A research team from Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU) has secured over HK$3.4 million from the Smart Traffic Fund to develop the first Cantonese post-drinking speech database and build an artificial intelligence (AI)-based language detection system. Leveraging a multimodal language model, the system will analyse multiple indicators, including speech rate, intonation stability, speech pauses and grammatical structure deviations, by comparing users' language performance before and after alcohol consumption.

Humans have evolved to be able to link intentions to emotions or physical actions. This is why we may approach someone with open arms but flee if someone approaches using threatening body language. While AI can accurately identify emotions, it struggles to derive intention from them. A research group, with the help of performers from Japan and Taiwan, has helped facilitate a means to bridge this gap.

Atopic dermatitis (AD), the most common form of eczema, impacts patients’ life trajectories beyond the physical scars. A novel study shows that adults with AD, particularly those with childhood onset, report significantly greater limitations in their educational and professional choices, with up to 38% of childhood-onset patients reporting career restrictions and more than 36% reporting constrained study choices, compared to individuals whose disease began in adulthood. The findings of the new study in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology (JID), published by Elsevier, provide a scientific basis for more comprehensive, early, and multidimensional care that goes beyond symptom control for patients with AD.