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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 )
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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.

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Scientists: World's Oldest Octopus Fossil Isn't an Octopus after All

FILE -Field Museum and Chicago's skyline is seen from Soldier Field prior to an NFL preseason football game between the Chicago Bears and the Tennessee Titans, Aug. 12, 2023, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski, File)
FILE -Field Museum and Chicago's skyline is seen from Soldier Field prior to an NFL preseason football game between the Chicago Bears and the Tennessee Titans, Aug. 12, 2023, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski, File)
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Scientists: World's Oldest Octopus Fossil Isn't an Octopus after All

FILE -Field Museum and Chicago's skyline is seen from Soldier Field prior to an NFL preseason football game between the Chicago Bears and the Tennessee Titans, Aug. 12, 2023, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski, File)
FILE -Field Museum and Chicago's skyline is seen from Soldier Field prior to an NFL preseason football game between the Chicago Bears and the Tennessee Titans, Aug. 12, 2023, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski, File)

A 300-million-year-old tentacled sea creature has lost its crown as the world’s oldest octopus, after scientists found evidence that it’s not an octopus at all.

Newly published research concludes that fossilized remains listed by Guinness World Records as the earliest known octopus belong instead to a relative of a nautilus, a cephalopod with both tentacles and a shell, The Associated Press reported.

University of Reading zoologist Thomas Clements, the lead researcher behind the new findings, said the fossil, Pohlsepia mazonensis, has long been the subject of scientific debate.

“It’s a very difficult fossil to interpret,” he said. “To look at it, it kind of just looks like a white mush.

“If you look at it and you are a cephalopod researcher and you’re interested in everything octopus, it does superficially look a lot like a deep-water octopus.”

The creature, a blob about the size of a human hand, was found in the Mazon Creek area of Illinois, about 50 miles southwest of Chicago, that is rich in fossils from a period before dinosaurs walked the Earth.

Its identification by paleontologists as an octopus in 2000 upended ideas about the evolution of the eight-tentacled cephalopods, suggesting they emerged much earlier than previously thought. The next oldest-known octopus fossil is only about 90 million years old.

“It’s a huge gap,” Clements said. “And so that big gap got researchers sort of questioning, ‘Is this thing actually an octopus?”

To solve the mystery of the “weird blob,” Clements and his team used a synchrotron — which uses fast-moving electrons to create beams of light brighter than the sun — to look inside the fossil rock. They found a ribbon of teeth known as a radula that is common to all mollusks, including nautiluses and octopuses. Each row had 11 teeth. Octopuses have either seven or nine.

“This has too many teeth, so it can’t be an octopus,” Clements said. “And that’s how we realize that the world’s oldest octopus is actually a fossil nautilus, not an octopus.”

The teeth matched those of a fossil nautiloid called Paleocadmus pohli that had been found in the same area. Clements said the mistaken identification may have happened because the creature decomposed and lost its telltale shell before it was fossilized, complicating identification.

As a result of the findings published this week in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Guinness World Records said it will no longer list Pohlsepia mazonensis as the earliest known octopus.

Managing Editor Adam Millward said the scientists had made “a fascinating discovery.”

“We will be resting the original ‘oldest octopus fossil’ title and look forward to reviewing this new evidence,” he said.

Pohlsepia mazonensis is named for its discoverer James Pohl, and is in the collection of the Field Museum in Chicago.

Clements said the museum should not be disappointed by the new evidence, which means it now has “the oldest soft tissue nautilus in the world.

“The Field Museum have a small collection of these ancient nautiluses, which I think as a cephalopod worker is probably the best thing ever,” he said.

The museum has been approached for comment.

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Saudi Arabia: AlUla Advances to 85th Place in IMD Smart City Index 2026

AlUla seeks to become an ideal destination for living, working and visiting. SPA
AlUla seeks to become an ideal destination for living, working and visiting. SPA
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Saudi Arabia: AlUla Advances to 85th Place in IMD Smart City Index 2026

AlUla seeks to become an ideal destination for living, working and visiting. SPA
AlUla seeks to become an ideal destination for living, working and visiting. SPA

AlUla has recorded the highest improvement in the IMD Smart City Index 2026, advancing from 112th place in 2025 to 85th this year, placing it among the most improved cities globally in this edition of the index.

This result reflects AlUla's ambition to become an ideal destination for living, working and visiting.

This achievement is a continuation of the comprehensive and sustainable development objectives pursued by the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) since its establishment, and in line with the AlUla vision, which targets the development of infrastructure, improvement of services, and enhancement of quality of life for the people and residents of AlUla, whilst preserving the unique natural and cultural environment of the governorate.

This year's edition of the index measures city performance across key pillars including quality of life, service efficiency, technology, environmental sustainability, and smart governance.

These pillars are central to the commission's priorities and are being continuously advanced in partnership with stakeholders across the public and private sectors.

