AI card game knows how to bend the rules

TEXAS Hold 'Em or Five Card Stud? There could soon be a better way to settle a poker night argument. Julian Togelius at the IT University of Copenhagen in Denmark and colleagues have developed an AI system that generates new card games from scratch.

Star-like cracks can reveal the speed of a bullet

PIECING together details of a car accident or crime scene could become a bit easier thanks to star-like cracks in glassy substances. These characteristic patterns can reveal the speed of the objects that made them. It has long been known that different materials require different amounts of energy to crack .

Ikea-bots build flat-pack furniture

ASSEMBLING flat-pack furniture can be a painful experience. Curses, misinterpreted instructions and "missing" components are all par for the course - if you're a human, that is. But harassed homeowners can take heart, thanks to a robotic duo that can assemble an Ikea coffee table, all by themselves, albeit rather slowly.

Superconducting hose transmits magnetic field

CALL it a magnet's answer to optical fibres: a hose that can carry magnetic fields a long distance. The strength of a magnetic field drops off quickly, which is why fridge magnets don't fly across the kitchen. Now, Carles Navau of the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain and colleagues have sent a field 4 centimetres.

Is there more to slacktivism than gesture politics?

SOME of the sheen has come off the belief that online activism can change the world. The social-media revolutions of the Arab Spring and the antics of hacktivist group Anonymous in opposing online censorship have diffused into "slacktivism" - changing a profile picture, or reposting a status update, to show support for a favoured cause.

Lethal DNA tags could keep innocent people out of jail

DNA so dangerous that it doesn't exist in nature has been given its first useful role - keeping innocent people out of jail. Several sequences of DNA not found in nature - probably because they are incompatible with life - were identified in 2007.