People in the satellite industry are fond of automobile analogies. Like this one: Imagine that you buy a car and need it to run for 15 years, but you can't change the oil or replace the alternator, let alone refuel it. That, they say, is the state of satellites. Once they've slipped the surly bonds of Earth, satellites pretty much just have to work, from the time they unfurl from their rocket fairing to the day they shut down for good. But engineers now want to make satellites actually like cars: fixable, updatable, soup-up-able.

Crossing the road can be nerve-wracking enough when you know there's a driver behind the wheel. But if you see a car that's driving itself, you'd be forgiven for keeping to the kerb for fear it won't stop in time. Now, however, manufacturers are developing self-driving cars that make'eye contact' with pedestrians to reassure them that they've been'seen'. Jaguar Land Rover have fitted virtual'eyes' to self-driving car pods to see how far people will trust them to stop at zebra crossings Jaguar Land Rover have fitted virtual'eyes' to self-driving car pods to see how far people will trust them to stop at zebra crossings. The large, cartoon-like eyes – complete with digital eyelids and pupils – sit roughly where headlights might be, making the cars resemble the children's TV character Brum, the little yellow car who took himself off on adventures.

Scientists have created an AI that can detect obesity from space. The software scans satellite images and predicts how many residents are overweight based on the availability of parks, fast food stores and other buildings in the area. Researchers used deep learning to scan 150,000 high-resolution satellite images from Google Maps in order to identify patterns. They looked at data in six US cities - Bellevue, Seattle, Tacoma, Los Angeles, Memphis, and San Antonio. The team found that features of the built environment explained 64.8 per cent of the variation in obesity between cities.

A key opponent of high-tech, automated weapons known as'killer robots' is blaming countries like the U.S. and Russia for blocking consensus at a U.N.-backed conference, where most countries wanted to ensure that humans stay at the controls of lethal machines. Coordinator Mary Wareham of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots spoke Monday after experts from dozens of countries agreed before dawn Saturday at the U.N. in Geneva on 10 'possible guiding principles' about such'Lethal Automated Weapons Systems.' Point 2 said: 'Human responsibility for decisions on the use of weapons systems must be retained since accountability cannot be transferred to machines.' Killer robots must be banned to prevent unlawful killings, injuries and other violations of human rights'before it's too late', according to Amnesty International. Wareham said such language wasn't binding, adding that'it's time to start laying down some rules now.' Members of the LAWS conference will meet again in November. Last week Amnesty International said killer robots must be banned to prevent unlawful killings, injuries and other violations of human rights'before it's too late', as the talks kicked off.

Google has developed an AI tool to help flag child sex abuse content online. The free tool uses image recognition to help human moderators spot and remove child sexual abuse material (CSAM) more quickly. It will reduce moderators' exposure to content that can be traumatic, while hopefully catching greater quantities of child sex abuse content. The move comes as UK officials have called on Google and other Silicon Valley giants to take greater action against online child sexual abuse. Google has developed an AI tool to help flag child sex abuse content online.

A robotic craft has made history as the first unmanned sailboat to cross the Atlantic after a 1,800-mile (3,000 km) journey from Newfoundland in Canada to Ireland. The boat's two-and-a-half-month journey saw it cross the churning North Atlantic as part of the Microtransat Challenge - a transatlantic race for autonomous boats. The SB Met, built by Norwegian company Offshore Sensing AS, is the first vessel to complete the challenge after more than 20 attempts by various teams. It's a milestone that shows the technology for unmanned boats is robust enough to carry out extended missions that can dramatically cut costs for ocean research, border security, and surveillance in rough or remote waters. They're part of wider efforts to develop autonomous marine vessels such as robotic ferries and cargo ships that could be operating by the end of the decade.

A new robot with flexible joints like a human will be used by the NHS next year to operate on patients. Known as Versius, it is a third of the size of robots already used by hospitals, such as the da Vinci Xi system. Experts say this should allow it to perform a wider range of delicate procedures via keyhole surgery, such as hernia repairs. Each of the robot's four arms has fully-rotating wrists, controlled by a surgeon sitting at a console with two video game-like joysticks and a 3D screen. This gives surgeons increased dexterity and a magnified view, which is thought to reduce pain and boost recovery times among patients.

Nintendo has delayed a crucial video presentation around its Nintendo Switch and 3DS games consoles after a powerful earthquake hit Hokkaido, Japan. The major quake, which struck shortly before 3am local time this morning (7pm BST/ 2pm ET yesterday), left 5.3 million without electricity and at least eight people dead. More than 150 people have been injured in the natural disaster, which measured around 6.7 on the Richter magnitude scale. Nintendo had planned to reveal details around a slew of new video game titles coming to its Nintendo Switch and 3DS consoles in time for the holiday season. However, the video presentation, which is streamed live on the Japanese firm's website as well as YouTube, will be rescheduled.

It may come as little surprise to learn that musicians perceive sounds differently than the average person. But according to a new study, there are striking differences among the artists themselves, too. MRI scans on the brains of guitarists and beatboxers have revealed that their responses to hearing unfamiliar songs differ based on their craft; while the'hand area' of a guitarist's brain lights up, it's the'mouth area' that activates for beatboxers. For beatboxers, the music spurred activity in the region that controls mouth movements. For guitarists, hearing a guitar track led to activity in an area responsible for hand movement.

McDonald's Monopoly finished in the UK back in May, but has now started in its fast food restaurants across Australia. The popular contest, available at participating McDonald's restaurants around the world, offers customers a chance to collect stickers and win special prizes. The top prizes include everything from video game consoles, to brand-new cars. However in an article for The Conversation, Sarah Belet, a postgraduate student from Monash University, and Jennifer Flegg, a senior lecturer in Applied Mathematics at the University of Melbourne, crunched the numbers to find out what chance McDonald's diners really have of winning. They found the chance of someone bagging a top prize is just 1 in 136 million – which is about as unlikely as winning at the EuroMillions jackpot.