By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
25 unique baby names created by a computer
287927d643143f1c83fa4428125774d5d94b298f9b9f95701a39af06b419c4af
Ever heard of a neural network? It's basically a computer that thinks like a human, and it just created baby names. - photo by Herb Scribner
Stanford computer science Ph.D. candidate Andrej Karpathy has spent the bulk of his career working with neural networks computer systems modeled after the human brain and nervous systems.

These networks are often used as tools to create human-like data through computers. Karpathy has used this tool in the past to classify selfies as either good or bad by feeding his computer 2 million selfies. Through Twitter, Karpathy allowed an actual selfie bot to identify whether a particular selfie would be appealing to Internet users.

Toward the end of last year, Karpathy also ran an experiment that could have an impact on families. As a part of his #RandomExperimentSundays campaign, he ran more than 8,000 baby names through his neural network to find if there were any baby names that were uniquely created by his computer.

And indeed, there were.

As Karpathy posted on Google+, more than 90 percent of the names his computer created were not included in the data he submitted, which was made up of thousands of common female and male.

The result included more than 1,000 names total, some of which were more unique than others. And while Karpathy included 100 on his Google+ post, weve decided to show you 25 from the list: Charyanne, Sales, Sanny, Resa, Wallon, Martine, Merus, Jelen, Candica, Wallin, Tel, Rachene, Tarine, Ozila, Ketia, Shanne, Arnande, Karella, Roselina, Alessia, Chasty, Deland, Berther, Geamar and Jackein.

For more names, visit the full list here.

In an age where theres an app for everything, a computer that can generate baby names doesnt seem too far-fetched. In fact, Ive previously written about an app that allows users to swipe left or right on baby names like Tinder.

Deciding on a baby name can be a hard process for married couples, though. Experts warn parents that they should always consider the child first when trying to pick their newborn a name.

"My No. 1 tip is to stop and pretend you're naming yourself," Laura Wattenberg, author of "The Baby Name Wizard," told WebMD. "If you're starting out in your life today, is this what you would want to represent you?"

Parents may want to gravitate toward trendy names, like names that are unique and will set their child apart from others. Thats why many city names Austin, Brooklyn and Boston have all become popular in recent years. Parents will even look to nature or vintage baby names for inspiration, according to WebMD.

To find the right baby name, experts recommend parents share their top picks with each other, and that will give the couple options from which to choose from. It may also be a good idea to pick a name thats easy to spell, since that could free your child of issues later in life.

Whatever name parents choose, the father and mother should be in agreement of their decision.

"Names can bring up deep-seated feelings about ethnicity, self-image and gender identity," Pamela Redmond Satran, co-author of "The Baby Name Bible," told WebMD. "The ultimate goal is to try to accommodate each other's feelings and arrive at a name that addresses both of your feelings."
Its toxic: New study says blue light from tech devices can speed up blindness
93cbd7a5475cccd1cee701424125d3abaa9b4beaa58d3663208f656cbbbd7661
A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers. - photo by Herb Scribner
It turns out checking Twitter or Facebook before bed is bad for your health.

A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers.

That process can lead to age-related macular degeneration, which is a leading cause of blindness in the United States, according to the researchs extract.

Blue light is a common issue for many modern Americans. Blue light is emitted from screens, most notably at night, causing sleep loss, eye strain and a number of other issues.

Dr. Ajith Karunarathne, assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, said our constant exposure to blue light cant be blocked by the lens or cornea.

"It's no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye's retina. Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration, such as a new kind of eye drop, he said.

Macular degeneration is an incurable eye disease that often affects those in their 50s or 60s. It occurs after the death of photoreceptor cells in the retina. Those cells need retinal to sense light and help signal the brain.

The research team found blue light exposure created poisonous chemical molecules that killed photoreceptor cells

"It's toxic. If you shine blue light on retinal, the retinal kills photoreceptor cells as the signaling molecule on the membrane dissolves," said Kasun Ratnayake, a Ph.D. student researcher working in Karunarathne's cellular photo chemistry group. "Photoreceptor cells do not regenerate in the eye. When they're dead, they're dead for good."

However, the researchers found a molecule called alpha-tocopherol, which comes from Vitamin E, can help prevent cell death, according to Futurism.

The researchers plan to review how light from TVs, cellphones and tablet screens affect the eyes as well.

"If you look at the amount of light coming out of your cellphone, it's not great but it seems tolerable," said Dr. John Payton, visiting assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "Some cellphone companies are adding blue-light filters to the screens, and I think that is a good idea."

Indeed, Apple released a Night Shift mode two years ago to help quell blue lights strain on the eyes, according to The Verge. The screen will dim into a warmer, orange light that will cause less stress on the eyes.