🌀 Doctors Train with AI, Flamingos Engineer Vortexes, and Vets Take Note

Issue #8 | Wednesday, May 21, 2025 | ⏳ Read Time: ~6 Minutes | 1,188 Words

👋 Welcome to Vet to the Future

This week’s issue asks: What happens when biology leads and technology follows? We’re stepping into a future where machines assist rather than replace, where education evolves to embrace algorithms, and where a single child’s life is saved by a custom-built genetic cure.

Meanwhile, nature keeps showing off—with flamingos engineering whirlpools to trap food using nothing but their feet. The message is clear: the smartest systems aren’t always artificial—and the best ones know how to work together.

⚡ Quick Hits: Your Fast Facts Roundup

🤖 AI That Boosts, Not Replaces
AI systems designed to collaborate with humans can enhance diagnostic accuracy and reduce burnout. 🔗 Read More

🧬 First Personalized CRISPR Cure
A custom gene therapy saved a baby with a rare disease in a landmark case of precision medicine. 🔗 Read More

📚 AI in Medical School Curriculum
Icahn Med becomes the first U.S. med school to integrate AI training into the core curriculum. 🔗 Read More

🗣️ AI Decodes Animal Communication
Scientists are using AI to decipher patterns in animal vocalizations—laying the groundwork for real-time interspecies translation. 🔗 Read More

🦩 Flamingos Make Water Tornadoes
These iconic birds whip up whirlpools with their feet to stir sediment and trap food. 🔗 Read More

💊 OpenAI Moves Into Healthcare
GPT-4 is now powering training tools and scribe assistants across U.S. hospitals. 🔗 Read More

🦟 Mosquito-Hunting AI Gets Cheaper
The latest Bzigo device uses computer vision to track mosquitoes in real time. 🔗 Read More

🧠 Molecule Reverses Dementia in Mice
A natural molecule reversed signs of cognitive decline in aging mouse brains. 🔗 Read More

🦇 Rabid Bat at San Diego Zoo
A wild bat found near an animal encounter area tested positive for rabies. 🔗 Read More

🧪 Animal Behavior via Vibration
A new model extracts sound from visual motion data to study multimodal communication. 🔗 Read More

🔬 AI Authorship Under Scrutiny
Ethicists question the rise of AI as a named contributor to scientific papers. 🔗 Read More

🐋 Orca Pods Adopt Baby Pilot Whale
In a surprising display of interspecies empathy, orcas have been observed adopting a baby pilot whale. 🔗 Read More

🧫 FDA Approves First Blood Test for Alzheimer’s
A new diagnostic blood test could detect Alzheimer's disease years earlier than traditional methods. 🔗 Read More

🤿 Deep Dives: Big Stories, Bigger Impact

AI That Enhances, Not Replaces

 📝 Abhay Nayak | May 2, 2025 | DVM360 🔗 Read More

The Scoop:
As AI takes center stage in veterinary and medical workflows, researchers explored how it affects human performance—not as a replacement, but as an enhancer. AI-assisted tools in hematology, urinalysis, and radiology showed a strong ability to reduce workload, increase diagnostic efficiency, and complement human decision-making.

Rather than fearing job loss, the article emphasizes that when designed transparently and ethically, AI can serve as a critical support system—especially in busy clinical environments.

🧠 Why it matters:
✅ Supports team efficiency – Reduces burnout and streamlines diagnostics.
✅ Preserves human judgment – AI acts as assistant, not replacement.
✅ Builds better tools – Encourages ethical, transparent development.

Join the Conversation:
What veterinary task would you most want an AI assistant for?

A Gene Therapy Just for Her

 📝 Beth Mole | May 16, 2025 | Ars Technica 🔗 Read More

The Scoop:
Baby KJ, born with a deadly genetic disorder, became the first patient to receive a personalized CRISPR-based therapy. Scientists designed the treatment to disable a faulty gene causing CPS1 deficiency—an otherwise fatal metabolic condition.

This breakthrough wasn’t just a medical miracle; it raises fundamental questions about how healthcare may shift toward ultra-targeted therapies in both human and veterinary medicine.

🧠 Why it matters:
✅ Enables precision medicine – One patient, one cure.
✅ Challenges access & equity – Who gets treatment, and who decides?
✅ Inspires veterinary parallels – Could this approach treat rare animal diseases?

Join the Conversation:
Should personalized cures be prioritized over scalable solutions?

Training Tomorrow’s Doctors—With AI

 📝 Tom Hanson | May 2025 | CBS News 🔗 Read More

The Scoop:
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has fully integrated AI into its core curriculum. Students now train with ChatGPT-4 Edu, using it for patient communication, case preparation, and critical thinking exercises. It’s the first med school in the country to treat AI as a collaborative learning tool, not just a curiosity.

Veterinary education has much to gain from this model—especially as clinical complexity and data volume grow exponentially.

🧠 Why it matters:
✅ Prepares tech-ready professionals – AI fluency is becoming essential.
✅ Strengthens clinical decision-making – Tools help, but don’t replace judgment.
✅ Pushes vet med forward – Encourages education reform.

Join the Conversation:
Would you have benefitted from AI training in school—or would it have overwhelmed you?

🗣️ AI Decodes Animal Communication

 📝 Christa Lesté-Lasserre | SmartBrief | May 15, 2025 | Read More

The Scoop:
In a leap toward interspecies understanding, researchers are using AI to analyze animal vocalizations — aiming to identify patterns, meanings, and even emotional content in sounds made by whales, elephants, and primates. The technology applies machine learning models typically used for human language analysis to massive datasets of animal recordings, seeking to bridge the communication gap between species.

These early projects are laying the groundwork for real-time translation tools, which could help researchers interpret animal needs, threats, and even social structures — all without anthropomorphizing. While still in its infancy, the field of animal-AI linguistics is quickly gaining credibility.

🧠 Why it matters:
✅ Unlocks animal cognition – Helps us understand how animals communicate with each other and their environment.
✅ Advances conservation – Detecting stress calls or mating signals could help monitor endangered species remotely.
✅ Redefines human-animal interaction – Could transform how we engage with pets, livestock, and wildlife.

Join the Conversation:
If animals could speak, what species would you want to hear first—and what would you ask?

🙌🏼 Impressive Animals 🐾

Flamingos Engineer Vortexes

 📝 ScienceDaily | May 2025 | Source 🔗 Read More

The Scoop:
New research shows flamingos create whirlpools using coordinated leg and beak movements to stir sediment and trap prey—turning feeding time into a biomechanical display. High-speed cameras revealed just how efficient and intentional the vortex-building behavior is.

It’s not just elegant—this swirling strategy could influence everything from underwater robotics to ecological design.

🧠 Why it matters:
✅ Reveals hidden animal behavior – Shows intelligence in action.
✅ Connects biology to biomechanics – Nature inspires engineered systems.
✅ Elevates conservation urgency – Protecting these birds means preserving insight.

Join the Conversation:
What’s the most unexpectedly “engineering” thing you’ve seen an animal do?

💊℞: Dose of Humor

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🎬 Closing Thoughts

This issue reminds us that smarter systems—whether artificial or biological—don’t emerge in isolation. They evolve through collaboration, adaptation, and sometimes… a good swirl of flamingo feet.

As we build a future with AI in our clinics and personalized cures in our toolkits, it’s worth remembering: we’re not here to dominate nature. We’re here to work with it.

Cheers,
— Ross

📩 Want to submit a story? Let’s connect → [email protected]!