data science in the news

data science in the news /channels/taxonomy/term/3298/all en Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM join forces to set guidelines on future Artificial Intelligence research /channels/news/google-facebook-amazon-microsoft-and-ibm-join-forces-set-guidelines-future-artificial-intelligence-r-263202 The end of September saw the formation of a new team of rivals: the Partnership on AI, whose motto is "to benefit people and society". The partnership includes tech giants Amazon, Google and its subsidiary Deepmind, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft. Mon, 03 Oct 2016 17:38:19 +0000 webfull 121764 at /channels Using Machine Learning to Find the Next Cyber-Threat /channels/news/using-machine-learning-find-next-cyber-threat-262013 There is a dark corner of the Internet where hackers sell their software. The process unfolds in three steps. Wed, 10 Aug 2016 16:45:04 +0000 webfull 120259 at /channels From ore mining to data mining: the economy of Western Labrador diversifies for the 21st Century /channels/news/ore-mining-data-mining-town-western-labrador-diversifies-its-economy-261858 <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/data-storage-bitcoins-western-labrador-1.3694238">An item in today's CBC News</a> reports on towns in Labrador West that are repositioning their economies for the 21st Century. These local economies once relied on mining minerals but are now housing data centres. The cheaper power and cooler air of the area make them ideal for data warehousing, since such centres use a lot of electricity and cause machines to heat up. Great North Data, a company based out of St. Tue, 26 Jul 2016 16:29:54 +0000 webfull 120068 at /channels Data Science suggests that Shakespeare may have had a famous co-author on three of his plays /channels/news/data-science-suggests-shakespeare-may-have-had-co-author-three-his-plays-263889 The title page of the new Oxford edition of Shakespeare's three Henry VI plays will, for the first time ever, include the words "by William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe". Most people have heard of Shakespeare's hunchback king Richard III. Tue, 01 Nov 2016 21:38:56 +0000 webfull 122652 at /channels A new research trend? DARPA wants to fund XAI (Explainable Artificial Intelligence) /channels/news/new-research-trend-darpa-wants-fund-xai-explainable-artificial-intelligence-262285 Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming more and more integrated in our daily lives: AI agents might decide if you get a bank loan, or if your job application will ever reach human eyes. Not everyone is comfortable with this trend, since we don't always know exactly how the AI comes to its decision. AI learns from existing data to predict future data, but its inner workings can be a mystery even to the AI's programmers. That's a problem if the AI is making life or death decisions, as it would in missile systems or unmanned drones. Thu, 18 Aug 2016 14:34:15 +0000 webfull 120726 at /channels Writing data on atoms: researchers have found a way to write and retrieve data at the atomic level /channels/news/writing-data-atoms-261859 A team of researchers in the Netherlands has developed the means to store data at the atomic level. This technique would allow 502 terabytes of data to fit into one square inch. According to the authors, "[t]ranslating the two-dimensional storage density presented here to three dimensions, would ... allow the storage of the entire US Library of Congress in a cube 100 µm wide." At the moment, the memory array can operate up to a temperature of 77 K (about -210 C), meaning that the technology would be restricted to data centres capable of maintaining such temperatures. Tue, 26 Jul 2016 16:56:39 +0000 webfull 120069 at /channels FindFace: a database for human faces with some unsettling applications /channels/news/findface-database-human-faces-some-unsettling-applications-262372 The August 24 episode of "Babbage", a podcast from The Economist about science and technology news, reports on an worrisome new Russian web-site, FindFace.ru. This website allows you to input a picture of a face and do a search for that person, or someone who looks like that person, on VK.com, the Russian equivalent of Facebook. The website boasts of a 70% accuracy rate. Thu, 25 Aug 2016 22:59:02 +0000 webfull 120847 at /channels Detecting hate speech on the Internet /channels/news/detecting-abusive-language-internet-261914 Online bullying and trolls are the darker side of social media. Twitter's Chief Executive Officer <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/4/7982099/twitter-ceo-sent-memo-taking-personal-responsibility-for-the">stated in a February 2015 memo</a> that he wanted to make it a corporate priority to detect abuse and hate speech on Twitter. Tue, 02 Aug 2016 21:46:00 +0000 webfull 120134 at /channels A new book reveals the hidden biases that can creep into Data Science models /channels/news/new-book-reveals-hidden-biases-can-creep-data-science-models-262549 Yesterday (September 6, 2016) saw the launch of a new book by Cathy O'Neil with the provactive title Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. O'Neil holds a Ph.D. from Harvard in Math and was a tenure-track math professor until 2007, when she quit academia to join Wall Street. That fledging second career came to an end just a year later with the Financial Crisis, after which O'Neil again changed careers and became a data scientist. Wed, 07 Sep 2016 15:27:40 +0000 webfull 121047 at /channels The New Spam: Machine learning can be used to write human-like tweets /channels/news/new-spam-machine-learning-being-used-write-human-tweets-261961 Phishing messages typically get 5-10% response rates, but a new system has boosted its rate to 40%. John Seymour and Phil Tully, two data scientists from the security company ZeroFOX, presented their system SNAP_R at Black Hat, a Las Vegas conference on cyber-security, on August 4. SNAP_R uses a deep neural net to study a person's past tweets and then mimics that person's writing style using a Markov model, generating a phishing tweet. So far, there is no reason to think that criminals are using a similar system, but Seymour and Tully's work show how it might be done. Fri, 05 Aug 2016 15:54:11 +0000 webfull 120197 at /channels A Globe and Mail article looks at how Big Data might help university students graduate /channels/news/globe-and-mail-article-can-big-data-help-university-students-graduate-262940 Last Friday's edition of The Globe and Mail newspaper included a story on how predictive analytics might help decrease university drop-out rates. Several Data Science companies, including IBM’s Watson Analytics and Microsoft, are offering universities their expertise on identifying students at risk of dropping out. Of course, having low marks is a good predictor, but it is not the only one. Women, for example, are less likely than men to leave university before finishing their studies, but when they do, their marks are usually quite good. So why are they dropping out? Thu, 22 Sep 2016 02:32:27 +0000 webfull 121465 at /channels Genetic Causes of Depression Found Using Big Data /channels/news/genetic-causes-depression-found-using-big-data-262012 What causes depression? Of course, life circumstances such as traumatic events, severe stress or grief play a role, but heredity studies have shown that a genetic predisposition to depression is equally important as environmental triggers [<a href="#source1">1</a>]. Until very recently, though, the genes that underpin such a predisposition have proven elusive. Wed, 10 Aug 2016 16:39:34 +0000 webfull 120258 at /channels