Robots are Better than Doctors in Medical Diagnosis

 Pepper is an 'emotional' robot which has been available to buy
since June 2015 ( AFP/Getty Images )
Pepper is an 'emotional' robot which has been available to buy since June 2015 ( AFP/Getty Images )
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Robots are Better than Doctors in Medical Diagnosis

 Pepper is an 'emotional' robot which has been available to buy
since June 2015 ( AFP/Getty Images )
Pepper is an 'emotional' robot which has been available to buy since June 2015 ( AFP/Getty Images )

Artificial intelligence has proved remarkable abilities in diagnosing various conditions and has outperformed specialists in many fields. Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported that a competition was held between an artificial intelligence system designed for medical diagnosis and a group of experienced doctors from various clinics and hospitals in Moscow.

The doctors were given radiographies and analysis, and were asked to verify whether the patient had a tumor or arrhythmia. The same data was entered into the automated system, which gave a more accurate result.

The head of a technical group working on artificial intelligence technologies said: "Artificial neural networks are able to see patterns that humans cannot easily see, so these networks define the areas to focus on during diagnosis. The size of nodal formations of the tumor, for example, may be very small, and often the robot will identify it and guide the doctor to the area he has to focus on." 

However, experts in the medical and technical fields warned from the errors that may occur in the work of artificial intelligence, and explained that doctors' reliance on it would lead to a decline in their experience. 

However, specialists in the development of artificial neural networks assured doctors that this technical development would not be a substitute for them, but would be helpful to them, and will help them reduce the rate of error in diagnosis.

It is worth noting that a team of technical specialists and doctors are currently working on the design of a unified diagnostic system in Russia that depends on artificial intelligence. 

The main idea behind ​​the project is to pump data into this system with information on the most accurate details of diseases, as well as data on the pathology of the patient. 

The system will be trained on diseases' diagnosis. It will not be confined to a specific hospital or residential area, but will be a unified network connecting various medical institutions in Russia. 

The system is expected to achieve a quantum leap in the medical diagnosis field, with more speed and accuracy.



German Killed in Swiss Avalanche, 4 Other Skiers Hurt

Swiss Air Force's aerobatic team "The Patrouille Suisse" perform prior to the FIS alpine skiing Men's World Cup Super G event in Wengen, Swiss Alps, on January 19, 2026. (Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP)
Swiss Air Force's aerobatic team "The Patrouille Suisse" perform prior to the FIS alpine skiing Men's World Cup Super G event in Wengen, Swiss Alps, on January 19, 2026. (Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP)
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German Killed in Swiss Avalanche, 4 Other Skiers Hurt

Swiss Air Force's aerobatic team "The Patrouille Suisse" perform prior to the FIS alpine skiing Men's World Cup Super G event in Wengen, Swiss Alps, on January 19, 2026. (Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP)
Swiss Air Force's aerobatic team "The Patrouille Suisse" perform prior to the FIS alpine skiing Men's World Cup Super G event in Wengen, Swiss Alps, on January 19, 2026. (Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP)

A German man has been killed in an avalanche in the Swiss alps and four other people were hurt as they were cross-country skiing, Swiss police said Saturday.

The incident happened on Friday, on the Piz Badus peak near the village of Tujetsch in the center-south of the country, AFP reported.

Police said a group of seven cross-country skiers were swept up in the avalanche, with five of them buried underneath.

One member of the party raised the alarm in a phone call to local police, who deployed helicopters with rescue workers and dogs to the site.

The German man was found lifeless under the snow and ice, the police said, adding that the four others hurt -- whose nationalities were not given -- suffered light injuries and were flown to nearby hospitals.


NASA's New Moon Rocket Heads to the Pad Ahead of Astronaut Launch

NASA's Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, is seen inside the Vehicle Assembly building as preparations continue for roll out to Launch Pad 39B, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Keegan Barber/NASA via AP)
NASA's Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, is seen inside the Vehicle Assembly building as preparations continue for roll out to Launch Pad 39B, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Keegan Barber/NASA via AP)
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NASA's New Moon Rocket Heads to the Pad Ahead of Astronaut Launch

NASA's Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, is seen inside the Vehicle Assembly building as preparations continue for roll out to Launch Pad 39B, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Keegan Barber/NASA via AP)
NASA's Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, is seen inside the Vehicle Assembly building as preparations continue for roll out to Launch Pad 39B, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Keegan Barber/NASA via AP)

NASA’s giant new moon rocket headed to the launch pad Saturday in preparation for astronauts’ first lunar fly-around in more than half a century.

