Scientists studying the effects of radiation in rodents say that astronauts' exposure to galactic cosmic rays could face a host of cognitive problems, including chronic dementia. The UC Irvine-led study, published in Scientific Reports, adds to a growing body of research on the harmful effects humans may reckon with as they venture out longer and deeper into space, whether on trips to Mars or potentially beyond. "The most logical conclusion to draw from these studies is that cosmic radiation exposure poses a real and potentially detrimental neurocognitive risk for prolonged deep space travel," the study authors wrote. "With the growing realization that space is a radioactive environment comes the need to more completely define these risks with more certainty through continued research." It's well-known that radiation can damage neural tissue and hurt cognitive function; cancer patients with brain tumors who need radiotherapy end up with what the study authors called "severe and progressive cognitive deficits."

WIRE)--Zymergen, a technology company unlocking the power of biology, announced today that it has raised 130 million USD in Series B funding led by SoftBank Group (TOKYO: 9984). The round also includes prior lead investor Data Collective (DCVC), as well as return investors True Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, DFJ, Innovation Endeavors, Obvious Ventures, and Two Sigma Ventures. New investors include Iconiq Capital, Prelude Ventures, and Tao Capital Partners. Zymergen also announced two additions to its Board of Directors: former U.S. Secretary of Energy and Nobel laureate Dr. Steven Chu, and SoftBank Group International Managing Director Deep Nishar, previously a longtime senior executive at Google and LinkedIn. Zymergen has developed a proprietary platform, which uses robots and machine learning to engineer microbes faster, more predictably, and to a level of performance previously unattainable.

KDnuggets recently reached a milestone of 5,000 posts this past spring. Looking over our content at that time, and subsequently, has brought to light the numerous quality posts we have brought readers, along with the notion that there may be interested in a second look at some of them. In that vein, the following is a list of our top 10 blog posts of the fourth quarter of 2015. Sure, this is going back nearly a year for these posts, but a few of them are still among our most popular week in, week out, while others are deserving of another glance due to their topical content. Note that, while this post has proven popular over the months, it is based on first experiences with TensorFlow, which has evolved since its original release.

Jonas Cleveland is making science fiction a reality. The company he founded and leads, COSY, designs robots that can provide real-time data to retailers about their products on store shelves, saving time, money and frustration for employees and shoppers. "If you work in retail, the thing that you hate doing most is having to walk around at the end of the day with a clipboard and marking off where products are located throughout the store," Cleveland said. "These are all good things for a robot to do. That's the space where we play."

When a sleepy Marc Dubois walked into the cockpit of his own aeroplane, he was confronted with a scene of confusion. The plane was shaking so violently that it was hard to read the instruments. An alarm was alternating between a chirruping trill and an automated voice: "STALL STALL STALL." His junior co-pilots were at the controls. In a calm tone, Captain Dubois asked: "What's happening?" Co-pilot David Robert's answer was less calm. "We completely lost control of the aeroplane, and we don't understand anything! The crew were, in fact, in control of the aeroplane. One simple course of action could have ended the crisis they were facing, and they had not tried it. But David Robert was right on one count: he didn't understand what was happening. As William Langewiesche, a writer and professional pilot, described in an article for Vanity Fair in October 2014, Air France Flight 447 had begun straightforwardly enough – an on-time take-off from Rio de Janeiro at 7.29pm on 31 May 2009, bound ...

Are you ready for this secret about the efficient education with AI? Different education changes influence on schools: most students bring their own devices into the lessons, coding has been added to the curriculum. A virtual teaching assistant will help to deliver knowledge in the classroom. Artificial intelligence can make a significant difference in education with robots and apps that may simplify and upgrade the process. New digital tools allow learners to use resources anywhere and anytime. AI and bots will not eliminate human teachers but they will support their work.

This Tech Stock forecast is designed and based on stock picking strategies for investors and analysts who need predictions for the 10 best tech stocks for the whole Technology Industry (See Industry Package). Package Name: Tech Stocks Forecast Length: 1 Year (10/08/2015 – 10/08/2016) I Know First Average: 40.11% The top performing stock for the long position of the 1 year period was NeoPhotonics Corp. (NPTN), which yielded a return of 125.38%. Additionally Ebix, Inc. (EBIX), and Alpha Pro Tech, Ltd. (APT) yielded returns of 122.65% and 59.53%, respectively. The average return for I Know First's 1 year long position was 40.11%, providing investors with a 33.14% premium above the S&P 500's return of 6.97%.

Amazon has announced the Alexa Prize, an annual university competition dedicated to accelerating the field of conversational artificial intelligence (AI). The goal of the inaugural competition is to build a "socialbot" on Alexa that will converse with people about popular topics and news events. The team with the highest-performing socialbot will win a 500,000 prize. Additionally, a prize of 1 million will be awarded to the winning team's university if their socialbot achieves the grand challenge of conversing coherently and engagingly with humans for 20 minutes. Teams of university students can submit applications now and the contest will conclude at AWS re:invent in November 2017, where the winners will be announced.

Google just debuted a digital assistant, which it hopes to place inside smartphones, watches, cars and every other imaginable internet-connected device. It's already hit a snag. The Alphabet division launched new smartphones last week with the artificially intelligent assistant deeply embedded. It also rolled out a speaker with the feature at its core and announced plans to let other companies tie their apps and services to the assistant. A day later, Samsung, which just announced it was ending production of its problematic Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, said it was acquiring Viv Labs, a startup building its own AI voice-based assistant.

As technology rapidly progresses, some proponents of artificial intelligence believe that it will help solve complex social challenges and offer immortality via virtual humans. But AI's critics are sounding the alarm, going so far as to call its development an "existential threat" to mankind. Is this the stuff of science fiction? Could the "Terminator" become reality, or will these fears prevent the next technological revolution?