The Economist recently wrote a moving paean to the fate of autistic people in the western world. It revealed that one in 68 people in America are believed to be autistic, but western society appears to be doing a terrible job on actually helping the autistic among us contribute and feel valued. Although around half of those with autism are of average intelligence or above, they do far worse than they should at school and at work. In France, almost 90% of autistic children attend primary school, but only 1% make it to high school. Figures from America, which works harder to include autistic pupils, suggest that less than half graduate from high school.

It's time for another edition of "What TNW is reading." If you're not familiar with them, take a moment and enjoy the previous edition about the US election. After having first been colonized by the Spanish, the country – in its own weird way – is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and one of the busiest ports in the Northern Hemisphere. One of its four official languages is English and they managed to smush them all together to create Papiamentu, the local language. Speaking all four languages fluently, Cecil is currently adding French and Russian to the mix… he's such an?????????.

While it may look like a natural phenomenon, this watery sinkhole is anything but. Named Covão do Conchos it is regarded as one of Portugal's top secret attractions. The mesmerising whirlpool, which has been caught in high definition by a circling drone, is the work of human engineering and can be found in an otherwise tranquil lake in Serra da Estrela Natural Park. People say the opening in Portugal's largest protected area looks like it's from an otherworldly dimension. However, it is far less mystical and far more fascinating.

Artificial intelligence may be the new face of medical diagnostics. For the first time, a flavor of A.I. called deep learning is being implemented in new ultrasound imaging equipment to aid in breast exams and help patients avoid unnecessary biopsies. A new feature in Samsung Medison's ultrasound system uses a deep-learning algorithm to make recommendations about whether a breast abnormality is benign or cancerous. The "S-Detect for Breast" feature is now included in an upgrade to the company's RS80A ultrasound system and is commercially available in parts of Europe, the Middle East and Korea and is pending FDA approval in the U.S., according to PR manager Doug Kim. Deep learning relies on large amounts of data to inform complex decision-making algorithms, has aided in everything from speech and image recognition software to pharmaceutical research.

It is not every day you see a runaway robot causing traffic chaos in a city centre - but in one Russian suburb is has happened twice in the last week. The robot, named Promobot, was being put through its paces at a research lab in the city of Perm in central Russia's Perm Krai region. In its first escape, the robot, designed to avoid obstacles and to turn around when it reached a boundary, had been left walking around an outside yard. This is the hilarious moment a runaway robot causes traffic chaos in a city centre. The robot - called Promobot - was being put through its paces at a research lab in the city of Perm in central Russia's Perm Krai region Promobot - short for Promotional Robot - is a unique robot created by Russian scientists and is designed to work in customer relations.

It's only fair that robots used by companies to improve productivity pay their fair share of taxes, right? This might seem ridiculous, but the European Union is looking to create a set of new laws concerning the rise of robots. According to Forbes, one of the new laws would require robots to pay social security taxes. Naturally, the law can't specifically force a robot who likely works for free to pay taxes. The European Union does, however, want businesses that make use of robots to pay higher taxes based on the rational that a robot replaces a human worker who otherwise would pay taxes into the system.

Newly discovered brainwaves – coined Princess Leia waves – that cycle around the brain as we sleep, may help us remember the day's events. Terry Sejnowski at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences in La Jolla, California, coined the name after discovering patterns of electrical activity that sweep through the sleeping brain in a circular motion that resembled the headphone-like hairstyle made famous by Carrie Fisher in the Star Wars movies. The waves began their journey in the hippocampus – a region responsible for memory retrieval. From there they propagated to the thalamus, an area that is known to incorporate information vital to our ability to remember events that happen to us personally, before heading to the cortex, which is responsible for complex functions such as thoughts and actions. Sejnowski discovered the circular waves by chance after analysing electrical data from eight people with epilepsy who'd had electrodes temporarily inserted into their brains to monitor activity associated with their seizures.

CANNES, France--Artificial intelligence has been one of the big themes at the Cannes Lions festival here this week, and A.I. projects have already won three Grand Prix awards: two for J. Walter Thompson and ING's "The Last Rembrandt" and one for Google DeepMind's AlphaGo. The theme continued in intriguing fashion Thursday at the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors' Showcase, the annual collection of mind-bending short films made by up-and-coming directors. The A.I. hook this time was this: One of the 20 films was conceived, directed and edited by a computer. The audience wasn't told which one, however--we were encouraged to go to saatchi.com to find out. Overall, the 2016 showcase was more intense than usual, with lots of disturbing visions and less humor than usual.

A robot in Russia caused an unusual traffic jam last week after it "escaped" from a research lab, and now, the artificially intelligent bot is making headlines again after it reportedly tried to flee a second time, according to news reports. Engineers at the Russian lab reprogrammed the intelligent machine, dubbed Promobot IR77, after last week's incident, but the robot recently made a second escape attempt, The Mirror reported. Last week, the robot made it approximately 160 feet to the street, before it lost power and "partially paralyzed" traffic. Promobot, the company that designed the robot, announced the escapade in a blog post the next day. The strange escape has drawn skepticism from some who think it was a promotional stunt, but regardless of whether the incident was planned, the designers seem to be capitalizing on all the attention.

Designers of a Russian robot which made a break for it it after researchers left a door open have received pleas not to terminate it. 'Promobot' escaped from a testing facility in the city of Perm in central Russia's Perm Krai region earlier this month, and its designers are considering recycling the robot. But the digital creators have received impassioned pleas from members of the public, begging them not to destroy the unique robot just because of its wanderlust. Promobot (pictured) is due to be decommissioned after repeated escapes from a Russian research lab. But the robot's designers have received pleas from the public asking them not to'kill' the robot Promobot - short for Promotional Robot - is a unique robot created by Russian scientists and is designed to work in customer relations.