Doctors faced with the tricky task of spotting rare genetic diseases in children may soon be asking parents to email their family photos. A computer program can now learn to identify rare conditions by analyzing a face from an ordinary digital photograph. It should even be able to identify unknown genetic disorders if groups of photos in its database share specific facial features. Rare genetic disorders are thought to affect 6 per cent of people. Genetic tests exist for the more common conditions such as Down’s syndrome, but many people with the rarer disorders never get a proper clinical diagnosis (诊断) .Genetic tests aren’t available for many conditions because the gene variants that cause them haven’t been identified.

The software developed by Christoffer Nell Ker and Andrew Zisserman of the University of Oxford and their colleagues should help family doctors make a preliminary (初步的) diagnosis. “The idea is to offer it to health systems right across the world because all you need is a computer and a digital photo,” says Nellaker.

To show that it works, the team analyzed photos of people with known genetic disorders. The accuracy of the software increases with the number of photos of a specific disorder it learns from. For the eight training diseases, for example, each disorder was represented by between 100 and 283 images. On average, this resulted in 93 per cent of the predictions being correct.

The team have since expanded the software so that it recognizes 90 disorders. It can’t give an exact diagnosis yet, but based on the 2,754 faces now in the database, the researchers estimate that the system makes it almost 30 times more likely that someone will make a correct diagnosis than by chance alone.

For example, after looking at photos of former US president Abraham Lincoln, the software ranked Marfan syndrome (马凡氏综合征)—a disorder resulting in unusually large features, which some believe he had—as the seventh most likely diagnosis out of 91 syndromes.

A new “paparazzi-proof” scarf has got heatedly welcomed since launched. A new “paparazzi-proof” scarf could be a game-changer for celebrities who prefer to shy away from the stage light. The ISHU scarf is the creation of Dutch-born fashion entrepreneur Saif Siddiqui and is designed to “give people their right to privacy back”. A host of celebrities including Cameron Diaz, singer Joe Jonas, Bayern Munich footballer Jerome Boateng and music producer Major Lazer have worn the ISHU after it was spotted at London Fashion Week last year.

It works by reflecting the light back into a camera, effectively becoming “invisibility clothes” for celebrities who don’t want their photos taken. Anyone wearing the scarf is protected from mobile flash photograph, with the fashion accessory’s fabric (附件结构) effectively blocking out any unwanted pictures, although it doesn’t stop no-flash photographs from being taken.

The 28-year-old Siddiqui was inspired while visiting family in Amsterdam in 2009 when his friends attempted to take a photo of him using an iPhone in front of some bikes. “He noticed that the bike’s reflector carried the flash of his mobile camera in a way that confused the faces of his friends in the picture.” the ISHU website explains. “He immediately realized that if developed into the right product, this feature would be an ideal solution for his friends and is now available to the public who want to keep their private moments in public private. “Saif put together a team of experts who dug into the science of light and reflection, and how to blend technology with fashion.”

He told Decoded Magazine: “The ISHU scarf effectively allows an individual to control what pictures and videos are taken of him. “There are no more unwanted pictures and videos on Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook! Everyone carries a phone with them nowadays that has an amazing camera. So, it all made sense to me.” More ISHU products are set to launch in August, with mobile phone cases set to launch in the next few weeks. The ISHU is currently sold out but you can pre-order it online for ￡289.

Israeli and Russian astronaut scientists grew the small piece of beef from cells while going aboard the International Space Station, 400 km above the Earth's surface. Cells from cattle were harvested on our planet and brought to the space station where they were grown into meat using a special 3D printer.

The experiment was run on September 26 within the Russian part of the space station and organized by Aleph Farms, a beef company on Earth.

Researchers said the project was aimed to show how lab-grown meat can be cultivated （培养）in hard conditions with minimal equipment. The technique they developed could be used to provide astronauts with hamburgers in the future.

“We are proving that cultivated meat can be produced anytime, anywhere and in any conditions said Aleph Farms' boss Didier Toubia. “We can provide a powerful solution to produce the food closer to the population's needs, at the exact and right time it is needed.

To grow the meat, scientists copied the natural process of muscle cells' regeneration occurring inside the body of cattle. It required the use of a 3D bioprinter, which sticks live cells together to create something looking like real meat.

Lab-grown meat looks and tastes like the real thing, but it is produced without the need for lots of water, feed or land for animals and without the need to kill them.

“In space, we don't have 10, 000 or 15, 000 liters of water to produce I kg of beef," Mr Toubia said. “This joint experiment marks an important step toward realizing our dream of making food safe for generations to come, while protecting our natural resources.