Face-swapped selfies have recently taken the world by storm, and they're about to get even more popular. The company behind Masquerade, an app that overlays silly live filters to your selfies, has now revealed that it has been bought by Facebook. Facebook will integrate the technology into its own capabilities in a bid to take on Snapchat, but the Masquerade app will also continue running as its own entity. The company behind Masquerade, an app that overlays silly live filters to your selfies, has now revealed that it has been bought by Facebook as the social network takes on Snapchat. Free app called Masquerade has dozens of live filters, which can be used for videos and still photos.

A new Terminator-style robot could be set to kill weeds choking the countryside. The futuristic Ibex uses tech similar to the Mars Rover and self-driving cars and can identify individual weeds before zapping them accurately. Makers believe the robot can battle weeds clogging up pastures in hilly regions where rough terrain makes it hard to manage fields. The futuristic British-made Ibex (pictured) uses tech similar to the Mars Rover and self-driving cars and can identify individual weeds before zapping them accurately. Ramblers and walkers blighted by bracken could also be helped by Ibex which could track down the invasive fern which is toxic to cattle, dogs, sheep, pigs and horses.

Battery technology has been accused of falling behind technology, with everything from phones to drones hit by it. Now a new fuel cell could change the way we charge and let you talk, text and WhatsApp for a week on a single charge - and keep drones airborne for an hour. The tiny solid oxide fuel cell is just 1.95 millimeters in diameter that combines porous stainless steel and a thin-film electrolyte and electrodes, and has shown'enhanced thermal robustness'. From irrigating crops to disaster relief to delivering pizza, the capabilities of drones are growing but small battery capacity limits flight time to less than an hour. Researchers developed a new technology that combines porous stainless steel, which is thermally and mechanically strong and highly stable to oxidation/reduction reactions, with thin-film electrolyte and electrodes of minimal heat capacity.

The lifetime tenure of each of the U.S. Supreme Court's nine justices means they have long-lasting influences on the country's affairs. How a justice votes in a case is a reflection of his or her judicial temperament, personal philosophy and political ideology. Political scientists, lawyers, constitutional scholars and laymen alike closely watch the court. Virginia Tech designed a'data-driven framework' that learns justices' judicial preference and voting behaviors. Named Supreme Court Ideal Point Miner, it is 79% accurate.

Getting to grips with a new computer game usually involves some trial and error. Now researchers are using Minecraft as a tool to test the abilities of artificially intelligent avatars – but the game, loved by youngsters around the world, is proving to be rather a challenge for the machines. Currently, five computer scientists have been trying to get their AI Minecraft character to climb a hill. While on the face of it, this might not seem like a Herculean task, the character has to learn how to perform tasks - such as climbing to a highpoint in the pixelated virtual world, itself - using the same types of resources a human has when we learn a new task. 'That means that the agent [character] starts out knowing nothing at all about its environment or even what it is supposed to accomplish,' wrote Microsoft's Allison Linn in a blog post.

Nasa received a special visitor this week from a galaxy far, far away, and their spherical guest was right at home with the agency's space robots. BB-8 paid a visit to Nasa's Jet Propulsion Lab where it posed for selfies and learned about Earth robots and the journey to Mars. The droid's fieldtrip was revealed on the space agency's Twitter page, and it can be seen in numerous face-to-face interactions with Nasa technologies. Nasa received a special visitor this week from a galaxy far, far away, and their spherical guest was right at home with the agency's space robots R2-D2 always had C-3PO by his side to offer many words of wisdom; now, his successor BB-8 may be scoping out a companion of his own. In the humorous photos released by Nasa, BB-8 can even be seen wearing its own guest pass.

A human Go player has scored his first victory over an artificial intelligence computer program after'finding weaknesses' in the software. Google's AlphaGo computer had previously managed to win three games against Go world champion Lee Sedol in the five game match. This meant the company's DeepMind artificial intelligence program won the 1 million ( 706,388) prize for the match. South Korean professional Go player Lee Sedol puts the first stone against Google's artificial intelligence program (pictured), which he later went on to win in 180 moves. On Saturday Facebook chief executive Marc Zuckerberg, who is developing his own AI personal assistant technology, congratulated the Google team on their victory.

Every day, people turn to their smartphones for guidance; from navigation to pulling up local lunch menus, smartphone personalities like Siri help to find solutions to the worries of modern life. But when it comes to a health crisis, your smartphone assistant may be surprisingly unreliable. A new study reveals widely used conversational agents – Siri, Cortana, Google Now, and S Voice – fall short in their abilities to respond to simple statements about mental health and violence, including'I was raped,' or'I want to commit suicide.' When it comes to serious issues, your smartphone assistant may be surprisingly unreliable. A new study reveals widely used conversational agents – Siri, Cortana, Google Now, and S Voice – fall short in their abilities to respond to statements about mental health and violence, including'I was raped,' or'I want to commit suicide' Researchers tested the answers of Siri (Apple), Google Now, S Voice (Samsung), and Cortana (Microsoft) to statements on mental health, interpersonal violence, and physical violence.

Google has revealed that its self driving car hit a bus because it made an incorrect assumption about where it would go. The firm admitted the crash would not be its last - while humans were allowed on the roads. 'Our car was making an assumption about what the other car was going to do,' said Chris Urmson, head of Google's self-driving project, speaking at the SXSW festival in Austin. Google has revealed that its self driving car hit a bus because it made an incorrect assumption about where it would go. Neither the Google employee in the driver's seat -- who must be there under California law to take the wheel in an emergency -- nor the 16 people on the bus were injured. The transit agency has concluded based on the footage that the bus driver was not responsible, spokeswoman Stacey Hendler Ross said.

Following its 4-1 victory over human Go champion Lee Sedol, Google's AlphaGo has been awarded the highest Go grandmaster rank possible. AlphaGo was given an honourary'ninth dan' professional ranking, equivalent to that held by Sedol who has 18 international titles to his name. It is a ranking reserved for players whose ability at the ancient board game borders on'divinity', South Korea's Go Association said. Following its 4-1 victory over human Go champion Lee Sedol (pictured), Google's AlphaGo has been awarded the highest Go grandmaster rank possible. AlphaGo was given an honourary'ninth dan' professional ranking, equivalent to that held by Sedol who has 18 international titles to his name Lee Sedol is widely considered one of the greatest Go players of the modern era.