Tag Archives: nick morris

How Aircraft Are Informing the Work on Self-Driving Cars

By Technology, , , , , , , ,

UA researchers are using aviation’s high standards in an effort to increase our confidence in the safety of robotic cars.

Passengers climbing into self-driving cars — also known as highly automated vehicles, or HAVs — need to believe that their vehicles can avoid potential hazards. So Mathieu Joerger, a University of Arizona assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering, and researchers at the Illinois Institute of Technology are building on a knowledge of aircraft navigation standards to improve and guarantee HAV safety. (more…)

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Drug tests on mothers’ hair links recreational drug use to birth defects

By Health, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Drug tests on 517 mothers in English inner city hospitals found that nearly 15% had taken recreational drugs during pregnancy and that mothers of babies with birth defects of the brain were significantly more likely to have taken drugs than mothers with normal babies. The study found no significant links between recreational drug use and any other type of birth defect.

The study was led by a team of UCL researchers co-ordinating data collection from hospitals across London, Bristol and Birmingham and the results are published in the journal PLOS ONE. The study included 213 women whose baby had a type of birth defect with potential links to recreational drug use, 143 women whose baby had a birth defect with no previously reported links to drug use and 161 women whose baby was normally formed. (more…)

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