PayPal co-founder and prominent Donald Trump donor Peter Thiel has addressed reports that he uses radical life extension therapies that involve blood transfusions using youthful donors. Speaking at the New York Times Dealbook conference Mr Thiel said: "I want to publicly tell you that I'm not a vampire. On the record, I am not a vampire." When questioned further on the matter, he denied that he has ever injected himself with a "young person's blood," a practice that some believe can have a regenerative effect on older people. The I.F.O. is fuelled by eight electric engines, which is able to push the flying object to an estimated top speed of about 120mph.

Younger people prefer assistance from female voices, neuroscience research has revealed. A major study of consumers' subconscious reactions to digitised voices has revealed there is a substantial bias towards female voices among people under the age of 35. The research, which used brain imaging technology to explore the neurological response to male and female voice assistants, discovered respondents of both genders within a younger age group found a female voice both more approachable and more compelling than its male equivalent. In contrast, while those over 35 also found the female voice more approachable, they found the male voice to be more compelling. Analysing the subconscious brain responses of 105 subjects aged between 18 and 65, the study discovered that subjects of all ages and genders found female voices more approachable, with the "approach" response 32 per cent higher for female voices.

Since the start of the First Industrial Revolution, manufacturing has been the force pushing industrial and societal transformation forward. Today, we're in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as a new generation of sophisticated technologies is transforming manufacturing into a highly connected, intelligent, and ultimately, more productive industry. The manpowered shop floor of the past is being replaced by smart manufacturing facilities where tech-savvy workers, aided by intelligent robots, are creating the products and services of the future. As we approach 2019, we're looking ahead to the trends that will define intelligent manufacturing, as well as help empower clients to better evaluate and manage operations, build innovative products and services, and grow their manufacturing businesses. These trends are detailed in our new 2019 Manufacturing Trends Report.

The warning by Lars Klingbeil, general secretary of the Social Democratic Party, comes less than two weeks before Chancellor Angela Merkel's squabbling coalition is due to sign off on the blueprint. An initial draft released earlier this year fell short of expectations, Klingbeil wrote in a commentary for the Tagesspiegel newspaper: "We really need a breakout. We have to stop taking it easy." Policy makers in Europe's largest economy have been late to realize that its industrial export model is vulnerable at a time of rapid digitalization and growing trade frictions. Car makers such as Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) or Daimler are vulnerable to competition from asset-light companies, such as ride-hailing platform Uber, that use artificial intelligence - essentially computers that can be trained to solve problems - to crunch data and run digital services.

Trials for AI lie detection at border patrol checkpoints are set to begin soon in the EU. The program, called iBorderCtrl, will run for six months at four border crossing points in Hungary, Latvia and Greece with countries outside the European Union, as reported by Gizmodo. The system has users fill out an online application and upload some documents, like their passport, before a virtual border guard takes over to ask questions. According to New Scientist, some of these questions include "What's in your suitcase?" If iBorderCtrl determines the traveler is telling the truth, then they receive a QR code that will let them pass the border.

One year ago, Hewlett Packard Enterprise sent an off-the-shelf supercomputer up to the International Space Station, to see if its mass-produced hardware could survive, basically unmodified, in the harsh environment of space. Now NASA and the computer company are declaring the experiment a success--even though nearly half of its hard disks failed after getting fried by solar radiation. The experiment was designed to test the performance of the HPE Spaceborne Computer, which is comprised of 32 separate cores that work together and can run operations 30 to 100 times faster than a standard iPhone or tablet. Despite the radiation blast, the computer kept working and none of the test data was lost. "They learned a few things and they demonstrated that the system works in space," says NASA's David Hornyak, who manages technology demonstration projects on ISS.

Artificial intelligence (AI), in its many forms including self-driving cars, robo-advisors, mechanical baristas, and state-run facial recognition campaigns will go ahead and continue to redefine how individuals work and have their views about school, work, government, and daily life. AI startups have been marching ahead in the technology bandwagon gaining funding in a world where supergiant rounds are now quite common. The top well-funded AI startup to date, SenseTime has brought a funding in a total of $1.6 billion. Most recently, in May 2018 the company raised $620 million in a Series C round led by Tiger Global Management and Fidelity International. This round raised SenseTime's valuation to more than $4.5 billion, making it the world's most valuable artificial intelligence startup.

It's never been quite clear, she says, whether the phrase--which is frequently the entire output of a student's first computer program--is supposed to be attributed to the program, awakening for the first time, or to the programmer, announcing their triumphant first creation. Perhaps for this reason, "Hello World" calls to mind a dialogue between human and machine, one which has never been more relevant than it is today. Her book, called Hello World, published in September, walks us through a rapidly computerizing world. Fry is both optimistic and excited--along with her Ph.D. students at the University of College, London, she has worked on many algorithms herself--and cautious. In conversation and in her book, she issues a call to arms: We need to make algorithms transparent, regulated, and forgiving of the flawed creatures that converse with them.

Over the past 100 years new industries and new ways of working have divided the UK's towns and cities into haves and have-nots. Some have managed to make the transition, while others have been unable to recreate the boom they enjoyed in the early 20th Century. Why have some cities managed to stride ahead, while others have fallen by the wayside? Funding, infrastructure and opportunity all play a part, marking the difference between the places able to adapt and those forced into a cycle of low-paid, low-skilled jobs. In the decades after World War Two, London's economy fell into long-term decline.

The US Justice Department indicted two companies based in China and Taiwan and three individuals saying they conspired to steal trade secrets from US semiconductor company Micron relating to its research and development of memory storage devices. The charges against Taiwan-based United Microelectronics Corp, China state-owned Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit, Co, Ltd, and three individuals mark the fourth case brought since September as part of a broader crackdown against alleged Chinese espionage on US companies. US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions told a news conference that Chinese espionage has been "increasing rapidly", adding "cheating must stop". He said the government is launching a new initiative to crack down on Chinese espionage trade cases. In addition to the criminal case, the Justice Department also filed a civil lawsuit seeking to prevent the two companies from exporting any products created using trade secrets.