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IBM and MIT to pursue joint research in artificial intelligence, establish new MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab

IBM and MIT today announced that IBM plans to make a 10-year, $240 million investment to create the MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab in partnership with MIT. The lab will carry out fundamental artificial intelligence (AI) research and seek to propel scientific breakthroughs that unlock the potential of AI. The collaboration aims to advance AI hardware, software, and algorithms related to deep learning and other areas; increase AI’s impact on industries, such as health care and cybersecurity; and explore the economic and ethical implications of AI on society. IBM’s $240 million investment in the lab will support research by IBM and MIT scientists.

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Satellites Show Hurricane Katia Not Moving Much

Satellite imagery from NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites showed that Hurricane Katia had not moved much, just about 30 miles in 16 hours.

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Ship Exhaust Makes Oceanic Thunderstorms More Intense

Thunderstorms directly above two of the world’s busiest shipping lanes are significantly more powerful than storms in areas of the ocean where ships don’t travel, according to new research.

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UCI, JPL Investigators Find Direct Evidence of Sea Level 'Fingerprints'

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have reported the first observation of sea level “fingerprints,” tell-tale differences in sea level rise around the world in response to changes in continental water and ice sheet mass. The team’s findings were published today in the American Geophysical Union journal Geophysical Research Letters.

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Increasing Effective Decision-Making for Coastal Marine Ecosystems

Marine restoration, rather than protection, might be the most cost-effective solution for coastal marine ecosystems suffering from human activities, a new study has found.

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Hidden Inca Treasure: Remarkable New Tree Genus Discovered in the Andes

Hidden in plain sight – that’s how researchers describe their discovery of a new genus of large forest tree commonly found, yet previously scientifically unknown, in the tropical Andes.

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Pluto Features Given First Official Names

The IAU has assigned names to fourteen geological features on the surface of Pluto. The names pay homage to the underworld mythology, pioneering space missions, historic pioneers who crossed new horizons in exploration, and scientists and engineers associated with Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. This is the first set of official names of surface features on Pluto to be approved by the IAU, the internationally recognised authority for naming celestial bodies and their surface features.

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Mediterranean-Style Diet May Eliminate Need for Reflux Medications

A plant-based, Mediterranean-style diet has been shown to provide the same medical benefits for treating laryngopharyngeal reflux as popular reflux medications. This is according to a study published today in JAMA Otolaryngology Head Neck Surgery by researchers from Northwell Health’s The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and New York Medical College.

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Link Between Positive Emotions and Health Depends on Culture

Positive emotions are often seen as critical aspects of healthy living, but new researchsuggests that the link between emotion and health outcomes may vary by cultural context. The findings, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, show that experiencing positive emotions is linked with better cardiovascular health in the US but not in Japan.

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How does a hurricane form?

Hurricanes are the most violent storms on Earth. They form near the equator over warm ocean waters. Actually, the term hurricane is used only for the large storms that form over the Atlantic Ocean or eastern Pacific Ocean.

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