Not much is definitively proven about consciousness, the awareness of one's existence and surroundings, other than that its somehow linked to the brain. But theories as to how, exactly, grey matter generates consciousness are challenged when a fully-conscious man is found to be missing most of his brain. Several years ago, a 44-year-old Frenchman went to the hospital complaining of mild weakness in his left leg. It was discovered then that his skull was filled largely by fluid, leaving just a thin parameter of actual brain tissue. And yet the man was a married father of two and a civil servant with an IQ of 75, below-average in his intelligence but not mentally disabled.

Earlier this week, I found myself answering a question from a new colleague at Finning International that relates both to the research I do in the iSchool at the University of British Columbia, as well as the analytics, engineering & technology work that I lead at Finning. The questions were simple: 1) What is artificial intelligence? As I sat to reflect last evening, it dawned on me that taking time to craft a clear answer to these questions might be extremely beneficial for many. Analytics, data science, and predictive intelligence are hot topics in many communities and business areas. And yet, despite this interest, few folks I have talked to have a clear understanding of the history of the discipline; one, that frames much of the work currently going on within the space.

December's ICCV 2015 conference in Santiago, Chile has come and gone, but that's no reason not to know about its top papers. Get an update on which computer vision papers and researchers won awards.

Could Kevin Bacon have saved us from the 2008 financial crisis? But the network science behind six degrees of Kevin Bacon just well may have. According to the famous saying, every movie actor is separated from Kevin Bacon by six degrees of separation or less, going from co-star to co-star (actually most are separated from Bacon by only three degrees). Actors form a "small-world" network, meaning it takes a surprisingly small number of connections to get from any one member to any other. Natural and man-made small-world networks of all kinds are extremely common: The electric power grid of the western United States, the neural network of the nematode worm C. elegans, the Internet, protein and gene networks in biology, citations in scientific papers, and most social networks are small. Most of these small networks use hubs, or nodes with an especially large number of links to other nodes.

According to the UK-based company What3words, I live at offers.reform.curve in Brooklyn. I work for Condé Nast, which has offices in downtown Manhattan at words.artists.names--but Afterward, I'll be drinking at trick.pills.prompting. These little word-salads are cute, but you might be wondering: Why do I need a new address? If you live in the developed world, you probably don't; Google Maps knows where you live, and so does the mail carrier.

Edgar Sarmiento won the Local Motors challenge to design an urban public transportation system. His self-driving electric minibus design eventually become this vehicle called Olli. Edgar Sarmiento won the Local Motors challenge to design an urban public transportation system. His self-driving electric minibus design eventually become this vehicle called Olli. At the recent unveiling of a new self-driving shuttle bus called Olli, its designer sat perched on a stool nearby, his hands cradling a photo camera in his lap.

One way to manage additional demand is to enact policies that ensure that if car travel becomes easier, so do more efficient modes of travel. The struggle to maintain this balance is being played out at the curbside of urban centers around the world, where cars, bicycles, buses, and pedestrians all fight to use the same precious few square feet. For nearly two decades Enrique Peñalosa, the mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, has explained that the use of road and curb space is not just a tool to protect the environment, but to protect democracy, and that "an advanced city is not one where even the poor use cars, but rather one where even the rich use public transport or bicycles." Yet the distinction between public and private transport is increasingly blurry. Ride-hailing companies now offer rides shared with other passengers at lower prices, and shared-van services like Bridj operate larger private vehicles.

How Brexit may affect artists and the art market. George Lucas abandons plans for a museum in Chicago. Miami models allege that an artist asked them to do intimate things with a rope. The Chicago Tribune says good riddance. Plus, how the referendum may affect artists.

Once again, thousands of people from various corners of the marketing industry and the world descended on the French Riviera for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Some things haven't changed: the celebrity appearances, the late nights on the Carlton terrace that invariably lead to a regrettable hangover, the gigantic Daily Mail Yacht and the endlessly flowing rose. But this year also brought some surprises, including the Brexit decision at the end of the week as well as some unexpected Lions winners. Here are some other takeaways from adland's biggest event. The Maison Samsung featured a VR surfing experience on the roof and a super-secret "second-floor experience."

When American novelist David Foster Wallace delivered the commencement address at Kenyon College in 2005, he urged the graduating class to "exercise some control over how and what you think." If you don't at least try to regulate your thoughts and behaviors, Wallace cautioned, you will go through life "dead, unconscious, a slave to your head." Wallace himself long suffered with unwanted negative thoughts and crippling self-doubt--and took his own life three years after that speech. But can our mind become a "terrible master," as Wallace described? Kessler, the former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has considered that question for the past two decades, studying how substances such as food, alcohol and tobacco can hijack our brain chemistry and compel us to act against our own best intentions--bingeing on brownies, booze or cigarettes.