The idea that we have brains hardwired with a mental template for learning grammar--famously espoused by Noam Chomsky of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology--has dominated linguistics for almost half a century. Recently, though, cognitive scientists and linguists have abandoned Chomsky's "universal grammar" theory in droves because of new research examining many different languages--and the way young children learn to understand and speak the tongues of their communities. That work fails to support Chomsky's assertions. The research suggests a radically different view, in which learning of a child's first language does not rely on an innate grammar module. Instead the new research shows that young children use various types of thinking that may not be specific to language at all--such as the ability to classify the world into categories (people or objects, for instance) and to understand the relations among things. These capabilities, coupled with a unique hu man ability to grasp what others intend to communicate, allow language to happen. The new findings indicate that if researchers truly want to understand how children, and others, learn languages, they need to look outside of Chomsky's theory for guidance. This conclusion is important because the study of language plays a central role in diverse disciplines--from poetry to artificial intelligence to linguistics itself; misguided methods lead to questionable results.

In 2013, Seth Lloyd, a professor of quantum information at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, put forward the idea of creating a "quantum enigma machine" -- one that would be modeled after the World War II-era cipher machines but would use quantum states of photons to encode and encrypt messages. Now, a team of researchers -- led by Daniel Lum, a graduate student at the University of Rochester, and John Howell, a professor of physics at the university -- have taken a step toward realizing this vision by actually demonstrating that an unbreakable encrypted message can be sent with a key that's far shorter than the message. This experiment, described in a new study published in the journal Physical Review A, violates what has hitherto been considered a fundamental rule of cryptography -- that a randomly generated key being used to encrypt a message needs to be at least as long as the message itself. It does so through a technique the researchers call "quantum data locking." The quantum enigma machine developed by the researchers consists of three parts -- a machine that generates photons, a spatial light modulator (SLM) that alters the amplitude and tilt of individual photons and also scrambles its wavefront, and an 8 by 8 photon detecting nanowire array.

An unstoppable wave of automation is transforming the workplace. While many low-skill jobs are being eliminated, positions demanding higher skills are being created. Most jobs in existence today will add and lose specific functions in the future as robots and other forms of technology take on routine tasks and free humans to focus more on creative and analytic efforts, according to experts. It will be a messy transition. It will be particularly painful for workers who lose their jobs and for employers that fail to recognize where automation fits into their operations.

The Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) has partnered with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in a bid to see businesses increase their presence in Australian schools. The Ai Group, which represents more than 60,000 businesses, wants the number of industry professionals showcasing real-life science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills and associated careers in schools to increase, hoping to generate interest and motivation in STEM through real-world exposure. With 75 percent of the fastest growing occupations requiring STEM knowledge and skills, the Ai Group said the number of students leaving university is not keeping up with the demand. CSIRO Education Manager Mary Mulcahy said Australia needs to tackle the decreasing interest in STEM subjects early on in schooling to ensure the future workforce pipeline can meet future demand. "Our evidence shows that bringing real-life, hands-on STEM into classrooms results in students being more engaged in these subjects," Mulcahy said.

Artificial intelligence--the kind where robots understand a wide number of human concepts--has been a military focus for decades, and scientists in Japan may have just made a college-ready AI. For the first time, a Japanese artificial intelligence program has scored above average on a national standardized college entry exam, performing well enough to have an 80 percent likelihood of getting into 33 national universities, according to the National Institute of Informatics, or NII. The AI program scored 511 points out of 950 on the National Center Test for University Admissions (similar to the SATs), with a particularly strong performance in math and history, and well above the national average of 416. It was a first for the program, which performed less well in 2013 and 2014, according to the Wall Street Journal. NII announced the breakthrough on Saturday.

Sunil has created this guide to simplify the journey of aspiring data scientists and machine learning enthusiasts across the world. Through this guide, he will enable you to work on machine learning problems and gain from experience. He is providing a high level understanding about various machine learning algorithms along with R & Python codes to run them.

Attracting the best talent is the ultimate motive for recruiting professionals. In discussion with Mr. Adhiraj, Vice President (HR), ITC, we at CareerBuilder were acquainted with some innovative thoughts on how technology and recruiting would take place in 2015. "As technology continues to develop, can we assume that businesses will still be using recruiters 10 years from now? There are grounds for doubt, but it seems on the contrary that recruiters will have a highly strategic role to play in attracting and motivating the best talents for the projects, management and operations of the organizations they serve. One thing is certain, however: the digital transformation that began in 1995 with the advent of the Internet compels us to rethink everything.

A 12-year-old who read The Lord Of The Rings aged five has become the youngest Cornell University freshman in the Ivy School's history. Jeremy Shuler was home-schooled by his parents - both aerospace engineers from Grand Prairie, Texas - and started reading books in English and Korean aged two. To help get him into Cornell, Jeremy's parents moved to Ithaca, where his father, Andy Shuler, took up a post at Lockheed Martin Upstate New York. A 12-year-old who started studying calculus aged 6 has become the youngest Cornell University freshman in the Ivy School's history With his bowl-cut hair, cherubic face and frequent happy laughter, Jeremy is clearly still a child despite his advanced intelligence. He swung in his chair while his parents, who he calls Mommy and Daddy, recounted his early years during an interview at the engineering school where his grandfather is a professor, his father got his doctorate and Jeremy is now an undergrad.

Professor Barry O'Sullivan, Director of Insight at UCC, became the first Irish member of the EurAI board in 2014. Professor Barry O'Sullivan, Director of Insight at UCC, has been elected as Deputy President of the European Association for Artificial Intelligence (EurAI) at its General Assembly held in The Hague. Professor O'Sullivan, who became the first Irish member of the EurAI board after being elected in 2014, said: "It's a huge honour to be the first Irish person to serve on the board of the European Association for Artificial Intelligence, so to be elected as its deputy president is a major thrill." UCC professor named deputy president of world's largest AI body https://t.co/WNjjanZlfz EurAI, formerly ECCAI, was established in July 1982 as a representative body for the European artificial intelligence community.

A few years ago, a young man named Kyle Behm took a leave from his studies at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He was suffering from bipolar disorder and needed time to get treatment. A year and a half later, Kyle was healthy enough to return to his studies at a different university. Around that time, he learned from a friend about a part-time job. It was just a minimum-wage job at a Kroger supermarket, but it seemed like a sure thing. His friend, who was leaving the job, could vouch for him. For a high-achieving student like Kyle, the application looked like a formality. But Kyle didn't get called in for an interview. When he inquired, his friend explained to him that he had been "red-lighted" by the personality test he'd taken when he applied for the job. The test was part of an employee selection program developed by Kronos, a workforce management company based outside Boston.