Machine learning using deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) can be used to detect fractures in plain radiographs, according to a new study published in Clinical Radiology. A team of researchers from the U.K. taught the CNNs using lateral wrist radiographs performed at a single facility from January 2015 to January 2016. Each image was classified as "fracture" or "no fracture" based on the existing radiology report. The distinction was personally verified by a human specialist before data was used to "train" the CNN. Overall, the area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC) was 0.954, a number the authors said provided a proof of concept.

We are seeking an outstanding and highly motivated post-doctoral researcher to join a research program aiming at developing an intelligent crowd monitoring system for large public events. To reach these two objectives, dedicated crowd density sensors will be designed. In parallel, innovative crowd density forecasting algorithms will be developed, by using advanced Artificial Intelligence strategies. The researcher will work in close collaboration with another post-doc specialized in electrical engineering, and with the support of one main mobile operator in Belgium. The system will be tested in real-life during large public events organized in Brussels.

Ben Miles may be one of the last scientists to handle a pipette. While completing a chemical biology Ph.D. in London two years ago, he read about a California-based company called Transcriptic that had a robotic cloud laboratory. So he signed up and wrote code to run synthetic biology experiments remotely from a coffee shop. He even traveled -- including a trip to Vienna -- while monitoring experiments on a laptop. "I would wake up the next morning and had my results," he says.

Millions are combing online shopping sites for last-minute gifts, but some things are selling out in the blink of an eye. The culprits may be computer programs that perform specific, repetitive tasks at breakneck speed, like buying things online en masse to be resold elsewhere at inflated prices. From online shopping, to ticket sales for concerts and events – and even fake identities that troll social media – these bots have made headlines in 2017. They'll continue to seep into our lives in myriad ways next year, too. They can be a scourge.

If you're hoping for a DJI drone this Christmas, be prepared for one teeny-tiny roadblock as you rush into the back garden with controller in hand. Today, the company has announced a mandatory "Knowledge Quiz" for all of its customers in the UK. It will live in the DJI GO 4 app -- which is basically required to use the company's snap-on controller -- and pose eight questions about safe, common sense flying. In short, you won't be able to fly until you've answered them all successfully. DJI launched a similar quiz for US pilots earlier this year.

Deep learning, the AI subset of machine learning that uses neural network algorithms to identify patterns in data, is proving to be extremely effective at analyzing digital representations of sensory information: images, sounds, even odors. The recent explosion in deep learning research is partly due to significant investments by online services like Baidu, Facebook, Google and Microsoft aimed at providing automatic identification and categorization of photos and videos to improve search accuracy, ad targeting, marketing data collection and other commercial uses. However, research into image processing and pattern recognition have origins that long precede the era of cat videos and vacation pictures. Early efforts focused on military applications that provide a glimpse at the far-reaching ramifications of recent research. Now, the flow of technology is reversed, from often trivial consumer uses to life-saving implementations of deep learning in medicine, agriculture and search and rescue.

ND-Series VMs are available in the West US 2, East US, West Europe, and Southeast Asia regions. NCv2-Series VMs are available the West US 2 and East US regions and will be available later in December 2017 in West Europe and South Central US. NCv3-Series VMs are available for early customer access. To sign up for the preview, please complete the Access to Azure Next Generation GPU VMs online form.

Plans to use algorithms to identify failing schools have been criticised by the National Association of Head Teachers. A data science unit, part-owned by the UK government, has been training algorithms to rate schools, using machine learning - a form of AI. It plans to work with England education watchdog Ofsted to help prioritise inspections. The NAHT said effective inspection of schools should not be based on data. "We need to move away from a data-led approach to school inspection," the union said in a statement.

When Britain leaves the European Union, many immigrants will be forced out of the country. But many of those people provide much-needed labor, and calls to automate the jobs they leave behind are impractical. Eighteen months after the U.K. voted to leave the EU, many details of the exit remain unnegotiated. But the process is broadly expected to have one big impact: a clampdown on immigration from EU countries. In fact, immigration has already declined since the vote, with the U.K.'s Office of National Statistics reporting that net migration into the U.K. is down from 336,000 in the 12 months preceding June 2016 to 230,000 in the 12 months preceding June 2017.

The AWS Deep Learning AMIs are now available in four new AWS Regions: China (Beijing) operated by Sinnet, Europe (Frankfurt), Asia Pacific (Singapore), and Asia Pacific (Mumbai). The Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) provide provide machine learning practitioners with the infrastructure and tools to accelerate deep to quickly start experimenting with deep learning models. The AMIs come with pre-built packages of popular deep learning frameworks including Apache MXNet and Gluon, TensorFlow, Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit, Caffe, Caffe2, Theano, Torch, PyTorch, and Keras. In addition, to expedite development and model training, the AMIs are pre-configured with NVIDIA CUDA and cuDNN drivers, and are optimized for GPU acceleration on Amazon EC2 P2 and P3 instances. Companies are turning to deep learning to tackle a broad range of challenges.