World View |
Featured
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World View |
AI researchers should help with some military work
The ethical choice for Google’s artificial-intelligence engineers is to engage in select national-security projects, not to shun them all, says Gregory C. Allen.
- Gregory C. Allen
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Article |
Equivalent-accuracy accelerated neural-network training using analogue memory
Analogue-memory-based neural-network training using non-volatile-memory hardware augmented by circuit simulations achieves the same accuracy as software-based training but with much improved energy efficiency and speed.
- Stefano Ambrogio
- , Pritish Narayanan
- & Geoffrey W. Burr
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Letter |
Experimentally generated randomness certified by the impossibility of superluminal signals
1,024 random bits that are uniformly distributed to within 10−12 and unpredictable assuming the impossibility of superluminal communication are generated and certified using a loophole-free Bell test.
- Peter Bierhorst
- , Emanuel Knill
- & Lynden K. Shalm
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News & Views |
AI designs organic syntheses
Software that devises effective schemes for synthetic chemistry has depended on the input of rules from researchers. A system is now reported in which an artificial-intelligence program learns the rules for itself.
- Derek Lowe
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Comment |
Cybersecurity needs women
Safeguarding our lives online requires skills and experiences that lie beyond masculine stereotypes of the hacker and soldier, says Winifred R. Poster.
- Winifred R. Poster
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Comment |
Steps to the digital Silk Road
Sharing big data from satellite imagery and other Earth observations across Asia, the Middle East and east Africa is key to sustainability, urges Guo Huadong.
- Guo Huadong
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Correspondence |
Train robots to self-certify their safe operation
- Valentin Robu
- , David Flynn
- & David Lane
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News Feature |
Supercomputing poised for a massive speed boost
Plans to build ‘exascale’ machines are moving forward, but still face major technological challenges.
- Katherine Bourzac
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Outlook |
Calculating disease
Machine learning might identify patients earlier, predict their outcomes better, and assign them more efficiently to appropriate clinical trials.
- Neil Savage
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Feature |
Information management: Data domination
Software programming, algorithm development and other technological skills can give scientists an edge in their fields.
- Gaia Donati
- & Chris Woolston
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Books & Arts |
Information technology: A digital genius at play
Vint Cerf savours a life of Claude Shannon, information-theory pioneer and wildly inventive tinkerer.
- Vint Cerf
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Books & Arts |
Cybersecurity: The cold war online
Steven Aftergood weighs up an analysis of the fierce conflict destabilizing the Internet.
- Steven Aftergood
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News Feature |
The ‘time machine’ reconstructing ancient Venice’s social networks
Machine-learning project will analyse 1,000 years of maps and manuscripts from the floating city's golden age.
- Alison Abbott
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News |
AI summit aims to help world’s poorest
United Nations meeting hopes to focus artificial intelligence on sustainable development goals.
- Declan Butler
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Research Highlight |
Nano-hologram made from the thinnest material yet
Consumer devices could one day generate holograms.
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News |
Satellite images reveal gaps in global population data
Algorithms help to produce precise maps of where people in developing countries live and work.
- Jeff Tollefson
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Toolbox |
Disks back from the dead
Getting data off an ancient floppy disk or computer tape isn't easy, but it can be done with the help of clever software and hardware.
- Monya Baker
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Research Highlight |
Dissolving circuits hold promise for green electronics
Degradable material could reduce the amount of e-waste.
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Research Highlight |
2D semiconductor replaces silicon in microprocessor
The device is a step towards tiny integrated circuits made from atom-thick materials.
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Toolbox |
The DIY electronics transforming research
Cheap, stripped-down microcontrollers are allowing users to pack huge amounts of computing power into tiny spaces.
- Daniel Cressey
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News |
‘Wavelet revolution’ pioneer scoops top maths award
Yves Meyer wins the Abel Prize for role in theory with data applications from digital cinema to pinpointing gravitational waves.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Research Highlights |
How the Darknet defends itself
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News |
Magnetic hard drives go atomic
Physicists demonstrate the first single-atom magnetic storage.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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Research Highlights |
A faster brain-inspired computer
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Toolbox |
The Internet of Things comes to the lab
The system of connecting machines and sensors is finally making its way into the laboratory, giving researchers peace of mind and restoring their work–life balance.
- Jeffrey M. Perkel
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News |
Astronomers explore uses for AI-generated images
Neural networks produce pictures to train image-recognition programs and scientific software.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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News & Views |
Efficient fault tolerance
Dealing with errors in a quantum computer typically requires complex programming and many additional quantum bits. A technique for controlling errors has been proposed that alleviates both of these problems.
- Daniel Gottesman
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Research Highlights |
Shortest transistor made
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News |
Google's AI reasons its way around the London Underground
DeepMind’s latest technique uses external memory to solve tasks that require logic and reasoning — a step toward more human-like AI.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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Research Highlights |
City-wide teleportation
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Editorial |
More accountability for big-data algorithms
To avoid bias and improve transparency, algorithm designers must make data sources and profiles public.
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News Feature |
How DNA could store all the world’s data
Modern archiving technology cannot keep up with the growing tsunami of bits. But nature may hold an answer to that problem already.
- Andy Extance
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News Feature |
The bandwidth bottleneck that is throttling the Internet
Researchers are scrambling to repair and expand data pipes worldwide — and to keep the information revolution from grinding to a halt.
- Jeff Hecht
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News |
Legal confusion threatens to slow data science
Researcher who spent months chasing permission to republish online data sets urges others to read up on the law.
- Simon Oxenham
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Research Highlights |
Chlorine atom arrays store data
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Books & Arts |
Technology: Beyond the 'InterNyet'
Michael D. Gordin reviews a history of the Soviets' failed national computer network.
- Michael D. Gordin
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Editorial |
Anticipating artificial intelligence
Concerns over AI are not simply fear-mongering. Progress in the field will affect society profoundly, and it is important to make sure that the changes benefit everyone.
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News |
AI talent grab sparks excitement and concern
Google, Facebook and other tech firms are changing how artificial-intelligence research is done.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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News |
South Korea trumpets $860-million AI fund after AlphaGo 'shock'
Historic win by Google DeepMind's Go-playing program has South Korean government playing catch-up on artificial intelligence.
- Mark Zastrow
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News Feature |
The chips are down for Moore’s law
The semiconductor industry will soon abandon its pursuit of Moore's law. Now things could get a lot more interesting.
- M. Mitchell Waldrop
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Toolbox |
Annotating the scholarly web
Scientific publishers are forging links with an organization that wants scientists to scribble comments over online research papers.
- Jeffrey M. Perkel
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News |
Graph-theory breakthrough tantalizes mathematicians
Algorithm that speeds up comparison of graphs would be first major advance in three decades.
- Chris Cesare
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News & Views |
50 & 100 Years Ago
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Toolbox |
Eight ways to clean a digital library
Scientists have a surfeit of options to choose from in the competitive market of reference-management software.
- Jeffrey M. Perkel
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Outlook |
Energy storage: Power revolution
Electrical grids increasingly depend on intermittent renewable sources. To smooth the supply out, utilities companies are testing alternatives to storing energy in conventional batteries.
- Peter Fairley
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News Feature |
The future of cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and beyond
The digital currency has caused any number of headaches for law enforcement. Now entrepreneurs and academics are scrambling to build a better version.
- Andy Extance