Category Archives: Singularity

SingularityCE 3.10.2 is a patch release in the 3.10 series. It introduces release packages for EL 9 distributions (RHEL, CentOS Stream, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux) that are built on AlmaLinux 9. It also fixes a bug in the default runscript for converted OCI containers.

The OCI runscript issue, discovered by the Apptainer project on importing 3.10 series changes from SingularityCE, impacts containers that are directly pulled or built from an OCI source without a custom %runscript. SingularityCE 3.10.0 and 3.10.1 generated a default runscript that could not always be executed by other tools. While execution of these containers with recent versions of SingularityCE is not impacted, we advise upgrading so that all containers built are compatible with other tools.

Thanks to our contributors for code, feedback and, testing efforts!

As always, please report any bugs to: https://github.com/sylabs/singularity/issues/new

If you think that you've discovered a security vulnerability please report it to: security@sylabs.io

Have fun!

Source Code

Please use the singularity-ce-3.10.2.tar.gz download below to obtain and install SingularityCE 3.10.2. The GitHub auto-generated 'Source Code' downloads do not include required dependencies etc.

Packages

RPM / DEB packages are provided for:

These packages were built with Go 1.18.4

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GitHub: Where the world builds software GitHub

1. Review: The Singularities, by John Banville  The New York Times
2. Are we approaching the singularity of John Banville?  The Boston Globe
3. Review: 'The Singularities,' by John Banville  Star Tribune
4. Book Review: John Banville - The Singularities  hotpress.com
5. The Singularities by John Banville: complex author plays brilliant games with readers  Independent.ie
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Review: The Singularities, by John Banville - The New York Times

David Shapton on why we can't ignore AI anymore and how, without active management, AI will be a threat to artists and creators not an opportunity.

If you've read my columns for the last ten years, you'll know I'm the opposite of a Luddite. I embrace new technology because I see it as a means to change the world for good. But whatever new tools technology brings us, it's how we use them that will determine their net effect on the level of happiness and well-being in our society.

And - to be perfectly clear - I see AI the same way. We're suddenly starting to see AI doing things for us that are supposed to be impossible: not just difficult, but properly impossible.

Like being able to "unmix" a musical recording. Want the dry, isolated lead vocal without the cacophony of the musical accompaniment?There's a web service for that.

Need to extract a person's portrait from a photograph with a distracting or unattractive background?A new version of the iPhone operating system will instantly do that for you, even with animals, objects, and human faces.

Can't read Welsh, Albanian or Icelandic?There's a translation app for that.

Need a background for your film that you're shooting on a virtual set? Just say the words"Mythical world populated by dragons and slightly scary looking tall people with mountains in the background and a spooky castle in the mid-distance",and... there's your background.

Amazing. What a giant leap forward. AI is doing things that shouldn't even be possible. The problem is that it's doing something that artists usually get paid to do. And that, at least, should provoke a reaction from us.

It will raise fundamental questions about who we are and what we can and should do. And it's not as clear-cut as you would think. We have to ask about skill, and not just skill as in expert-level muscle memory, but the talent in assessing a task or project, organising it and delivering a pleasing outcome without being ridiculously expensive (for example).

Let's step back for a minute and look at why this is becoming such an issue.

After several false starts, AI is taking off, and it's happening at a pace that surprises people. The key to understanding this is that word: "surprise". That's because we're accustomed to a world where we can see things coming. So, even though nobody can predict the future, we can identify trends. If you keep up with the news, then the chances are that nothing much will surprise you, especially if it's news about your own field of expertise.

But imagine a world where we can no longer make predictions based on trends. Where not even experts can know what's coming next. That's the stage we're at with AI, and it is a potential problem, as well as being a breathtaking display of technical virtuosity.

It's beginning to feel like we're approaching some sort of Singularity.

For those unfamiliar with the technological Singularity, it's a concept that Ray Kurzweil brought to the surface in his 2005 book The Singularity Is Near. There are several mutually compatible definitions of Singularity. I think the most useful one says that the technological Singularity is when the rate of progress is so steep that it appears to be a vertical line from our perspective. In other words, you get infinite progress in absolutely no time at all.

