IBM Supercomputers have beaten the greatest chess players on Earth, once in a while.

Now, they've built one to conquer JEOPARDY! 

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/02/watson-jeopardy/

Named WATSON, after the Sherlock Holmes' character, this computer can read text and give answers in lightning speed.  This computer is going to play against the two best JEOPARDY contestants ever, tonight!  What do you think?  Is this either: cool, awesome, scary, terrifying, weird or shocking?  Why?


For some context,  here is a a video clip that explains it.

The jungles of Earth are sometimes so thick and remote that explorers have not penetrated into the deepest, darkest reaches of them.  Within the inner-most areas of these isolated and dense jungles, tribes of humans live as they have for thousands of years, having never been contacted by the outside world!

There are a few dozen tribes of people who have never been contacted by the outside world.  They are documented using airplanes, the locations of their villages are mapped and the forests around them are deemed "off limits" to logging and hunting to preserve the people's way of life.

A previously unknown tribe in the rain forests of Western Brazil has been photographed using an airplane for the first time.  Logging companies are already too-close for comfort to the tribe's villages.

Should this tribe be contacted or left alone?

Read this article.  At the end of each short section of paragraphs, click on the 'next' button to take you through the slide-show of pictures and explaining text.  In some of the photos, you can see the villagers pointing at the plane with looks of curiosity on their faces.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/uncontacted-tribe/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wiredscience+%28Blog+-+Wired+Science%29%2Ffeed%2F&pid=957&viewall=true