Decline in nontraumatic lower-extremity amputation slowing

(HealthDay)—Decreases in nontraumatic lower-extremity amputation (NLEA) have plateaued in recent years among adults with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and diabetes, according to a study published online May 29 in Diabetes Care.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers add 'time-travel' feature to drives to fight ransomware attacks

One of the latest cyber threats involves hackers encrypting user files and then charging "ransom" to get them back. In the paper, "Project Almanac: A Time-Traveling Solid State Drive," University of Illinois students Chance Coats and Xiaohao Wang and Assistant Professor Jian Huang from the Coordinated Science Laboratory look at how they can use the commodity storage devices already in a computer, to save the files without having to pay the ransom.

* This article was originally published here

Cracking open the black box of automated machine learning

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have developed an interactive tool that, for the first time, lets users see and control how automated machine-learning systems work. The aim is to build confidence in these systems and find ways to improve them.

* This article was originally published here

'Organs in a dish' pave the way for personalized medicine in gut and liver disease

One of the most exciting advancements in stem cell research has been the development of organoid systems, which are organ-like three-dimensional structures that mimic their corresponding organ in vivo. In this important review in Digestive and Liver Disease, published by Elsevier, scientists highlight some of the established and exciting novel uses for organoids or "organs in a dish" in gastroenterology and hepatology and look towards the future in this exciting field.

* This article was originally published here

Feathers came first, then birds

New research, led by the University of Bristol, suggests that feathers arose 100 million years before birds—changing how we look at dinosaurs, birds, and pterosaurs, the flying reptiles.

* This article was originally published here

Team develops new method to gauge atmosphere's ability to clear methane, a potent greenhouse gas

New research by UMBC's Glenn Wolfe and collaborators is shaping how scientists understand the fate of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, in Earth's atmosphere.

* This article was originally published here

Germline gene therapy pioneer, teenage son make case for safe treatment

An internationally known embryologist and his son make the case for using gene-editing tools to prevent inherited disease, in an editorial published today in the journal Nature Medicine.

* This article was originally published here

Remote sensing of toxic algal blooms

Harmful algal blooms in the Red Sea could be detected from satellite images using a method developed at KAUST. This remote sensing technique may eventually lead to a real-time monitoring system to help maintain the vital economic and ecological resources of the Red Sea.

* This article was originally published here

Ecosystem service mapping and assessment: Research collection on methods and applications

Methods, data, practical applications and research insights to guide scientists and practitioners through the process of mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services are the topic of the latest open science collection published in the open access journal One Ecosystem.

* This article was originally published here

Amazon digital assistant Alexa gets new skill: amnesia

Amazon on Wednesday added the ability to tell its Alexa digital assistant to forget what it has heard in a move that could assuage concerns about Echo devices remembering conversations.

* This article was originally published here