Earlier this year, NASA launched a tool that would allow everyday citizens to join the search for alien worlds. Now, the space agency has confirmed there's already been a discovery. Observations with NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii have confirmed that an object spotted by four different users just days after the tool became available is, in fact, a'new cold world' just 100 light-years from the sun. The tool allows users to track moving objects in digital'flipbooks,' using observations from NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey (WISE) spacecraft. To search for undiscovered worlds, visit the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 website.

The vast majority of bank customers in Europe would not let a computer program make and act upon financial decisions on their behalf, a survey showed on Wednesday, in a sign of caution over the rising so-called robo-advice industry. Robots ranked below financial advisers, friends or even using the internet as a means of making investment decisions, according to the fifth annual International Survey Mobile Banking conducted by Dutch bank ING Groep (ing). The survey of 15,000 people across 15 countries said that 91% of respondents would not let robo-advisers act unilaterally. A quarter of those surveyed would be willing to use the machines' advice so long as the human customer got final approval. The fact that people are reluctant to cede control over a decision - even when the outcome from outsourcing the choice could be more beneficial - explains why so few would hand money choices to a robo-adviser, ING said in its report.

Here are 110 upcoming meetings and conferences, for June 2017 and beyond. You can also find the latest list on KDnuggets Meetings page Color code: Business-Oriented meetings in Blue, Research meetings (with calls for papers and program committee) in green Top countries: India, France, Australia: 3 For the second month in a row, London is the top city: Washington DC, New Orleans, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta: 3 June 2017 Jun 1-2, Deep Learning in Finance Summit. Mention "KDNuggets" and save 18% on tickets. Use code KDNUGGETS to save 15%. Use code KDNUGGETS_DSC17 to save.

Recently we attended the Unearthed Data Science event in Melbourne. A gold mining company -- Newcrest Mining -- provided operating data for a number of its plants, with the aim that some of the teams attending could provide useful solutions grounded in Data Science. One particular system caught our eye -- the autoclaves. This ore is rich is sulphide minerals (sulfide if you're American) such as iron pyrite (FeS2) (aka "Fool's Gold"). Sulphides inhibit the processing techniques used to extract gold from ores, so it's ideal if you can get rid of them.

If you take a common brown rat and drop it into a lab maze or a subway tunnel, it will immediately begin to explore its surroundings, sniffing around the edges, brushing its whiskers against surfaces, peering around corners and obstacles. After a while, it will return to where it started, and from then on, it will treat the explored terrain as familiar. Roboticists have long dreamed of giving their creations similar navigation skills. To be useful in our environments, robots must be able to find their way around on their own. Some are already learning to do that in homes, offices, warehouses, hospitals, hotels, and, in the case of self-driving cars, entire cities. Despite the progress, though, these robotic platforms still struggle to operate reliably under even mildly challenging conditions. Self-driving vehicles, for example, may come equipped with sophisticated sensors and detailed maps of the road ahead, and yet human drivers still have to take control in heavy rain or snow, or at night.

Some day, we may no longer be able to tell robots and humans apart. In anticipation of this terrifying future, scientists have created an'Anti AI AI' earpiece that warns humans if an AI is impersonating a human. If the prototype device detects synthesised voice patterns, its thermoelectric plate sends a cold shiver down its user's spine. A team of Australian researchers has developed a wearable device that detects whether speech is human or synthetic. The small device sits behind its user's ear like a Bluetooth headset and uses AI algorithms to warn them if the voice they are hearing is not human The AI software was trained using samples of AI-synthesized voices to learn how to detect them.

Jeopardy-winning Watson is getting better and better at designing cancer treatments. New data presented this week at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting show that IBM's Watson for Oncology suggests cancer treatments that are often in-line with what physicians recommend. The company also announced that the cancer care product, designed to help physicians diagnose and treat their patients, is being used by nine new medical centers around the world. In a handful of studies being presented at ASCO, researchers show that Watson for Oncology is pretty dang good at recommending treatments for a variety of different cancers. From research done in India, Watson's treatment recommendations were in agreement with those of physicians 96 percent of the time for lung cancer, 93 percent of the time for rectal cancer, and 81 percent of the time for colon cancer.

You must understand algorithms to get good at machine learning. The problem is that they are only ever explained using Math. In this mega Ebook written in the friendly Machine Learning Mastery style that you're used to, finally cut through the math and learn exactly how machine learning algorithms work. Using clear explanations, simple pure Python code (no libraries!) and step-by-step tutorials you will discover how to load and prepare data, evaluate model skill, and implement a suite of linear, nonlinear and ensemble machine learning algorithms from scratch. I live in Australia with my wife and son and love to write and code.

If you think your job is safe, think again. The looming prevalence of automation has the potential to seize anyone's role, no matter how cushy. This is how the foreseeable future in 21st century looks from the vantage point of 2017, and governments and businesses need to be aware of the changes headed their way. Twenty years ago, I described my day to day tasks as an experienced investment banker in London to an optician. For fun, I decided not to disclose the nature of my role, nor the name of my employer.

Summary: Quantum computing is now a commercial reality. Here's the story of the companies that are currently using it in operations and how this will soon disrupt artificial intelligence and deep learning. Like a magician distracting us with one hand while pulling a fast one with the other Quantum computing has crossed over from research to commercialization almost without us noticing. Has the dream of Quantum computing actually stepped out of the lab into the world of actual application. Well, Lockheed Martin has been using it for seven years.