That's not likely to happen yet, but we're already starting to experience that the rate of progress is steeper than we can comprehend it to be.

One effect of that is that we start to be surprised by the rate of progress. Even experts are beginning to be surprised by AI. I'm not an expert, but I'm reasonably well informed, and I am extremely, totally surprised by the leaps that AI is making.

If you take Moore's law in its prime, progress was around 40% per year. Effectively, that's like compound interest. Add that into the mix each year, and you arrive at the sort of progress in computers that we've seen over the last four decades or so. Remember that percentage while I tell you that last year, Nvidia - arguably the leading developer of co-processors for AI -said that AI is developing at the rate of 116% per year. That's enough to give us a million-fold increase in ten years. On top of that, AI is capable of improving itself - it's "intelligent", after all. (But let's not be too picky about the definition of "intelligence" here!).

I remember talking to some digital video engineers at JVC around the start of this century. I was suggesting an approach to video encoding that would be pretty radical. My engineer friends told me that you'd need a thousand-fold increase in technology to do that. It was a figure plucked out of the air but from an informed viewpoint. They meant, "it won't happen in our lifetimes".

But that thousand-fold increasehashappened. Except that it's more than a million-fold if you include AI in the mix - and it would be negligent not to.

So, our handy instrument for detecting a Singularity is "surprised experts".

I was surprised by the quality of images from text-to-image programs like Stable Diffusion and by the AI's sheer virtuosity. But what surprised me even more - and I could have used the word "shocked" here - was that, quite spontaneously, friends of friends and colleagues started to use the AI images in places where they would previously have employed an artist or designer. Web pages, backdrops for virtual production, brochures, and probably loads more uses that I haven't heard about yet. It's happening. AI is taking our jobs. OMG!

But this isn't the end of it. Let's not go down the rabbit hole of arguments about sentient machines and AI "wanting" to take over the world. We're not quite there yet. But we have arrived at a critical point where we need to take a deep and measured look at how wemanageAI in the creative sphere.

AI can automate tedious processes; it can speed up repetitive tasks. It can match colours in previously unmatched shots. It can up-res and down-res. It can create fantasy backgrounds and photorealistic foregrounds.

So we have to decide: what will our relationship with AI be like? And it won't be easy. With the AI landscape changing so quickly, there is no informed answer. So there isn't a definitive way forward.

But the future for artists and creators is different this year from how it looked last year. We can't ignore AI, or it might end up ignoring us. Or, more likely, our clients will use AI to bypass us.

But AI will neverbeus. The new techniques appear to be extraordinarily good at identifying the essence of styles and themes. But will they ever be creative? Or can they only be derivative?

There will be more questions than answers. Meanwhile, let's not be Luddites. If we can manage AI, it can do great work. It might become a new and expressive canvas that takes our imagination further than before. Without our input, AI might only ever be a soul-less facsimile of art: devoid of emotion and wonder.

We may not know how it will turn out, but one thing is certain: we can't ignore it.

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We need to manage AI better as we are approaching the Creative Singularity - RedShark News

9 Astonishing Ways That Living Standards Have Improved Around the WorldTony Morley | Big ThinkOver the last 200 years, the lives of average people in every country have been radically transformed and improved. In our modern day, we are living longer and are more prosperous than ever beforein both high-income and low-income countries. And while progress forward is by no means progress completed nor a guarantee of progress to come, the remarkable improvements in global living standards serve, not as a high water or finish line, but rather as a source of inspiration and hope.

Human Brain Cells Transplanted Into Baby Rats Brains Grow and Form ConnectionsJessica Hamzelou | MIT Technology ReviewThese animals could be used to learn more about human neuropsychiatric disorders, say the researchers behind the work. Its an important step forward in progress into [understanding and treating] brain diseases, says Julian Savulescu, a bioethicist at the National University of Singapore, who was not involved in the study. But the development also raises ethical questions, he says, particularly surrounding what it means to humanize animals.

