A researcher has created the first self-replicating mathematical organization, a demonstration of how astounding complexity can arise from simple beginnings and processes, possibly an echo of life's origins.

A coalition of academics and tinkerers are working on cheap three-dimensional printers or desktop manufacturing plants. Their long-term goal is to create a machine that is able to fix itself and, ultimately, to replicate.

Peter Singer argues that while the U.S. has a commanding lead in the emerging military revolution of robotic warfare, it should pay attention to the lessons learned by other first-movers in previous military technological revolutions and continue innovating and experimenting until the nature of the revolution is better understood.

The CIA is using new, smaller missiles and advanced surveillance techniques to minimize civilian casualties in its targeted killings of suspected insurgents in Pakistan's tribal areas, according to current and former officials in the United States and Pakistan.

Science fiction sometimes depicts robot soldiers as killing machines without conscience or remorse. But at least one robotics expert today says that someday machines may make the best and most humane decisions on the battlefield.

Swiss scientists have continued their work on developing intelligent robots by evolving their behavior. Their robots have continued to evolve, learning how to navigate a maze, beginning to cooperate and share, and even developing complex predator-prey interactions.

Israel is developing an army of robotic fighting machines that offers a window onto the potential future of warfare.

The US Department of Homeland Security is fielding sensors on the border with Mexico in an $8 billion project called the Secure Border Initiative network. It will use a range of surveillance tools including remote-controlled optical and infrared cameras, ground surveillance radar and acoustic and vibration sensors to detect humans, bug-eyed robots with human-sensing radar, and magnetic sensors to detect vehicle movements and weapons.

When armies clash in the not-too-distant future, remotely-operated robotic weapons will fight the enemy on land, in the air and at sea, without a human soldier anywhere on the battlefield. The first robotic systems are already being used by the Israel Defense Forces and other armies across the world, and only budgetary constraints seem to be keeping science fiction from becoming reality.

The renowned ethical philosopher and animal rights advocate, Peter Singer, argues that as robots come closer and closer to achieving consciousness, humanity will have to consider how best to morally treat them and to what uses they can be put.