Science Archaeology Who built Scandinavia's oldest wooden plank boat? An ancient fingerprint offers clues. Archeologists are closer to solving the Hjortspring Boat's mysteries. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Archaeologists examining an ancient boat discovered in Denmark over a century ago are getting some help from a clue usually associated with crime scenes .

From the classic fingers pinched against thumbs to indicate frustration, bewilderment or delight to airy waves and shrugs, the Italian obsession with gestures is legendary. Now, a study has confirmed that Italians really do talk with their hands. Passionate people from Italy use more than 40 hand gestures a minute while speaking, the study revealed. That's twice what an average Swede does, according to researchers from Lund University. And while other cultures use gestures to help illustrate parts of a story, Italians use them as a kind of running commentary on what they're saying.

When we talk about impressive strides in AI development, there is no way we would miss the big players like the United States and China or companies like Google, Baidu, Amazon and Microsoft. Home to significant investments, cutting edge research, top talent and thriving ecosystems, pushed forward and nourished by the greatest leaders in the industry – these regions serve as the epicentre of the buzz. Yet, while focusing on the mainstream hype, we risk missing the significant leaps being taken in other parts of the world. Zooming into the Northern corner of Europe, we in fact see notable AI initiatives and strong determination to catch up in the race. The Estonia-based team behind North Star AI – a top talent community for engineers and data scientists – has taken note of its surrounding regional potential and is now leading the way in bringing Nordic AI cooperation to the next level.

Is the age of intelligent machines bringing gender equality nearer or turning back the clock? Gemma Lloyd, co-founder of Work180, an Australia-based international jobs network for women, is proud of her engineering team in which women outnumber men. She just wishes there were more female engineers generally. "If there aren't enough women in the mix, the products won't be as good as they could be, and they certainly won't be what society wants -- because women are 50 per cent of society," she says. The lack of female technologists -- only 22 per cent of artificial intelligence professionals globally are female, for instance -- is a frustration for many gend er equality advocates.

Those who attended Cloud Expo Europe earlier this week took their opportunity to assess the next level of cloud services, ranging from blockchain, to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. The cloud underpins these technologies and enables them to flourish, while as this publication has previously reported, the M&A cycle has been lit up by it. But what are some of the practical applications for cloud-enabled AI? Lifesize, a cloud-based conferencing hardware and software provider, is exploring how AI can improve the meeting room – as well as outside of it. A recent video the company put out showed the concepts and potential available. The key is around machine vision; using analytics to assess each participant on a call, whether it is a workplace meeting, virtual classroom or anywhere else, to calculate engagement.