Ants can walk home backwards using just the sun and their memories as a guide, according to new research. Famed for their work ethic, a study has discovered the navigational skills of ants are more sophisticated than previously thought. And the surprising discovery could inspire a new generation of robots using mechanisms of the ant's brain, which is smaller than a pinhead. Ants can walk home backwards using just the sun and their memories as a guide, according to new research. The insects, which walk backwards when carrying heavy loads of food, find their way to the nest from the position of the sun and their visual knowledge.

AWS User Group Frankfurt will kick off 2017 with another Meetup about an interesting and quite hot topic: Machine Learning and Deep Learning. We are currently still planning the details of the Meetup topics and talks, but the date and the location is already fixed. The Meetup will take place on the 25.01.2017 in the office of codecentric Frankfurt. There will be probably two talks. One of which is already confirmed and will be held by Vahe Andonians of SCDM.

Graphcore is targeting the area of machine learning, which, the company argues, is not well served by the existing forms of processors but is going to be an essential tool for future developments in data analysis and artificial intelligence (AI) applications such as self-driving cars.

While machine learning itself is nothing new, the speed at which data can now be processed, analyzed and actioned has completely changed the machine-learning game. Readily affordable computing power, the quantity of data available, and algorithms we never thought we could use are now possible. Though the fundamental concept remains the same, machine-learning is now far more sophisticated, efficient and easily deployable – and the potential it offers to revolutionize customer experience is truly exciting. TNW Conference won best European Event 2016 for our festival vibe. See what's in store for 2017.

And see also this great piece from Mashable on what manufacturers are up to next. In the near future, sensing algorithms will achieve super-human performance for capabilities required for driving. Automated perception, including vision, is already near or at human-performance level for well-defined tasks such as recognition and tracking. Advances in perception will be followed by algorithmic improvements in higher level reasoning capabilities such as planning. Beyond self-driving cars, we'll have a variety of autonomous vehicles including robots and drones.

A bullfight is a deadly sort of acrobatics, a slaughter as spectacle. Catalonia outlawed the practice in 2011, which left Barcelona with a monumental problem: what, exactly, should the city do with its iconic La Monumental bullfighting arena, now that there would be no bullfights? An architecture student's concept reimagines La Monumental as not just a relic of the past but a beacon of the future: he wants to turn it into a drone hub. Frederick Ajjoub, who is currently working toward an Architect Masters at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, posted an open-source concept for his reimagination of La Monumental, centered around flying unmanned vehicles. To preserve the historic building, Ajjoub's concept leaves the existing structure itself intact, and balances a multi-story apparatus on the causeway around the arena.

Samsung might accidentally have spoiled its own big phone announcement. Its display division has published a pair of adverts showing off a smartphone that matches a number of leaks and rumours surrounding the upcoming Galaxy S8. The South Korean firm is expected to unveil the new handset shortly, with a February or April launch looking highly likely. Samsung itself has created a stir by posting two adverts on the YouTube account of its Display division, both of which depict a mystery smartphone with a slick new design and no home button. It also features super-slim bezels and a headphone jack, with the latter in particular a cause for celebration.

We are thrilled Wolf is joining our leadership team to head up Unbabel's growth and expansion strategy,

Stealth bombers and armed drones launched airstrikes Wednesday night against two Islamic State encampments in northern Libya in an expansion of the air war there, according to the Pentagon. The attacks were authorized by President Obama two days before he leaves office and are a reminder of the continuing turmoil in the oil-rich nation where a U.S.-led air war helped insurgents overthrow strongman Moammar Kadafi in 2011. Islamic State militants in Libya have established what officials say is the group's largest and most powerful affiliate outside its core areas in Syria and Iraq, although its area of control has shrunk considerably over the last year. B-2 bombers targeted two desert camps about 30 miles southwest of Surt, a port city on the central Mediterranean coast that U.S.-backed Libyan forces recaptured last year from the militants. U.S. officials said dozens of militants had escaped from Surt to the desert camps.

Swiss authorities have added another security measure for this year's World Economic Forum in Davos: anti-drone guns. Bloomberg has spotted local police preparing HP 47 Counter UAV Jammers to make sure no unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) gets too close to the venue, whether it's sent by a spy organization or just a nosy onlooker. That's the same jammer the German police used in Berlin when President Obama visited the country. The publication says authorities decided to bring in an anti-drone technology, because people with malicious intent could use UAVs to monitor security positions or even to launch attacks. "While drones have great potential, they have -- just as every new technology or aspect of the Fourth Industrial Revolution -- also a potential downside. The forum takes the safety and security of its participants seriously. It is therefore normal that we take any potential issue into account and prepare for it."