This week we discuss artificial intelligence following the recent UK AI summit. We visit Techniquest for an experiment about gravity. We also hear about the importance of parasites.

Thinking robots

Adam Walton discusses the state of AI, or artificial intelligence, with Professor Harold Thimbleby of Swansea University, who recently gave a keynote speech at the Annual Convention for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour.

Gravity of the situation

Adam pays a visit to Techniquest Science Discovery Centre at Glyndwr University in Wrexham, where John Griffith explains some famous experiments into gravity and its effect on objects.

If parasites were half as nice...

Adam chats to Dr Jo Cable, reader in parasitology at Cardiff School of Biosciences, about the extremely diverse discipline of parasitology, which concerns the role of parasites in human and veterinary medicine, as well as other fields such as agriculture and biodiversity. Cardiff recently played host to the British Society for Parasitology.

Pain time

A new study shows that being in pain can significantly affect our perception of time. The study, led by Dr David Lewis, director of research at Mindlab International, showed that when suffering moderate pain, people would estimate that an average of 20 per cent more time had passed than it had in reality.

LINKS

• Artificial Intelligence (Wikipedia)
• Techniquest
• World of parasites (Cardiff)