A team of scientists have developed a model that can predict the likelihood of bat species carrying Ebola and other filoviruses using a machine learning algorithm. Filoviruses are a group of long filament shaped viruses that encode their genome on a single-stranded RNA. Ebola is the most well-known example; other filoviruses include Marburg disease. Both are lethal viruses that are spread by coming into contact with bodily fluids from an infected person. The last Ebola outbreak happened in 2014 and resulted in 11,310 deaths, according to the World Health Organisation.

Images have emerged of a strange drone shaped like a real bird that was found crashed in Somalia, leading to claims it was being used to spy on targets. The metal bird, which is shaped to mimic a large bird of prey with'feathered' wings, is reported to have been recovered in an area of the capital, Mogadishu. According to local reports, the unmanned vehicle, which has two propellers attached to its wings, may be a surveillance craft used by the Somali intelligence agency, NISA. The drone is reported to have crashed in Mogadishu, Somalia earlier this week. Low quality images show it to resemble a large bird of prey.

Scientists are hoping to use Big Data and machine learning to prevent further outbreaks of Ebola, by identifying the likelihood of various bat species carrying the virus. Ebola is what's known as a filovirus, which are long filament-shaped viruses whose genome is encoded on a single strand of RNA. Ebola is the most famous example, but there are others which are just as deadly, such as the Marburg virus that takes its name from an outbreak in the city of Marburg, Germany, in 1967. Ebola, like Marburg, is spread when people come into direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected persons. The most infamous outbreak of Ebola occurred just two years ago, in West Africa in 2014, where 11,310 people died from the disease, the World Health Organization says.

The Emmy nominations are always "political," but they're rarely political. While many non-artistic factors may affect the anointing of a chosen handful with the word "best," the nominations, at least as a group, rarely reflect the sociopolitical concerns of the American citizenry. In the midst of a presidential race bristling with divisive issues and distrust, the Television Academy singled out a large number of series that took on that distrust and those issues in ways dramatic, comedic and deeply human. Political TV came in two distinct forms this year. Robot," "Veep"--reflect a near-hopeless cynicism toward actual government. Other nominated series took on issues rather than governance --"black-ish," "The People v. O.J. Simpson," "American Crime"-- and directly addressed complicated themes, especially those of race, in a way that is, if not always hopeful, at least productive. Likewise, series anchored by the once-rare strong female lead and her experience filled virtually every ...

The Emmy nominations are always "political," but they're rarely political. While many non-artistic factors may affect the anointing of a chosen handful with the word "best," the nominations, at least as a group, rarely reflect the sociopolitical concerns of the American citizenry. In the midst of a presidential race bristling with divisive issues and distrust, the Television Ccademy singled out a large number of series that took on that distrust and those issues in ways dramatic, comedic and deeply human. Political TV came in two distinct forms this year. Robot," "Veep"--reflect a near-hopeless cynicism toward actual government. Other nominated series took on issues rather than governance --"black-ish," "The People v. O.J. Simpson," "American Crime"-- and directly addressed complicated themes, especially those of race, in a way that is, if not always hopeful, at least productive. Likewise, series anchored by the once-rare strong female lead and her experience filled virtually every ...

A bird-shaped robot crashed in Mogadishu earlier this week. It was covered in dirt and grime, with signs of heavy wear, shoddy construction, or both. The bird-bodied drone looked tired, if it's possible for a machine to look tired. Within hours, observers on Twitter noted that the crashed bird-drone looked a lot like a prototype floated by the U.S. Air Force Research Lab in 2010, though the existence of a U.S. prototype doesn't mean all future designs are derived from it. Local reports associate this drone, which came down on May 1st, with Somalia's National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA).

A team of scientists has developed a model that can predict bat species most likely to transmit Ebola and other filoviruses. Findings highlight new potential hosts and geographic hotspots worthy of surveillance. So reports a new paper in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Filoviruses have devastating effects on people and primates, as evidenced by the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. For nearly 40 years, preventing spillover events has been hampered by an inability to pinpoint which wildlife species harbor and spread the viruses.

This week, a relatively young cybersecurity company called Darktrace announced that it has raised an additional 65 million ( 50 million) at a suspected valuation of over 400 million ( 308 million). No other UK tech startup has announced a funding round anywhere near that size since the UK voted for Brexit. We caught up with Mike Lynch -- the billionaire founder of enterprise software firm Autonomy and Darktrace's first big name investor -- to find out why he decided to put his money into the company. "The reason I liked it was that it was a completely new approach," said Lynch during a phone call with Business Insider on Wednesday. "Most of what's out there in cybersecurity is based on knowing what you're looking. So things like anti-virus and that sort of stuff or trying to build a big wall around the outside of your company, a boundary. "The problem is that the world's moved on and the attacks no longer have signatures.

It is no surprise that data analytics and machine learning are fast becoming key components of every innovative company's toolkit, given the massive increase in the amount of data that companies are generating. Because of the sheer volume and complexity of data being created, it is often beyond human capacity to find relevant trends or insights within what has been tagged as'Big Data'. Notably, one of the big differences between machine learning and computer-assisted analysis (where humans are involved) is that the recent breakthroughs in machine learning enable computers to teach themselves how to solve problems. So previously, when humans were directing computers, they were limited to very direct questions and answers (for example, "what is my top selling item?") and required the person using the machine to dictate which method to use to the solve the problem. Now, machine learning enables computers to find answers in ways that are unguided by human intervention.

WASHINGTON – Congress passed an aviation bill Wednesday that attempts to close gaps in airport security and shorten screening lines, but leaves thornier issues unresolved. The bill also extends the Federal Aviation Administration's programs for 14 months at current funding levels. It was approved in the Senate by a vote of 89 to 4. The House had passed the measure earlier in the week and it now goes to President Barack Obama, who must sign the bill by Friday when the FAA's current operating authority expires to avoid a partial agency shutdown. Responding to attacks by violent extremists associated with the Islamic State group on airports in Brussels and Istanbul, the bill includes an array of provisions aimed at protecting "soft targets" outside security perimeters. Other provisions designed to address potential "insider threats" would toughen vetting of airport workers and other employees with access to secure areas, expand random employee inspections and require reviews of perimeter security.