News of the week selected by Impactscool – September 3rd, 2018

Will, an IA makes his debut as a teacher in New Zealand

Primary school students in New Zealand will soon lecture with Will, a digital avatar with artificial intelligence. The new teacher is an energy expert and the guys who tested his teacher skills seem to be very satisfied. Will was born from the collaboration between Vector, the Auckland energy company, and the company Soul Machines, which deals with IA, and he speaks to students about renewable energy and their potential. Kids can interact with Will through their PCs, tablets or mobile devices and their teacher can ask them questions about what they have learned to measure their degree of attention.
For now, Will is “just” a face on a screen and knows only one topic, but soon these systems could become normal in schools around the world. Will they replace teachers in flesh and blood or will they become their colleagues, offering support for traditional training?

Where will we see the first Uber’s flying taxis?

Within 5 years, the “flying taxi” service of Uber will be active, at least according to what declared by the Californian Company, which is evaluating the most suitable countries and cities to test its aircrafts. After announcing last year the first two cities in which the service will start, Dallas and Los Angeles, Uber is evaluating a third city, outside the US borders. The list of nations in contention to host the first tests, already starting in 2020, is now restricted to five countries: Japan, France, Brazil, Australia and India. Uber will choose the city considering some precise parameters, considered essential by the company: a metropolitan population of over 2 million people, inhabited centres distant from each other, an airport less than an hour from the city centre and availability to support carpooling services. The final choice will come within six months. Uber and his partners are still testing the technology behind these electric aircraft and there are no guarantees that Uber will be able to achieve its goal, especially in such a short time. However, we wait confident!

Pollution damages the human brain

According to a new study, conducted by Chinese and US researchers, air pollution does not cause only damage to our health but also our intelligence. The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, shows how exposure to pollution also has an impact on our cognitive abilities. The study, which involved 20 thousand people living in 162 different Chinese counties, has compared the results of some cognitive tests and the results of the surveys on pollution in the country. This is not the only study to notice the link between polluted air and cognitive decline, but it is the first to look at people of all ages. The air we breathe causes problems to our health and this is now established. If the results of this research will be confirmed, however, we will have further evidence of the negative effects of pollution on humans and, this time, our brain is in danger.