Vladimir Putin was not in attendance, but his loyal lieutenants were. On 14 July last year, the Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, and several members of his cabinet convened in an office building on the outskirts of Moscow. On to the stage stepped a boyish-looking psychologist, Michal Kosinski, who had been flown from the city centre by helicopter to share his research. "There was Lavrov, in the first row," he recalls several months later, referring to Russia's foreign minister. "You know, a guy who starts wars and takes over countries." Kosinski, a 36-year-old assistant professor of organisational behaviour at Stanford University, was flattered that the Russian cabinet would gather to listen to him talk. "Those guys strike me as one of the most competent and well-informed groups," he tells me. Kosinski's "stuff" includes groundbreaking research into technology, mass persuasion and artificial intelligence (AI) – research that inspired the creation of the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. Five years ago, while a graduate student at Cambridge University, he showed how even benign activity on Facebook could reveal personality traits – a discovery that was later exploited by the data-analytics firm that helped put Donald Trump in the White House.

The drug development lifecycle is long and fraught with heavy risk -- it takes a staggering 10 – 15 years on average, with ultimately only 12 percent of drugs in clinical trials gaining approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [1]. To put this in perspective, 22.7 percent of all global research and development spending in 2017 was in the healthcare industry, second only to 23.1 percent spent in the computing and electronics industry, yet the product lifecycle and cost are much higher [2]. For example, the original iPhone took two and a half years to develop from concept to launch, and an estimated $150 million spent in research and development [3]. In contrast, the average cost of new drug and biologics is $2.87 billion when factoring in the post-approval research and development costs, according to figures released in May 2016 by The Tufts Center for the Study of Drug development (CSDD) [4]. For pharmaceutical companies that have launched more than four drugs, the median cost is closer to a staggering $5.3 billion according to analysis by industry expert Matthew Herper of Forbes [5].

What does a company do when its trailblazing and diverse innovations for nearly half a century have redefined how the world drives and flies? When its many technological "firsts" include the first practical electric car, flying the Nano Hummingbird drone, record-setting, solar-powered aircraft flights in near space, and reshaping the battlefield with portable, hand-held, tactical drones and loitering munitions? It takes on another world. AeroVironment, Inc. has revealed its critical role in collaborating with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA/JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. to build the drone helicopter recently selected by NASA/JPL's Mars Exploration Program, and displayed a model of the Mars Helicopter, which is planned to fly on Mars in less than three years. "AeroVironment's deep, rich and diverse history of innovation combined with our experience with near-space aircraft like Pathfinder and Helios make us uniquely suited to collaborate with NASA and JPL on this historic, interplanetary venture," said AeroVironment President and Chief Executive Officer Wahid Nawabi.

The tribal leaders said on Friday that the operatives were killed when an unmanned aircraft targeted their vehicle in the southern province of Shabwa. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

There is a long history in sci-fi of robots accompanying humans in space. These robots' ambitions have run the gamut, from those that try to embrace their humanity (like Data from "Star Trek") to others that try to kill us (like HAL from "2001: A Space Odyssey"). But before we can know whether real-life robots will help us or turn on us in space, we have get them up there. Enter CIMON, short for Crew Interactive Mobile Companion. It arrived on the International Space Station on the back of a SpaceX rocket on Monday.

"Senator, we place ads," will probably be one of those phrases that will forever remain a part of our memory of 2018. Whatever your opinion on the Facebook discussion may be, none of us can deny that the social network has utilised the latest in Artificial Intelligence to aid the advertising efforts of its paying clients. Most of us are Senator Cornyn when it comes to understanding the differences between AI, ML and DL. He knew what Facebook was but didn't quite understand how it works. We talk about the social, moral and political issues surrounding Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Deep Learning, but often it's not very clear what these terms mean, how they differ from one another and what might be everyday examples of each. These terms are often used interchangeably despite meaning somewhat different things. We can recognise AI and ML when we see it, for example in predictive texts that learn from our messages and add words to the phone dictionary.

Natural disasters seem inescapable, leaving us feeling vulnerable in the hands of nature. How is this possible, given all the data and technology that surrounds us today? Can't experts get better at prediction, and even try to stave off more natural calamities or more effectively reduce the loss of resources? The answer is both yes and no. Sometimes we know a tornado will hit and we cannot prevent the loss from that situation.

Adobe's software has been widely used for many years now as a tool to create fake photos, but now the company is developing software for the other side: it's using AI to spot photo manipulations to aid in the war against fake photos. In addition to using Photoshop for good, "some people use these powerful tools to'doctor' photos for deceptive purposes," Adobe writes. "[I]n addition to creating new capabilities and features for the creation of digital media, Adobe is exploring the boundaries of what's possible using new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to increase trust and authenticity in digital media." Adobe researcher Vlad Morariu has been working on the challenge of detecting image manipulation as a part of the government-sponsored DARPA Media Forensics program. There are existing tools that can help people spot manipulation -- things like metadata and programs that examine features of photos (e.g. AI could help fake photo detection be easier, faster, more reliable, and more informative.

How could the NHS look in another 30 years time? Will new technology and medical advances transform how we're looked after? We asked nine different corners of the health service - and the health secretary - what innovations we might see. Innovations that were unthinkable only a few decades or years ago are now common practice. Advances in medicine and technology, such as robot-assisted surgery and artificial intelligence, will have a significant impact on the delivery of surgical care in the future.

UK engineers will design a robot that can retrieve rock samples on Mars so they can be sent to Earth for study. The European Space Agency is issuing contracts to industry to spec the technology needed for what will be a complex joint undertaking with the US. Aerospace giant Airbus will scope the concept for a surface "fetch rover" at its Stevenage centre north of London. Esa and the American space agency (Nasa) expect to send the sample-return equipment to the Red Planet in 2026. "It will be a relatively small rover - about 130kg; but the requirements are very demanding," said Ben Boyes who will lead the feasibility team at Airbus.