New Google AI Tool Could Potentially Identify Skin Conditions
Image Credit: Shutterstock.com / Andrey Popov
Google’s new Dermatology Assist app identifies skin and nail conditions prompting users to seek a professional medical diagnosis.
Skin conditions affect around 1.9 billion people, and a shortfall of dermatologists means that often conditions have to be diagnosed and treated by general practitioners who may not always be best equipped to identify such conditions.
Help could be at hand, enabling members of the general public to self-identify skin and nail conditions, prompting them to seek specialized medical treatment. Google has announced an AI tool named Dermatology Assist designed to help users potentially spot dermatological conditions based upon images they upload themselves.
The World’s Largest Iceberg Breaks Free of Antarctica
Image Credit: Shutterstock / 2j architecture
A 4000 square-kilometer iceberg has been cleaved from the Ronne Ice Shelf, making it the largest current iceberg.
The Weddell Sea, part of the Southern Ocean, is already home to some pretty impressively sized icebergs, and a new berg that has separated from the Ronne Ice Shelf has just snatched the record for the largest extant iceberg.
The gigantic iceberg, dubbed A-76, is 4,320 square kilometers large and was spotted by the British Antarctic Survey a project that is one of the world’s leading polar science operations¹.
Image Credit: Shutterstock / Gerhard Pettersson
New research indicates that as much as one third of the World s food production could be threatened by global warming with the globe s poorest hit the hardest.
Whilst it is well-understood that climate change represents a major threat to our way of life in a multitude of ways, what is less certain is the areas of human activity that will be most impacted and to what extent.
Researchers have been aware that climate change could have a negative impact on the raising and keeping of livestock and agriculture in general. Still, thus far, they have been uncertain which areas and practices will be the worst hit.
A New Temperature Sensor Could Reduce Food Waste
Image Credit: Therma
Food wastage is a major problem across multiple fronts. A new wireless temperature sensor could save money and help the environment.
The world has a massive food wastage problem. Current estimates suggest that the United States wastes around 40% of its produced food, with between 125 to 160 billion pounds of food going to waste each year¹.
The reasons behind this wastage vary from issues on the production side such as bad weather, processing problems, or overproduction, to issues at retail like overbuying, poor planning, and inadequate storage.
This is estimated to cost the U.S. 218 billion USD every year, as well as putting unnecessary strain on the environment through the loss of valuable resources like farmland and water.
Time Could Be Running Out for Earth’s Coral Reefs
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New research shows that the window of opportunity available to rescue corals is rapidly closing.
The double-punch of global warming and the increased acidification of the oceans has placed the world’s coral reefs in severe jeopardy. These stressors cause ‘bleaching events’ in which coral expels algae from its tissues needed to sustain it. Corals can recover from these events, which turn their tissues white, but as the period between subsequent occurrences diminishes, the chances of recovery are slim.
The continuing loss of these organisms, which provide essential habitats for a wealth of species, could majorly hit the diversity of marine animals, making our oceans less varied and beautiful ecosystems.