Medical LLMs may show real-world potential in identifying individuals with major depressive disorder using WhatsApp voice note recordings
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 3-Apr-2026 09:15 ET (3-Apr-2026 13:15 GMT/UTC)
A new medical large language model (LLM) achieved over 91 percent accuracy in identifying female participants diagnosed with major depressive disorder after analyzing a short WhatsApp audio recording where participants described their week, according to a study published January 21, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS Mental Health by Victor H. O. Otani, from Santa Casa de São Paulo School of Medical Sciences and Infinity Doctors Inc., Brazil, and colleagues.
The presence of S. jamesii starch on tools, combined with earlier genetic, ecological, and ethnographic research, indicates that Indigenous people intentionally transported, cultivated, and managed the plant across the Four Corners region. These activities define an “anthropogenic range” created through extensive trade networks and long-term use, a key indicator of early domestication.
The ubiquity of smart devices—not just phones and watches, but lights, refrigerators, doorbells and more, all constantly recording and transmitting data—is creating massive volumes of digital information that drain energy and slow data transmission speeds. With the rising use of artificial intelligence in industries ranging from healthcare and finance to transportation and manufacturing, addressing the issue is becoming more pressing.
A new membrane technology stemming from the research led by teams from India could change how industries separate chemicals, reducing energy use and improving water recycling. With a nature-inspired design, the ‘POMbranes’ developed by the scientists are built from molecular units with permanent one-nanometre openings. When assembled into thin films, these openings act as fixed gateways, allowing only smaller molecules to pass, enabling highly selective filtration without the need for traditional heat-driven methods, such as evaporation. The membrane’s flexibility, stability, and lower energy demand make it attractive for use in industries such as textiles and pharmaceuticals.