DO COWS improve the view? That is a question which interests the Swiss government, given that it subsidises farmers heavily to graze their cows in the mountains. One justification for the subsidy is that cows eat young trees, and fewer trees mean better vistas of the sort beloved by tourists. But just how much do cows improve the view and where do they provide most value for money? To help answer these questions, Kai Nagel and his colleagues at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, in Zurich, have developed computer models of the Alps and populated them with virtual tourists (or "autonomous agents" in computer-speak) that can wander the electronic landscape.

RESEARCHERS in the field of artificial intelligence have long been intrigued by games, and not just as a way of avoiding work. Games provide an ideal setting to explore important elements of the design of cleverer machines, such as pattern recognition, learning and planning. They also hold out the tantalising possibility of fame and fortune should the program ever clobber a human champion. Ever since the stunning victory of Deep Blue, a program running on an IBM supercomputer, over Gary Kasparov, then world chess champion, in 1997, it has been clear that computers would dominate that particular game. Today, though, they are pressing the attack on every front.

WHAT is the next stage in the evolution of internet search engines? AltaVista demonstrated that indexing the entire world wide web was feasible. Google's success stems from its uncanny ability to sort useful web pages from dross. But the real prize will surely go to whoever can use the web to deliver a straight answer to a straight question. And Eric Brill, a researcher at Microsoft, intends that his firm will be the first to do that.

EPIMENIDES the Cretan, a philosopher of the 6th century BC, is said to have uttered the sentence, "All Cretans are liars". As he himself was a Cretan, this gave rise to a paradox--if he were telling the truth, then he would be a liar. Depending on how one defines a liar, the paradox is resolvable; he could have been a habitual liar who was telling the truth in this one instance. However, a stronger version of the paradox, known as the Liar paradox--"this sentence is false"--is not resolvable in conventional logic systems. Indeed, the circular loop that the sentence induces--if it is false, it must be true, and if true, false--has been used more than once in science-fiction movies to cause marauding computers to lose their sanity and explode.

GIVEN the choice, who would you rather trust to safeguard your future: a bloodsucking lawyer or a cold, calculating computer? Granted, it's not much of a choice, since neither lawyers nor computers are renowned for their compassion. But it is a choice that you may well encounter in the not-too-distant future, as software based on "artificial intelligence" (AI) starts to dispense legal advice. Instead of paying a lawyer by the hour, you will have the option of consulting intelligent legal services via the web. While this might sound outlandish, experts believe that the advent of smart software capable of giving good, solid legal advice could revolutionise the legal profession.

JUST below a half-opened garage door a tiny device can be seen at the feet of someone lurking in the shadows. It looks like a blue dragonfly. Then its miniature wings begin to flap as it slips under the door and darts along the street. After rising through the air it stops to hover outside the window of a building several storeys high. There is an opening on the roof, and it slips inside.

Every year the Loebner Prize for artificial intelligence is awarded to the chatbot software able to converse most like a human. It is a version of the Turing test, proposed in 1950 by Alan Turing. A program passes when a human judge cannot tell that they are talking to a machine. No machine has yet passed. But the winner of the Loebner Prize at the weekend – Elbot, brainchild of Fred Roberts at Artificial Solutions in Germany – came close, according to the contest's rather generous rules.

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. Last year, Facebook's VP of Design thought the TNW Conference main stage was the best she'd ever been on. Harnessing machine learning allows businesses to revolutionize the way we all engage with their store or use their service.

A new pair of Russian robots has been developed that can track and attack humans from more than four miles away. The devices are designed for use on the Russian border, and claim to accurately detect and attack ground and aerial threats long before they reach Russian soil. Key technology at the robots' disposal include radar, HD and thermal video imaging, and multiple long-range grenade launchers. Weapons experts have also been working on a high-tech explosives system, labelled the'Alpha Device,' to work in tandem with the Flight surveillance robots. The first of the two new robots will act as a pair of scrupulous eyes for Russian border guards.

The idea of implanting brain chips into people to give them superhuman memory might sound like the plot of the latest science fiction film. But one pioneering neuroscientist is ready to start trialling this futuristic technology in humans. The memory chips have already been successfully tested in rats, and could one day be a commercially available product to allow anyone to boost their memory. The idea of implanting brain chips into people to give them supersonic memory might sound like the plot of the latest science fiction film. The pioneering software works to convert short-term memories into long-term ones, overall enhancing memory. To convert short-term memories into long-term ones, the brain send a pattern of electrical signals in a unique code.