To solve a problem, we have to see it clearly. Whether it’s an infection by a novel virus or memory-stealing plaques forming in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, visualizing disease processes in the body is the first step toward alleviating human suffering. It’s also often the most difficult and costly. But an artificial intelligence (AI) breakthrough by Virginia Tech computer scientists published Sept. 16 in Cell Systems — a high-impact journal dedicated to biological research — is bringing those fog-bound processes into focus.

A research team has demonstrated how advanced drone-based thermal imaging can be used to more accurately measure canopy temperature (CT) in wheat fields by disentangling experimental signals from environmental and technical noise.