Fake Joe Rogan Interviews Fake Steve Jobs in an AI-powered PodcastBenj Edwards | Ars TechnicaWhether its legal to use Jobs or Rogans vocal likenesses in this mannerparticularly to promote a commercial productremains to be seen. And despite the PR-stunt nature of the podcast, the concept of entirely fictional celebrity podcasts got our attention. As voice synthesis becomesmore widespread and potentially undetectable, were looking at a future where media artifacts from any era will likely be completely fluid and malleable, shapable to fit any narrative.

Stoke Space Aims to Build Rapidly Reusable Rocket With a Completely Novel DesignEric Berger | Ars TechnicaSpaceX had already shown the way on first-stage launch and recovery with the Falcon 9 and its vertical takeoff and landing, so Stoke started with the second stage. Last month, the company started to test-fire its upper-stage engines at a facility in Moses Lake, Washington. The images andvideo show an intriguing-looking ring with 15 discrete thrusters firing for several seconds. The circular structure is 13 feet in diameter, and this novel-looking design is Stokes answer to one of the biggest challenges of getting a second stage back from orbit.

Microsoft Brings DALL-E 2 to the Masses With Designer and Image CreatorKyle Wiggers | TechCrunchSeeking to bring OpenAIs tech to an even wider audience, Microsoft is launching Designer, a Canva-like web app that can generate designs for presentations, posters, digital postcards, invitations, graphics and more to share on social media and other channels. Designerwhose announcement leakedrepeatedly this spring and summerleverages user-created content and DALL-E 2 to ideate designs, with drop-downs and text boxes for further customization and personalization.

Can Start-Ups Significantly Lower the Cost of Gene Sequencing?Roy Furchgott | The New York TimesiIf someone drops the price of sequencing 10-fold, I can sequence 10 times as many people, [Dr. Bruce D. Gelb] said. And you build up your statistical oomph to discover stuff. The days of statistical oomphmeaning an explosion in the amount of data gleaned from lower-priced testsappear imminent. Ultima Genomics, a biotech start up, made news at the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology conference in June, unveiling a gene-sequencing machine that it claims can sequence a complete genome for $100.

Metas VR Headset Harvests Personal Data Right Off Your FaceKhari Johnson | WiredCameras inside the device that track eye and face movements can make an avatars expressions more realistic, but they raise new privacy questions. Raw images and pictures used to power these features are stored on the headset, processed locally on the device, and deleted after processing, Meta says.Eye-trackingandfacial-expressionprivacy notices the company published this week state that although raw images get deleted, insights gleaned from those images may be processed and stored on Meta servers.

The Case for and Against CryptocurrencyTyler Cowen | Big ThinkCryptocurrency is truly a new idea, and its rare for society to encounter fundamentally new ideas. Cryptocurrency is well positioned to serve a crucial financial and transactional role as a globalized internet grows to include more of our lives. Crypto enthusiasts espouse grand plans that do not sound realistic, while crypto skeptics fail to appreciate the revolutionary nature of the technology.

The Chinese Surveillance State Proves That the Idea of Privacy Is More Malleable Than Youd ExpectZeyi Yang | MIT Technology ReviewHow the world should respond to the rise of surveillance states might be one of the most important questions facing global politics at the moment, Chin says, because these technologies really do have the potential to completely alter the way governments interact with and control people.i

Image Credit: Simone Hutsch / Unsplash

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This Week's Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through October 15) - Singularity Hub

If you dont already know by now, I love quarterback analysis.

Is it because theyre playing the most important position on the field, touch the ball on every offensive play and have the biggest effect on wins and losses? Sure.

Is it due to the singularity of being, the guy, in a way that only goaltenders and pitchers can relate to across pro sports? No doubt.

Is it a strange fascination that I have with statistical performances, and how unfair a box score can be to a losing quarterback, or subsequently flattering to a winning quarterback who doesnt deserve it? Absolutely.

