Seismic wave data has revealed giant structures 2900 kilometres beneath the surface of Earth, at the boundary between Earth's molten core and solid mantle. The structure, known as an ultra-low velocity (ULV) zone, is about 1000 kilometres in diameter and 25 kilometres thick, says Kim. These structures are called ULV zones because seismic waves pass through them at slower velocities, but what they are made of is still a mystery. They might be chemically distinct from Earth's iron–nickel alloy core and silicate rock mantle, or have different thermal properties. The researchers discovered the structure while analysing 7000 records of seismic activity from earthquakes that occurred around the Pacific Ocean basin between 1990 and 2018.

But on Wednesday, June 10, Amazon shocked civil rights activists and researchers when it announced that it would place a one-year moratorium on police use of Rekognition. The move followed IBM's decision to discontinue its general-purpose face recognition system. The next day, Microsoft announced that it would stop selling its system to police departments until federal law regulates the technology. While Amazon made the smallest concession of the three companies, it is also the largest provider of the technology to law enforcement. The decision is the culmination of two years of research and external pressure to demonstrate Rekognition's technical flaws and its potential for abuse. "It's incredible that Amazon's actually responding within this current conversation around racism," said Deborah Raji, an AI accountability researcher who coauthored a foundational study on the racial biases and inaccuracies built into the company's technology.

Pilots in India are testing aircraft display systems that work by tracking and responding to eye movements and could let military pilots keep their hands on the plane's controls more often while flying. Modern aircraft have electronic display systems that show information such as the plane's fuel level, imaging system or geographical position. Pilots can click the screen to the relevant page of information as needed, but this requires taking one hand either off the plane's throttle or control stick.

Consider Data, the android from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Suppose he finds himself on a hostile planet, surrounded by aliens that are just about to dismantle him. In a last-ditch effort to survive, he quickly uploads his artificial brain onto the Enterprise computer. And could he, at least in principle, do this every time he's in a crisis, so that he'd be immortal? It is common to assume that an AI could achieve immortality by creating backup copies of itself and thus transfer its consciousness from one computer to the next.

Video game enthusiasts may have felt a tremor in their wallets when a potential price for the upcoming PlayStation 5 console showed up online Wednesday. Spotted on the site hotukdeals.com U.K. listing for a PS5 system with 2 Terabyte hard drive priced at £599 (about $765). Sony has said the PS5 would arrive this holiday season – it's in a race and battle for mind and market share with Microsoft, which is also launching its Xbox Series X during the same time period. At Forbes.com, contributor Dave Thier quickly suggested that he "would not take this placeholder price all that seriously," expecting that even a $599 PS5 would be "a huge problem for Sony, especially if Microsoft comes in at $499."

The best deepfake detector to emerge from a major Facebook-led effort to combat the altered videos would only catch about two-thirds of them. In September, as speculation about the danger of deepfakes grew, Facebook challenged artificial intelligence wizards to develop techniques for detecting deepfake videos. In January, the company also banned deepfakes used to spread misinformation. Facebook's Deepfake Detection Challenge, in collaboration with Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and the Partnership on AI, was run through Kaggle, a platform for coding contests that is owned by Google. It provided a vast collection of face-swap videos: 100,000 deepfake clips, created by Facebook using paid actors, on which entrants tested their detection algorithms.

This week IBM, Amazon, and Microsoft all said they would halt sales of facial recognition to US police and called on Congress to impose rules on use of the technology. A police reform bill introduced in the House of Representatives Monday by prominent Democrats in response to weeks of protest over racist policing practices would do just that. But some privacy advocates say its restrictions aren't tight enough and could legitimize the way police use facial recognition today. "We're concerned," says Neema Guliani, senior legislative counsel for the ACLU in Washington, DC, citing evidence that many facial recognition algorithms are less accurate on darker skin tones. She urges a federal ban on facial recognition "unless and until it can be used in a way that respects civil liberties;" Guliani says it's not clear that that is possible.

Amazon announced Wednesday that it is pausing police use of its facial recognition software for one year following nationwide pressure on tech companies to address potential bias. While Amazon did not specify a reason for its decision, racial injustice has been at the forefront of ongoing protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd, who died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into the handcuffed black man's neck for nearly nine minutes. "We've advocated that governments should put in place stronger regulations to govern the ethical use of facial recognition technology, and in recent days, Congress appears ready to take on this challenge," Amazon said in a statement posted to the company's blog website. Researchers have long criticized the technology for producing inaccurate results for people with darker skin, while other studies have shown technological bias against minorities and young people. Nicole Ozer, technology and civil liberties director with the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, said in a statement that the organization was "glad the company is finally recognizing the dangers face recognition poses to Black and Brown communities and civil rights more broadly," but that it was not enough to combat the threat to "our civil rights and civil liberties."

Amazon announced on Wednesday that it would freeze for one year the use of its facial recognition technology by law enforcement agencies. Amazon announced on Wednesday that it would freeze for one year the use of its facial recognition technology by law enforcement agencies. Amazon announced on Wednesday a one-year moratorium on police use of its facial-recognition technology, yielding to pressure from police-reform advocates and civil rights groups. It is unclear how many law enforcement agencies in the U.S. deploy Amazon's artificial intelligence tool, but an official with the Washington County Sheriff's Office in Oregon confirmed that it will be suspending its use of Amazon's facial recognition technology. Researchers have long criticized the technology for producing inaccurate results for people with darker skin.

Video game fans finally got their first look at the PlayStation 5. Sony revealed the long-anticipated video game console on Thursday through an online livestream. The new console will be available in two forms: a standard model with Blu-ray disc drive and a digital model without the disc drive. Sony said pricing would be announced at a later time. Of course, a console is nothing without a strong library of games, especially at launch. Some titles will land this holiday, while others are in the works for next year and beyond.