Many people around the world have more Denisovan DNA than previously thought, which has contributed to their sense of smell and ability to thrive at high altitudes, according to a study released Monday. Researchers know that modern humans with ancestry outside of Africa inherited up to 2.1 percent of their DNA from Neanderthals. But far less was known about Denisovans, who are believed to have shared origins with Neanderthals and account for up to 5 percent of DNA in some present day populations. The latest work, from a research team at Harvard Medical School and UCLA, developed a world map of ancient DNA. In doing so, they found that populations in Oceania populations had the highest percentage of ancient DNA – 2 percent Neanderthal and 5 percent Denisovan - while South Asians had more Denisovan DNA – 0.1 percent in Sherpas - than expected.

They died out more than 40,000 years ago but the legacy left by two prehistoric species of early humans is far more widespread than had been previously believed. Scientists have discovered a surprising number of bloodlines around the world carry fragments of DNA from Neanderthals or their sister species, the mysterious Denisovans. Their analysis suggests that our modern human ancestors appear to have interbred with the Denisovans just 100 generations after their trysts with Neanderthals. Scientists have produced new maps showing the levels of Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestry around the world. And the study has unearthed some surprising new benefits these illicit encounters have gifted to modern humans living today.

The ancient strategy game of Go may have met its ultimate match. The brain-taxing board game is a little like an Eastern version of chess, except many times more complex. It has millions of devotees in China, Korea and Japan. Many of them tuned in today to watch an artificial intelligence computer built by Google's DeepMind beat the world champion, Lee Sedol, in the first of a five-game contest. Duels like these don't come often.

The number of sophisticated cognitive technologies that might be capable of cutting into the need for human labor is expanding rapidly. But linking these offerings to an organization's business needs requires a deep understanding of their capabilities. If popular culture is an accurate gauge of what's on the public's mind, it seems everyone has suddenly awakened to the threat of smart machines. Several recent films have featured robots with scary abilities to outthink and manipulate humans. In the economics literature, too, there has been a surge of concern about the potential for soaring unemployment as software becomes increasingly capable of decision making. Yet managers we talk to don't expect to see machines displacing knowledge workers anytime soon -- they expect computing technology to augment rather than replace the work of humans.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 appears to be a much-needed success for the Korean tech giant, and according to estimates, shipments of the said flagship will exceed the company's expectations for the first quarter of 2016, reaching 9 million units up from Samsung's earlier 5.5 million prediction. However, while Samsung appears to have stabilized its smartphone business, market analysts predict that by the end of Q1 2016, the company will register lower operating profits year-on-year in a number of niches, including its semiconductor and consumer electronics sectors. Amid this decline, fresh reports suggest that Samsung intends to expand its product portfolio and focus on new business ventures, including virtual reality, automotive, and artificial intelligence. According to DRAM eXchange research, global LCD TV shipments will show zero increase in 2016 compared to last year. In addition, laptop, PC, and tablet shipments are estimated to decline by 3%, 4%, and 7% respectively, and, in turn, this could mean that Samsung's operating profits for Q1 2016 might decline by 13% in the semiconductor business, and by 63% in the consumer electronics department. Interestingly enough, while Samsung Electronics is expected to register lower operating profits in Q1 2016, the South Korean company is apparently planning to increase its market presence in other segments, including the automotive market and the virtual reality niche.

Rakuten, just like Amazon, is experimenting with drones that can quickly deliver goods to its customers. Unlike Jeff Bezos' company, however, the e-commerce giant is starting small with a service designed for golfers. From May, players at a specific course in Japan's Chiba prefecture will be able to take out their phone and request some new golf balls or refreshments. A Mini Surveyor drone developed by the Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory -- a company from Chiba which Rakuten has now invested in -- will then fly them over from a base station near the course's clubhouse.

Microsoft is "deeply sorry" for the racist and sexist Twitter messages generated by the so-called chatbot it launched last week, a company official wrote on Friday, after the artificial intelligence program went on an embarrassing tirade. The bot, known as Tay, was designed to become "smarter" as more users interacted with it. Instead, it quickly learned to parrot a slew of anti-Semitic and other hateful invective that human Twitter users started feeding the program, forcing Microsoft Corp to shut it down on Thursday. Following the setback, Microsoft said in a blog post it would revive Tay only if its engineers could find a way to prevent Web users from influencing the chatbot in ways that undermine the company's principles and values. "We are deeply sorry for the unintended offensive and hurtful tweets from Tay, which do not represent who we are or what we stand for, nor how we designed Tay," wrote Peter Lee, Microsoft's vice president of research.

Dell Inc. is selling its Dell Services information technology unit to NTT Data Inc. for just over 3 billion as part of its ongoing reorganization plan. Dell had purchased the business for 3.9 billion in 2009 when it was Perot Systems, founded by billionaire and onetime presidential candidate Ross Perot. The sale comes as privately-held Dell prepares to buy data storage provider EMC for 67 billion and tries to reinvent itself as more than just a personal computer company. That deal was announced in October and was initially targeted to close in the second or third quarter of Dell's fiscal year ending Feb. 3, 2017. Japan-based NTT Data focuses on information technology in the medical field, including medical records and billing.

The network which recently partnered with Silicon Valley-based startup accelerator Plug and Play, eyes big growth potential in this space and has already made investments in startups like vPhrase and ConfirmTkt. It is set to announce one more investment in this vertical in the next one month, reports ET. Commenting on the investment plans, Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, President, Venture Catalyst, said, "We believe AI is going to hugely impact all verticals of business and will be critical for those like ecommerce since the algorithms developed by such companies have the power to read data in a much faster and efficient way, impacting business decisions and saving both time and costs." Sharma has already invested in couple of AI startups for example ConfirmTkt which has developed an algorithm to predict whether a ticket booked is likely to be confirmed or not. "Currently all online ticket-booking platforms allow ticket bookings but there is no mechanism to predict whether it will be confirmed or not," Sharma adds further.

This article is a part of an evolving theme. Here, I explain the basics of Deep Learning and how Deep learning algorithms could apply to IoT and Smart city domains. Specifically, as I discuss below, I am interested in complementing Deep learning algorithms using IoT datasets. I elaborate these ideas in the Data Science for Internet of Things program which enables you to work towards being a Data Scientist for the Internet of Things (modelled on the course I teach at Oxford University and UPM – Madrid). Deep learning is often thought of as a set of algorithms that'mimics the brain'. A more accurate description would be an algorithm that'learns in layers'.