteins. Recent research aimed to predict this activity, enabling researchers to identify drugs that might counteract the effects of Covid-19.

An AI-powered collar may help protect wild elephants from poachers, hunters, and other hostile humans. Ten ElephantEdge wireless tracking collars will be fitted onto African elephants next year, TechCrunch reported.

AI accelerated the search for a coronavirus vaccine, detected Covid-19 cases, and otherwise softened the pandemic’s blow. Machine learning researchers worldwide scrambled to harness the technology against the coronavirus.

Covid Moonshot, an open-source project to vet potential medicines using machine learning, is closing in on compounds that might help curb Covid-19. Four new antiviral drugs identified by the project are ready to advance to animal trials.

Many people worry that face recognition is intrusive, but wild animals seem to find it bearable. Melanie Clapham at University of Victoria with teammates of the BearID Project developed a model that performs face recognition for brown bears.

Neural networks learned to tell one bird from another, enabling scientists to study their behavior in greater detail. Researchers from universities in Europe and Africa trained eural networks to recognize individual birds with up to 90 percent accuracy.