When his daughters were young, Nader Hamda says, they were really into apps and computers. But now that they're a little older, their interest is waning. "They're not an exception," he says. According to numerous studies, young girls are moving away from computer science, not towards it. And Hamda says this is why his company, Ozobot, is now offering an educational robot called Evo.

I remember walking into that place, which always sent you through a kitchen full of good things to eat and then into a study full of several fascinating objects, including oscilloscopes, as well as a giant model of a fly that was several feet long. The place had amazing couches and beds where the students listened carefully to Fresco. During our last talk, Fresco surprised me by arguing city planning had become more important to people than flying around on flying wings and driving in curvy cars. He reminded me of a term that I first heard when I attended school at his lab. The word was "cybernetics" -- the design of machines to make better machines than those produced by human hands.

It's a truism in comedy that the hardest role is that of the straight sidekick, the bemused Abbott who, standing in for the audience, uses subtle facial expressions and clarifying questions to allow Costello's frenzy to have its full absurdist impact. This morning, Hillary Clinton revealed herself to be an excellent sidekick--one with a bit more kick than most--the sharp, funny person her friends have told us about. She was a guest on Zach Galifianakis's "Between Two Ferns," an acerbic, occasional series on the comedy Web site Funny or Die. Usually, Galifianakis, who plays a rude, clueless talk-show host, picks movie-star foils--Brad Pitt, Will Ferrell, Steve Carrell--and it's clear that the back-and-forth insults are all in good fun. Though one previous political guest was President Obama, who jabbed Galifianakis with more abuse than he received.

The current crisis of refugees has divided European countries and societies into those who welcome refugees and those who oppose taking them. In this Viewpoint, we reflect on the role of universities and of computer science in such situations. As a case study, we describe an activity taken at the TU Wien (Vienna University of Technology): when the crisis of refugees culminated in summer 2015, a group of professors and students of the Faculty of Informatics initiated computer courses for unaccompanied young refugees. This project allowed the refugees to gain computer-related knowledge, and, equally important, to make contacts with local students. Another major goal of the project was to give a clear message that refugees are welcome.

Keith Kirkpatrick is principal of 4K Research & Consulting, LLC, based in Lynbrook, NY. Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and full citation on the first page.

For trend-conscious corporate executives in Japan, a connected world is not a distant future in the making but a reality. A growing number of Japanese companies are waking up to the need to sharpen their business strategies and boost investment as the hunt for the next big thing intensifies. The prospect of an aging Japan and a shrinking domestic market is also giving them the opportunity of pondering how they can help solve social and business issues as the country gravitates toward connecting everything from home appliances to cars and factories to the internet. The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, for its part, is pinning hopes on the benefits of the so-called internet of things and artificial intelligence, hoping that they will become a growth driver rather than a stumbling block at a time when the world's third-largest economy continues to struggle. "I've wanted to do something that will make an industrial change, now that we have IoT, big data, and AI," said Yosuke Okada, the 27-year-old chief executive officer of startup ABEJA Inc. "Japan has many researchers in the field of AI … but there seems to be little interest in solving the kinds of challenges we face in society by monetizing AI-based businesses," Okada said in a recent interview.

From Collecting Flies to Putting Pants on Rats, Here Is This Year's Ig Nobel-Winning Research Have Hackers Posted Michelle Obama's Passport Scan Online? Mel Brooks Might Have Just Tried to Pull Down President Obama's Pants Tesla Sues Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to Sell Cars in the State

Edward Snowden has given a stark warning not to use Google's new Allo messaging app, which launched this week. The NSA whistleblower claims that the the'smart' messaging app which integrates Google's virtual assistant does not feature important privacy measures that the tech firm said it would have. Speaking in a series of tweets, the security expert said that the app should be completely avoided. Government whistleblower Edward Snowden (pictured) says that people should not use Google's Allo app if they care about their privacy Google has been criticised for not including the promised end-to-end encryption in the app when it first launched and reportedly storing messages indefinitely. Allo is'A Google app that records every message you ever send and makes it available to police upon request,' said Snowden.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

Next time around, it will be one small step for a robot, one giant leap for software coders. For decades sci-fi movies have predicted that people will someday travel on enormous spaceships to distant stars. But in the age of robotic landers and explorers, the argument for sending people into space is becoming weaker. Not only is it highly risky, it's also astronomically expensive and galactically difficult to create the life support systems needed for interplanetary travel. It's much easier to send a robotic explorer that needs no oxygen or food, never goes to the bathroom and can hibernate for years while travelling to distant celestial bodies. And if that's not enough, NASA is actually working on a robotic astronaut.