The representation of nonlinear sub-grid processes, especially clouds, has been a major source of uncertainty in climate models for decades. Cloud-resolving models better represent many of these processes and can now be run globally but only for short-term simulations of at most a few years because of computational limitations. Here we demonstrate that deep learning can be used to capture many advantages of cloud-resolving modeling at a fraction of the computational cost. We train a deep neural network to represent all atmospheric sub-grid processes in a climate model by learning from a multi-scale model in which convection is treated explicitly. The trained neural network then replaces the traditional sub-grid parameterizations in a global general circulation model in which it freely interacts with the resolved dynamics and the surface-flux scheme. The prognostic multi-year simulations are stable and closely reproduce not only the mean climate of the cloud-resolving simulation but also key aspects of variability, including precipitation extremes and the equatorial wave spectrum. Furthermore, the neural network approximately conserves energy despite not being explicitly instructed to. Finally, we show that the neural network parameterization generalizes to new surface forcing patterns but struggles to cope with temperatures far outside its training manifold. Our results show the feasibility of using deep learning for climate model parameterization. In a broader context, we anticipate that data-driven Earth System Model development could play a key role in reducing climate prediction uncertainty in the coming decade.

Oil prices have fallen dramatically over last few years, forcing some major oil companies to take drastic actions such as layoffs, cutting investments and budgets, and more. In view of falling oil prices and the resulting squeeze on cash flows, the oil and gas industry has been challenged to adapt and optimize its performance to remain profitable while maintaining a long-term investment and operating outlook. Currently, oil and gas companies find it difficult to maintain the same level of investment in exploration and production as when crude prices were at their peak. Operations in the oil and gas industry today means balancing a dizzying array of trade-offs in the drive for competitive advantage while maximizing return on investment. The result is a dire need to optimize performance and optimize the cost of production per barrel.

Scientists are using artificial intelligence (AI) to help predict which embryos will result in IVF success. In a new study, AI was found to be more accurate than embryologists at pinpointing which embryos had the potential to result in the birth of a healthy baby. Experts from Sao Paulo State University in Brazil have teamed up with Boston Place Clinic in London to develop the technology in collaboration with Dr Cristina Hickman, scientific adviser to the British Fertility Society. They believe the inexpensive technique has the potential to transform care for patients and help women achieve pregnancy sooner. During the process, AI was "trained" in what a good embryo looks like from a series of images.

A mysterious circular rock formation on the surface of Mars has been captured by one of NASA's Orbiters. The formation was photographed by the Curiosity Rover this week and has excited alien hunters who invited speculation over how it came to be online. They suggested that the rocks were'arranged', laid out by another form of life, or that it was part of a larger, buried structure which has never before been seen. NASA's Curiosity Rover has captured a mysterious circular formation on rocks on the surface of Mars Alien hunters were excited by the images (above, after color enhancement) and suggested that the rocks had been'arranged' or could even be evidence of a larger, buried structure'Whatever we're seeing here, it's in a perfect circle and it's much different from the craters that we normally see on Mars and the moon and throughout the other planets in the solar system. This almost looks like these rocks were arranged in this circular formation.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has spotted all sorts of strange features on the Martian surface, from deep pits to reptilian-looking craters. But, in a recent observation, the instrument caught a glimpse of something far more familiar. A stunning new image shows a look at the rocky mountainside terrain of Mars' Mount Sharp – and, appearing as a bright blue speck at the center, the Curiosity rover can be seen as it presses onward in its uphill mission. In a recent observation, the instrument caught a glimpse of something familiar. A stunning new image shows a look at the rocky mountainside terrain of Mars' Mount Sharp – and, appearing as a bright blue speck at the center, the Curiosity rover can be seen as it presses onward in its uphill mission Curiosity's top speed is 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) per second.

This article is by Sean Varah, founder and chief executive of MotionDSP, a company that makes advanced image processing and video analytics software. Last month the Federal Aviation Administration made a decision that marks a significant step for the commercial drone industry, permitting six movie and television production companies the right to use drones. This is the first time the FAA has allowed this type of industry exemption from the rules that prohibit drones from flying in U.S. airspace. Despite Congress' request that it develop standards in support of safe drone use by September 2015, and despite corporate America's campaigning for drone operations, the FAA has been dragging its feet. Thanks to Hollywood and the broader entertainment industry, a door has been opened for commercial drones.

