BU Study Maps Climate Change, Demographics, and Disaster Risk, Providing Actionable Insights By Maeve Smillie and Maureen Stanton By mid-century, the U.S. will be a much hotter place. Heatwaves will last longer, summer temperatures will soar, and the number of dangerously hot days will rise sharply—especially in the US South. But not everyone will feel […]
Discoveries could transform how we learn, recover, and model language By Maureen L. Stanton Are words arbitrary? For centuries, scientists believed that words are essentially random sounds that are given meaning. For example, there’s nothing about the sound of the word “dog” that tells you what it means—it’s just something we’ve learned. Following this logic, […]
Task force members include Hariri Institute faculty affiliates By Maria Yaitanes Boston University President Melissa Gilliam, MD, announced the launch of the BU Task Force on Convergent Research and Education in a recent memo. Convergent research is a collaborative approach that goes beyond interdisciplinary research to solve specific, complex societal problems that require diverse disciplinary […]
By Hariri Institute Staff A collaborative team of researchers, including Hariri Institute faculty affiliates Vijaya Kolachalama, PhD, FAHA, associate professor of medicine, and Rhoda Au, professor of epidemiology, anatomy & neurobiology, has developed a new computational framework that can detect early signs of cognitive impairment from digital voice recordings—while protecting individual privacy. The findings, published in […]
A BU-led study shows how advertisements, formatted like journalism, are being used by oil giants to influence public opinion. The researchers reveal strategies to help readers recognize ads and reduce their susceptibility to misleading claims. By Alison Gold In the battle against climate disinformation, native advertising is a fierce foe. A study published today in […]
New Research by Michael Silverstein, Bioinformatics PhD Candidate and Hariri Institute Graduate Student Fellow By Margo Stanton The past decade has been the hottest in human history since record-keeping began 140 years ago. Burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and increased livestock farming are all major contributors to increasing the greenhouse effect, and thus global warming. To help […]
By Maureen Stanton A new study led by Boston University reveals that regulatory loopholes have allowed tobacco companies to target youth using social media. Findings suggest that enforcement of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) health warnings on social media may reduce youth engagement with tobacco marketing. Amid declining cigarette sales and stricter regulations, tobacco companies […]
Kayhan Batmanghelich, with collaborators, published a paper that uses anatomy-aware generative AI and explainable AI methods to improve synethsizing 3D images with specific abnormalities By Maureen Stanton In 2021, OpenAI launched a GenAI model called DALL-E that captivated the world with its ability to generate an image instantly with a simple text caption. Now GenAI […]
New Generative AI Model can diagnose 10 distinct types of dementia By Maureen Stanton With over 10 million new cases of dementia diagnosed each year, it’s critical to facilitate accurate diagnosis to ensure patients have access to early, personalized treatment to maximize outcomes. While doctors typically can diagnose individuals with dementia with high confidence, it’s […]
Audio and transcription below: (WBUR, Boston – June 26, 2004) — Researchers at Boston University are exploring ways to use artificial intelligence to predict someone’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s. They ran voice recordings from the massive multi-year Framingham Heart Study through an AI model. The technology was able to detect small differences in people’s speech […]