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Traditional methods of assessing damage after a disaster can take weeks or even months, delaying emergency response, insurance claims and long-term rebuilding efforts. New research might change that. Researchers have developed a new method that combines remote sensing, deep learning and restoration models to speed up building damage assessments and predict recovery times after a tornado. Once post-event images are available, the model can produce damage assessments and recovery forecasts in less than an hour.

Researchers found that vision-language models, widely used to analyze medical images, do not understand negation words like 'no' and 'not.' This could cause them to fail unexpectedly when asked to retrieve medical images that contain certain objects but not others.

Scientists have created a new nanoparticle that could make ultrasound-based cancer treatments more effective and safer, while also helping prevent tumors from coming back. To make the therapy even more powerful, the scientists also attached a potent chemotherapy drug to the peptide on the nanoparticle's surface. The ultrasound physically destroys the tumor, and the drug helps eliminate any leftover cancer cells that might cause the tumor to return.

Scientists are using artificial intelligence to determine which genes collectively govern nitrogen use efficiency in plants such as corn, with the goal of helping farmers improve their crop yields and minimize the cost of nitrogen fertilizers.

Listen to the first notes of an old, beloved song. Can you name that tune? If you can, congratulations -- it's a triumph of your associative memory, in which one piece of information (the first few notes) triggers the memory of the entire pattern (the song), without you actually having to hear the rest of the song again. We use this handy neural mechanism to learn, remember, solve problems and generally navigate our reality.

Listen to the first notes of an old, beloved song. Can you name that tune? If you can, congratulations -- it's a triumph of your associative memory, in which one piece of information (the first few notes) triggers the memory of the entire pattern (the song), without you actually having to hear the rest of the song again. We use this handy neural mechanism to learn, remember, solve problems and generally navigate our reality.

A new game-based experiment sheds light on the tradeoffs people are willing to make about data privacy.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most powerful phenomena in the Universe. First detected during the Cold War, these events beam a tremendous amount of high-energy light our way in a short period of time. They come in two types: short GRBs that last for less than two seconds and long GRBs that last for minutes. Both types have mysterious origins. Short GRBs could be caused by the collisions of neutron stars or perhaps the powerful flares of a magnetar. Observations of long GRBs suggest they are caused by a powerful supernova called a hypernova, where a massive star collapses to become a black hole. But a new study suggests that the origins of long GRBs are more diverse.

A new study outlines how artificial intelligence-powered handwriting analysis may serve as an early detection tool for dyslexia and dysgraphia among young children.

An oral vaccine reduced infection risk in a trial where people were deliberately exposed to high doses of norovirus, and could also slow the spread of the pathogen

A newly described poison dart frog, which is about the size of a thumbnail, has been found in the forests of the Juruá river basin in Brazil

New research suggests wealthy democracies offshore their pollution to other nations – but is that what’s really going on?

Saturn's moon Titan is the only other body in the Solar System with weather similar to Earth's. The large moon has a thick, nitrogen-rich atmosphere like Earth's, liquid on its surface, and a precipitation cycle. But instead of water, the surface liquid and the precipitation cycle are mainly based on methane.

Scientists inspired by the octopus's nervous system have developed a robot that can decide how to move or grip objects by sensing its environment.

Scientists inspired by the octopus's nervous system have developed a robot that can decide how to move or grip objects by sensing its environment.

For millions of people around the world with essential tremor, everyday activities from eating and drinking to dressing and doing basic tasks can become impossible. This common neurological movement disorder causes uncontrollable shaking, most often in the hands, but it can also occur in the arms, legs, head, voice, or torso. Essential tremor impacts an estimated 1 percent of the worldwide population and around 5 percent of people over 60. Investigators have now identified a specific subregion of the brain's thalamus that, when included during magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) treatment, can result in optimal and significant tremor improvements while reducing side effects.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the heart could help to detect a life-threatening heart disease and enable clinicians to better predict which patients are most at risk, according to a new study.

A multidisciplinary team of researchers has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model that can predict acute child malnutrition in Kenya up to six months in advance. The tool offers governments and humanitarian organizations critical lead time to deliver life-saving food, health care, and supplies to at-risk areas. The machine learning model outperforms traditional approaches by integrating clinical data from more than 17,000 Kenyan health facilities with satellite data on crop health and productivity. It achieves 89% accuracy when forecasting one month out and maintains 86% accuracy over six months -- a significant improvement over simpler baseline models that rely only on recent historical child malnutrition prevalence trends.

Acclaimed photographers Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier showcase a changing planet as part of the Photo London photography fair

Most of us can spot the group of stars known as the Plough or the Big Dipper. But there’s more to explore here, says Abigail Beall