The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning is almost commonplace in the biotech and pharma industry as multiple companies are harnessing the power to aid in drug discovery and development. This week more companies have announced advancements in their AI programming. This morning, San Francisco-based Notable Labs announced it secured $40 million in a Series B funding round to use its artificial intelligence platform to advance cancer drug development. The company's approach is aimed at predicting which types of patients are most likely to respond to a drug in as little as five days. The process is designed to help physicians make more informed decisions about which clinical trials will be effective with patients and can also benefit the likelihood of a trial's success by matching the right patients to the right trial.

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced July 10 the appointment of Gil Alterovitz, PhD, as its first director of artificial intelligence, a position that will be based in the VA's Office of Research and Development. He has already launched a "sprint" to find partner organizations to apply AI technology to the VA's data. More articles about AI: 6 hospital applications for machine learning: algorithms to predict patient violence, HIV risk & more Viewpoint: The AI revolution will leave us'struggling to understand' Michigan Medicine, Atomwise launch research collaboration for AI-driven drug discovery

One of the holy grails in the world of advertising and marketing has been finding a way to accurately capture and understand what consumers are doing throughout the day, regardless of whether it's a digital or offline activity. That goal has become even more elusive in recent years, with the surge of regulations around privacy and data protection that limit what kind of information can be collected and used. Now, a startup believes it's cracked the code, and it's raised a large round of funding that underscores its success so far and what it believes is untapped future demand. Near, which has built an interactive, cloud-based AI platform called AllSpark that works across 44 countries to create anonymised, location-based profiles of users -- 1.6 billion each month at present -- based on a trove of information that it sources and then merges from phones, data partners, carriers and its customers, but which it claims was built "with privacy by design", has raised $100 million. The company believes that this Series C -- from a single backer, Great Pacific Capital out of London -- is one of the biggest rounds ever to be raised in this particular area of marketing technology.

Big data is having big effects on content marketing, nowhere more than in its ability to make sense of the complexity of human language. Understanding data science is necessary for agile marketing in 2019. Here's how marketers can utilize data to hone their craft. Most web content consists of unstructured text. Mining this text for meaning and relevance is what search engines do.

The UK's National Health Service (NHS) has announced what it claims is a world first: a partnership with Amazon's Alexa to offer health advice from the NHS website. Britons who ask Alexa basic health questions like "Alexa, how do I treat a migraine?" The partnership does not add significantly to Alexa's skill-set, but it is an interesting step for the NHS. The UK's Department of Health (DoH) says it hopes the move will reduce the pressure on health professionals in the country, giving people a new way to access reliable medical advice. It will also benefit individuals with disabilities, like sight impairments, who may find it difficult to use computers or smartphones to find the same information.

SINGAPORE/KUALA LUMPUR - The stench of curdled milk wafted from a shipping container of waste at Malaysia's Port Klang as Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin told a group of journalists in May she would send the maggot-infested rubbish back where it came from. Yeo was voicing a concern that has spread across Southeast Asia, fueling a media storm over the dumping of rich countries' unwanted waste. About 5.8 million tons of trash was exported between January and November last year, led by shipments from the U.S., Japan and Germany, according to Greenpeace. Now governments across Asia are saying no to the imports, which for decades fed mills that recycled waste plastic. As more and more waste came, the importing countries faced a mounting problem of how to deal with tainted garbage that couldn't be easily recycled.

BOULDER, COLORADO - As the United States races to put humans back on the moon for the first time in nearly 50 years, a NASA-funded lab in Colorado aims to send robots there to deploy telescopes that will look far into our galaxy, remotely operated by orbiting astronauts. The radio telescopes, to be planted on the far side of the moon, are among a plethora of projects under way by the U.S. space agency, private companies and other nations that will transform the moonscape in the coming decade. "This is not your grandfather's Apollo program that we're looking at," said Jack Burns, director of the Network for Exploration and Space Science at the University of Colorado, which is working on the telescope project. "This is really a very different kind of program and very importantly it's going to involve machines and humans working together," Burns said in an interview at his lab on the Boulder campus. Sometime in the coming decade, Burns' team will send a rover aboard a lunar lander spacecraft to the far side of the moon.

Experience life with an endearing, big-eyed robot with lifelike features -- including artificial body temperature and affectionate personality -- that is being marketed as an alternative to pet ownership in Japan. At an event for families that kicked off Tuesday, several Lovot robots developed by Tokyo-based venture Groove X Inc. frolicked with visitors to the EQ House facility in Tokyo's Roppongi district. Upon entering the exhibition room, one of the 43-cm robots wheeled over to reporters and flapped its arms, beckoning to be held. Just like pets, the Lovot (yes, a combination of love and robot) develops a varying degree of attachment to people depending on the amount of care provided, such as gentle stroking or a hug. Once administered, the Lovot will in turn follow people around and beg for physical contact as a sign of affection, though it will stay away from those who treat it violently, Groove X officials say.

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BCI: Science&Practice is the only annual international conference in Russia with the focus on direct brain-machine interaction. Since October 2015 it is annually organized by Samara State Medical University and IT Universe Ltd in Samara, where a wide range of healthcare technologies, including brain-computer interfaces, virtual reality and other modern IT applications are developed . The conference is supported by Department of Information Technologies of Samara Region and Neuronet Industrial Union. The organizing and program committees members are leading scientists, representatives of state and non-commercial organizations, innovative companies. Attendance is free of charge.