News/Medicine
$16M study tests if AI helps radiologists detect breast cancer
Seven major medical centers have launched a $16 million study to determine whether AI actually helps or hinders radiologists in detecting breast cancer on mammograms. The PRISM Trial will randomly assign hundreds of thousands of mammogram images for interpretation by either radiologists alone or radiologists assisted by FDA-approved AI, with results potentially reshaping clinical practice, insurance coverage, and patient care standards. What you should know: This represents the first major rigorous trial to evaluate AI's real-world effects on breast cancer screening rather than relying on theoretical promises. UCLA and UC Davis are co-leading the effort alongside Boston Medical Center, UC...
read Oct 9, 2025Tongue Tech: AI diagnoses diseases by tongue color with 96% accuracy
Artificial intelligence systems can now diagnose diseases by analyzing tongue color with over 96% accuracy, bridging ancient medical wisdom with cutting-edge machine learning technology. This breakthrough represents a fascinating convergence where traditional Chinese medicine meets modern healthcare innovation, potentially offering a non-invasive, rapid diagnostic tool for conditions ranging from diabetes to COVID-19. The technology stems from a practice thousands of years old. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners have long examined patients' tongues as part of comprehensive health assessments, studying color, shape, and coating to detect illness. What was once entirely dependent on human observation and interpretation is now being standardized...
read Sep 24, 2025Apple’s SimpleFold AI matches AlphaFold performance with 90% less computing power
Apple researchers have developed SimpleFold, a lightweight AI model for protein folding prediction that achieves comparable performance to Google DeepMind's AlphaFold while requiring significantly less computational power. The breakthrough uses flow matching models instead of the complex architectures employed by existing systems, potentially making protein structure prediction more accessible to researchers with limited computing resources. What you should know: SimpleFold represents a fundamental shift in how AI approaches protein folding by prioritizing simplicity over complex engineering. Rather than relying on multiple sequence alignments, pairwise interaction maps, triangular updates or other specialized modules, Apple's model uses flow matching techniques that were...
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AI tool predicts 1,000+ diseases that can afflict one up to 20 years in advance
Scientists have developed Delphi-2M, an AI tool that can predict a person's risk of developing more than 1,000 diseases up to 20 years in advance by analyzing medical records and lifestyle factors. The large language model represents a significant advancement in predictive healthcare, potentially enabling clinicians to identify high-risk patients and implement preventive measures decades before symptoms appear. What you should know: Delphi-2M uses a modified version of the same technology that powers ChatGPT to forecast disease risk across multiple conditions simultaneously. The model analyzes past medical history along with age, sex, body mass index, and health habits like tobacco...
read Sep 17, 2025Raising the lumbar: AI slashes spine modeling time from 24 hours to 30 minutes
Researchers at Florida Atlantic University have developed an AI-powered system that automates lumbar spine modeling, reducing the time needed to create patient-specific spine models from over 24 hours to just 30 minutes. This breakthrough addresses a critical bottleneck in treating lower back pain—which affects nearly 30% of U.S. adults in any three-month period—by making advanced biomechanical modeling accessible for routine clinical use. The big picture: Traditional lumbar spine modeling requires manual, expert-driven processes that can take days to complete, limiting its practical application in clinical settings where quick decision-making is crucial. How it works: The automated pipeline integrates deep learning...
read Sep 16, 2025Conceivable raises $50M to automate IVF with AI-powered robots
Conceivable Life Sciences has secured $50 million in Series A funding to bring AI-driven automation and robotic precision to in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures. The funding, led by ARTIS Ventures, Stride, and ACME Ventures, will help commercialize the company's Aura platform, which aims to reduce the manual inconsistencies and high failure rates that plague current IVF workflows. Why this matters: IVF cycles cost between $12,000 to $25,000 in the United States, with many families requiring multiple attempts for success, making process improvements potentially life-changing for thousands of prospective parents. How the technology works: Conceivable's Aura platform uses AI algorithms integrated...