With that in mind, lets dive into a wacky Week 18 slate of throwing performances.

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With just eleven completions, two interceptions and no touchdown passes Dane Evans and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats were able to defeat the Saskatchewan Roughriders to defend the East Division for now.

The secret sauce here was of course, running back Wes Hills dominance, but one look at this throw chart and youd likely get 90 per cent of blind voters believing this was the losing quarterback.

As we know, this was the quarterback who collected a loss in the head-to-head with Evans in Week 18. Cody Fajardo peppered the underneath throws, jet sweeps, screen passes and the occasional crosser, but finished zero for two with two interceptions on throws of 30 or more yards as the Riders playoff hopes took a big hit with a tough Calgary two step dead ahead.

I had the pleasure of calling what felt like a weird game from start to finish. One made even stranger in hindsight when realizing McLeod Bethel-Thompson had 40 passing attempts and collected 352 yards through the air to extend his CFL lead.

Bethel-Thompson missed some throws, but completed a tremendously accurate dime drop on a corner route down the left sideline at 28-yards in depth while hitting receiver Tommy Nield in the open field for the game winning touchdown strike late in the fourth. A quality performance from the Toronto quarterback.

Set back by drops, sacks and penalties for much of the game, Vernon Adams Jr. returned to the scene of his premature benching in Week 2 when still a member of the Montreal Alouettes. He finished a hard fought day with a relatively clean sheet, a couple deep strikes and a developing connection to some young BC Lions receivers who will be leaned on down the stretch if Lucky Whitehead and Bryan Burnham arent fully healthy.

In quintessential Zach Collaros fashion the Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback collected his 14th win of the year without having to attempt more than 20 passes, while McLeod Bethel-Thompson needed all 40 of his attempts.

Collaros passing to Nic Demski or Dalton Schoen on targets of 20 or more air yards has quickly become one of the most exciting and dependable plays in CFL football.

Remember what I said off the top about quirky stat lines and how some quarterbacks deserve credit (Collaros) while others dont get their full story told by the numbers? Dane Evans had 11 completions and won the ball game against Saskatchewan.

Taylor Cornelius had 11 completions against the Bombers and felt like the doors were blown off before he ever turned his key in the Green and Gold ignition.

Just as Collaros had a prototypical day, so too did Trevor Harris who completed nearly 80 per cent of his passes without a single attempt beyond 25-yards in the air. This season really feels destined for a Harris to have a home playoff performance completing 39 of 40 passes where the only blemish on his outing is a running back dropping a screen.

As high percentage a day as weve seen from Nick Arbuckle under new offensive leadership in Ottawa. 13 of his 28 completions were behind the line of scrimmage but it didnt matter to Bob Dyce who got out of Montreal with the win and get set for the rematch this Friday night at TD Place as Ottawa attempts to snap their home loss streak.

Excerpt from:

Ferguson: A second helping of QB play from Thanksgiving weekend - CFL.ca

The CGL is the common entrance exam for various postings in Union government departments.

Reacting to an announcement by the State Selection Commission (SSC) that entrance exams for over 20,000 Union government jobs will only be conducted in Hindi and English, Rajya Sabha MP and Womens Wing Secretary of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Kanimozhi said, The Indian Unions sovereignty is rooted in its pluralism. On the contrary, trying to impose singularity on everything is going against the democratic spirit.

Kanimozhi, who was elected the DMKs deputy general secretary on Sunday, October 9, stated her condemnation of the move via Twitter. The announcement for the Combined Graduate Level (CGL) exams was made on September 30. The DMK MP made a statement on Tuesday, October 4 after pro-Kannada activist Arun Javagal brought the matter to her attention.

The CGL is the common entrance exam for various postings in Union government departments. Candidates must clear three tiers or rounds. The Hindustan Times reports that 1,56,387 candidates passed Tier 1 in 2021.

