How will machine learning change science?

SUMMER SERIES: HOW SCIENCE WORKS - For millennia scientists have manually combed through data in a bid to find meaningful patterns to solve complex problems. Now, many researchers believe that Machine Learning will fundamentally change the way science is done. Machine learning has burst onto the scene in the past two decades and will be a defining technology of the future. It is transforming large sectors of society, including healthcare, education, transport, and food and industrial production, as well as having an enormous impact on science and research. A subset of artificial intelligence, machine learning is a process that helps computers to learn without direct instruction, and from experience. It does this by using algorithms to identify patterns within data, which are then used to create models that can make predictions. And data is the key.