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Science In Action: Why Computers Forget

Jeff Clune with students at the evolving AI Lab.   Image credit:  Ted Brummond / University of Wyoming

09/04/2015

Why Computers Forget

BBC World Service - Science In Action, Why Computers Forget

Why computers forget, Hypnosis and medicine, Acid oceans, Sargassum seaweed

Improving how artificial ‘brains’ remember, How hypnosis works in medicine, Acid oceans and mass extinction, Why Caribbean beaches are covered in Sargassum seaweed.

Artificial ‘brains’ struggle to be good multi-taskers as they experience ‘catastrophic forgetting’ when learning new skills. Developing their neural networks in a modular fashion, like humans have evolved, may be the key to improving their memory.

Hypnosis and Medicine
Hypnosis has been used in a variety of ways in the medical setting, but how does it really work and is everyone susceptible?

Acid Oceans 
What caused the mass extinction of 252 million years ago? A team of scientists think they have got closer to understanding it through exploring the role of acid oceans.


Sargassum Seaweed
Covering many of the Caribbean’s famous white sandy beaches are piles of Sargassum seaweed. Scientists have been puzzling over its appearance. We explore its arrival ashore.

Presenter: Jack Stewart
Producer: Melanie Brown

(Photo credit: Jeff Clune with students at the evolving AI Lab.  Credit: Ted Brummond / University of Wyoming)

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