On the quality of life front, RCU continues to develop services for the people and residents of AlUla, spanning education, healthcare, infrastructure, and public utilities, within an approach that balances urban development requirements with the preservation of the destination's identity.

Sustainability also serves as a foundational pillar within the comprehensive development framework for the governorate. In this regard, RCU has announced the lifting of the suspension on land sales and transactions in central and southern AlUla, a strategic step that opens the door for citizens and investors to participate in real estate activities within a regulated environment.

On the education front, RCU has established an integrated system that encompasses a language institute offering instruction in five languages, a scholarship program that has benefited more than 690 students, teacher qualification programs in which more than 800 educators have enrolled, and community activities that have engaged approximately 7,400 students.

In the area of transport, RCU has completed the expansion of AlUla International Airport, increasing its annual passenger capacity from 400,000 to 700,000, doubling the number of passport control lanes, and integrating smart technologies to enhance the passenger experience, alongside the introduction of smart mobility solutions within the governorate.

RCU continues to develop infrastructure through the construction of power stations and water storage facilities, as well as the enhancement of public utilities, all within the framework of the second masterplan, "Path to Prosperity", which aims to elevate quality of life and advance community development

This progress aligns with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030 and reflects the accelerating transformation AlUla is undergoing across urban development and sustainability, supporting its ambitions to establish itself as a leading international cultural and tourism destination, and contributing to its growing presence on global smart city rankings.

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Argentine MPs Approve Bill to Allow Mining in Glaciers

FILE PHOTO: A general view of the Perito Moreno glacier, near the city of El Calafate in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, Argentina April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Bernat Parera/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A general view of the Perito Moreno glacier, near the city of El Calafate in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, Argentina April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Bernat Parera/File Photo
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Argentine MPs Approve Bill to Allow Mining in Glaciers

FILE PHOTO: A general view of the Perito Moreno glacier, near the city of El Calafate in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, Argentina April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Bernat Parera/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A general view of the Perito Moreno glacier, near the city of El Calafate in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, Argentina April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Bernat Parera/File Photo

Argentine MPs approved a bill early Thursday promoted by President Javier Milei that authorizes mining in ecologically sensitive areas of glaciers and permafrost, and has outraged environmentalists.

The amendment to the so-called Glacier Law, which was already approved by the Senate in February, would make it easier to mine for metals such as copper, lithium and silver in frozen parts of the Andes mountains, said AFP.

The Chamber of Deputies, Argentina's lower house of Congress, approved the amendment with 137 votes in favor, 111 against and three abstentions after nearly 12 hours of debate.

Environmentalists say the reforms will weaken protections for crucial water sources.

Thousands of people took part in a demonstration on Wednesday afternoon outside parliament, marked by isolated skirmishes with police.

Some held aloft banners with slogans such as "Water is more precious than gold!" and "A glacier destroyed cannot be restored!"

Seven Greenpeace activists were arrested earlier in the day after scaling a statue outside parliament and unfurling a banner urging lawmakers "not to betray the Argentine people."

The passage of the amendment is a new coup for Milei, who pushed through looser labor laws in February despite repeated street protests.

Nicolas Mayoraz, an MP from Milei's ruling La Libertad Avanza party, assured lawmakers that combining "environmental protection and sustainable development is possible."

Environmental activist Flavia Broffoni rubbished the government's position.

"The science is clear...there is absolutely no possibility of creating what they (the government) call a 'sustainable mine' in a periglacial environment," she told AFP after addressing the protest outside parliament.

- Lithium race -

There are nearly 17,000 glaciers or rock glaciers -- a mix of rock and ice -- in Argentina, according to a 2018 inventory.

In the northwest of the country, where mining activity is concentrated, glacial reserves have shrunk by 17 percent in the last decade, mainly due to climate change, according to the Argentine Institute of Snow Science, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences.

Milei, a free-market radical who does not believe in man-made climate change, argues the bill is necessary to attract large-scale mining projects.

Argentina is a major producer of lithium, which is critical to the global tech and green energy sectors.

The Central Bank has estimated, based on industry forecasts, that the country could triple its mining exports by 2030.

"Environmentalists would rather see us starve than have anything touched," Milei has argued.

Supporters of the reform argue that it will clear up ambiguities in the current law, from 2010, on which periglacial areas -- areas on the edges of glaciers -- can be economically developed.

"We want legal certainty, we want clear definitions," Michael Meding, director of the Los Azules copper mining project in San Juan, told AFP.

Enrique Viale, president of the Argentine Association of Environmental Lawyers, told AFP that the reform threatened the water supply of "70 percent" of Argentines.

Under the current law, a scientific body designates protected glaciers and periglacial environments.

The reform would give individual provinces more powers to decide which areas need protection and which can be exploited for economic purposes.

It has been backed by the governors of northern Andean provinces with strong mining sectors, namely Mendoza, San Juan, Catamarca and Salta.