The olfactory learning system in moths is relatively simple and well mapped by neuroscientists. It consists of five distinct networks that feed information forward from one to the next. The first is a system of around 30,000 chemical receptors that detect odors and send a rather noisy set of signals to the next level, known as the antenna lobe. This contains about 60 units, known as glomeruli, that each focus on specific odors. The antenna lobe then sends neural odor codes to the mushroom body, which contains some 4,000 kenyon cells and is thought to encode odors as memories.

Do smart assistants demonstrate, or just mimic, intelligence? In 1950, British computer scientist and mathematician Alan Turing conceived of a test to answer the question, "can machines think?" If you carefully read his proposal in the paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence, according to Jim Hendler, director of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Data Exploration and Applications, Turing believed language differentiated humans from animals, so if a computer could convincingly use language, then it could be considered intelligent. Today, there are plenty of voice recognition programs, such as Nuance's Dragon and Google's Voice Search, as well as voice-recognizing smart home assistants like Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri, but none of them are even trying to fulfill Turing's goal of thinking computers. Rather, they provide quick, transparent access to the vast storehouse of online data. "So far, all these attempts are just computerized idiot savants," says Hendler. "We are still no closer to understanding what intelligence is."

The same algorithm can learn to walk in wildly different ways. Last year, computer scientists at the University of Montreal (U of M) in Canada were eager to show off a new speech recognition algorithm, and they wanted to compare it to a benchmark, an algorithm from a well-known scientist. The only problem: The benchmark's source code wasn't published. The researchers had to recreate it from the published description. But they couldn't get their version to match the benchmark's claimed performance, says Nan Rosemary Ke, a Ph.D. student in the U of M lab.

Two controller cards that the JSC team suspected could be the culprits were even shipped back to Earth for testing.

Commuters could soon be taken to work in a driverless car which is so clean they could relax on the journey with a cup of tea brewed using water from the tailpipe. The state-of-the-art Hyundai Nexo is a crossover SUV vehicle which runs on electrical energy generated by hydrogen fuel cells. Unlike traditional combustion engines, hydrogen cars don't emit carbon dioxide or nitrous oxide so its only by-product is water vapour. The water produced by Nexo could even be stored and used later to pour on plants or even used to make a cup of tea or coffee. Hyundai has also just showcased its'level 4' autonomous driving technology using Nexo as the test bed.

Humans are still far better at grasping and manipulating objects than even the best robot arms. At Kindred AI, people are helping the machines overcome that limitation--by becoming their pilots. This article is part of a weekly series paired with our newsletter Clocking In, which covers the impact of emerging technology on the future of work. Kindred now employs six pilots, each of whom tele-operate robots in warehouses around North America. The team is led by software engineer Chris Hayes, who ensures a smooth sharing of duties between pilots and robots--people mainly control the robots' gripping functions, while tasks like sorting the objects and positioning the arm for the next item are automated.

Tue 13 Feb 2018 11.00 EST Last modified on Tue 13 Feb 2018 11.01 EST Drones invoke varying perceptions, from fun gadget to fly in the park to deadly military weapons. In the future, they may even be viewed as a handy tool in the battle to fight climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions from the tra...

Don't be rude to your home devices or there will be retribution. Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri and Home Pod, Microsoft Cortana and any other voice operated smart device have something in common. It's not operating systems and it's certainly not the ecosystem in which each resides. What they...

The economic weather has been clearing. In the United States, unemployment stands at a little more than 4 percent; at long last, wages are growing faster than productivity. Investors expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in order to fight the inflation that accompanies full employment. There are even labor shortages in key industries, such as manufacturing, construction, and trucking, according to the Fed. In December, 2.2 percent quit their jobs, the highest rate since 2001.