Scientists have found 12 new moons orbiting around Jupiter, in a breakthrough discovery about our mysterious neighbour. They include an object that scientists have referred to as an "oddball". It is just one kilometre in size, and is flying in the opposite direction to many of the planet's moons – and behaves in an entirely different way to any of the other 78 objects orbiting the planet. As such, it might be responsible for having smashed up many of the other objects that make up the moons around Jupiter. Scientists think the vast number of objects orbiting the planet are probably the result of collisions earlier in its life, which have been captured by Jupiter and now continue to orbit it.

Epic Games has release its second teaser image before Thursday's big Season 5 launch. While yesterday we saw what might be a Japanese cat mask, today the theme is incredibly clear: Vikings are landing in Fortnite: Battle Royale. A viking-themed harvesting tool is the latest clue to Fortnite's fifth season.Credit: Epic Games While yesterday's cat-mask is a little ambiguous I think we can all agree this is a viking axe. Clearly, the anchor found near Snobby Shores and Greasy Grove was also viking-made. And while a Wild West stagecoach popped up near Moisty Mires, indicating that area might transform into a cowboy desert, it seems likely now that this area of Fortnite's shoreline is going to be transformed into a viking-themed area---the game's own little Kattegat.

On May 27, a deluge dumped more than 6 inches of rain in less than three hours on Ellicott City, Maryland, killing one person and transforming Main Street into what looked like Class V river rapids, with cars tossed about like rubber ducks. The National Weather Service put the probability of such a storm at once in 1,000 years. Yet, "it's the second time it's happened in the last three years," says Jeff Allenby, director of conservation technology for Chesapeake Conservancy, an environmental group. Floods are nothing new in Ellicott City, located where two tributaries join the Patapsco River. But Allenby says the floods are getting worse, as development covers what used to be the "natural sponge of a forest" with paved surfaces, rooftops, and lawns.

Uranus's strange climate and unusual tilt could be explained by an impact with a huge object, according to new research. Scientists have long been puzzled over why the planet is shunted slightly over to its side. The new research could finally offer an answer, in a major collision with another object. As well as explaining the planet's jaunty angle, the vast collision might also be the reason why Uranus came to have such freezing temperatures. And it could help us understand the mysterious exoplanets that are dotted throughout the universe and give hope for finding alien life.

UPDATED with expert analysis WASHINGTON: The Pentagon has created a new Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) that will have oversight over almost all service and defense agency AI efforts. This coordination function is crucial to the emerging AI arms race with Russia and China, experts told us. The JAIC will report to Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy, the establishing memo by Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan says. Its ambit is not quite untrammeled; any projects under $15 million remain the authority of the service or agency. The JAIC will establish a common set of AI "standards…. Undersecretary for Research & Engineering Mike Griffin, a far more prominent proponent of AI and other cutting-edge technologies who has warned China and Russia are catching up to the US, "will continue to promote development of new AI technologies, systems, and concepts" but without any clearly specified role in the new center. CIO Deasy has 30 days to consult the rest of the department ...

Goal reasoning (GR) has a bright future as a foundation for the research and development of intelligent agents. GR is the study of agents that can deliberate on and self-select their goals/objectives, which is a desirable capability for some applications of deliberative autonomy. While studied in diverse AI sub-communities for multiple applications, our group has focused on how GR can play a key role for controlling autonomous systems. Thus, its importance is rapidly growing and it merits increased attention, particularly from the perspective of research on AI safety. In this article, I introduce GR, briefly relate it to other AI topics, summarize some of our group’s work on GR foundations and emerging applications, and describe some current and future research directions.

Russian scientists are developing an advanced automated submarine that will be powered by an external combustion engine, Igor Denisov, deputy director of the Foundation for Advanced Studies (FPI), revealed in an interview with Interfax, a Russian news agency. "We are planning to create an apparatus that will pass through the Northern Sea Route without floating up and without the use of nuclear power, including under the ice," Denisov said. "In order for this device to accomplish such a'feat,' its autonomy should be at least 90 days, which is already commensurate with the autonomy of modern submarines." The decision to forego the nuclear option to power the underwater vehicle was a conscious one, Denisov said, in order to make it increasingly safe. While a nuclear installation helps power submarines for uninterrupted movement throughout the world's oceans, it also puts its operational capabilities at risk.

To death and taxes, Benjamin Franklin's binary list of life's certainties, add the expectation that this six-note sequence: Although we ponder ways to avoid or evade Franklin's list of unavoidable events, we generally accept this more benign certainty as immutable. The penultimate note of the tune generates such strong and specific anticipation that you are likely finding it difficult to continue reading without resolving the sequence. That anxious pause is key to composition and music's power. It creates a sense of prophetic certainty that allows musicians to play against expectations by thwarting the expected. The controlled manipulation of certainty and likelihood lurks behind those magical moments in which music has caused a shiver or a tear to fall. By infusing uncertainty or surprise into the mix, musicians literally play on our emotions.

Prior to Spain's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella financing Columbus' voyage to discover the New World, the Strait of Gibraltar was flanked by two pillars that bore the warning non plus ultra or, "Nothing further beyond," serving as a warning to Mediterranean sailors and navigators to go no further. However, Ferdinand and Isabella's grandson, Charles V, essentially reversed this line of thinking with his own motto, plus ultra, which translates to "Further beyond" or "limitless." I believe the American economy will change more in the next 10 years than it has in the 500 years since Charles V colonized the Americas. Transformative technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, the internet of things (IoT), autonomous vehicles, virtual reality, digital traceability and blockchain will fundamentally change how we consume goods and services. These new market tools will create limitless opportunity, but they'll also create new challenges.

The map of Damascus in the first Assassin's Creed was 0.13km². Since then, the map in each successive game has been bigger than the one before. Based on that history, we can expect the map for the upcoming AC: Odyssey to be bigger than last year's brilliant AC: Origins. Dimitras Galatas put together a short video comparing maps from several of the Assassin's Creed games. The map of Greece for Odyssey is shown at 130km², a substantial increase over the tiny map of Damascus and more than 2.5 times as large as AC: Origin's 80km² map of Egypt.