Research

Easy-To-Read Summary of Important AI Research Papers of 2018

Trying to keep up with AI research papers can feel like an exercise in futility given how quickly the industry moves. If you’re buried in papers to read that you haven’t quite gotten around to, you’re in luck. To help you catch up, we’ve summarized 10 important AI research papers from 2018 to give you a broad overview of machine learning advancements this year.

Researchers Identify Molecule With Anti-Aging Effects On Vascular System

A molecule produced during fasting or calorie restriction has anti-aging effects on the vascular system, which could reduce the occurrence and severity of human diseases related to blood vessels, such as cardiovascular disease, according to a study led by Georgia State University. In this study, the research team explores the link between calorie restriction (eating less or fasting) and delaying aging, which is unknown and has been poorly studied. The findings are published in the journal Molecular Cell.

The Quest for the Next Billion-Dollar Color

Mas Subramanian, the biggest celebrity in the uncelebrated world of pigment research, glances at a cluster of widemouthed jars containing powders in every color of the rainbow, save one. He’s got OYGBIV. “We’re getting closer,” he says brightly.

Why Nuclear Clocks Will Be the Most Accurate Clocks on Earth

Trump, Congress approve largest U.S. research spending increase in a decade

Vision-improving nanoparticle eyedrops could end the need for glasses

Could the development of eyesight-improving eyedrops help eliminate the need for glasses? Quite possibly, suggests new research coming out of Israel’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center and Bar-Ilan University. A team of ophthalmologists at these institutes have invented and tested “nanodrops” which, combined with a laser process, reportedly results in improvements in both short- and long-sightedness.

Automatic Machine Knitting of 3D Meshes

We present the first computational approach that can transform 3D meshes, created by traditional modeling programs, directly into instructions for a computer-controlled knitting machine. Knitting machines are able to robustly and repeatably form knitted 3D surfaces from yarn, but have many constraints on what they can fabricate.

Nanowire arrays restore vision in blind mice

Retina is an important light-sensitive tissue that transduces light information into neural activities through multi-layers of neuronal cells. Light entering an eye passes through the transparent retina and is mostly captured by the visual pigment-containing photoreceptors. Retinal degenerative diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration lead to irreversible damage or even loss of photoreceptors, which can result in serious impairment of vision and eventually blindness.

The Building Blocks of Interpretability

Interpretability techniques are normally studied in isolation. We explore the powerful interfaces that arise when you combine them — and the rich structure of this combinatorial space.

Talent vs. Luck: the role of randomness in success and failure

A Virtual Slug Simulator Could Help Researchers Develop Better AI

Surprise graphene discovery could unlock secrets of superconductivity

A sandwich of two graphene layers can conduct electrons without resistance if they are twisted at a ‘magic angle’’, physicists have discovered. The finding could prove to be a significant step in the decades-long search for room-temperature superconductors.

If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance.

DNA nanobot ‘starves’ tumors

A DNA nanorobot programmed to transport blood-coagulating proteins specifically into tumours so that their blood supply is blocked could make for a promising new cancer therapeutic. The new system, which literally “starves” the tumour, only destroys cancer cells and not surrounding tissue. It has been shown to work on breast, lung, melanoma and ovarian tumours in mice and Bama miniature pigs.

Seeing the brain’s electrical activity

MIT researchers have come up with a new way to measure electrical activity in the brain. Their new light-sensitive protein can be embedded into neuron membranes, where it emits a fluorescent signal that indicates how much voltage a particular cell is experiencing. This could allow scientists to study how neurons behave, millisecond by millisecond, as the brain performs a particular function.

HotSwap: Bringing hot code reloading to Buck

Every day hundreds of Facebook engineers make thousands of code changes, each of which requires at least one, and usually many, iterations of the edit-compile-run development cycle. To speed up this process, we built and open-sourced Buck, a build tool designed from the ground up for fast iteration, allowing engineers to compile and run changes quickly.

Diabetes is actually five separate diseases, research suggests

Scandinavian researchers say a new classification would mean better treatment for patients.