The Download: monkey names, and smart masks for health monitoring

August 30, 2024
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. How machine learning is helping us probe the secret names of animals The news: Do animals have names? It seems so, after new research appears to have discovered that small monkeys called marmosets…

A new way to build neural networks could make AI more understandable

August 30, 2024
A tweak to the way artificial neurons work in neural networks could make AIs easier to decipher. Artificial neurons—the fundamental building blocks of deep neural networks—have survived almost unchanged for decades. While these networks give modern artificial intelligence its power, they are also inscrutable.  Existing artificial neurons, used in large language models like GPT4, work…

A new smart mask analyzes your breath to monitor your health

August 29, 2024
Your breath can give away a lot about you. Each exhalation contains all sorts of compounds, including possible biomarkers for disease or lung conditions, that could give doctors a valuable insight into your health. Now a new smart mask, developed by a team at the California Institute of Technology, could help doctors check your breath…

How machine learning is helping us probe the secret names of animals

August 29, 2024
Do animals have names? According to the poet T.S. Eliot, cats have three: the name their owner calls them (like George); a second, more noble one (like Quaxo or Cricopat); and, finally, a “deep and inscrutable” name known only to themselves “that no human research can discover.” But now, researchers armed with audio recorders and…