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For white-collar staff, AI threatens new workplace revolution![]() Davos, Switzerland (AFP) Jan 19, 2017 If your job involves inputting reams of data for a company, you might want to think about retraining in a more specialised field. Or as a plumber. After industrial robots and international trade put paid to many manufacturing jobs in the West, millions of white-collar workers could now be under threat from new technology such as artificial intelligence (AI). The issue of how best to face up to this "Fourth Industrial Revolution" has been exercising politicians and business leaders this week at ... read more  | 
 
Opportunity Continues Its Journey South Along Crater RimOpportunity is located on the rim of Endeavour Crater, heading south along the rim. The near-term plan is to reach a valley called 'Willamette' where grooves are seen in orbital imagery. The r ... more For autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs), one of the most important issues is path tracking. Conventionally, steering and velocity control are generally two typical aspects in path tracking problem. St ... more  
Cheery robots may make creepy companions, but could be intelligent assistantsCheery robots may give people the creeps and serious robots may actually ease anxiety depending on how users perceive the robot''s role in their lives, according to an international team of research ... more  
Robots need 'kill switches', warn Euro MPsThe unstoppable rise of robots in our everyday lives requires urgent EU rules such as "kill switches", European Parliament members warned Thursday as they passed a resolution urging Brussels into action on automaton ethics. ... more  | 
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Amazon Alexa virtual assistant shines at tech showAmazon's virtual assistant Alexa is emerging as one of the big winners at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, cropping up in TVs, cars, fridges - you name it - in what may signal a breakthrough moment for the smart technology. ... more  
Textron begins testing Common Unmanned Surface VehicleTextron Systems Unmanned Systems began on-water testing for the 4th-generation Common Unmanned Surface Vehicle, a project for the U.S. Navy. ... more  
China turns to robots as workers ageFlat, orange robots glide under stationary cars and ferry them to empty Chinese parking bays, using space more efficiently and, their creators say, reducing driver stress. ... more  
NASA showcases spaceflight, robotics and autonomous systems technology at CES 2017Joining industry technology leaders, NASA hosted a booth at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Jan. 5-9, 2017, to display and discuss its advanced technologies for human and robotic s ... more  
How to control the unknown: Novel method for robotic manipulationA simple, linear robot is easy to control. With known goals and a clear understanding of variables, a controller tells the robot the rules to follow. If button A is pressed, for example, pick up an ... more  | 
![]() Pentagon successfully tests micro-drone swarm  
For 'intelligent' robot, chess is just a hobbyA robot developed by engineers in Taiwan can pour coffee and move chess pieces on a board against an opponent, but he's looking for a real job. ... more  
Bionic woman: Chinese robot turns on the charm"Jia Jia" can hold a simple conversation and make specific facial expressions when asked, and her creator believes the eerily life-like robot heralds a future of cyborg labour in China. ... more  | 

 
 Blighter Surveillance Systems' AUDS counter-UAV defense system recently achieved TRL-9 status following deployment with the U.S. armed forces. 
 The achievement places the unmanned aircraft detection device at the highest technology readiness level, or TRL. The scale, used by the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA, ranges from 1 to 9 with 9 referring the most technology mature devices. / ... more GenDyn offers Bluefin SandShark mini-drone for sale online UAV performs first ever perched landing using machine learning algorithms Liteye, Tribalco to deliver AUDS systems to U.S. armed forces | 
 
Metamaterials - materials whose function is determined by structure, not composition - have been designed to bend light and sound, transform from soft to stiff, and even dampen seismic waves from earthquakes. But each of these functions requires a unique mechanical structure, making these materials great for specific tasks, but difficult to implement broadly. 
But what if a material could c ... more China's quantum communication satellite delivered for use Dressing a metal in various colors U.S. Army taps Leidos for training and simulation equipment | 
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Tufts University engineers have invented a chip-sized, high-speed modulator that operates at terahertz (THz) frequencies and at room temperature at low voltages without consuming DC power. The discovery could help fill the "THz gap" that is limiting development of new and more powerful wireless devices that could transmit data at significantly higher speeds than currently possible. 
Measure ... more Apple antitrust suit: Qualcomm overcharged 'billions' China's largest chip company to build $30 billion semiconductor factory Microbiologists make big leap in developing 'green' electronics | 
 