The Union government has come under criticism several times for imposing Hindi. Reports also say that the Official Languages Commission has recommended Hindi as the mandatory medium of instruction in all non-technical and technical colleges and central institutes across the country.

This is not the first time that the DMK MP has spoken out against Hindi imposition. Last year, at the Chennai Airport, a Central Industrial Security Forces (CISF) asked Kanimozhi if she was Indian after she told them that she did not know Hindi. Following this incident, she shared what had occured on her Twitter handle and asked, I would like to know from when being Indian is equal to knowing Hindi? A few weeks later, director Vetrimaaran known for films like Asuran and Vada Chennai also spoke about going through a similar experience at the New Delhi airport. The official had asked how he did not know the countrys mother tongue and exclaimed that Tamilians and Kashmiris were breaking the country, Vetrimaaran recalled.

The two incidents sparked a new wave of anti-Hindi imposition campaigns. Many people, including Kollywood celebrities, Kanimozhi, and DMK Youth Wing Secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin who is also now the MLA of Chepauk, shared photos of themselves wearing T-shirts that said I am a Tamizh Pesum Indian(I am a Tamil-speaking Indian) or Hindi theriyathu, poda! (I dont know Hindi). At the time, sources close to Kanimozhi told TNM that the DMK leader had started the initiative in a small way and printed a few T-shirts. However, the trend has caught on.

Read: Are you Indian?: MP Kanimozhi says CISF officer asked her for not knowing Hindi

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Kanimozhi slams Union govt over conducting CGL exams in only Hindi and English - The News Minute

Neither angel nor demon, but a secret third thing.

PlatinumGames and Nintendo have shared a new trailer for Bayonetta 3, and its quite a doozy.

While the sequence of events in the trailer are deliberately cropped and put together so that it doesnt make sense and viewers are left guessing, we can discuss some elements within that PlatinumGames have dropped as small teasers of what we can expect.

For one, Cereza talks quite a bit about a singularity that she and the other Umbran Witches need to stop, or defeat. In scientific language, a gravitational singularity is a situation where gravity becomes so intense that it breaks down spacetime to a catastrophic level. Such a situation, that literally breaks spacetime, cannot be defined to have a where or a when. When we read, watch, or play fiction that brings up the idea of singularity, they directly reference or create a variation of this scenario.

This matches what GameInformer has allegedly added to their Bayonetta 3 issue cover story. In that issue they confirm that this Bayonetta game takes place in a multiverse, something that was heavily hinted at in prior trailers as well.

The trailer also mentions an Arch-Eve falling. This is an entirely new character that hasnt been mentioned before, at least not by this name. Could this be another alter ego of antagonist Baldr? Notably, Baldr isnt seen or mentioned in this trailer either, but that doesnt mean he isnt in the game at all. Another character actually refers to Cereza as Arch-Eve Origin, which certainly deepens the mystery. Other things they name drop without explaining is an Alphaverse, which is apparently where they can stop the singularity, and Chaos Gears, which is something you will need to collect in the game.

But now we should talk about the many unnamed characters that are appearing in this trailer. Theres a spider-based Umbran Witch, who makes reference to having literal fish to fry. Theres a black skinned Witch, who seems to wear an Egyptian inspired outfit. And theres a fun looking masked Witch, who crosses her sword with Cereza. There are more familiar faces, a seemingly older Jeanne whos dragging a mysterious doctor along with her, and Baal, the Empress of the Fathoms. This is the large toad demon thats been around since Bayonetta 2, and her fabulous self returns, seemingly to match up with a new Bayonetta, or joining her for the first time.

But most interesting is the prominence of the newest Witch in town, Viola. She apparently gets tasked with taking care of Luka for Cereza at some point, which also implies we get to play a lot of her somewhere in the game. Viola even sees Cereza die in battle against a mysterious new enemy. Neither an angel, nor a devil, but a secret third thing. Also not a human, so this character really is a genuine mystery.

All mysteries will definitely be revealed soon, Bayonetta 3 will be releasing exclusively to the Nintendo Switch on October 28, 2022. You can watch the trailer and read more of our coverage of Bayonetta 3 below.

