In The News

Google Working on “Common-Sense” AI Engine at New Zurich Base

June 23, 2016
Anyone connected online has a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips, and it doesn’t take much misinformation to trip up individuals or machines. A Google research center based in Europe will focus on developing common sense for artificial intelligence as well as language and human-machine dialogue. Emmanuel Mogenet, who oversees the unit, suggests the world is entering a new era of computing. “...

US Targets Spying Threat on Campus With Proposed Research Clampdown

Julia Edwards May 23, 2016
The US State Department has proposed barring international students from research projects and classes involving “information seen as vital to national security,” reports Julia Edwards for Reuters. “The new rule, which largely applies to company-sponsored research, threatens to shrink the pool of research opportunities available for US colleges, which have grown strongly in popularity among high-...

Synthetic Microbe Lives With Less Than 500 Genes

Robert F. Service March 28, 2016
Researchers have engineered the smallest synthetic microbe with 473 genes known as Syn 3.0. “The microbe’s streamlined genetic structure excites evolutionary biologists and biotechnologists, who anticipate adding genes back to it one by one to study their effects,” reports Robert Services for Science. The microbe was developed through trial and error by inserting and extracting genes from a...

Stay Just a Little Bit Longer

Elizabeth Redden March 14, 2016
Studies in science and math contribute to innovations and jobs. As of May 10, the United States will extend the time that international students enrolled in select degree programs in science, technology, engineer and math can remain in the country after graduation. “The new rule addresses a program known as optional practical training, or OPT, which permits international students to work in the U...

Gravity Waves From Black Holes Verify Einstein’s Prediction

Andrew Grant February 12, 2016
Gravitational waves blanket the universe with tremors, as theorized a century ago with Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity and detected in 2015 by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or Advanced LIGO, with giant lasers in Louisiana and Washington states. “The fleeting burst of waves arrived on Earth long after two black holes, one about 36 times the mass...

Is the USDA Silencing Scientists?

Brandon Keim November 3, 2015
The US government may muzzle some of its research scientists who investigate controversial topics. Each department has its own rules, and federal workers are often expected to seek approval from before submitting articles or books for publication, which can delay release of findings or lead to outright denials from timid supervisors who fear funding cuts. Brandon Keim details the experiences of a...

Angus Deaton’s Nobel Is a Victory for Globalization – And Raises Hard Questions About It

Tim Fernholz October 13, 2015
Economies are built on people’s choices, and the Nobel for economic sciences, the Sverges Riksbank Prize, has been awarded to Angus Deaton for his research in that area. “In a world where we increasingly measure welfare based on what we can consume, Deaton has given policymakers important tools to boost prosperity, particularly in poor countries, while arguing – sometimes controversially – that...