Barack Obama Surprised Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez With a Sweet Letter for Their Engagement

Tom Patriot

Even superstar Jennifer Lopez and her fiancé, legendary baseball shortstop Alex Rodriguez, can get a little bit starstruck. After former President Barack Obama heard about the power couple’s recent engagement, he wrote them a handwritten letter on his branded stationery. Lopez and Rodriguez were certainly elated over the kind gesture, and A-Rod couldn’t help but share his joy on social media yesterday. The letter read: “Jennifer and Alex – Michelle and I just wanted to congratulate you on your engagement. After 26 years together, we can say that whatever challenges life…

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Brain-inspired AI inspires insights about the brain (and vice versa)

Tom Patriot

Can artificial intelligence (AI) help us understand how the brain understands language? Can neuroscience help us understand why AI and neural networks are effective at predicting human perception? Research from Alexander Huth and Shailee Jain from The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) suggests both are possible. In a paper presented at the 2018 Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), the scholars described the results of experiments that used artificial neural networks to predict with greater accuracy than ever before how different areas in the brain respond to…

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Balanced diet, exercise may not prevent gestational diabetes

Tom Patriot

It may be time to reconsider the conventional wisdom for preventing gestational diabetes: limiting weight gain and increasing physical activity. “Our data suggest that in pregnancy, energy balance — the calories consumed versus the calories burned — may not determine the development of gestational diabetes,” said Leanne Redman, PhD, director of LSU Pennington Biomedical Research Center’s Reproductive Endocrinology and Women’s Health Lab. “We and others now believe that there are different types of gestational diabetes that warrant different approaches to treatment and prevention.” The new Pennington Biomedical study is the…

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Skin-like sensor maps blood-oxygen levels anywhere in the body

Tom Patriot

Injuries can’t heal without a constant influx of blood’s key ingredient — oxygen. A new flexible sensor developed by engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, can map blood-oxygen levels over large areas of skin, tissue and organs, potentially giving doctors a new way to monitor healing wounds in real time. “When you hear the word oximeter, the name for blood-oxygen sensors, rigid and bulky finger-clip sensors come into your mind,” said Yasser Khan, a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer sciences at UC Berkeley. “We wanted to break…

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