Back to the RadioSpace™ home page
NewsDirect story topics:
Consumer, Business & General Interest
Current Events & Public Affairs
Entertainment & Sports
Health & Medicine
"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Get the Picture"
Fully produced report in MP3 format:
48 kbps |
96 kbps
(90 seconds)
-- How Will You Use This Story? --
READER SCRIPT
(DOES NOT FULLY MATCH AUDIO)
IMAGE IS EVERYTHING... THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. WHILE A PICTURE MAY BE WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS, WHEN YOU GO TO FIND ONE ON THE INTERNET, YOU MAY COME UP WITH A THOUSAND PICTURES--ONLY A FEW OF WHICH YOU ACTUALLY WANT. THAT'S BECAUSE CURRENT SEARCH ENGINES RELY ON THE CAPTION OR TEXT THAT ACCOMPANIES THE IMAGE. SEARCH THE WORD "TIGER", AND YOU'LL GET EVERYTHING FROM "TONY THE TIGER" TO "TIGER WOODS". IN DEVELOPMENT NOW ARE SEARCH SYSTEMS THAT, IN A SENSE, "SEE" THE IMAGES--AND "LOOK" FOR CHARACTERISTICS ACTUALLY IN THE PICTURE. IT'S CALLED "IMAGE CONTENT ANALYSIS". THE MOST-ACCURATE AND -EFFICIENT SYSTEM CURRENTLY BEING TESTED IS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO. THE SYSTEM CAN BE TRAINED TO I-D ALL SORTS OF OBJECTS IN PICTURES, AND TO EVEN DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN SIMILAR ONES--SUCH AS "POLAR BEAR" VERSUS "GRIZZLY BEAR". TRAINING THE SYSTEM STARTS BY SHOWING IT MANY DIFFERENT PICTURES OF THE SAME KIND OF OBJECT--SUCH AS "MOUNTAINS". ONCE IT'S SEEN ENOUGH PICTURES, IT GETS THE IDEA--AND CAN IDENTIFY PICTURES OF MOUNTAINS ON ITS OWN. THE NEW TECHNOLOGY COULD REALLY "SOUP UP" SEARCH ENGINES OF THE FUTURE. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
