The Future This Week: Mars, Turing Tests, and Gene Editing

In The Future This Week, Serious Wonder scours the DNA of the internet in search of this week’s headlines of the future, from the first ever Turing Test for sound to the possible discovery of volcanoes on Mars. This week we’re given a glimpse into the future where the radical extension of life goes full swing with the ability of transplanting a human head to editing someone’s genome to help combat against cancer.

Whether we’re genetically modifying people or exploring the inner depths of celestial planets, the future is unfolding itself into becoming an adventure of both exploration and discovery. Each step we make, each innovation we create, and each journey we embark on, we are rewriting the history books because of it. The world of which we’re entering challenges both our perceptions of the universe and the perception of ourselves. Welcome to the future!

What is being dubbed as a “Turing Test for sound,” researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have demonstrated a new algorithm that effectively learned how to predict and produce sound capable of fooling humans. SOURCE

After studying data sent back from Mars by the Curiosity rover, a group of researchers across the U.S. have discovered evidence of tridymite, a type of mineral that is associated with explosive volcanoes here on Earth. SOURCE

Photo Credit: MIT

Following the lead of Italian surgeon Dr. Sergio Canavero, Chinese surgeon Dr. Ren Xiaoping has revealed his own plans of performing what might become the world’s first human head transplant, even claiming he already has volunteers. SOURCE

According to the National Institutes of Health, next week a federal safety board will be considering the first human use of the gene-editing technology CRISPR to help combat against cancer, as proposed by doctors at the University of Pennsylvania. SOURCE