Sure, computers can be used to play grandmaster-level chess (chess_computer), but can they make scientific discoveries? Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shown that an algorithm with no training in materials science can scan the text of millions of papers and uncover new scientific knowledge.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is already firmly embedded in our everyday lives and is conquering more and more territory. For example, voice assistants are already an everyday item in many people's smartphones, cars and homes. Progress in the field of AI is based primarily on the use of neural networks.

Makenzie, Mariah and Makayla are triplets who, by the age of 13, have created websites, programmed a handheld Raspberry Pi computer and given orders to a small, white robot called Sphero.

As California pushes to increase access to computer science education for K-12 students, schools across the state this summer are preparing to ramp up course offerings and equip teachers to lead computer science courses.

Amid persistent global demand for professionals in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), the U.S. is in an enviable spot: It’s the leader in producing highly skilled computer science graduates. But where the nation falls short is in diversity — the number of women, as well as black and Hispanic students, graduating from undergraduate computer science programs.

Real leadership comes from knowing how and when to give power to others. That means letting go and letting others step in. Encouraging your staff to step up doesn’t make you less of a leader; it makes you a much better leader.

Given the scale of the world’s food supply, there aren’t many industries that lend themselves to the power of data science and analytics than agriculture. This is the thinking behind a new research paper from a group of data scientists who make a case for finding new ways to use blockchain, AI and API management to enable “smart agriculture.”

As it was emerging, cloud computing was seen as a fairly straight-up proposition for enterprises of finding a cloud, putting applications and data into it and running and storing it all on someone else’s infrastructure.

The invasive and expensive diagnosis process of bladder cancer, which is one of the most common and aggressive cancers in the United States, may be soon helped by a novel non-invasive diagnostic method thanks to advances in machine learning research at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), Moores Cancer Center, and CureMatch Incorporated.

Architectural specialization is one option to continue to improve performance beyond the limits imposed by the slow down in Moore’s Law. Using application-specific hardware to accelerate an application or part of one, allows the use of hardware that can be much more efficient, both in terms of power usage and performance.

To gauge the performance of a supercomputer, computer scientists turn to a standard tool: a set of algorithms called LINPACK that tests how fast the machine solves problems with huge numbers of variables. For quantum computers, which might one day solve certain problems that overwhelm conventional computers, no such benchmarking standard exists.

For the first time, scientists have used artificial intelligence to create complex, three-dimensional simulations of the Universe. It's called the Deep Density Displacement Model, or D3M, and it's so fast and so accurate that the astrophysicists who designed it don't even know how it does what it does.

“Sorry, I don’t know that one.” Alexa, Cortana, even the automated announcements on public transport – they all have one thing in common: a female voice or female avatar. I have been working on dialogue systems since the first generation of projects from the early 1990s. By the end of that decade, many American call centres were answered by robot “assistants” who would cheerfully greet customers with “How may I help you?” and handle their various requests for flight booking, movie ticketing and so on.

The two-year High Performance Computing for Wind Energy’ (HPCWE) project, which will be focused on wind power in both the European and Brazilian energy markets, involves 12 partners from across Europe and Brazil with expertise in HPC hardware, wind energy, numerical methods, software development and industrial applications.

Told to optimize for speed while racing down a track in a computer game, a car pushes the pedal to the metal ... and proceeds to spin in a tight little circle. Nothing in the instructions told the car to drive straight, and so it improvised.

"STEM toys" are meant to encourage children to develop their skills in the key disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and shoppers are seeing more and more of them on digital shelves. But many parents wonder whether these toys really deliver on their promises.

EPFL researchers have studied the dynamics of network structures using one of the world's most-visited websites: Wikipedia. In addition to a better understanding of online networks, their work brings exciting insights into human social behavior and collective memory.

The microcomputer revolution of the 1970s triggered a Wild West-like expansion of personal computers in the 1980s. Over the course of the decade, dozens of personal computing devices, from Atari to Xerox Alto, flooded into the market. CPUs and microprocessors advanced rapidly, with new generations coming out on a monthly basis.

Women will not reach parity with men in writing published computer science research in this century if current trends hold, according to a recent study. The enduring gender gap is most likely a reflection of the low number of women now in computer science, said researchers at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, a research lab in Seattle that produced the study.

Being able to noninvasively control robotic devices using only thoughts will have broad applications, in particular benefiting the lives of paralyzed patients and those with movement disorders. BCIs have been shown to achieve good performance for controlling robotic devices using only the signals sensed from brain implants.

No matter where Florida lawmakers stand on K-12 education policy, there is one area where they can readily find common ground: expanding computer science education. Computing occupations are now the top source of all new wages in the United States, with computing jobs accounting for more than half of all projected new openings in STEM fields.

Earning a computer science (CS) degree teaches students to solve common technical problems and build programs in a variety of coding languages. However, with constant innovation in the technology industry, there will always be new information that may be missed in the curriculum. Additionally, there are workplace soft skills that CS coursework won’t necessarily teach students.

A scientific instrument specifically designed to study the Great American Eclipse of 2017 will soon be making its second journey through the shadow of the moon. On July 2, scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) will be sending a high-altitude research jet through the path of totality of a solar eclipse, taking place in the Southern Hemisphere, to capture data that could unveil mysteries about the Sun’s magnetic field.

When Dolica Gopisetty was applying for summer internships earlier this year, employers kept telling her that what they valued most in potential hires was strong communication skills and a willingness to learn new things.

Demographic pay gaps, including the gender pay gap, are the result of more complex factors than just a desire to minimize payroll expenses. They stem from unconscious biases and processes that are better suited to one group compared to another. And, as multiple executives have found out, good intentions and “mindfulness” are not enough to eliminate the gaps.