Bayonetta 3 Gets 7-Minute Gameplay Video Featuring Viola

Bayonetta 3 Gets New Story Details and Gameplay Trailer

Source: YouTube, Reddit

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New Bayonetta 3 Trailer Reveals An In-Universe Singularity, And Lots Of Witches - Gameranx

GREAT NECK, N.Y., Oct. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --Singularity Future Technology Ltd. ("Singularity" or the "Company") (Nasdaq: SGLY) announced today that on October 3, 2022, it received a notice (the "Notice") from the Listing Qualifications Department of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC ("Nasdaq") advising that the Company's securities would be subject to delisting unless the Company timely requests a hearing before a Nasdaq Hearings Panel (the "Panel"). Accordingly, the Company intends to timely request a hearing before the Panel. The hearing request will stay any delisting or suspension action through October 25, 2022. Pursuant to the Nasdaq Listing Rules, in connection with the hearing request, the Company will request that the automatic stay be extended through the conclusion of the hearings process and the expiration of any additional extension period granted by the Panel following the hearing.

(PRNewsfoto/Singularity Future Technology Ltd.)

As previously disclosed in the Company's Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on May 25, 2022, the Company received a delinquency notice from Nasdaq indicating that the Company was not in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1) due to the delay in filing its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2022, and was provided 60 days to submit a plan to regain compliance. On July 25, 2022, and September 14, 2022, the Company submitted its plan to regain compliance and supplementary information related to the plan, respectively (collectively, the "Compliance Plan").

Based on the review of the Compliance Plan as well as telephone conversations with outside counsel to the Company and counsel to the Company's special committee of the board of directors, the Staff has determined that the Company did not provide a definitive plan evidencing its ability to file the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2022 and the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022 (collectively, the "Reports") within the 180 calendar day period available to the Staff under the Nasdaq Listing Rules. Specifically, the Notice referenced several aspects of the Compliance Plan that raise substantial doubts about the Company's ability to regain compliance: (i) the unreasonably short timeframe for the Company to file the Reports based on the anticipated timeframe the Company's special committee of the board of directors needs to substantially complete its investigation; (ii) the Company's ability to engage a new independent registered public accounting firm; and (iii) the departure of both the Company's Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer.

While the Company intends to make every effort to maintain its listing, there can be no assurance that the Panel will grant the Company's request for an extended stay or request for continued listing, nor can there be any assurance that the Company will ultimately regain compliance with all applicable requirements for continued listing.

About Singularity Future Technology Ltd. (Nasdaq: SGLY)

On January 3, 2022, the Company changed its name from Sino-Global Shipping America, Ltd. to Singularity Future Technology Ltd. (Nasdaq: SGLY). Since 2020, the Company plans to develop a presence in the Blockchain supply management area by focusing on solutions for globally interconnected networks and establishing crypto mining pools. As the Blockchain landscape constantly shifts, the Company strives to provide involvement and an ecosystem for its clients in this ever-changing space. The Company is building on its existence as a global logistics and ship management services company, founded in 2001 in New York, with subsidiaries in New York, Houston, Montreal, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Ningbo, China. The Company provides customers with all of their shipping logistics and agency needs as a full-service provider. Additional information about the Company can be found on the Company's corporate website at http://www.singularity.us.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements made herein that are not based on historical fact are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and the provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (which Sections were adopted as part of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). While the Company's management has based any forward-looking statements contained herein on its current expectations, the information on which such expectations were based may change. These forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions concerning future events and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are outside of the Company's control, that could cause actual results to materially differ from such statements. Accordingly, investors should not place any reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. The Company disclaims any intention to, and undertake no obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statement.

Cision

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SOURCE Singularity Future Technology Ltd.

