Spatial and temporal variations in rainfall are hypothesized to influence landscape evolution through erosion and sediment transport by rivers. However, determining the relation between rainfall and river dynamics requires a greater understanding of the feedbacks between flooding and a river's capacity to transport sediment. We analyzed channel geometry and stream-flow records from 186 coarse-grained rivers across the United States. We found that channels adjust their shape so that floods slightly exceed the critical shear velocity needed to transport bed sediment, independently of climatic, tectonic, and bedrock controls. The distribution of fluid shear velocity associated with floods is universal, indicating that self-organization of near-critical channels filters the climate signal evident in discharge.

Google is more than doubling its fleet of self-driving vehicles this year. But instead of adding more of its own cute bubble-shaped vehicles, or another batch of Audis, Lexus SUVs, or Toyotas like those it currently uses to test its technology, Google is working with Chrysler to build 100 driverless minivans. In one respect, this is straight out of the so-not-flashy-it's-actually-flashy Silicon Valley playbook. For one thing, self-driving cars, when they become available for purchase, are likely to crop up first in certain kinds of environments, like small cities or large corporate campuses. A vehicle that seats eight will be attractive for businesses and institutions that might want to snap up mini-fleets of driverless cars for ridesharing.

The Federal Aviation Administration is setting up an advisory committee, led by Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, to guide it on the integration of unmanned aircraft systems in the national airspace. The formation of the committee could link to plans by the FAA to finalize much-awaited rules for the commercial operation of drones, which will likely pave the way for the widespread use of the airborne devices for deliveries and other applications by companies like Amazon.com and Google. "By late spring, we plan to finalize Part 107, our small UAS rule, which will allow for routine commercial drone operations," FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said in a speech at a drone event on Wednesday. Huerta had said in January that the the rules would be finalized at the end of spring, but there has been skepticism as the process has been plagued by delays, including missing a September deadline mandated by the U.S. Congress. Members of the new drone advisory committee will include representatives from a variety of organizations with interests in drones, including manufacturers and operators, application service providers, pilots, the FAA, NASA, representatives of manned aviation and the Department of Defense.

Artificial intelligence has been dabbling in art to increasing acclaim over the past few months, but a new study brings its uncanny proficiency to the far-more-complicated world of video. Specifically, researchers have now found a way to apply the style of famous artists to entire videos, meaning that you can now watch Star Wars presented with your favorite artist's touch. Researchers in the University of Freiburg's department of computer science tapped deep neural networks to accomplish their task. "Given an artistic image, we transfer its particular style of painting to the entire video," explains the researchers' recently published paper, which aims to build on earlier related work on still images. One problem with video is that processing each frame independently leads to flickering and false discontinuities, the researchers found.

Samsung's Artik 10 developer board will compete with the Raspberry Pi 3, but not on price. The Artik 10 is priced at US 150, and can be ordered from Digi-Key's website. That's a much higher price than the 35 Raspberry Pi 3, but the Artik 10 offers a better GPU and more storage. The Artik 10 has all its components mashed onto a circuit board, much like Raspberry Pi. The board is targeted at enthusiasts looking to make smart gadgets, appliances, robots, drones, sensor devices, and industrial automation equipment.

In this April 21, 2016, photo provided by The Strong museum in Rochester, N.Y., the 2016 inductees to the World Video Game Hall of Fame are displayed. From top left, clockwise, are "Grand Theft Auto III," "Space Invaders," "Sonic the Hedgehog," "The Sims," "The Legend of Zelda," and "The Oregon Trail." Ask video gamers or programmers today what a teletype printer is and you're sure to get blank stares in a time when games are created on super computers that can be played on vibrant color monitors that can cover entire walls, or on mobile devices that can fit in the palm of your hand. The Oregon Trail, designed to be a fun way for children to learn about American history, hit the market in 1971 at a time when computers were in rare supply. With more than 65 million copies sold, it has stood the test of time as technology has exploded, and Thursday morning, the game was one of six that were inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame at The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, N.Y. "The fact that this has been used in classrooms over so many years is quite gratifying to us," said Rawitsch, who attended the induction ceremony with his son Jeff.

FordPass, a set of mobility services, was developed by Ford in conjunction with Pivotal, a Silicon Valley software developer. DETROIT -- Ford said Thursday it is investing 182 million in Pivotal, a Silicon Valley-based software development company, to gain access to cutting-edge software-development expertise that the automaker admits it would struggle to develop on its own. Ford's investment is part of a 253 million financing package for Pivotal that also includes funding from Microsoft, GE, EMC and VMware. The Dearborn, Mich., automaker's investment in the Silicon Valley developer is the latest in a string of partnerships and acquisitions announced recently between Detroit automakers and Silicon Valley Technology companies, including a deal between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Google that emerged earlier this week. The growing number of tie-ups between the automakers and the tech companies underscores a rapid pace of collaboration as the two industries jointly develop autonomous vehicles, more advanced in-car entertainment and mobility services.

A Facebook logo seen through the windows of the NASDAQ stock exchange in 2012. SAN FRANCISCO -- A San Francisco federal judge rejected Facebook's request to toss a lawsuit alleging its photo-tagging feature that uses facial recognition technology invades users' privacy. U.S. District Judge James Donato allowed the case to move forward against Facebook under an Illinois law that bans collecting and storing biometric data without explicit consent. "The Court accepts as true plaintiffs' allegations that Facebook's face recognition technology involves a scan of face geometry that was done without plaintiffs' consent," Donato wrote in Thursday's ruling. Facebook launched the photo-tagging tool in 2010 which automatically matches names to faces in photos uploaded to the social network.

Katie Baranyuk gets out of a car driven by Dara Jenkins, a driver for the ride-sharing service Lyft. General Motors and Lyft will test a fleet of autonomous cars that may include the Chevrolet Bolt EV within a year in a step toward eliminating the major cost of operating ride-sharing fleets, the human driver. The plan is still a work in progress, according to Taggart Matthiesen, Lyft director of product. The two companies have not chosen the city, nor have they settled on which GM vehicles would be used in the pilot program. "At first we're talking about a very small number of vehicles," said Matthiesen, who will speak Friday afternoon at the Detroit Techweek conference.

Two additional deaths in Malaysia were linked to ruptured air bag inflators made by Takata Corp., further damaging the reputation of the Japanese supplier as it works to comply with a U.S. order to expand a record recall. Two fatal Honda car crashes in Malaysia, one on April 16 and the other just last Monday, involved ruptured driver-side air bag inflators made by Takata, according to a statement by Honda Motor Co. The air bags had not been replaced though the two vehicles were included in recalls announced by the authorities, the automaker said. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Wednesday ordered Takata to replace as many as 40 million additional air bags in the U.S., more than doubling what has been announced. At least 13 deaths are now linked to the malfunctioning devices, underscoring the scale of the crisis confronting President Shigehisa Takada, who has seen his family company's market value plunge by 75 percent over the past year.