Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

An explosive-laden drone, sent by the Islamic State group (ISIS), was intercepted and shot by Kurdish forces in Iraq early this month, according to reports Tuesday. However, the drone blew up and killed two Kurdish fighters and injured two French soldiers. The incident reportedly happened on Oct. 2 in Erbil, which serves as the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, where French troops have been fighting along with Kurdish fighters against ISIS, according to the New York Times and French newspaper Le Monde. Neither Iraqi officials nor French authorities have confirmed the incident. About 500 French military personnel have been deployed in Iraq to fight ISIS. They include special forces who are training Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the northern part of the country.

More and more, chatbots are entering the B2C world without consumers even realizing it's happening. But are we waiting for some big, wow-worthy, famous, life-changing chatbot in order for the concept to become mainstream? Chatbots are clearly not yet dinner table discussion topics. "There is no doubt that chatbots will become a critical onramp for brands to connect with customers," said Jake Bennett, CTO at POP. "Chatbots [are] giving brands a direct communication channel and storefront inside the apps that users already use every day. A recent study by Ovum reported that 53 percent of American and German respondents prefer chatting with businesses through chat apps, like Facebook Messenger, rather than speaking by phone with the business.

"Artificial intelligence has some way to go before we see systems and robots as portrayed in the creative arts such as Star Wars. At present, 'AI machines' have narrow and specific roles, such as in voice-recognition or playing the board game'Go'. But science fiction is slowly becoming science fact, and robotics and AI look destined to play an increasing role in our lives over the coming decades. It is too soon to set down sector-wide regulations for this nascent field but it is vital that careful scrutiny of the ethical, legal and societal ramifications of artificially intelligent systems begins now." AI systems are starting to have transformational impacts on everyday life: from driverless cars and supercomputers that can assist doctors with medical diagnoses, to intelligent tutoring systems that can tailor lessons to meet a student's individual cognitive needs.

The UK government does not have a clear strategy on how to maximise AI and robotics for economic benefit, according to the Commons Select Committee for Science and Technology. This conclusion was published today in a report by the committee, which earlier this year launched an inquiry into Blighty's take up of artificial intelligence. After calling on the expertise of industry and research leaders – including bods at Google DeepMind in London – the committee highlighted the government's inadequacy to deal with the emerging technology of robotics and automated systems (RAS). The UK government promised to establish a RAS Leadership council to kickstart the development of skills and investment needed for AI and robotics to grow in March 2015. Since that pledge was made, however, there has been "no sign" of the government delivering on its promise, causing the UK to fall behind other countries in using robotics and AI for increased productivity.

SAN FRANCISCO – U.S. police departments used location data and other user information from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to track protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, according to a report from the American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday. Facebook, which also owns Instagram, and Twitter shut off the data access of Geofeedia, the Chicago-based data vendor that provided data to police, in response to the ACLU findings. The report comes amid growing concerns among consumers and regulators about how online data is being used and how closely tech companies are cooperating with the government on surveillance. "These special data deals were allowing the police to sneak in through a side door and use these powerful platforms to track protesters," said Nicole Ozer, the ACLU's technology and civil liberties policy director. The ACLU report found that as recently as July, Geofeedia touted its social media monitoring product as a tool to monitor protests.

Schools are not preparing children to succeed in a world where intelligent robots have transformed the workforce, MPs have warned. A report by the cross-party Science and Technology Committee suggests that the education system should be adapted to "focus on things that machines will be less good at for longer," rather than skills that are rapidly becoming obsolete. The committee also warned that while "robots as portrayed in films like Star Wars" remain some way off, the government's role in preparing for major social change is lacking. Dr Tania Mathias, acting chairwoman of the committee and Conservative MP for Twickenham, said: "Science fiction is slowly becoming science fact, and robotics and AI look destined to play an increasing role in our lives over the coming decades." Mathias told ttold the Guardian that the school curriculum, particularly in secondary schools, did not reflect the "fourth industrial revolution" in robotics and AI that is underway.

Is research and thinking on artificial intelligence stuck in a local minimum? Those in the field have attested to major advances in the last decade, but are these advances merely a renaming of approaches that were taken decades ago? This book does not address these questions as its major goal, but instead attempts to give a broad overview of how A.I. got started and where it is now, and where it might be going. The reader is lead to ask the questions above though after reading the book, for the author seems to ask them implicitly. Its validity as a science are questioned, and the future of A.I. is addressed in detail.

This reference is a part of a new series of DSC articles, offering selected tutorials, references/resources, and interesting articles on subjects such as deep learning, machine learning, data science, deep data science, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, algorithms, and related topics. It is designed for the busy reader who does not have a lot of time digging into long lists of advanced publications.

Technology is really a marvel. So often, as new technology comes out and allows us to do things that were thought impossible in the past, we hear the phrase "The future is now." Popular Science and XPRIZE are teaming up to explore and explain technologies like these in a video series called Future First. Episode seven of Future First is titled "Self-Driving Cars Will Save Lives." In it, we explore the dangers of humans driving and how autonomous automobiles will make mobility cheaper, convenient, safer, and more productive.