AI Research
Huge archaeological puzzle reveals Roman London frescoes
Senior science journalist
Archaeologists have pieced together thousands of fragments of 2,000-year-old wall plaster to reveal remarkable frescoes that decorated a luxurious Roman villa.
The shattered plaster was discovered in 2021 at a site in central London that’s being redeveloped, but it’s taken until now to reconstruct this colossal jigsaw puzzle.
The frescoes are from at least 20 walls of the building, with beautifully painted details of musical instruments, birds, flowers and fruit.
The art is revealing more about the affluence of the area where they were found – described by the team as the “Beverly Hills of Roman London”.
Tony Jolliffe/BBC News
Tony Jolliffe/BBC NewsThere are also clues about who the artists were: one fragment is scored with the Latin word Fecit, which means “has made this” – but the piece where the name should be is missing.
The Museum of London Archaeology (Mola) team still hope the vital piece will be found as they sift through the fragments.
“It’s one of the biggest – if not the biggest – assemblages of Roman wall plaster and paintings we’ve ever found in Roman London,” said Han Li from Mola.
Tony Jolliffe/BBC NewsThe largest of the frescoes, measuring about 5m by 3m, has a lower section of pale pink, dotted with specks of paint to imitate marble. Above are rich yellow panels with soft green borders.
The wall paintings are adorned with candelabras, stringed instruments called lyres, white cranes and a delicate daisy.
There’s also what appears to be a bunch of grapes, but archaeobotanists believe that this is a plant that grows locally – mistletoe.
“That is actually quite interesting for me, because you’re seeing that the Roman painters are taking a classical idea and they’re very much putting their own North West European, or local, twist on it. I think that’s magnificent,” says Han Li.
Tony Jolliffe/BBC NewsHe spent many months with the jumble of plaster, meticulously examining each piece to put together what he describes as “the world’s most difficult jigsaw puzzle”.
The fragility of the ancient fragments made this even more of a challenge.
“You have to be very careful because you can only assemble the pieces a small number of times before the plaster starts to be damaged and it flakes off,” he said.
“So you have to be quite sure before you join the pieces that this is the piece that may fit.”
Tony Jolliffe/BBC NewsThe Romans founded London in AD43, and the villa was built soon after, dating to the first or second century when the new city was growing rapidly.
The archaeologists think this grand building may have been home to a wealthy family or a hotel for rich travellers passing through Londinium.
They’ve been comparing the frescoes to others found across Britain and Europe, and they believe they were created by a group of highly skilled painters who travelled the Roman empire.
“They’ve come to Roman London where there was a building boom, with many houses and many buildings going up that required painting. And they went around essentially taking on huge commissions of work,” said Han Li.
“It’s amazing to imagine that their work is now again visible to us 2,000 years later.”
The artists’ exact identity however will remain elusive until the missing fragment bearing their names is found.
Tony Jolliffe/BBC NewsThe plaster was found in Southwark, just south of the Thames. A stunning mosaic and Roman cemetery were also unearthed at the site, which was being excavated in preparation for a new development.
This location, outside of the central hub of Roman London, is also revealing more about how the city was spreading out.
“There was this thriving, bustling settlement quite early on in the Roman period, and it’s almost the kind of wealthy suburb – the Beverly Hills of Roman London,” said Andrew Henderson-Schwartz from Mola.
“And what this shows is that the Romans are committing to London. They’re investing in London, and they’re seeing it as a place to settle in, a place to stay. It’s not just a kind of provincial outpost.”
There’s still much to discover from the fresco fragments, helping archaeologists reconstruct the story of the UK’s rich Roman history.
Tony Jolliffe/BBC News
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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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