read Sep 9, 2025Eli Lilly launches TuneLab, sharing $1B AI drug discovery platform with biotech partners
Eli Lilly has launched TuneLab, an AI-powered platform that provides biotech companies access to drug discovery models trained on over $1 billion worth of the pharmaceutical giant's proprietary research data. The platform aims to democratize AI capabilities in drug development, allowing smaller companies to leverage the same advanced tools used by Lilly's scientists while contributing their own data to enhance the system. Why this matters: The pharmaceutical industry is increasingly turning to AI to accelerate drug discovery and reduce costs, with analysts projecting AI-related R&D spending to reach $30-40 billion by 2040 as companies seek faster, cheaper alternatives to traditional...
read Sep 1, 2025AI detects consciousness in coma patients 4-8 days before doctors
Researchers at Stony Brook University have developed an AI system called SeeMe that can detect signs of consciousness in comatose patients by analyzing microscopic facial movements invisible to doctors. The breakthrough technology spotted consciousness in patients an average of 4-8 days before clinicians could identify these signs, potentially transforming how medical teams approach treatment decisions and rehabilitation timing for brain injury patients. What you should know: The AI system tracks facial movements at the level of individual pores to identify responses to simple commands like "open your eyes" or "stick out your tongue." SeeMe detected eye-opening responses in 30 of...
read Aug 29, 2025The eyes have it: AI boosts eye doctor accuracy from 74% to 92%
A new clinical trial demonstrates that AI-powered diagnostic tools can dramatically improve accuracy in ophthalmology, with physicians using the EyeFM AI copilot achieving 92% diagnostic accuracy compared to 74% without AI assistance. The study, published in Nature Medicine, reveals that AI integration not only enhances clinical performance but also improves patient compliance and engagement, suggesting a fundamental shift toward AI-augmented medical care across healthcare disciplines. Key findings: The randomized trial showed statistically significant improvements when ophthalmologists worked alongside AI technology. Diagnostic accuracy jumped from 74% to 92% when physicians used the EyeFM AI copilot, with results showing statistical significance at...
read Aug 29, 2025Scratching failure off the list, Korean researchers develop AI to classify skin irritations with 98% accuracy
South Korean researchers have developed an AI model using YOLO v5 technology that can accurately classify skin irritation from patch tests, achieving a classification accuracy of 0.983. The breakthrough addresses longstanding challenges in dermatological diagnostics by providing consistent, objective assessments that could reduce variability between human evaluators and accelerate clinical decision-making. What you should know: The AI model represents a significant advancement in automated dermatological assessment, moving beyond traditional convolutional neural networks to object detection algorithms. Researchers from Sungkyunkwan University, a South Korean research institution, trained the model on 83,629 images collected from patch test participants between 2020-2023. The system...
read Aug 28, 2025Doctors show reduced cancer detection skills after AI tool removal. (So don’t remove it?)
New research reveals that doctors using AI tools for colonoscopies became significantly worse at detecting precancerous growths when the technology was removed, marking the first evidence of "deskilling" in medical AI. The study, published in Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology, found that after just three months of AI assistance, physicians' detection rates dropped from 28% to 22% when performing procedures without the technology. What happened: Researchers at four Polish endoscopy centers gave doctors access to an AI tool that flagged suspicious growths during colonoscopies by drawing boxes around them in real time. After three months of using the AI assistance, the...
read Aug 28, 2025MIT’s VaxSeer AI outperformed WHO flu vaccine picks in 9 of 10 seasons
MIT researchers have developed VaxSeer, an AI system that uses machine learning to predict which influenza strains should be included in seasonal vaccines months before flu season begins. The tool aims to reduce the guesswork in vaccine selection by analyzing decades of viral sequences and lab test results to forecast virus evolution and vaccine effectiveness. What you should know: VaxSeer combines two prediction engines to forecast both viral dominance and vaccine effectiveness against future flu strains. The system estimates how likely each viral strain is to spread using a protein language model, then determines dominance by accounting for competition among...
