‘Cannon Arm’ and his quest to play an arcade game for 100 hours
Director of extraordinary documentary talks about eccentric obsessives who inspired it
Synonyms of the Fathers – Frank McNally on the complicated ‘fossil history’ of Irish surnames
An Irishman’s Diary
How does a cat get its stripes? A biological puzzle is solved
Geneticists have identified a gene in domestic cats that plays a key role in the pattern
Goldbach’s conjecture: if it’s unprovable, it must be true
Falsehood of the conjecture is incompatible with unprovability
Brexit agreement explainer: Who got what
Among areas covered by deal are trade, services, fisheries, level playing field and security
Tail with a twist – Frank McNally on the unsuspected role of a Kerry cow in the birth of artificial intelligence
An Irishman’s Diary
A week of number-crunching with Alan Turing, John King, and Sam McConkey
An Irishman’s Diary: Numb and numbers
How robotic technology can mimic repetitive business tasks
Automatic tools monitor and learn the behaviour of back-office staff
Johnny Watterson: Jack Charlton was forged from rough, tough raw material
He was a chip off the same granite block as Matt Busby, Bill Shankly and Brian Clough
Computing’s great leap forward not matched by safeguards
Software errors can be perilous – as the airline and motor industries have discovered
Maybe the Rationalists are right – AI could go terribly wrong
An influential minority in tech now think AI going rogue is a pressing problem
Will Eaves wins Wellcome Book Prize for Alan Turing-inspired novel Murmur
Fictionalised story about the arrest, chemical castration and harrowing end of Turing ‘restores faith in human beings’, say judges
When it comes to LGBTQ in tech, inclusivity is a win-win situation
Efforts are being made to engender an all-embracing culture, but it’s an uphill struggle
Can the inventor of the web save its future?
On system’s 30th birthday, Tim Berners-Lee hopes to ensure it stays safe and open
Monaghan scientist involved in molecular computing breakthrough
Damien Woods is ‘embedding an algorithm within chemistry to control chemical processes’
Would modern AI systems pass the ‘Turing Test’?
Whether a computer can effectively imitate a human has become a moot point
‘Gilets jaunes’, empty-chairing of Zuckerberg and scientists on banknotes
Planet Business: Also this week, Brexit pain in numbers, and changes at Condé Nast
British government to publish action plan to improve LGBT lives
North’s Amnesty International chief urges PM to use plan to end marriage inequality
Rugby players who last more than a decade can count themselves lucky
Donncha O’Callaghan, one of the few left with experience of club rugby in 20th century
From The Simpsons to Pink Floyd: Stephen Hawking in popular culture
The scientist’s fame led to sitcom appearances, biopics, and music about him
An accountant and businessman who spent time at Bletchley Park
Eric McDowell obituary: Born June 7th, 1925 – Died August 10th, 2017
Lost collection of Alan Turing letters found in old filing cabinet
Collection of nearly 150 letters gives intriguing insight into mathematician’s views on US
Fantasy Football: Harmless escapism or a very strange obsession?
The game now consumes millions of people all over the world, including 200,000 in Ireland
On the equiangular spiral and how the narwhal got its horn
Michael Viney: D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson belongs on the same shelf as Charles Darwin
Could robots go beyond taking our jobs to running our world?
Fear of superintelligent AI has prompted new guidelines that propose close regulation
Decoding the enigma that is Alan Turing, the ghost in his own machine
London’s latest public art work speaks to us from beyond the grave
Double standard for LGBT people in North, say activists
Rainbow Project wants parity with England as convictions on abolished sex offences quashed
Oscar Wilde may be exonerated as UK moves to pardon gay men
Homosexual acts were not decriminalised in England until 1967
Fruits of a friendship forged in the garden
‘A Tale of Two Gardens’ is lovely, poignant, informative, and elegantly written
Chris Horn: Machines, choice and the illusion of customer service
Whichever company dominates the provision of an automated concierge may well be the next Google
Chris Horn: ‘We are on cusp of an exciting new age of innovation’
By building simulations of the real world, and letting Google’s DeepMind experiment, it can learn new skills
The famous mathematician Ada Lovelace and the horse named after her
Irishman’s Diary: Wild imagination set her apart from other geniuses of the era, including Charles Babbage
Culture Shock: Social rights and Hollywood wrongs – why Rambo has a lot to answer for
‘The Imitation Game’ and ‘Selma’ have both been scrutinised for historical accuracy. Is it fair to expect film-makers to stick to the unvarnished truth?
BBC to give 1m Micro Bit computers to UK secondary schools
Giveaway part of ‘Make it Digital’ plan which aims to improve coding and programming skills
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