Some ants work together to build living rafts out of their bodies during a flood. Now, a new study has found that individual ants have assigned places on these life rafts - and they are able to remember their position when the next flood hits. The research shows that, like humans, ants work together to during emergency situations with different members of the group carrying out different tasks. Ants can work together to build living rafts out of their bodies during a flood. Now, a new study has found that individual ants have assigned places on these life rafts - and they are able to remember their position when the next flood hits.

I recently spoke at the Deloitte Shared Services and Outsourcing Executive Forum at Deloitte University. The audience's interest level in automation strategies was high. For the most part, Deloitte doesn't outsource directly, but only provides consulting services to its clients about outsourcing and shared services strategies, so the event and this essay seem appropriate venues to discuss the impact of "cognitive automation" technologies on the outsourcing industry. I use quotation marks around the term "cognitive automation" because though I am told that that is the preferred term these days at Deloitte, I am still getting used to it. I like the term because it suggests a broad approach that goes beyond current automation-oriented technologies and methods.

Hacked data from more than 1.1m members of an'elite' dating site has been sold online, it has been claimed. The controversial site, BeautifulPeople.com, was hacked in November and details including sexual preferences, income, addresses and 15 million messages between users were stolen. Now it has been claimed by Forbes the data has been sold online to a mystery buyer. The controversial site, BeautifulPeople.com, was hacked in November and details including sexual preferences, income, addresses and 15 million messages between users were stolen. BeautifulPeople is the first community of its kind.

There's no doubt that there's a lot more "connected things" these days and that means a lot more data. Specifically, technology is moving out of the consumers' hands and into Healthcare, Oil & Gas, Transportation, Aviation and more. The spread of smart devices and sensors creates new forms of value and brings challenges for enterprises seeking to exploit this technology. However, while this boom in data has the potential to advance the industrial space in ways never before thought possible, few companies today have the right technologies in place or the right business models that can truly utilize the power of IoT. So what should enterprises know about the permeation of sensors and connected devices and how can they prepare now or risk being left behind by their faster moving competitors?

Business intelligence has gone from static reports that tell you what happened, to interactive dashboards where you can drill into information to try and understand why it happened. New big data sources, including Internet of Things (IoT) devices, are pushing businesses from those reactive analytics – whether you look back once a month to spot trends or once a day to check for problems – to proactive analytics that give you alerts and real-time dashboards. That makes better use of operational data, which is more useful while it's still current, before conditions change. "There's a demand for real-time dashboards," says Herain Oberoi from Microsoft's Cortana Analytics team. "A lot of businesses want to get the pulse of their business. But dashboards show things that have already happened."

With Earth Day come and gone the initiative to save our planet is fresh in our minds. And that's not limited to global warming and putting a stop to pollution; poaching remains a big problem when it comes to preserving the world around us. Luckily researchers have been testing out how we can use scientists to help the fight against poaching. According to Science Daily, organizations such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Army Research Office have teamed up to look into how artificial intelligence (AI) could be used to stop poaching and illegal logging. Led by scientists at the University of South Carolina (USC), researchers have found ways to use game theory, or the mathematical theory of conflict and cooperation, to protect parks in a more proactive way.

When Ian Burkhart was 19 years old, he was in an accident that damaged his spinal cord. He was paralysed from the chest down, losing all feeling in his hands and feet. Now a team of scientists and doctors in the USA have been able to restore some control in Burkhart's right hand through the use of innovative technology. For five years Burkhart – who broke his neck when he dove under a wave at a beach in North Carolina – has been unable to do mundane tasks like stir a straw. The procedure has enabled Burkhart, now 24, to use his hand and fingers, but it has not eliminated the paralysis.

Auckland-based software developer Touchpoint Group has launched a new artificial intelligence program, designed to help companies better understand customer behaviours. Labelled Ipiphany, it is the first cognitive analytics program in the world to be able to simultaneously "learn" from combinations of customer information collected via text, machine learning and natural language processing. Launched following a three-year cognitive behaviour research project by data scientists in Australia and New Zealand, the research allowed Touchpoint Group to develop a cloud-based solution designed to deliver faster insight compared to traditional research methodologies. Formed in Auckland in 2001, Touchpoint is one of the region's leading developer of customer engagement software across industries including banking, insurance, and utilities, and already provides solutions for many of the largest banking and financial services companies. Touchpoint Group CEO Frank van der Velden believes Ipiphany could "dramatically improve" the financial returns from existing investments in "customer data" made by large companies.

Golfers in Japan will soon be able to get drinks, snacks, and other products delivered to them by drone while they're out on the course. Rakuten, a major Japanese shopping portal, will launch the drone delivery service in May at a course in Chiba, to the east of Tokyo. Golfers will be able to order from a menu of roughly 100 items through a dedicated Android app, and each drone delivery will be limited to 2kgs of goods. The service will be offered daily from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and suspended during bad weather. To operate the service, Rakuten has a dedicated drone depot where an operator will pack the goods and set the delivery location.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Already home to the world's biggest skyscraper, Dubai has another tall order to fill: By 2030, its leader wants 25 percent of all trips on its roads to be done by driverless vehicles. Monday's announcement by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum came without warning and with few details, as is sometimes the case with the many aspirations of the leadership of the United Arab Emirates. In this car-crazed city-state of over 1.5 million registered vehicles, it's not unusual to see Ferraris idling alongside Lamborghinis at traffic lights. And Dubai already is home to a driverless Metro rail system, which carried 178 million riders in 2015. Smart-car technology is being used in some of the world's luxury vehicles, and it is advancing rapidly enough for the plan to become a reality -- or a nightmare for the thousands of taxi drivers who now plying the streets among the sleek skyscrapers in the UAE's commercial capital.