There was a primitive ocean on Mars that held more water than our Artic Sea and alien hunters believe to have spotted signs that life once inhabited the ancient sea. Nestled in the dust of the Gusev crater, appears to be a round broken sea shell that could be'evidence of Mars having an ocean with living creatures'. This is the second sighting of a sea shell this week and, combined with the fossilized fish seen in the dust, conspiracy theorists believe this is proof life did in face exist on the red planet. Nestled in the Gusev crater appears to be a round broken shell that could be'evidence of Mars having an ocean with living creatures' seen in images from the Nasa Curiosity Rover. Pareidolia is the psychological response to seeing faces and other significant and everyday items in random stimulus.

Professor Stephen Hawking says he believes pollution and human "stupidity" remain the biggest threats to mankind, while also expressing his concerns over the use of artificial intelligence in warfare. The world's leading theoretical physicist argued "we have certainly not become less greedy or less stupid" in our treatment of the environment over the past decade, during an interview on Larry King Now, which is hosted on Ora TV. Professor Hawking said: "Six years ago, I was warning about pollution and overcrowding, they have gotten worse since then. The population has grown by half a billion since our last interview, with no end in sight. "At this rate, it will be eleven billion by 2100.

Finding water on Mars has been a dream of scientists for decades and could prove an essential resource for any human pioneers looking to colonise the red planet. Now Nasa is hoping its Curiosity Rover may finally be able to settle the question of whether the liquid still exists on the planet's surface. Scientists are dispatching the robot to explore a feature on a sandy hillside they believe could be their best chance yet of finding water on the red planet. Scientists are hoping to send the Curiosity Rover to investigate dark streaks that appear on the nearby Mount Sharp during the Martian summer. Last year Nasa confirmed'dark fingers' spotted by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter were likely to be made by liquid moving across the planet's surface.

Once a year, when Slava Epstein was growing up in Moscow, his mother took him to the Exhibition of the Achievements of the National Economy, a showcase for the wonders of Soviet life. The expo featured many things--from industrial harvesters to Uzbek wine--but Epstein, who began going in the nineteen-sixties, when he was eight or nine, was interested primarily in one: the Cosmos Pavilion, a building the size of a hangar, with a ceiling shaped like a giant inverted parabola. Space fever was running high in the city. Since 1961, when Yuri Gagarin orbited the globe, unmanned vessels had been launched toward Mars and Venus. Beside the expo's entrance, the towering Monument to the Conquerors of Space depicted a probe swooping up to the heavens. The Pavilion displayed futuristic technology--Vostok rockets and Soyuz orbiters--but Epstein was less interested in the glories of advanced thruster design than in the glories of space. He wanted to devote himself to astronomy. When a textbook that he found on the topic began with algebraic formulas, he prodded his older brother to explain them. During high school, he enrolled in classes in physics and math at Moscow State University. His parents disapproved of his desired career: because he is half Jewish, Epstein would face harsh Soviet quotas limiting Jews in the study of physics, a field deemed relevant to national security. But after his first lecture the professor invited him for a walk, and affirmed what they had been saying all along. "Don't do it," he warned. Soviet Russia may have been a fatalist's paradise, but from a young age Epstein felt that he was hardwired for optimism. He convinced himself that what is truly important in science is the ability to connect ideas, no matter the field, and so he took up biology. Rather than telescopes, he would use microscopes, which he began taking with him on trips to the White Sea, near the Arctic Circle, to study protozoa along the shore--research that could be conducted with minimal state interference. Over time, he grew interested in even smaller, more ancient forms of life: bacteria. Studying microbes inevitably causes a reordering of one's perceptions: for more than two billion years, they were the only life on this planet, and they remain in many ways its dominant life form. To a remarkable extent, the microbial cosmos was less explored than the actual cosmos: precisely how the organisms evolve, replicate, fight, and communicate remains unclear. Nearly all of microbiology, Epstein eventually learned, was built on the study of a tiny fraction of microbial life, perhaps less than one per cent, because most bacteria could not be grown in a laboratory culture, the primary means of analyzing them. By the time he matured as a scientist, many researchers had given up trying to cultivate new species, writing off the majority as "dark matter"--a term used in astronomy for an inscrutable substance that may make up most of the universe but cannot be seen.