Future News - US Bird Count Is On, Baby Learning Robots, Chimps get Skype, Mind Reading Headsets, MST3K Funded, Drone Registry Created, $50 million for best Transpo Idea

Listen Now to Future News 12.15.2015

It’s that time of year for the annual citizen bird count, to see how the populations of our feathered friends are faring in our fair land.  Any interested can participate in the study, now in its 116th year!  It’s the first year, however, for the brand spanking new national drone registry program, designed to keep track, sort of, of the millions of drones that will soon be in our personal airspace, sharing the zone mostly with birds and insects.  It’s a brave new world, and this a first attempt to make sure things fly well.  One can hope..  

We thought it was also interesting that a new science experiment connecting chimps via a Skype type videoconferencing system is about to be deployed, connecting chimps in a UK zoo with other chimps in Africa.  What will they say to each other?  This Peter Gabriel financed project  intends to find out.  

This week we also discuss a new AI project that replicates the way human babies learn…watch, imitate, extrapolate…perhaps AI babies should be raised with our human babies..nah..too anthropomorphic, don’t you think..Still an interestinhg approach to learning..

Remember Mystery Science Theater 3000? The Kickstarter campaign, launched by show creator and original star Joel Hodgson, raised $5,764,229 in a month. That money, plus another $425,000 raised outside of Kickstarter, is enough to shoot 14 new episodes.

And do you want to make a cool $50 million? Then enter the medium-sized city contest for solving traffic problems, and you could save the day!  Enjoy the show!