read Aug 15, 2025Annals of Atrophy: Doctors struggle with diagnoses after becoming AI dependent
A new study published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology reveals that doctors who rely on artificial intelligence for medical procedures may be experiencing "deskilling"—a gradual loss of diagnostic abilities when the technology isn't available. Researchers found that experienced endoscopists (doctors who perform colonoscopies) became significantly less effective at detecting precancerous polyps during colonoscopies after becoming accustomed to AI assistance, with detection rates dropping from 28.4% to 22.4% when the technology was removed. What you should know: The study tracked experienced physicians across four endoscopy centers in Poland who alternately performed colonoscopies with and without AI assistance. All participants were...
read Aug 14, 2025Gonorrhea, be gone! MIT researchers use AI to create 2 new antibiotics that kill superbugs
MIT researchers have developed two novel antibiotics using generative AI, including compounds that can kill drug-resistant gonorrhea and MRSA infections. The breakthrough demonstrates how AI can design entirely new molecules by exploring previously inaccessible chemical spaces, potentially addressing the growing crisis of antimicrobial resistance that causes nearly 5 million deaths annually. The big picture: While only a few dozen new antibiotics have been approved over the past 45 years—most being variants of existing drugs—this AI-driven approach generated over 36 million theoretical compounds that are structurally distinct from any known antibiotics. How it works: The MIT team, led by James Collins,...
read Aug 13, 2025ChatGPT health advice causes bromide poisoning in 60-year-old man
A 60-year-old man developed a rare condition called bromism after consulting ChatGPT about eliminating salt from his diet and subsequently taking sodium bromide for three months. The case, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, highlights the risks of using AI chatbots for health advice and has prompted warnings from medical professionals about the potential for AI-generated misinformation to cause preventable health problems. What happened: The patient consulted ChatGPT after reading about the negative effects of table salt and asked about eliminating chloride from his diet. Despite reading that "chloride can be swapped with bromide, though likely for other purposes,...
read Jul 24, 2025Medical AI startup Freed reaches 20K users saving 2-3 hours daily
Freed AI, a San Francisco-based medical transcription startup, has reached 20,000 paying clinician users who are each saving 2-3 hours daily on documentation tasks. The milestone comes as intensifying competition emerges in the AI medical scribe market, with Doximity, a publicly traded physician networking company, launching a free competing product and other well-funded rivals entering the space. What you should know: Freed's AI-powered medical scribe automatically transcribes doctor-patient conversations and generates clinical notes tailored to each physician's workflow preferences. The platform processes nearly 3 million patient visits per month across more than 1,000 small healthcare organizations. Co-founded in 2022 by...
read Jul 11, 2025MIT’s CellLENS AI maps immune cell behavior to advance cancer treatment
MIT researchers have developed CellLENS (Cell Local Environment and Neighborhood Scan), a new AI system that reveals hidden cell subtypes by analyzing molecular, spatial, and morphological data simultaneously. The deep learning tool promises to advance precision medicine by enabling scientists to identify rare immune cell subtypes and understand how their location and activity relate to disease processes, particularly in cancer immunotherapy. What you should know: CellLENS combines convolutional neural networks and graph neural networks to create comprehensive digital profiles for individual cells within tissues. The system analyzes RNA or protein molecules, spatial location, and microscopic appearance simultaneously—traditionally examined separately by...
read Jun 18, 2025SandboxAQ releases 5.2M synthetic molecules to accelerate AI drug discovery
SandboxAQ, an AI startup spun out of Google and backed by Nvidia, has released a massive dataset of 5.2 million synthetic molecular structures designed to accelerate drug discovery by predicting how pharmaceutical compounds bind to proteins. This computational approach could dramatically reduce the time and cost of identifying promising drug candidates by using AI to simulate what traditionally required extensive laboratory experiments. What you should know: The dataset represents a breakthrough in computational drug discovery, combining traditional scientific computing with modern AI capabilities. SandboxAQ generated the synthetic molecules using Nvidia's chips and existing experimental data, creating three-dimensional molecular structures that...
