AI Research
Have bans and fees curbed shoreline litter?
Climate and science reporter
EPABanning or charging for plastic bags is helping stop them ending up on US shorelines, a study of the country’s litter suggests.
Data from thousands of cleanups showed that areas which tried to reduce bag use saw them fall by at least 25% as a percentage of total litter collected, compared to areas that didn’t try.
Bans or charging for bags worked better at state rather than town level, and had a bigger impact in places that had a bigger litter problem to begin with.
Despite the good news, the researchers cautioned that, overall, more plastic bags are being found across the US – they’re just increasing less in those places trying to tackle the issue.
Plastic bag laws in the US vary considerably by state, county and town, which made it a useful place for researchers to test the effectiveness of bag policies.
Policies range from bans and partial bans (where only thinner bags are banned), to charges on bags and pre-emption laws, where states prevent counties and towns from regulating plastic bags themselves.
The researchers used data from shoreline cleanups that recorded bags as a percentage of all items collected, and looked at how this differed in areas with a policy compared to those without.
On average, bags made up 4.5% of items collected in cleanups, and were the fifth most common item found after cigarette butts, food wrappers, plastic bottle caps and plastic drinks bottles.
Different models were used to analyse the data, which estimated that the relative decrease in bags in areas with a policy was between 25% and 47%.
Comparing 182 policies and 45,067 cleanups from 2016 to 2023, the study’s authors said it was the largest analysis of how effective such policies are in curbing shoreline litter.
Getty ImagesPlastic bags ‘only part of the problem’
The findings highlight the importance of policy in reducing plastic pollution, lead study author Anna Papp said.
One key policy opportunity would be the first global plastics treaty that 175 countries will continue negotiating in August, after talks collapsed in December.
“Stronger results in areas with a higher baseline of plastic bag litter means these policies may be especially effective in these areas,” she said.
“It’s also very important to keep in mind with the treaty, plastic bag policy addresses just one part of the problem.
“More comprehensive solutions are needed to address it entirely, with a focus on the production side, consumption, and waste,” she said.
The research cautions that despite the evidence policies are working to reduce the relative percentage of plastic bags on shorelines, the overall percentage of bags is still increasing in places with and without policies.
This is because plastic pollution continues to grow overall, so policies can only make so much of a dent in the trend.
In the UK, where charges on single-use plastic bags started to be adopted in 2011, a survey found there had been an 80% fall in the number of bags washed up on beaches over a decade.
AI Research
Radiomics-Based Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Approach for the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: A Systematic Review – Cureus
Artificial intelligence may take over some tasks and transform others, but one thing is certain: it’s reshaping the job market. Researchers at USC’s Information Sciences Institute (ISI) analyzed LinkedIn job postings and AI-related patent filings to measure which jobs are most exposed, and where those changes are happening first.
The project was led by ISI research assistant Eun Cheol Choi, working with students in a graduate-level USC Annenberg data science course taught by USC Viterbi Research Assistant Professor Luca Luceri. The team developed an “AI exposure” score to measure how closely each role is tied to current AI technologies. A high score suggests the job may be affected by automation, new tools, or shifts in how the work is done.
Which Industries Are Most Exposed to AI?
To understand how exposure shifted with new waves of innovation, the researchers compared patent data from before and after a major turning point. “We split the patent dataset into two parts, pre- and post-ChatGPT release, to see how job exposure scores changed in relation to fresh innovations,” Choi said. Released in late 2022, ChatGPT triggered a surge in generative AI development, investment, and patent filings.
Jobs in wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, information, and manufacturing topped the list in both periods. Retail also showed high exposure early on, while healthcare and social assistance rose sharply after ChatGPT, likely due to new AI tools aimed at diagnostics, medical records, and clinical decision-making.
In contrast, education and real estate consistently showed low exposure, suggesting they are, at least for now, less likely to be reshaped by current AI technologies.
AI’s Reach Depends on the Role
AI exposure doesn’t just vary by industry, it also depends on the specific type of work. Jobs like software engineer and data scientist scored highest, since they involve building or deploying AI systems. Roles in manufacturing and repair, such as maintenance technician, also showed elevated exposure due to increased use of AI in automation and diagnostics.
At the other end of the spectrum, jobs like tax accountant, HR coordinator, and paralegal showed low exposure. They center on work that’s harder for AI to automate: nuanced reasoning, domain expertise, or dealing with people.
AI Exposure and Salary Don’t Always Move Together
The study also examined how AI exposure relates to pay. In general, jobs with higher exposure to current AI technologies were associated with higher salaries, likely reflecting the demand for new AI skills. That trend was strongest in the information sector, where software and data-related roles were both highly exposed and well compensated.
But in sectors like wholesale trade and transportation and warehousing, the opposite was true. Jobs with higher exposure in these industries tended to offer lower salaries, especially at the highest exposure levels. The researchers suggest this may signal the early effects of automation, where AI is starting to replace workers instead of augmenting them.
“In some industries, there may be synergy between workers and AI,” said Choi. “In others, it may point to competition or replacement.”
From Class Project to Ongoing Research
The contrast between industries where AI complements workers and those where it may replace them is something the team plans to investigate further. They hope to build on their framework by distinguishing between different types of impact — automation versus augmentation — and by tracking the emergence of new job categories driven by AI. “This kind of framework is exciting,” said Choi, “because it lets us capture those signals in real time.”
Luceri emphasized the value of hands-on research in the classroom: “It’s important to give students the chance to work on relevant and impactful problems where they can apply the theoretical tools they’ve learned to real-world data and questions,” he said. The paper, Mapping Labor Market Vulnerability in the Age of AI: Evidence from Job Postings and Patent Data, was co-authored by students Qingyu Cao, Qi Guan, Shengzhu Peng, and Po-Yuan Chen, and was presented at the 2025 International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM), held June 23-26 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Published on July 7th, 2025
Last updated on July 7th, 2025
The Spanish Society of Medical Radiology (SERAM) has collaborated with six other scientific societies to develop an AI-supported urology clinical decision-making project called Uro-Oncogu(IA)s.
The initiative produced an algorithm that will “reduce time and clinical variability” in the management of urological patients, the society said. SERAM’s collaborators include the Spanish Urology Association (AEU), the Foundation for Research in Urology (FIU), the Spanish Society of Pathological Anatomy (SEAP), the Spanish Society of Hospital Pharmacy (SEFH), the Spanish Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SEMNIM), and the Spanish Society of Radiation Oncology (SEOR).
SERAM Secretary General Dr. MaríLuz Parra launched the project in Madrid on 3 July with AEU President Dr. Carmen González.
On behalf of SERAM, the following doctors participated in this initiative:
- Prostate cancer guide: Dr. Joan Carles Vilanova, PhD, of the University of Girona,
- Upper urinary tract guide: Dr. Richard Mast of University Hospital Vall d’Hebron in Barcelona,
- Muscle-invasive bladder cancer guide: Dr. Eloy Vivas of the University of Malaga,
- Non-muscle invasive bladder cancer guide: Dr. Paula Pelechano of the Valencian Institute of Oncology in Valencia,
- Kidney cancer guide: Dr. Nicolau Molina of the University of Barcelona.
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