Scientists have discovered the first known material that is capable of remembering previous external stimuli—the first known memory material—despite not having an apparent mechanism that would be able to store any information. The discovery could be used as an alternative to silicon for use in powerful data processing and storageread more

The 2010s were a decade that saw huge developments in the field of artificial intelligence, with machines being built with the capacity to teach themselves how to play (and win at) strategy-based board games, take a stroll through the woods, recognize human faces, make medical diagnoses, and even drive aread more

On January 3, a group of cybersecurity experts announced the existence of two security flaws affecting virtually every microprocessor on the planet, codenamed ‘Meltdown’ and ‘Spectre’: the Meltdown exploit affects computer processors that were built by Intel over the past decade, used in the majority of consumers’ personal computers, and over 90 percent of the world’s computer servers; Spectre is somewhat less dangerous, but is more widespread, as it affects not only Intel processors, but also those of their main competitor, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Britain’s Advanced RISC Machine (ARM) chips. These vulnerabilities could potentially allow hackers to access personal data from computers, mobile devices, smart TVs, and cloud servers around the world.
read more