With a Ph.D. from the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, Daniel H. Wilson has worked in top research laboratories. In the first half, he discussed how the family of the late bestselling author Michael Crichton chose him to pen the next installment of the classic story The Andromeda Strain. His sequel, "The Andromeda Evolution," begins 50 years later, with the discovery of a bizarre anomaly in the middle of the Amazon jungle and the tell-tale chemical signature of the deadly microparticle that nearly ended the human race in the first book. Populated with a diverse set of protagonists, Wilson said Crichton's widow Sherri was instrumental in making sure there were strong female characters.
"It was interesting to try and capture Michael Crichton's voice," he remarked, "so that the audience felt like they were in good hands." But it was also essential to have his own voice, Wilson added, because there's no way to entirely mimic someone and come up with something successful. Speaking about his work in robotics, he noted that we are the first generation of humans who are interacting with lifelike technology, and he is curious how this will affect children in particular. In regards to lethal autonomous weaponry and drones, he doesn't expect that to be in people's day-to-day lives, but is more concerned about how smart AI technology is being designed to manipulate consumers and encourage them to buy various products.
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In the latter half, Coast to Coast AM investigative reporter Cheryll Jones presented her interview with writer and researcher Lindy Tucker on the little-known aspect and phenomenon of beeping UFOs. Tucker's investigations started in 1975 after she and her neighbors in Orton, Ontario, Canada experienced mysterious light, energy, and sound phenomena (beeps). They witnessed a silver-disc with a white dome in the woods behind the trees, and later the beeping sounds returned to her backyard and were recorded by an astronomer from York University. "I found that I was getting charged by the sound," she revealed, and also experienced odd electrical phenomena such as stopping the hands on a clock when she was near one. The beeping had a loud piercing quality, she continued, and it often knocked out the batteries of nearby portable devices.
Further, the beeping seemed to have an effect on plants as evidenced by Lindy's huge 75-pound cabbage grown after the first strange encounter at her Orton home (view related images). After joining MUFON, Tucker began collecting other recordings (a selection of them were played in the second segment). Interestingly, she found that the location of the recordings somewhat paralleled the appearance of crop circles in many places. She also detailed how she compared UFO beeps and sounds with the renowned abductee Betty Hill, who experienced sound anomalies. Tucker mentioned an acoustical analysis was done comparing the beeping to the sound of saw-whet owls. During the last hour, Cheryll took questions from callers on related UFO phenomena.
News segment guests: Howard Bloom, Dr. Peter Breggin