Month: November 2020

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By David L. Chandler, Massachusetts Institute of Technology November 20, 2020 New research at MIT shows that vibrations of the protein spikes on coronaviruses, including the one that causes Covid-19, play a crucial part in allowing the virus to penetrate human cells. Credit: Markus Buehler and Yiwen Hu/MIT Study suggests mechanical properties of spike proteins can predict infectivity and lethality of different coronaviruses. When someone struggles to open a lock with a key that doesn’t quite seem to work, sometimes jiggling the key a bit will help. Now, new research from MIT suggests that coronaviruses, including the one that causes Covid-19, may use a similar method to trick cells into letting the viruses inside. The findings could be useful for determining how dangerous differ...

Two more Mainers with COVID-19 have died as the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported 224 new cases on Friday.The two new deaths were in Androscoggin and Somerset counties. The number of Mainers with COVID-19 who have died is now 173.The 224 new cases bring the total since the beginning of the outbreak to 9,958.The Maine CDC reported 187 new recoveries bringing the total to 7,590MAINE CORONAVIRUS DATA: Deaths: 173 Total cases: 9,958 Confirmed cases: 8,933 Probable cases: 1,025 Cumulative positivity rate: 1.46% 14-day positivity rate: 2.6% Patients recovered: 7,590 Active cases: 2,195 Currently hospitalized: 90 Patients in intensive care: 49 Patients on ventilators: 12COVID-19 SYMPTOMSSympt...

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Increasingly, artificial intelligence systems known as deep learning neural networks are used to inform decisions vital to human health and safety, such as in autonomous driving or medical diagnosis. These networks are good at recognizing patterns in large, complex datasets to aid in decision-making. But how do we know they’re correct? Alexander Amini and his colleagues at MIT and Harvard University wanted to find out. They’ve developed a quick way for a neural network to crunch data, and output not just a prediction but also the model’s confidence level based on the quality of the available data. The advance might save lives, as deep learning is already being deployed in the real world today. A network’s level of certainty can be the difference between an...