read Jun 18, 2025Alphabet’s Isomorphic Labs expands to Cambridge with $3B in pharma deals
Isomorphic Labs, an Alphabet spinoff focused on AI-driven drug discovery, is establishing its first U.S. office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as the company prepares to advance its drug candidates into clinical trials. The move positions the London-based company closer to American pharmaceutical partners and clinical development infrastructure, marking a significant milestone in its evolution from AI research to therapeutic development. What you should know: Isomorphic Labs built its platform on DeepMind's AlphaFold protein structure prediction technology and has secured major pharmaceutical partnerships worth billions in potential value. The company raised $600 million in external funding in March, led by Thrive Capital,...
read Jun 13, 2025AstraZeneca signs $5B+ AI drug deal to rebuild China operations
AstraZeneca has signed a research agreement worth more than $5 billion with Chinese drugmaker CSPC Pharmaceutical Group, marking the Anglo-Swedish company's latest effort to rebuild its business in China following recent challenges including the arrest of its China president and potential import fines. The collaboration will focus on AI-driven drug discovery for chronic diseases, positioning AstraZeneca to strengthen its foothold in its second-largest market while leveraging China's growing pharmaceutical research capabilities. What you should know: The partnership establishes a comprehensive framework for discovering and developing pre-clinical candidates targeting chronic diseases. AstraZeneca will pay CSPC an upfront fee of $110 million...
read Jun 6, 2025AI model forecasts neurodegenerative diseases earlier
A new AI model developed by researchers at the University of Southern California could revolutionize how doctors predict and diagnose neurodegenerative diseases by generating future brain MRIs from a single scan. This breakthrough comes at a critical time as Alzheimer's disease affects over 7 million Americans today, with projections showing nearly 13 million cases by 2060 and annual caregiving costs exceeding $230 billion in the U.S. alone. The big picture: NSF-funded researchers have created an AI system that can predict how a person's brain will age over time based on just one MRI scan, potentially detecting neurodegenerative diseases years before...
read Jun 4, 2025AI startup’s drug breakthrough targets lung disease treatment
Artificial intelligence has reached a milestone in drug development as Insilico Medicine announces the first successful mid-stage clinical trial of an AI-designed drug. The company's experimental treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis—a deadly lung disease with limited treatment options—demonstrated improved lung function in patients receiving the highest dose. This breakthrough represents a significant advancement in AI-driven pharmaceutical innovation, potentially reducing drug development timelines from years to months. The big picture: Insilico Medicine's drug rentosertib showed encouraging results in treating an incurable lung disease, marking what the company calls the first time an AI-created drug targeting an AI-identified biological pathway has succeeded...
read May 27, 2025AI transforms medicine with 14 groundbreaking applications
Artificial Intelligence is rapidly transforming healthcare with applications that enhance diagnosis, treatment, and patient care. While many worry about AI's societal impact, within medicine, these technologies are augmenting human capabilities and improving outcomes rather than replacing healthcare professionals. These innovations span from detecting subtle health indicators through facial analysis to personalizing cancer treatments based on genomic data, representing a fundamental shift toward more precise, efficient, and accessible healthcare delivery. 1. Enhanced diagnostic capabilities through behavioral analysis AI can detect early signs of depression, anxiety, or neurological degeneration by analyzing speech patterns, tone of voice, and facial expressions that human clinicians...
read May 24, 2025AI tools help scientists design proteins with simple, conversational interfaces
Artificial intelligence is steadily bridging the gap between computational capabilities and biological design, with new tools enabling researchers to create proteins using plain language instructions. While early protein language models have produced mixed results, as demonstrated by Nature reporter Ewen Callaway's experiment that yielded a biologically impractical protein, the latest generation of AI tools shows promise in revolutionizing computational biology by allowing scientists to design potential drugs and decipher cellular mechanisms through simple conversational interfaces. The big picture: AI tools are evolving to allow scientists to design proteins and biological molecules through conversational interfaces rather than complex computational methods. These...
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