The out-and-back trip could blast off as early as February.

The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket began its 1 mph (1.6 kph) creep from Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building at daybreak. The four-mile (six-kilometer) trek was expected to take until nightfall.

Throngs of space center workers and their families gathered in the predawn chill to witness the long-awaited event, delayed for years, The Associated Press reported. They huddled together ahead of the Space Launch System rocket’s exit from the building, built in the 1960s to accommodate the Saturn V rockets that sent 24 astronauts to the moon during the Apollo program. The cheering crowd was led by NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman and all four astronauts assigned to the mission.

Weighing in at 11 million pounds (5 million kilograms), the Space Launch System rocket and Orion crew capsule on top made the move aboard a massive transporter that was used during the Apollo and shuttle eras. It was upgraded for the SLS rocket’s extra heft.

The first and only other SLS launch — which sent an empty Orion capsule into orbit around the moon — took place back in November 2022.

“This one feels a lot different, putting crew on the rocket and taking the crew around the moon,” NASA’s John Honeycutt said on the eve of the rocket’s rollout.

Heat shield damage and other capsule problems during the initial test flight required extensive analyses and tests, pushing back this first crew moonshot until now. The astronauts won’t orbit the moon or even land on it. That giant leap will take come on the third flight in the Artemis lineup a few years from now.

Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and Christina Koch — longtime NASA astronauts with spaceflight experience — will be joined on the 10-day mission by Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, a former fighter pilot awaiting his first rocket ride.

They will be the first people to fly to the moon since Apollo 17’s Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt closed out the triumphant lunar-landing program in 1972. Twelve astronauts strolled the lunar surface, beginning with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969.

NASA is waiting to conduct a fueling test of the SLS rocket on the pad in early February before confirming a launch date. Depending on how the demo goes, “that will ultimately lay out our path toward launch,” launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said on Friday.

The space agency has only five days to launch in the first half of February before bumping into March.


Iron Age Teeth Fossils Reveal Diet Diversity of Italians 2,500 Years Ago

The fresco on the wall of a house in Pompeii that dates back 2,000 years (AFP)
The fresco on the wall of a house in Pompeii that dates back 2,000 years (AFP)
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Iron Age Teeth Fossils Reveal Diet Diversity of Italians 2,500 Years Ago

The fresco on the wall of a house in Pompeii that dates back 2,000 years (AFP)
The fresco on the wall of a house in Pompeii that dates back 2,000 years (AFP)

Italians began exploring a varied diet sometime between the 7th and 6th centuries BC, according to a new analysis of ancient teeth from Iron Age Italians.

Unravelling details about the lifestyles of ancient cultures is a challenging task, as it requires specific, well-preserved fossils of long-deceased individuals, The Independent reported.

Fossil human teeth are an excellent resource to understand ancient diets, acting as archives of each individual’s life history.

However, collecting information from teeth across different eras remains a challenge.

In the new study, researchers combined multiple analyses of teeth remains from the Italian archaeological site of Pontocagnano to interpret the health and diet of people in the region during the 7th and 6th centuries BC.

Scientists assessed the dental tissue of 30 teeth from 10 individuals, obtaining data from canine and molar teeth to reconstruct each ancient person’s history during the first six years of their lives.

Researchers found that the Iron Age Italians had a diet rich in cereals, legumes, abundant carbohydrates, and even fermented foods and drinks.

“We could follow childhood growth and health with remarkable precision and identify traces of cereals, legumes, and fermented foods in adulthood, revealing how this community adapted to environmental and social challenges,” said Roberto Germano, an author of the study.

Emanuela Cristiani, another author of the study said, “In the case of Pontocagnano, the analysis of dental calculus revealed starch granules from cereals and legumes, yeast spores, and plant fibres, providing a very concrete picture of the diet and some daily activities of these Iron Age communities.”

The findings offer strong evidence of this ancient Italian population regularly consuming fermented foods and beverages, researchers said.

Their diets likely diversified at the time as their contact with Mediterranean cultures increased, they added.

The researchers noted that while the study may not be completely representative of the broader Italian population, it provides a “very concrete picture” of the diet and some daily activities of Iron Age communities in the Italian region.

“This and other modern approaches represent a major technological and disciplinary advancement that is revolutionizing the study of the biocultural adaptations of past populations,” said Alessia Nava, another author of the study from Sapienza University of Rome.