War
Nervous Baltics on war footing as NATO tries to deter Russia reuters
Leaders in the Baltic countries and Poland fear the force NATO plans to deploy on their territory is too small and symbolic to deter an attack by Russia, whose 2014 annexation of Crimea is fresh in the memories of the former Soviet-bloc states.
They will this week press other ministers of the western military alliance to help them build an air defense system against Russian aircraft and missiles. But that would be a highly sensitive step, likely to be condemned by Moscow as yet more evidence of a NATO strategy threatening its borders.
Military
Second US Aircraft Carrier Enters Mediterranean marinelink
The Eisenhower, also known as the "Ike," will relieve the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group which later this month heads back to the United States after an extended eight-month deployment.
Weapons
Israel's new 'RoBattle' bot is built with swappable modules that change its abilities foxnews
IAI's UGV is built to be maneuverable, dynamic, and tough. Six wheels with independent suspension enable RoBattle to scale obstacles, such as rubble and small walls, to access areas that would typically be out of reach for other robots. A modular robotic kit allows the machine to be modified and adapted with remote vehicle control, navigation, and real time mapping abilities, depending on its operational needs.
Israel
In first, Israel elected to head a permanent UN committee timesofisrael
“This is a historic achievement for the State of Israel. We broke the glass ceiling: Despite the opposition of many countries, including Iran and others that tried to prevent the vote, we managed to be elected for the first time to head a committee at the UN,” Danon said.
Russia
Russia Quietly Strips Emigres of Dual Citizenship forward
It is unclear just how many people this new policy will affect. But it will certainly apply to thousands of Jews who emigrated from Russia after July 1, 1991 — the date on which the Soviet Union, then in its final days, ended its policy of taking away the passports of Jews who left the country with exit visas to Israel. (The Soviet Union was formally dissolved on December 25, 1991.)
Brexit
Polls say Brexit is likely, but the betting markets say it isn't cnbc v
On Friday, a poll for the Independent newspaper gave a massive 10-point lead to the British voting public that want to leave the European Union. Over the weekend, another poll for The Times newspaper gave leave vote a small lead. A Financial Times Poll of Polls gives leave a lead as well — 46 percent, versus stay at 44 percent.
And yet, the British pound is still above its 2016 lows...while Great Britain's vibrant wagering markets have shown the momentum build on the leave side. The latest odds on Monday — 4-7 for stay vs. 7-4 for leave — imply a Brexit probability of 36 percent.
Society
Let us live the way we want to: Thousands march in Seoul's Gay Pride parade firstpost
The annual Gay Pride parade comes weeks after a lawsuit filed by a prominent gay film director and his partner seeking legal status for their same-sex marriage was rejected by a South Korean district court in the first case of its kind
The Wrong Inequality Solution: No One Has Anything forbes w!
But there’s another approach [to 'equality', other than either creating or redistributing wealth], one that we seem blindly headed for, that could largely reach a reduction in inequality through disaster: the wholesale elimination of jobs. If you make vast swaths of the population unemployable, you could in effect put almost everyone on that fabled even playing field. You could also destroy society in the process. The way to get there is automation — not just robots doing the physical work that people once did, but artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data-driven automation that could remove the need to employ many more people.
Education
Teach your kids how to code with Root: a playful, programmable drawing robot digitaltrends v
Root’s creators say they are currently in the process of developing a curriculum that will use the same Root robot in classrooms ranging from kindergarten up to college-level. As students become more adept at coding, Root’s interface becomes more complex — starting with a basic “if/then” system for younger students, while more advanced learners can graduate to fully text-based coding.
Research
New nanomaterial offers promise in bendable, wearable electronic devices eurekalert.org
"It's important, but difficult, to make materials that are both transparent and conductive," says Alexander Yarin, UIC Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering, one of two corresponding authors on the publication.
The new film establishes a "world-record combination of high transparency and low electrical resistance," the latter at least 10-fold greater than the previous existing record, said Sam Yoon, who is also a corresponding author and a professor of mechanical engineering at Korea University.
Transportation
World’s First Passenger-Carrying Drone Is Approved for Flight Testing interestingengineering v
The vehicle demonstrates a magnificent mashup of a personal helicopter and a quadcopter with integrated high-tech components that keep the ‘pilot’ in the air and safe. Despite the magnificent feat of engineering, the craft may fail to conform to the American model of aviation, running the risk of being shut down because of the strict Federal Aviation Administration guidelines.
However, despite not currently meeting all the legal requirements, the company is actively working with government bodies to legalize the craft. It has recently been approved for flight testing.
AI
MIT's artificial intelligence passes key Turing test zdnet v
MIT's team spent several months recording approximately 1,000 videos containing at least 46,000 sounds produced by hitting, prodding and scraping various objects with a drumstick.
These videos were then fed into the algorithm which deconstructed and analyzed the sounds' pitch, volume and other characteristics. The algorithm is then able to 'predict' the sounds of a video by looking at the sound properties of each frame and stitching together bits of audio which match similar sounds within its database.
Even when the video said the computer selected the sound, I still had trouble telling :) Foley artists v: watch out...
'Harmful' robot aims to spark AI debate bbc
The basic machine is capable of pricking a finger but is programmed not to do so every time it can.
Mr Reben has nicknamed it "The First Law" after a set of rules devised by sci-fi author Isaac Asimov.
Space
NASA enlists the United Arab Emirates’ help for mission to Mars theverge
The agency has agreed to share everything from scientific data to telescopes and (potentially) spacecraft with the oil-rich Arab state, but says the first target for collaboration will be "the exploration of Mars." The details of the agreement aren't clear, but Khalifa Al Romaithi, chair of the UAE Space Agency, said the agreement "opens the door to the creation of a wide range of mutually beneficial programs [for] the UAE and the USA."
Creatures
Bird-brained and proud: densely packed neurons give birds intellectual edge theguardian
Researchers who studied 28 bird species found that songbirds and parrots can have as many, and sometimes more, neurons packed into their brains than mammals - even monkeys and apes.
You've got to wonder how much research progress has been hampered by assuming evolutionary processes are at work.
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