China announces plans to build a Moonbase in the next decade
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Space exploration and building colonies on Mars and the Moon are in vogue as countries and billionaires vie to out do one another. Just like the European Space Agency, Jeff Bezos, who wants to also move heavy industry off Earth, and NASA, China has...
Scientists are teaching robots to share code and evolve just like animals
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We all too often think of machines, and robots, as static things, but new breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, manufacturing, and materials are giving them the power to evolve. Bacteria do it, viruses do it. Worms, mammals, even bees do it. So our parents tell...
AI and automation: The benefits for business and industry
On 4 August 1997, Skynet, a US military developed program, became self-aware and began to think for itself. Operators tried to deactivate the computer system but the now ‘intelligent’ system perceived this as a threat and in order to protect its mandate of ‘safeguarding the world’ Skynet launched a nuclear...
