Google has just announced that its artificial intelligence (AI) project AutoML, which was designed to help create other AIs, has outperformed human AI engineers by building machine-learning software that is more efficient and powerful that human-designed systems. Recently, an AutoML system scored 82 percent for categorising images by content, setting a new record. Although a relatively simple task, AutoML also beat a human-built system at marking the location of multiple objects in an image — a more complex task that is integral to autonomous robots and augmented reality, scoring scored 43 percent versus the human-built system's 39 percent. This result is highly significant, as few people posses the expertise to build next generation AI systems, and once this area has been automated, it could have profound implications for the industry. To find out more check out Google's learning software learns to write learning software.
Gravitational waves detected from colliding neutron stars
In another landmark astrophysical discovery, an international team of scientists have measured the violent death spiral of two dense neutron stars via gravitational waves, and we now know, for the first time, exactly where in the Universe gravitational waves originate from. On August 17, the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detected gravitational waves from two super-dense neutron stars, each as small as a city but heavier than the sun, after they crashed into each other some 130 millions light years away. Although LIGO had previously detected gravitational waves from collision of black holes, they don't give off light. In the days after the gravitational waves from the colliding neutron stars were measured, astronomers made successful observations of the colliding neutron stars with optical, radio, X-ray, gamma-ray, infrared and ultraviolet telescopes. The detection has not only allowed astrophysicists to piece together a coherent account of the event, but also to answer longstanding questions in astrophysics. To find out more check out LIGO and Virgo make first detection of gravitational waves produced by colliding neutron stars.
Nasa's new ion thruster could take humans to Mars
A new rocket technology that is breaking records and could be used to transport humans to Mars is being developed by researchers from the University of Michigan in collaboration with the NASA and the US Air Force. NASA's new X3 thruster uses a stream of ions and expels plasma to propel a spacecraft, and can produce speeds up to 40 kilometres per second (25 miles per second), compared with chemically propelled rockets that top out at around five kilometres per second (3.1 miles per second). This increase in speeds is necessary for long-distance space travel such as a voyage to Mars, and the researchers believe ion propulsion technology could take humans to the Red Planet within the next two decades. Ion engines are also much more efficient that chemical-powered engines, requiring much less propellant to transport a crew and equipment over large distances. Recent tests on the X3 thruster have demonstrated that it can operate at over 100kW, generating 5.4 Newtons of thrust — the highest for an ionic plasma to date, and has also broken records for maximum power output and operating current. To find out more check out Ion Thruster Prototype Breaks Records in Tests, Could Send Humans to Mars.
New threat to the ozone layer
In 1987, nearly 200 countries ratified the Montreal Protocol, which sought to ban the chemicals responsible for depleting the ozone layer, the protective layer enveloping the Earth. The protocol mandated the phase out for all the major ozone depleting substances, including chlorofluorocarbons, halons and less damaging transitional chemicals such as hydrochlorofluorocarbons, and is widely considered one of the most successful environmental treaties ever signed. New research published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, however, suggests that increasing emissions of ozone-destroying substances that are not regulated by the protocol are threatening to affect the recovery of the layer. The new threat to the ozone layer is dichloromethane, which uses include paint stripping to agricultural fumigation and the production of pharmaceuticals, and has increased by over 60% in the past decade. The study found that the substance weren’t only present at ground level, and if it reaches the ozone layer in significant quantities is could cause damage to the layer. To find out more check out A growing threat to the ozone layer from short-lived anthropogenic chlorocarbons.
Online dating is changing society in surprising ways
A new study has shown that online dating is changing society in profound ways, altering the way we look for love (and lust), breaking down boundaries and possibly even making for stronger long-term relationships. Online dating starting in the mid-1990s with the website Match.com, and today there are a wide variety to dating sites and apps to suit every taste, lifestyle, sexuality, and budget, from Tinder and Bumble to OKCupid and eHarmony. In the latest study, researchers from University of Essex in the U.K. and the University of Vienna in Austria, have discovered that online dating has changed the way we meet partners, and is now the second most common way for heterosexual couples to meet. For homosexual couples, it’s by far the most popular. Using a model to simulate connections between social groups, they found that by introducing random links between people from different ethnic groups, their model predicted nearly complete racial integration through online dating. And another surprising effect was that the strength of marriages through online dating tend to be stronger. To find out more check out First Evidence That Online Dating Is Changing the Nature of Society.
