We're sunsetting PodQuest on 2025-07-28. Thank you for your support!
Export Podcast Subscriptions
cover of episode Shrinking AI for use in farms and clinics, ethical dilemmas for USAID researchers, and how to evolve evolvability

Shrinking AI for use in farms and clinics, ethical dilemmas for USAID researchers, and how to evolve evolvability

2025/2/20
logo of podcast Science Magazine Podcast

Science Magazine Podcast

AI Deep Dive AI Chapters Transcript
People
M
Martin Enserink
M
Michael Barnett
S
Sandeep Ravindran
Topics
Martin Enserink: 美国国际开发署(USAID)的资金冻结对全球健康研究产生了严重的负面影响。许多研究项目被迫停止,临床试验中断,对参与者和合作者的信任受到损害。这不仅造成了资金和资源的浪费,也损害了美国的国际声誉和软实力。一些研究项目,例如一项针对HIV预防的临床试验,由于资金冻结而被迫停止,给参与者带来了健康风险,并可能导致HIV耐药性的产生。尽管法院暂时叫停了该行政命令,但资金的实际到位和研究项目的恢复仍存在不确定性,许多项目可能无法恢复。 Sandeep Ravindran: 微型机器学习(TinyML)技术为全球南方地区提供了低成本、低功耗的AI解决方案。TinyML设备无需互联网连接,可在电力供应不足的地区使用,应用范围广泛,包括农业病虫害检测、医疗诊断和环境监测等。在农业领域,TinyML可以帮助农民识别植物病害,提高农作物产量,减少农药使用,保护环境。在医疗领域,TinyML可以用于检测心律失常等疾病,提高医疗的可及性。在环境监测领域,TinyML可以用于检测塑料垃圾等污染物,帮助保护生态环境。TinyML技术的推广需要解决技术复杂性和设备成本等问题,但其发展前景广阔。 Michael Barnett: 生物体可以通过自然选择进化出更高的进化能力(evolvability)。研究表明,在反复出现的选择压力下,生物体会在特定基因位点上发生局部高突变率,从而提高适应性变异的产生效率。这种机制使得生物体能够更好地适应环境变化,提高生存能力。该研究利用细菌实验验证了这一机制,并揭示了局部高突变率的进化优势,以及这种机制在病原体进化中的作用。

Deep Dive

Chapters
The Trump administration's freeze on USAID funding caused a halt to numerous global health initiatives, particularly clinical trials. This led to ethical dilemmas for researchers who had to stop ongoing studies, potentially harming participants and damaging trust in U.S. partnerships. The courts have temporarily blocked the executive order, but the long-term consequences remain uncertain.
  • USAID funding freeze halted clinical trials and other research projects.
  • Researchers faced ethical dilemmas in stopping studies and informing participants.
  • The freeze damaged trust in U.S. partnerships and global health collaborations.
  • The executive order was temporarily blocked by the courts, but the long-term effects are still unclear.

Shownotes Transcript

First up this week, researchers face impossible decisions as U.S. aid freeze halts clinical trials. Deputy News Editor Martin Enserink joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about how organizers of U.S. Agency for International Development–funded studies are grappling with ethical responsibilities )to trial participants and collaborators as funding, supplies, and workers dry up.

 

Next, freelance science journalist Sandeep Ravindran talks about creating tiny machine learning devices for bespoke use in the Global South). Farmers and medical clinics are using low-cost, low-power devices with onboard machine learning for spotting fungal infections in tree plantations or listening for the buzz of malaria-bearing mosquitoes.

 

Finally, Michael Barnett), a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, joins the podcast to discuss evolving evolvability). His team demonstrated a way for organisms to become more evolvable in response to repeated swings in the environment.

 

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy).

 

About the Science Podcast)

 

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Sandeep Ravindran; Martin Enserink 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices)