Assistant Professor Wim van Rees and his team have developed simulations of self-propelled undulatory swimmers to better understand how fish-like deformable fins could improve propulsion in underwater devices, seen here in a top-down view. MIT ocean and mechanical engineers are using advances in scientific computing to address the ocean's many challenges, and seize its opportunities. There are few environments as unforgiving as the ocean. Its unpredictable weather patterns and limitations in terms of communications have left large swaths of the ocean unexplored and shrouded in mystery. "The ocean is a fascinating environment with a number of current challenges like microplastics, algae blooms, coral bleaching, and rising temperatures," says Wim van Rees, the ABS Career Development Professor at MIT. "At the same time, the ocean holds countless opportunities -- from aquaculture to energy harvesting and exploring the many ocean creatures we haven't discovered yet."

There are few environments as unforgiving as the ocean. Its unpredictable weather patterns and limitations in terms of communications have left large swaths of the ocean unexplored and shrouded in mystery. "The ocean is a fascinating environment with a number of current challenges like microplastics, algae blooms, coral bleaching, and rising temperatures," says Wim van Rees, the ABS Career Development Professor at MIT. "At the same time, the ocean holds countless opportunities -- from aquaculture to energy harvesting and exploring the many ocean creatures we haven't discovered yet." Ocean engineers and mechanical engineers, like van Rees, are using advances in scientific computing to address the ocean's many challenges, and seize its opportunities. These researchers are developing technologies to better understand our oceans, and how both organisms and human-made vehicles can move within them, from the micro scale to the macro scale.

Reporter Chloe Veltman reacts to hearing her digital voice double, "Chloney," for the first time, with Speech Morphing chief linguist Mark Seligman. Reporter Chloe Veltman reacts to hearing her digital voice double, "Chloney," for the first time, with Speech Morphing chief linguist Mark Seligman. The science behind making machines talk just like humans is very complex, because our speech patterns are so nuanced. "The voice is not easy to grasp," says Klaus Scherer, emeritus professor of the psychology of emotion at the University of Geneva. "To analyze the voice really requires quite a lot of knowledge about acoustics, vocal mechanisms and physiological aspects. So it is necessarily interdisciplinary, and quite demanding in terms of what you need to master in order to do anything of consequence."

Reporter Chloe Veltman reacts to hearing her digital voice double, "Chloney," for the first time, with Speech Morphing chief linguist Mark Seligman. Reporter Chloe Veltman reacts to hearing her digital voice double, "Chloney," for the first time, with Speech Morphing chief linguist Mark Seligman. The science behind making machines talk just like humans is very complex, because our speech patterns are so nuanced. "The voice is not easy to grasp," says Klaus Scherer, emeritus professor of the psychology of emotion at the University of Geneva. "To analyze the voice really requires quite a lot of knowledge about acoustics, vocal mechanisms and physiological aspects. So it is necessarily interdisciplinary, and quite demanding in terms of what you need to master in order to do anything of consequence."

Japan overturned in 2020 its decision to cancel acquisition of U.S.-made reconnaissance drones due to their massive costs out of consideration to then-U.S. President Donald Trump, who was promoting American weapons exports, according to sources close to the matter. The government of then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had told Washington in the spring of 2020 that it would not purchase the Global Hawk drones, but reversed the decision in the summer after Tokyo scrapped in June that year its planned deployment of U.S.-developed land-based Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense systems, they said. The about-face was prompted by concerns that cancellation of the Global Hawk acquisition would "anger Mr. Trump, who has insisted on exporting U.S.-made weapons," according to a source familiar with the matter. The policy change reflected "excessive consideration for Mr. Trump," the source said.

Japanese and U.S. foreign and defense chiefs on Friday shared their concerns about China's attempts to "undermine the rule-based order" and challenges they pose to the region and world, vowing to cooperate in deterring and responding to "destabilizing activities." In a joint statement issued after their virtual "two-plus-two" talks, the ministers highlighted the "importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," while opposing any unilateral actions threatening Japan's administration of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, controlled by Japan but claimed by China. Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, and their U.S. counterparts Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, also aired "serious and ongoing concerns" about human rights issues in China's Xinjiang autonomous region and Hong Kong. Hayashi said at the outset of the talks that Japan is "fully committed" to constantly enhancing the alliance toward realizing "a free and open Indo-Pacific," and noted that "it is more important than ever that Japan and the United States are united and exhibit leadership" in the face of a range of challenges. Blinken reaffirmed the alliance as a cornerstone of peace and security in the region, and said the two countries must not only strengthen the tools they have, but also develop "new ones" to address the evolving threats posed by countries seeking to undermine the international rules-based order, including China and North Korea.

In 1970, Marvin Minsky, recipient of the Turing Award ("the Nobel Prize of Computing"), predicted that within "three to eight years we will have a machine with the general intelligence of an average human being." The fundamental roadblock is that, although computer algorithms are really, really good at identifying statistical patterns, they have no way of knowing what these patterns mean because they are confined to MathWorld and never experience the real world. It's a brown-throated thrush, but in Germany it's called a halsenflugel, and in Chinese they call it a chung ling and even if you know all those names for it, you still know nothing about the bird–you only know something about people; what they call that bird. Now that thrush sings, and teaches its young to fly, and flies so many miles away during the summer across the country, and nobody knows how it finds its way," and so forth. There is a difference between the name of the thing and what goes on.

Electronic Intelligence (ELINT), often known as E-Intelligence, is intelligence obtained through electronic sensors. Other than personal communications, ELINT intelligence is usually obtained. The goal is usually to determine a target's capabilities, such as radar placement. Active or passive sensors can be employed to collect data. A provided signal is analyzed and contrasted to collected data for recognized signal types. The information may be stored if the signal type is detected; it can be classed as new if no match is found. ELINT collects and categorizes data. In a military setting (and others that have adopted the usage, such as a business), intelligence helps an organization make decisions that can provide them a strategic advantage over the competition. The term "intel" is frequently shortened. The two main subfields of signals intelligence (SIGINT) are ELINT and Communications Intelligence (COMINT). The US Department of Defense specifies the terminologies, and intelligence communities use the categories of data reviewed worldwide.

Beijing is calling on the world's nuclear powers to expand discussions on global security to include emerging threats, following a rare multilateral pledge to temper the risks of nuclear war. Fu Cong, director-general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Arms Control Department, told reporters in Beijing on Tuesday that the so-called P5 nations -- China, France, Russia, the U.S. and U.K. -- should talk "more directly" about global security. "Strategic stability goes beyond nuclear," he said. "Our idea is to expand the subject of the P5 process so we could discuss not only the nuclear issues, but also other issues related to strategic stability, including outer space, missile defense, even AI and other emerging technologies." The briefing took place after the five nations -- all permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- issued a joint statement Monday pledging to dial back the risk of a nuclear conflict.

Artificial intelligence technology's impact can be seen in introducing automation, driving efficiency gains and enhancing productivity, creating new jobs, and reducing risks associated with cyber-threats and fraud. During the pandemic, AI-enabled more effective testing for Covid-19 and faster vaccine development and helped manage grocery supply chains and tailor lessons for individual students affected by remote schooling. The San Francisco Bay Area, made up of the San Francisco and San Jose metro areas, is in a category all its own, far and away from the lone U.S. leader in AI. Home to leading academic research centers like Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley; a plethora of startups; and big companies that invest heavily in AI research and technology like Alphabet Inc., Salesforce.com Inc., and Facebook Inc., the Bay Area accounts for roughly one-quarter of all Artificial Intelligence activity in the U.S. It is one of the five global hubs for top artificial intelligence talent in 2021. New York is in the midst of an explosive period of growth in artificial intelligence and machine learning.