Researchers at Rice University and Kazan Federal University in Russia have found a way to extract radioactivity from water and said their discovery could help purify the hundreds of millions of gallons of contaminated water stored after the Fukushima nuclear plant accident. 
They reported that their oxidatively modified carbon (OMC) material is inexpensive and highly efficient at absorbing  ... more AREVA to supply refueling equipment upgrades to TVA reactors Portugal protests against Spain nuclear waste near border France sells off Engie stake to finance Areva rescue | 
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 Lebanese soldiers arrested a would-be suicide bomber inside a crowded cafe in one of the busiest neighbourhoods in the capital Beirut on Saturday night, security sources told AFP. 
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a man wearing an explosive bomb belt had been detained by authorities after entering a coffee shop in the upscale Hamra neighbourhood in west Beirut. 
The ca ... more US strike killed over 100 Al-Qaeda fighters in Syria: Pentagon US envoy to anti-IS coalition to stay on, IS loses ground, Libya air strikes kill dozens Denmark allows its soldiers to pursue IS in Syria | 
  Li Ka-shing's Cheung Kong Infrastructure on Monday moved a step closer to a more than Aus$7 billion (US$5.2 billion) takeover of Australian energy group Duet after a recommendation from the energy group's board. 
In December, the Hong Kong billionaire put in an unsolicited and conditional offer of $Aus3 per share for Duet. 
Following a review of the offer, the Duet board said it had agreed ... more China to build $1.5 billion power line across Pakistan MIT Energy Initiative report provides guidance for evolving electric power sector Toward energy solutions for northern regions | 
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A new research article, with lead authors from the University of Gothenburg, gives indications of the best places in Iceland to build thermal power stations. 
In Iceland, heat is extracted for use in power plants directly from the ground in volcanic areas. Constructing a geothermal power station near a volcano can be beneficial, since Earth's mantle is located relatively close to the crust  ... more Faster recharging batteries possible after new insights Samsung probe finds faulty batteries triggered fire Firms push hydrogen as top green energy source | 
 
China's first cargo spacecraft will leave the factory, according to the website of China's manned space mission. 
A review meeting was convened last Thursday, during which officials and experts unanimously concluded that the Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft had met all the requirements to leave the factory. 
The take-off weight of Tianzhou-1 is 13 tonnes and it can ship material of up to si ... more China launches commercial rocket mission Kuaizhou-1A China Space Plan to Develop "Strength and Size" Beijing's space program soars in 2016 | 
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If NASA intends to continue sending astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) or the moon, the space agency has little choice but to rely on Roscosmos' Soyuz spacecraft, at least until 2019.On Tuesday, NASA filed a "presolicitation" requesting that private firms reach out to NASA if they can transport astronauts to and from the orbital research platform. 
NASA is "considering cont ... more Lomonosov Moscow State University to Launch 'Space Department' in 2017 French, US astronauts install batteries outside space station 'Hidden Figures' soars in second week atop box office | 
 
Microbes that rank among the simplest and most ancient organisms on Earth could survive the extremely thin air of Mars, a new study finds. 
The Martian surface is presently cold and dry, but there is plenty of evidence suggesting that rivers, lakes and seas covered the Red Planet billions of years ago. Since there is life virtually wherever there is liquid water on Earth, scientists have su ... more Mars rover Opportunity takes a drive up a steep slope Mars Rover Curiosity Examines Possible Mud Cracks Opportunity Continues Its Journey South Along Crater Rim | 
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SpaceX celebrated the first flight of its Falcon 9 rocket in over four and a half months on Saturday, with a remarkably smooth launch of the vehicle from California. The Falcon 9 had previously been grounded since September, after one of the rockets exploded on a launchpad in Florida during a routine fueling procedure. Though the stakes were high for Saturday's launch, the mission's success does ... more India Defers Much-Awaited Heaviest Rocket Launch 2017 Rocket Campaign Begins in Alaska United Launch Alliance launches SBIRS GEO Flight 3 satellite | 
 
Researchers from North Carolina State University and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine have found that while advanced wood-burning cookstoves can provide benefits to the environment and climate, these benefits are less than expected due to higher emissions measured in the field compared to laboratory settings. The study, conducted in rural Malawi, found that pollutant emissions from thes ... more China tells local meteorological bureaus to stop smog alerts Trump could enact sweeping changes to environment policy Researchers develop environmentally friendly soy air filter | 
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 Evangelists for driverless cars see a bright future coming down the road: thousands of lives saved, countless driving hours freed up, cityscapes transformed with traffic jams vanquished. 
But the new technology also threatens millions of jobs and raises a slew of ethical dilemmas - prospects that were on the minds of business chiefs and politicians meeting at the World Economic Forum this we ... more New Zealand stimulates electric vehicle market German MPs to grill VW ex-boss over 'Dieselgate' US closes probe into fatal Tesla autopilot crash, no defect found | 
 
Research by scientists at Swansea University is helping to meet the challenge of incorporating nanoscale structures into future semiconductor devices that will create new technologies and impact on all aspects of everyday life. 
Dr Alex Lord and Professor Steve Wilks from the Centre for Nanohealth led the collaborative research published in Nano Letters. The research team looked at ways to  ... more New low-cost technique converts bulk alloys to oxide nanowires Zeroing in on the true nature of fluids within nanocapillaries | 
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Metamaterials - materials whose function is determined by structure, not composition - have been designed to bend light and sound, transform from soft to stiff, and even dampen seismic waves from earthquakes. But each of these functions requires a unique mechanical structure, making these materials great for specific tasks, but difficult to implement broadly. 
But what if a material could c ... more China's quantum communication satellite delivered for use Dressing a metal in various colors U.S. Army taps Leidos for training and simulation equipment | 
 
A chemical that is thought to be safe and is, therefore, widely used on crops - such as almonds, wine grapes and tree fruits - to boost the performance of pesticides, makes honey bee larvae significantly more susceptible to a deadly virus, according to researchers at Penn State and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 
"In the lab, we found that the commonly used organosilicone adjuvant, Syl ... more Harvests in the US to suffer from climate change Tiny plants with huge potential Can the 'greening' be greener? | 
 
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