Researchers recently used an artificial intelligence to run a complex experiment, which it learnt to perform from scratch in under an hour. "A simple computer program would have taken longer than the age of the Universe to run through all the combinations and work this out," said co-lead researcher Paul Wigley from the Australian National University Research School of Physics and Engineering. This suggests that even physicists are on track to having their jobs augmented if not outright captured by artificial intelligence. The experiment involved the creation of a Bose-Einstein condensate, an extremely cold gas trapped in a laser beam. At a billionth of a degree Kelvin, it is even colder than outer space.

The increasing interest in complex networks research has been a consequence of several intrinsic features of this area, such as the generality of the approach to represent and model virtually any discrete system, and the incorporation of concepts and methods deriving from many areas, from statistical physics to sociology, which are often used in an independent way. Yet, for this same reason, it would be desirable to integrate these various aspects into a more coherent and organic framework, which would imply in several benefits normally allowed by the systematization in science, including the identification of new types of problems and the cross-fertilization between fields. More specifically, the identification of the main areas to which the concepts frequently used in complex networks can be applied paves the way to adopting and applying a larger set of concepts and methods deriving from those respective areas. Among the several areas that have been used in complex networks research, pattern recognition, optimization, linear algebra, and time series analysis seem to play a more basic and recurrent role. In the present manuscript, we propose a systematic way to integrate the concepts from these diverse areas regarding complex networks research. In order to do so, we start by grouping the multidisciplinary concepts into three main groups, namely features, similarity, and network connectivity. Then we show that several of the analysis and modeling approaches to complex networks can be thought as a composition of maps between these three groups, with emphasis on nine main types of mappings, which are presented and illustrated. Such a systematization of principles and approaches also provides an opportunity to review some of the most closely related works in the literature, which is also developed in this article.

Predicting ambulance demand accurately at a fine resolution in time and space (e.g., every hour and 1 km$^2$) is critical for staff / fleet management and dynamic deployment. There are several challenges: though the dataset is typically large-scale, demand per time period and locality is almost always zero. The demand arises from complex urban geography and exhibits complex spatio-temporal patterns, both of which need to captured and exploited. To address these challenges, we propose three methods based on Gaussian mixture models, kernel density estimation, and kernel warping. These methods provide spatio-temporal predictions for Toronto and Melbourne that are significantly more accurate than the current industry practice.

There is such a thing as the "IKEA effect," which, according to one description, suggests that "when individuals construct products themselves, they tend to overvalue their (often mediocre) creations." The "IKEA effect" highlights the importance of "self-agency": when you make something yourself, the work it takes to make that thing gives you a richer sense of initiative and ownership. The result is you get a more positive perception of your creation (even if it's made of particle board). Now two researchers from Pennsylvania State University's Media Effects Research Laboratory want to find out if the same thing applies to robots. The researchers, Yuan Sun and S. Shyam Sundar, say previous studies in human-computer interaction have demonstrated that the "self-agency" effect is present in things as basic as customizing the interface of a software application, resulting in "more positive attitudes toward the technology, a heightened sense of control and identity, greater user engagement, and product attachment."

Digital disruption has the potential to threaten 40 per cent of jobs over the next 10 to 15 years as automation and machine learning shake up the economy, according to a Productivity Commission report out today. In research entitled Digital Disruption: What do governments need to do?, the Commission warned that governments and regulators need to prepare for changing times as "disruption" moves beyond Uber and Air BnB. Productivity Commission chairman Peter Harris said developing disruptive technologies of machine intelligence and automation will gradually change economies. "There's little doubt that in some sectors there will be dislocation of labour and dislocation of capital. "It's not just a cost to employees, it will be a cost to certain businesses as well," Mr Harris told The World Today. "Things like 3D printing are going to have an impact.

Arria NLG PLC (LON:NLG), the language generation technology specialist, has confirmed it plans to raise further cash, probably via a listing on the New Zealand and Australian Stock Exchanges. In the half-yearly results statement it said it would also raise capital in the short-term "as needed". Last week it brought in 262,000 via the issue of loan notes and warrants. "The directors are confident of securing sufficient, additional funding within the next financial year, for its near term requirements," Arria said in the notes to its accounts. The results, meanwhile, showed the company had around 2.1mln in cash as at the end of March.

Ask five people who follow the video games industry what to expect from an E3 press conference and they'll all paint you a similar picture. Bright lights on a big stage, lengthy cinematic trailers for shooters starring gravelly-voiced stubble-faced white men, interspersed with awkward patter from white men in suits (or, depending on the publisher, suit jackets and T-shirts and trainers), cheered and whooped at by a largely white male audience. This industry is often unwelcoming to women and underrepresented minorities, and these widely watched events do little to counter that. Of course, some conferences do better than others. This year, we've judged EA, Bethesda, Microsoft, Ubisoft, and Sony for the diversity of their speakers and of the games and characters on show.

Another big part of the food supply comes from ranches and farms that raise and slaughter various livestock. While ranching is sometimes bundled with agriculture, I discussed farming in Big Data in Agriculture, so we'll focus on ranching this time around. Somewhat surprising is that big data usage in ranching appears more limited than in farming. That said, there are a number of novel uses of technology and data in animal husbandry. At a high level, the goals of ranching and farming are the same as any business: increase yields and lower costs. Production maximization has long played a role in large operations.

Despite the hardware news this week, E3 2016 is still all about the games. For gamers, that means a bounty of new trailers revealing gameplay and cinematic introductions to new worlds. Whether you're a fan of the PC, Xbox One or PlayStation, it's hard not to get excited about what's ahead. This may be the most buzzed-about trailer coming out of E3 2016. The first game from "Metal Gear Solid" creator Hideo Kojima after his departure from Konami was always going to be a big deal, but then you add some really interesting visuals and a naked Norman Reedus, better known as Daryl from "The Walking Dead," holding a baby and that's a recipe for success.

SAP SE is exploring augmented reality and intelligent assistant software in initiatives intended to boost employee productivity, according to new SAP CIO Thomas Saueressig, who at 31 is the youngest CIOworking for a global 2000 company. More productive employees will ultimately improve the business software maker's ability to serve customers, one of the German company's core tenets. "I fundamentally believe that the new generation and the expectations of our customers and our employees are changing so significantly," says Saueressig, who took over for Helen Arnold on May 1. "And we need to shift our focus purely on the end-user [employees and customers]." Saueressig is something of a rarity among first-time IT leaders. As a millennial, he is a member of a generation HPE CEO Meg Whitman describes as as supremely confident if not entitled.