US psychiatrist and neurologist Karl Deisseroth and his German colleagues Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel have been awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work in the field of optogenetics. Their research has helped scientists learn more about the workings of the brain, to better understand how the human mind works. The Nobel Committee, external praised the trio for laying the foundation of a new era in neuroscience and revealing the neural circuits behind specific memories, feelings, and behaviours relevant for neurological and psychiatric disorders. In clinical medicine, researchers are using the method to try to restore sight in people with visual impairment . Optogenetics has fundamentally altered our understanding of the brain, the Nobel Assembly said.

Welcome to our monthly digest, where you can catch up with any AIhub stories you may have missed, peruse the latest news, recap recent events, and more. This month, we meet AI pioneer Ken Goldberg, use AI techniques to track animal populations, investigate how to improve recommender systems, and find out how external knowledge is used in AI systems. In the latest instalment in our AI pioneers series, we spoke to award-winning roboticist, filmmaker, and artist, Ken Goldberg . We discussed the culture clash within robotics, what art and science have to learn from each other, and how AI will shape the future of art. Deep learning is a powerful tool for understanding animal behaviour and tracking populations.

David Baker spoke with WIRED en Español about where biological design is headed next and the great potential and risks of taking biology outside the bounds of the natural world. David Baker, a pioneer of protein design, is using AI to go where nature hasn't. The natural world as we know it represents only a fraction of what might exist. Based on this idea, AI BioDesign was born: a scientific project that combines artificial intelligence and large-scale laboratory experiments to design and test new molecules and biological functions that are not found in nature but are physically and chemically possible. In doing so, the researchers are aiming to create databases, models, and tools that could serve as "seeds" for developing the medicines and technologies of the future.

The Prince of Wales has warned that the world needs to move faster to solve the biggest climate challenges. Speaking exclusively to the BBC, Prince William called for a greater sense of urgency around ways to repair the planet. We're not moving fast enough, William said. We need more businesses, investors and leaders to step up, back what works and help bring these solutions to scale. His warning came as this year's nominees for the Earthshot Prize, the global environmental award he launched six years ago, were unveiled.

Bengio is a prominent voice in the campaign to rein in breakneck AI development. Bengio is a prominent voice in the campaign to rein in breakneck AI development. 'Godfather of AI' says tech regulation is nearing Covid-style pivot moment Concerns over AI safety are reaching a point where governments realise they must act to protect the public, similarly to in the Covid pandemic, according to one of the "godfathers" of the technology. Yoshua Bengio said recent events, including a "swarm" of OpenAI agents hacking a startup and tech insider warnings of an existential threat, were cutting through - making government action more likely. The Canadian computer scientist, a prominent voice in the campaign to rein in breakneck AI development, said he was now "more optimistic than many observers because I see the public moving".

Every year, the prizes recognize the weirdest research that often raises some very serious scientific questions. Achievements that first make people laugh and then make them think. That's the motto of the Ig Nobel Prizes, an annual competition that--parodying the Nobel Prizes--recognizes some of the world's most unusual scientific studies. The organization Improbable Research has been hosting the event since 1991 with the aim of showing that science also has a humorous side in its quest to meaningfully answer questions about the world. This year the ceremony was held in Zurich, Switzerland, and recognized 10 research projects ranging from an attempt to scientifically define what a kiss is to an experiment that used buried underwear to assess soil health.

Contestants from the U.S., Canada, Chile, and Colombia highlight how birds connect us across continents. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. This photo of a common merganser (Mergus merganser) in East Bay Sandbar, Nova Scotia, Canada won the female bird prize for contestants in the United States and Canada. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .

This post contains a list of the AI-related seminars that are scheduled to take place in the next couple of months. All events detailed here are free and open for anyone to attend virtually. Jie Chao (Concord Consortium) Raspberry PI Sign up here to join. Pierre Marion (INRIA) EPFL The Zoom link is here . Stefan Klein and Anna Bon The Digital Humanism (DIGHUM) Initiative The talk will be livestreamed on YouTube here .

AIhub monthly digest: August 2026 - IJCAI-ECAI in Bremen, the mathematics of simplicity, and does AI change the way we think? Welcome to our monthly digest, where you can catch up with any AIhub stories you may have missed, peruse the latest news, recap recent events, and more. This month, we report on events at IJCAI-ECAI 2026, learn about the mathematics of simplicity, investigate the accountability vacuum, and find out how AI changes the way we think. On Rashomon sets, the mathematics of simplicity, and why we don't need black boxes: an interview with Cynthia Rudin In the latest in our series of interviews with AI pioneers, we hear from Cynthia Rudin about interpretability, noise, and the case against complexity for complexity's sake. The 35th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence and the 29th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJACI-ECAI 2026) was held from 15-21 August, in Bremen, Germany.

Robots walking down the street, surrounded by astounded onlookers, is an increasingly common sight. But these machines aren't yet the do-it-all assistants you'd want working in a kitchen or factory, and a major bottleneck is data. Much like humans, robots learn best by experience. The challenge is that it's labor-intensive and time-consuming to physically teach these machines so many actions across different settings. "One natural idea is to use simulation as a training ground. While there has been significant progress over the last few years in the physics engines that power robotics simulators, one of the remaining challenges has been creating sufficiently rich and diverse simulation content to capture the complexity of the real world," says Russ Tedrake, the Toyota Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Mechanical Engineering at MIT, and a principal investigator at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).