Humans are the final decision makers in critical tasks that involve ethical and legal concerns, ranging from recidivism prediction, to medical diagnosis, to fighting against fake news. Although machine learning models can sometimes achieve impressive performance in these tasks, these tasks are not amenable to full automation. To realize the potential of machine learning for improving human decisions, it is important to understand how assistance from machine learning models affects human performance and human agency. In this paper, we use deception detection as a testbed and investigate how we can harness explanations and predictions of machine learning models to improve human performance while retaining human agency. We propose a spectrum between full human agency and full automation, and develop varying levels of machine assistance along the spectrum that gradually increase the influence of machine predictions. We find that without showing predicted labels, explanations alone do not statistically significantly improve human performance in the end task. In comparison, human performance is greatly improved by showing predicted labels (>20% relative improvement) and can be further improved by explicitly suggesting strong machine performance. Interestingly, when predicted labels are shown, explanations of machine predictions induce a similar level of accuracy as an explicit statement of strong machine performance. Our results demonstrate a tradeoff between human performance and human agency and show that explanations of machine predictions can moderate this tradeoff.

Data science and machine learning continue to improve and advance. One of the areas where it is becoming more relevant is data security – AI in cybersecurity is expected to reach almost $35 billion by 2025. Data scientists can apply their knowledge to the cybersecurity field to help protect against attacks and identify suspicious behavior. The fact that they play a versatile role of a technical expert, problem gatherer, analyst and a skilled interpreter, problem-solving is easiest for them. By using knowledge of data science, coders and programmers can also improve their techniques to create better programs to protect against cyber threats.

As I struggled for my first breath, Orwell was busily writing his vivid dystopian novel, 1984. That was 1948 and he switched the last two digits to get the title. I didn't read it until 1971 when it was essential reading on the youth revolution syllabus. We worried that the lust for power could create an authoritarian all-knowing state. Perhaps it is now time for the younger generation to take this more seriously before it gently creeps up and bites them.

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – A NASA spacecraft designed to burrow beneath the surface of Mars landed on the red planet Monday after a six-month, 300 million-mile (482 million-km) journey and a perilous, six-minute descent through the rose-hued atmosphere. Flight controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, leaped out of their seats and erupted in screams, applause and laughter as the news came in. People hugged, shook hands, exchanged high-fives, pumped their fists, wiped away tears and danced in the aisles. "Flawless," declared JPL's chief engineer, Rob Manning. "This is what we really hoped and imagined in our mind's eye," he said.

Police in the UK want to predict serious violent crime using artificial intelligence, New Scientist can reveal. The idea is that individuals flagged by the system will be offered interventions, such as counselling, to avert potential criminal behaviour. However, one of the world's leading data science institutes has expressed serious concerns about the project after seeing a redacted version of the proposals. The system, called the National Data Analytics Solution (NDAS), uses a combination of AI and statistics to try to assess the risk of someone committing or becoming a victim of gun or knife crime, as well as the likelihood of someone falling victim to modern slavery. West Midlands Police is leading the project and has until the end of March 2019 to produce a prototype.

Today NASA will attempt its eighth successful landing of a robot on the red planet by venturing to place its InSight lander--a spacecraft almost 10 years and nearly one billion dollars in the making--as gently as possible on the vast planes of Mars' Elysium Planitia. But a soft touchdown is far from guaranteed. The 1500-pound robot will enter the planet's atmosphere around 12:00 PST in excess of 12,000 miles per hour, its protective aeroshell shielding it from heat-generating friction and treacherous sandstorms on its descent toward the Martian surface. Yet the planet's thin atmosphere can only slow the spacecraft so much; InSight will also deploy a 39-foot-wide supersonic parachute and activate its descent thrusters to decelerate to just five miles per hour before finally plopping down on its shock-absorbing legs. An uneventful arrival is crucial to protecting the spacecraft's cargo.

A NASA spacecraft's six-month journey to Mars neared its dramatic grand finale Nov. 26 in what scientists and engineers hoped would be a soft precision landing on flat red plains. The InSight lander aimed for an afternoon touchdown, as anxiety built among those involved in the $1 billion international effort. InSight's perilous descent through the Martian atmosphere, after a trip of 300 million miles, had stomachs churning and nerves stretched to the max. Although an old pro at this, NASA last attempted a landing at Mars six years ago. The robotic geologist – designed to explore Mars' mysterious insides – must go from 12,300 mile per hour to zero in six minutes flat as it pierces the Martian atmosphere, pops out a parachute, fires its descent engines and, hopefully, lands on three legs.

Buzz60's Tony Spitz has the details. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors Inc., unveils the companyís newest products, Powerwall and Powerpack in Hawthorne, Calif., Thursday, April 30, 2015. Mars may not be the kind of place you raise your kids, as goes the Elton John song "Rocket Man." The first flight to Mars will likely happen in seven years, Musk said Sunday night on "Axios," the news site's half-hour HBO TV series. Musk, 47, says there's a "70 percent chance" he will take a flight to Mars in his lifetime.

Cyber crime, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA) Cyber Crime Assessment 2016 report, accounted for 53 per cent of all crimes in 2015. Cameron Brown, an independent cyber defence adviser, who has conducted research into emerging trends in cyber-crime offending, warns that opportunities to earn a living through cyber crime "will propel the disenfranchised and those in lower income bands to pursue a life of crime given the low risk and potential high yields". Mr Brown insists that cyber crime will continue to grow into a highly lucrative and well organised enterprise, seeking competitive advantage with the aid of sophisticated cyber operations. Operations that include research and development, with cyber criminals becoming increasingly innovative as far as the threats they can leverage are concerned. Jamie Saunders, director of the NCA National Cyber Crime Unit, argues that "senior members of UK business must think seriously about ways they can improve their defences and help law enforcement in the fight against cyber crime".

After a six-month space cruise, NASA's latest Mars mission is set to arrive at the Red Planet on Monday with a single goal: explore its deep insides. InSight Lander - the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport - is the US space agency's first craft dedicated to peer beneath Mars' surface and study its interior. Its landing, at around 20:00 GMT, will make it the first US robot to visit the planet since Curiosity in 2012. But this is far from an easy feat - of the 44 missions sent to Mars, only 18 have been successful. Here's everything you need to know about the spacecraft, its landing and the information it has set out to gather.