Have we turned a corner in self-driving cars?
Scientists from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in the United States have developed a camera that can tell the location of objects using reflected light to locate objects, and could provide self-driving vehicles with a way to see around corners. Whereas regular vision, be it biological or mechanical, relies on light, so-called CornerCameras capture changes in lighting by using the penumbra — the shadow created by light which is reflected on the ground and directly in the line of sight of the camera from objects obscured around a corner. The camera is able to patch together subtle changes in these shadows and arrange them into an image, which it uses to locate the position of the object. Although the CornerCameras worked in a range of challenging situations, including weather conditions like rain, they still has some limitations: for obvious reasons, it doesn’t work if there’s no light in the scene, and can have issues if there’s low light in the hidden scene itself, and can also get tripped up if light conditions change, for example if the scene is outdoors and clouds are constantly moving across the sun. To find out more check out An algorithm for your blind spot.
Our moon once had an atmosphere
Just like an accountant's office party, our moon has no atmosphere as it lacks a sufficiently strong magnetic field and mass to contain an atmosphere around it, and would quickly be stripped away by solar winds. New research from NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute, suggests that the moon briefly had an atmosphere 3 to 4 billion years ago, and was formed when volcanic eruptions rocked its surface, propelling gases above the surface too rapidly for them to drift off into space. These eruptions caused impact basins filled with volcanic basalt plains, called maria, to form on the surface. Astronauts from the Apollo missions brought back samples from the maria, and analysis has shown that they contained carbon monoxide and other gas components, sulfur, and even the building blocks of water. The researchers concluded that much of the gas rose and accumulated to form the transient atmosphere, and that the volcanic activity peaked about 3.5 billion years ago, which was when the atmosphere was at its thickest. To find out more check out New NASA study shows moon once had an atmosphere.
New method extracts hydrogen from seawater using only sunlight
A new nanomaterial developed by researchers from the University of Central Florida in the United States can extract hydrogen from seawater much more cheaply than existing methods, paving the way for harnessing the potential of this most abundant of renewable energy resources. Hydrogen is one of the most sustainable ways of generating power, with water — which can be turned back into hydrogen and oxygen — the only waste product from its use. Finding a way of producing hydrogen from water cheaply and efficiently could significantly reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. The new nanomaterial is based on titanium dioxide and acts as a photocatalyst, speeding up the chemical reaction that occurs when light hits water and produces hydrogen gas. By capturing a broader spectrum of light than other materials, it can use more of the sun's energy, and by using sunlight directly rather than electricity from solar panels, means there is no need to store electricity in batteries. To find out more check out MoS2/TiO2 Heterostructures as Nonmetal Plasmonic Photocatalysts for Highly Efficient Hydrogen Evolution.
World's first fully autonomous train
Rio Tinto, an Australian-British multinational and one of the world's largest metals and mining companies, has just successfully completed its first uncrewed train journey, travelling around 100 kilometres (62 miles) without a human on board. The journey took place at Rio Tinto's iron ore operations in the Pilbera region of Western Australia with the train travelling from Wombat Junction to Paraburdooand, and represents a big step towards the company's plans to have a fully autonomous train network by late 2018. The company has been using autonomous trains since earlier this year, with about 50 percent of its train operations being completed autonomously, but with drivers present at all times. To find out more check out Rio Tinto makes Australia’s first unmanned heavy train haul with 100km Pilbara test run.
Global methane emissions from agriculture underestimated
Emissions of methane — a potent greenhouse gas, with a global warming potential 20 times that of carbon dioxide — from agriculture have been found to be larger than previously estimated, according a study recently published in the open access journal Carbon Balance and Management. By re-evaluating data on methane produced from livestock digestion and manure for 2011, researchers from the Joint Global Change Research Institute in the United States found that global livestock methane emissions for 2011 are around 11% higher than the estimates based on guidelines provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2006. The new estimate comprises an 8.4% increase in methane from enteric fermentation (digestion) in dairy cows and other cattle, and a 36.7% increase in manure management methane compared to IPCC-based estimates. The estimates presented in this study are also 15% larger than global estimates provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. To find out more check out Revised methane emissions factors and spatially distributed annual carbon fluxes for global livestock.