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Singularity Future Technology Announces Receipt of Nasdaq Notice of Delisting and Intention to Request Hearing - Yahoo Finance

Heart disease is the number one cause of death among American adults. Conditions like obesity or diabetes increase a persons risk of developing heart disease, and blood tests or blood pressure measurements can provide a better estimate of how likely someone is to have heart problems. There may soon be an even easier way to predict heart disease risk: by scanning your eye.

A paper published this month in the British Journal of Ophthalmology describes a method for quick, affordable cardiovascular screenings using retinal vasculature imagingthat is, a photo of the blood vessels at the back of the eye. A snapshot of the eye is analyzed by an artificially intelligent software developed for this purpose. Patients wouldnt even have to go to their doctors office to be screened; they could simply send in an image of their eye.

The team that developed the software emphasized its convenience and affordability as compared to existing methods. AI-enabled vasculometry risk prediction is fully automated, low cost, non-invasive, and has the potential for reaching a higher proportion of the population in the community because of high street availability and because blood sampling or [blood pressure measurement] are not needed, they wrote in the paper.

The retina is the tissue at the back of the eye that converts light into electrical impulses, which it sends to the brain through the optic nerve. It contains millions of cells called rods (for night vision) and cones (for color vision), which rely on a network of blood vessels to continuously supply them with nutrients and oxygen.

Besides keeping the retina functioning, these blood vessels can also serve as a window into other parts of the bodyeven the heart. Scientists have found an association between characteristics like narrow retinal arteries and vessel tortuosity (that is, curviness), and high blood pressure, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.

Doctors have known for more than a hundred years that you could look in the eye and see signs of diabetes and high blood pressure, Pearse Keane, a researcher in ophthalmology and AI analysis not connected to the study, told The Verge. But the problem was manual assessment: the manual delineation of the vessels by human experts. A machine learning algorithm doesnt have nearly as tough of a time with this, though.

The team named their software QUARTZ, an abbreviation for QUantitative Analysis of Retinal vessels Topology and siZe. They trained the AI using eye images from over 88,000 people (aged 40 to 69) drawn from the UK Biobank. The team analyzed the width and tortuosity of retinal arteries and veins to develop prediction models for stroke, heart attack, and death from circulatory disease.

They then used QUARTZ to analyze retinal images from 7,411 more people, these aged 48 to 92, and combined this data with information about their health history (such as smoking, statin use, and previous heart attacks) to predict their risk of heart disease. Participants health was tracked for seven to nine years, and their outcomes were compared to Framingham risk score (FRS) predictions.

A common tool for estimating heart disease risk, the FRS looks at age, gender, total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, smoking habits, and systolic blood pressure to estimate the probability someone will develop heart disease within a given span of time, usually 10 to 30 years.

The QUARTZ team compared their data to 10-year FRS predictions and said the algorithms accuracy was on par with that of the conventional tool.

It will be a while before the AI becomes a diagnostic tool; further clinical trials and regulatory approvals will be needed, as well as a clearer methodology for translating its data into clinical practice.

In the meantime, its promising to know tools like this are under development. Like Framingham risk assessments, QUARTZ could be used preventatively by helping determine when someone should try medications to lower their blood pressure or cholesterol.

A linked editorial by a doctor and professor not involved in the study is optimistic. The retina is the only location that allows non-invasive direct visualization of the vasculature, potentially providing a rich source of information, they wrote. The results strengthen the evidence from several similar studies that the retina can be a useful and potentially disruptive source of information for cardiovascular disease risk in personalized medicine.

Image Credit: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

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This AI Uses a Scan of Your Retina to Predict Your Risk of Heart Disease - Singularity Hub

Scientific study of human evolution historically reassured us of a comforting order to things. It has painted humans as cleverer, more intellectual, and more caring than our ancestral predecessors.

From archaeological reconstructions of Neanderthals as stooped, hairy and brutish, to cavemen movies, our ancient ancestors got bad press.

Over the last five years discoveries have upended this unbalanced view. In my recent book, Hidden Depths: The Origins of Human Connection, I argue this matters for how we see ourselves today and imagine our futures, as much as for our understanding of our past.

Six revelations stand out.

