This week’s list of top data news highlights covers March 2, 2024 to March 8, 2024, including the use of virtual reality to help students learn languages and the risks of losing them. Contains articles on the use of AI for the creation of exposed scents.
1. Language learning
York County, Virginia School District partnered with Old Dominion University’s Virginia Center for Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation to create a virtual reality experience that helps students navigate real-world scenarios in the language they are learning. This module allows students to role-play, collaborate, and think critically while practicing language skills in an immersive environment.
2. Recording pregnancy information
Oxford University Hospitals has launched Badger Notes, a new app that allows pregnant women to digitally view and update their pregnancy records in Oxfordshire, UK. The app replaces traditional paper-based MCH folders and provides a safer and more accessible way for women to store information and access resources provided by midwives.
3. Enhanced access to files
Microsoft has started rolling out new features for Copilot AI Assistant on Windows. This functionality allows the bot to directly read files on the user’s PC, summarize their contents, find specific data, and search the Internet for additional information. Users can manually drag and drop files into her Copilot, ensuring control over the AI system’s access to personal files.
4. Fragrance Reproduction
Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology trained a neural network to generate molecules that match the odor score of a specific scent family in a sample fragrance. This AI-powered approach could help recreate rare scents that are at risk of being lost, such as incense from culturally specific rituals or forest scents affected by climate change.
5. Reduce spam
Google is adjusting its search algorithms to better identify and remove spam and automated content, particularly targeting hard-to-discover AI-generated content. The ranking update coming in May is expected to reduce spammy and unoriginal search results by 40% and send more traffic to informative, high-quality sites.
6. Find a parking lot
Google’s Waze navigation app is adding new features to help users find nearby parking, including pricing, accessibility options, and EV charging stations. The app also provides alerts about upcoming speed limit reductions, guides users through roundabouts, and notifies them of stopped emergency vehicles ahead.
7. Diagnosis of ear infections
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh have developed a smartphone app that uses AI to accurately diagnose ear infections in children. The app analyzes short videos of the eardrum taken with an otoscope connected to a smartphone and achieves 94% accuracy, outperforming most doctors. By improving diagnostic accuracy, the app aims to reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions and improve the quality of care for children.
8. Analyzing company data via chat
Numbers Station, a California-based startup that uses large-scale language models for data analysis, has launched Numbers Station Cloud, a service that allows users to analyze internal data using a chat interface. The platform’s semantic catalog ensures that model understanding matches enterprise-specific data structures and terminology.
9. Clear the food stamp backlog
Several states approve USDA Food and Nutrition Service to expand use of AI and automation to address growing backlog of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applications due to labor shortages and outdated technology I’m looking for. States are now using more advanced chatbots, robotic process automation, and optical character recognition in addition to the chatbots, robotic process automation, and optical character recognition they already use to further streamline SNAP administration and reduce processing times for this critical food assistance program. We are considering introducing AI technology.
10. Avoid motion sickness
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder are using virtual reality (VR) goggles to help astronauts avoid motion sickness when returning to Earth after space missions. The VR system prepares astronauts by simulating the disorientation experienced during the transition from microgravity to Earth’s gravity, reducing the effects of motion sickness during splashdown and recovery. The purpose is
Image credit: John Matichak
