Aerospace company Airbus is to draw up plans for Europe's contribution to a base orbiting the moon. The Gateway is an international project that envisages a lunar staging post for manned space missions to the moon or Mars. The European Space Agency (ESA) has commissioned Airbus, which has a major space facility in Stevenage, to develop key concepts for the station over the next 15 months. The first study will look at designs for a habitation and research module measuring around 6.5 metres (21ft) and weighing nine tonnes. Airbus will also consider plans for refuelling, docking and telecommunications infrastructure.

British MPs made history today as they took evidence from a robot for the first time ever. Pepper the robot spoke to the education select committee on the rise of artificial intelligence and how UK schools should respond. The stunt was the first time a non-human has been invited to speak to Parliament in its 700-year history. Pepper, who spoke in an America accent, is a humanoid robot based at the University of Middlesex. Education Select Committee chairman and Tory MP Robert Halfon invited the machine to speak to MPs after being impressed with her on a visit to the university.

Algorithms based on machine learning and deep learning, intended for use in diagnostic imaging, are moving into the commercial pipeline. However, providers will have to overcome multiple challenges to incorporate these tools into daily clinical workflows in radiology. There now are numerous algorithms in various stages of development and in the FDA approval process, and experts believe that there could eventually be hundreds or even thousands of AI-based apps to improve the quality and efficiency of radiology. The emerging applications based on machine learning and deep learning primarily involve algorithms to automate such processes in radiology as detecting abnormal structures in images, such as cancerous lesions and nodules. The technology can be used on a variety of modalities, such as CT scans and X-rays.

AI promises considerable economic benefits, even as it disrupts the world of work. These three priorities will help achieve good outcomes. The time may have finally come for artificial intelligence (AI) after periods of hype followed by several "AI winters" over the past 60 years. AI now powers so many real-world applications, ranging from facial recognition to language translators and assistants like Siri and Alexa, that we barely notice it. Along with these consumer applications, companies across sectors are increasingly harnessing AI's power in their operations. Embracing AI promises considerable benefits for businesses and economies through its contributions to productivity growth and innovation. At the same time, AI's impact on work is likely to be profound. Some occupations as well as demand for some skills will decline, while others grow and many change as people work alongside ever-evolving and increasingly capable machines.

Google on Monday finally confirmed a secretive project that's been fueling an employee-led backlash for weeks at the company: an effort to build a version of its search engine that complies with China's online censorship regime. The project, code-named Dragonfly, is not only real but is already performing to the satisfaction of top Google executives. And it could pave the way for Google to reenter China's online search market after nearly a decade. "If Google were to operate in China, what would it look like? What queries will we be able to serve?" chief executive Sundar Pichai said during an event hosted by Wired on Monday night.

High-tech tools, including an undersea "mountain goat," and years of research led to the discovery of the WWII-era Musashi in the Pacific. WATCH: Footage from an unmanned submersible shows wreckage of the World War II battleship. High-tech tools, including an undersea "mountain goat," and years of research led to the discovery of the WWII-era Musashi in the Pacific. WATCH: Footage from an unmanned submersible shows wreckage of the World War II battleship. After years of meticulous historical research and seafloor terrain analysis, it was an underwater "mountain goat" that ultimately found the wreck of one of history's most impressive battleships, the Musashi.

Longueuil, Quebec, October 15, 2018 --The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is positioning Canada's space community to maintain its global leadership in space robotics. Accordingly, the CSA announced today that it is investing $1.6 million in two concepts for lunar rovers that would use artificial intelligence to make their own decisions. Canadian businesses MDA, a Maxar company, and Canadensys Aerospace Corporation have each been awarded a contract worth $800 000 to develop an innovative concept for the CSA. The CSA made the announcement at the start of a three-day event to promote Canadian space capabilities to major space companies, including Blue Origin, Airbus Defense and Space and Moon Express. As part of ongoing discussions with the international space community to prepare options for Canada's participation in the next chapter of space exploration, the CSA recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Moon Express, a US-based company.

Google CEO Sundar Pinchai has said a separate, censored version of its search engine for the Chinese market has undergone several successful internal tests. The comments are the first time Google has officially confirmed it is working on the search engine, dubbed Project Dragonfly, which has been criticised heavily by human rights organisations. Pinchai defended the decision of working on a search engine which will censor any results critical of the Chinese government by saying providing some information is better than providing no information at all. "We are compelled by our mission [to] provide information to everyone, and [China is] 20 percent of the world's population," the Google CEO said during the Wired25 conference, as reported by the organiser, Wired. "People don't understand fully, but you're always balancing a set of values," he continued, adding that the company will try to provide information in any market it enters.

The resident robot from Middlesex University was asked by chairman Robert Halfon to explain the artificial intelligence (AI) Careses project, which promotes independent living and aims to reduce pressure on health care services.

A contemporary artist has (almost) succeeded in bringing Queen Elizabeth I back to life. In a new exhibit titled'The Mask of Youth', English artist Mat Collishaw has created a strikingly realistic recreation of the Tudor Queen's head with eyes that follow you around the room, blink expectantly and a mouth that opens periodically. The exhibit takes on a surrealist feeling as the animatronic head sits suspended in a mirrored recess, facing the Armada Portrait, one of the most famous paintings of Queen Elizabeth I. In a new exhibit titled'The Mask of Youth', English artist Mat Collishaw has created a strikingly realistic recreation of the Tudor Queen's head with eyes that follow you around the room, blink expectantly and a mouth that opens periodically'The Mask of Youth' is now on view at the Queen's House, Greenwich and was commissioned by Royal Museums Greenwich. When viewers stand in front of the suspended head, they immediately see things from her point of view, reflected in the mirror behind her.