Tech that: Your next boss could be a computer!

PTI | Dec 10, 2012, 05.43 AM IST
READ MORE tech|computer|boss
LONDON: The first fully automatic computer system that can delegate tasks to human workers has been developed by a US-based scientist. Daniel Barowy, a computer scientist at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst has created 'AutoMan' that delegates tricky problems to human workers through crowd-sourcing platforms such as Amazon's Mechanical Turk.

"I'd rather have a computer as my boss than a jerk," says Barowy.

Artificial intelligence is improving all the time, but computers still struggle to complete certain tasks that are easy for us, such as quickly reading a car's license plate or translating a joke, the New Scientist reported. To get round this, people can post such tasks on platforms like Mechanical Turk for others to complete. Barowy wanted to automate this process — and 'Auto-Man' was born.

"We think of it as a new kind of computing. It changes the kind of things you can do," he said. Auto-Man was designed to send out jobs, manage workers, accept or reject work and make payments. The quality guarantee is the most important contribution of the work, says Barowy. "You're replacing people's bosses with a computer. Without a mechanism for addressing the quality of worker output, full automation is not possible," he said.
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Did volcanoes in India kill dinosaurs?

PTI | Dec 10, 2012, 05.45 AM IST
READ MORE global warming|volcanoes|dinosaurs|Deccan Traps
NEW YORK: Volcanic activity in the Deccan Traps near modernday Mumbai, and not an asteroid, may have killed the dinosaurs about 65-million-years ago, according to a new study.

Research suggests that tens of thousands of years of lava flow from the Deccan Traps may have spewed poisonous levels of sulphur and carbon dioxide and caused the mass extinction through the resulting global warming and ocean acidification.

The findings are the latest volley in an ongoing debate over whether an asteroid or volcanism killed off the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago in the mass dieoff known as the K-T extinction.

Proponents of the Alvarez hypothesis argue that a giant meteorite impact at Chicxulub, Mexico, around 65 million years ago released toxic amounts of dust and gas, blocking out the Sun to cause widespread cooling, choking the dinosaurs and poisoning sea life. The meteorite impact may also have set off volcanic activity, earthquakes and tsunamis.

The new research "really demonstrates that we have Deccan Traps just before the mass extinction, and that may contribute partially or totally to the mass extinction," said Eric Font, a geologist at the University of Lisbon.
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Soon, people can have their personal DNA code sequenced for £100

ANI | Dec 10, 2012, 05.21 PM IST
READ MORE Personalized medicine|individualized treatments|DNA code sequence
LONDON: Personalized medicine and individualized treatments could be a possibility in the "very near future" as everybody will soon be able to have their entire DNA make-up mapped for as little as 100 pounds, a leading professor has revealed.

Sir John Bell, professor of medical sciences at Oxford University, adviser on genetics to the government and chair of its human genomics strategy group, made his comments as David Cameron launched a national DNA database of up to 100,000 patients with cancer or rare diseases.

"The price of genome sequencing has been falling off a clliff. It has fallen by 100,000-fold in 10 years. We are headed for 100-pound a genome. That will happen in the very near future," the Telegraph quoted Sir John as saying.

He told Radio 4's Today programme that that means everybody's genetic make up would therefore be available if they wish it to be.

"Genetics is a key component of all common diseases. There is a possibility that this will help in a whole variety of ways including the use of new drugs," he said.

The UK will be the first country to introduce hi-tech DNA mapping within a mainstream health system in a move designed to help it lead the world in tackling cancer and rare diseases, Downing Street said.

"By unlocking the power of DNA data, the NHS will lead the global race for better tests, better drugs and above all better care," Cameron said.

"We are turning an important scientific breakthrough into a potentially life-saving reality for NHS patients across the country.

"If we get this right, we could transform how we diagnose and treat our most complex diseases not only here but across the world, while enabling our best scientists to discover the next wonder drug or breakthrough technology," he added.

But campaigners warned the project, in which patients will have to opt out of having their personal DNA code sequenced if they do not wish to be involved, comes with "very real privacy concerns".

If extended to the whole population, individuals and their relatives could be identified and tracked by matching their DNA to their genome stored in health care records in a move which could "wipe out privacy", GeneWatch UK said.

Campaigners Big Brother Watch added the opt-out system for research was "wholly wrong", warning that marketing firms could try to use the data to sell medication to people at risk of becoming ill.
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