Species such as Homo Longi have only been identified as recently as 2018. There are now 21 known species of human.

In the last few years we have realized that our Homo sapiens ancestors may have met as many as eight of these different types of human, from robust and stocky species including Neanderthals and their close relatives Denisovans, to the short (less than five-feet tall) and small-brained humans such as Homo naledi.

But Homo sapiens werent the inevitable evolutionary destination. Nor do they fit into any simple linear progression or ladder of progress. Homo naledis brain may have been smaller than that of a chimpanzee, but there is evidence they were culturally complex and mourned their dead.

Neanderthals created symbolic art, but they werent the same as us. Neanderthals had many different biological adaptations, which may have included hibernation.

Hybrid species of human, once seen by experts as science fiction, may have played a key role in our evolution. Evidence of the importance of hybrids comes from genetics. The trail is not only in the DNA of our own species (which often includes important genes inherited from Neanderthals) but also skeletons of hybrids.

One example is Denny, a girl with a Neanderthal mother and Denisovan father. Her bones were found in a cave in Siberia.

Our evolutionary past is messier than scientists used to think. Have you ever been troubled with backache? Or stared jealously after your dog as it lolloped across an uneven landscape?

That should have been enough to show you we are far from perfectly adapted. We have known for some time that evolution cobbles together solutions in response to an ecosystem which may already have changed. However, many of the changes in our human evolutionary lineage maybe the result of chance.

For example, where isolated populations have a characteristic, such as some aspect of their appearance, which doesnt make much difference to their survival and this form continues to change in descendants. Features of Neanderthals faces (such as their pronounced brows) or body (including large rib cages) might have resulted simply from genetic drift.

Epigenetics, which is where genes are only activated in specific environments, complicate things too. Genes might predispose someone to depression or schizophrenia for example. Yet they may only develop the condition if triggered by things that happen to them.

We may like to imagine ourselves as masters of the environment. But it isincreasingly clear ecological changes molded us.

The origins of our own species coincided with major shifts in climate as we became more distinct from other species at these points in time. All other human species seem to have died out as a result of climate change.

Three major human species Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis, and Homo neanderthalensis died out with major shifts in climate such as the Adams event. This was a temporary breakdown of Earths magnetic field 42,000 years ago, which coincided with the extinction of the Neanderthals.

Research has uncovered new reasons to feel hopeful about future human societies. Scientists used to believe the violent parts of human nature gave us a leg up the evolution ladder.

But evidence has emerged of the caring side of human nature and its contribution to our success. Ancient skeletons show remarkable signs of survival from illness and injuries, which would have been difficult if not impossible without help.

The trail of human compassion extends back one and a half million years ago. Scientist have traced medical knowledge to at least the time of the Neanderthals.

Altruism has many important survival benefits. It enabled older community members to pass on important knowledge. And medical care kept skilled hunters alive.

Evolution made us more emotionally exposed than we like to imagine. Like domestic dogs, with whom we share many genetic adaptations, such as greater tolerance for outsiders, and sensitivity to social cues, human hypersociability has come with a price: emotional vulnerabilities.

We are more sensitive to how people around us feel, and more vulnerable to social influences, were more prone to emotional disorders, to loneliness and to depression than our predecessors. Our complex feelings may not always be pleasant to live with, but they are part of key transformations which created large, connected communities. Our emotions are essential to human collaborations.

A socialized wolf enjoying affectionate contact. Image Credit: Vilmos Vincze / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

This is a far less reassuring view of our place in the world than the one we had even five years ago. But seeing ourselves as selfish, rational, and entitled to a privileged place in nature hasnt worked out well. Just read the latest reports about the state of our planet.

If we accept that humans are not a pinnacle of progress, then we cannot just wait for things to turn out right. Our past suggests that our future wont get better unless we do something about it.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Image Credit: Neanderthal-Museum, Mettmann / Wikimedia Commons

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Six Recent Discoveries That Have Changed How We Think About Human Origins - Singularity Hub