An interview with Yoky Matsuoka, a leader in the emerging field of neurobotics, which combines neuroscience with robotics. The winner of a MacArthur Genius Award, Yoky was founder and director of the Neurobotics Lab at the University of Washington, and is currently V.P. of Technology at a company called Nest. Her long term research interest is prosthetic limbs controlled directly by the human brain. She also has her own nonprofit foundation called YokyWorks whose mission is to develop ingenious engineering solutions that allow people to overcome their physical limitations.
 

A look at Project LIGO, an attempt to test Einstein’s theory of gravity waves. Project LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory) uses two perpendicular laser tubes four kilometers long to test for distortions in space caused by gravity waves. The guests are Brian Lantz, senior research scientist at Stanford who has a Ph.D. From M.I.T. for his work in laser interferometers, and Riccardo Bassiri, who has a Ph.D. from the University of Glasgow for his work in the advanced optics used in laser interferometers. Also included: video from the National Science Foundation, which sponsors Project LIGO.

An interview with Bill Davidow, author of the recent book “Overconnected: The promise and threat of the Internet”. Davidow says that despite its many benefits, the Internet, because of the constantly accelerating speed with which it’s able to move information, can have a destabilizing effect that can ultimately lead to catastrophic consequences, especially in the economic sphere. Bill Davidow is a former senior VP at Intel, co-founder of the Mohr Davidow venture capital firm, and author of several books on technology. He is on the Board of Trustees of both Caltech and UCSF Medical Center.

Interviews with two futurists. John Smart is director of the Acceleration Studies Foundation, cofounder of the Evo Devo Universe research community, and director of the Emerging Technology masters degree program at the University of Advancing Technology. David Passig is an Associate Professor at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, where he heads the Graduate Program in Information and Communication Technology and the Virtual Reality Lab. He's the author of two books, “The Future Code” and “2048”. Topics include futurism as an academic field and the driving forces that will most impact the future.

A discussion of the rapidly growing field of robotics. The guest is Chuck Colby, whose 50+ year career as an inventor has led to numerous technological firsts. He now works mostly with robots, and he demonstrates several of his robotic inventions and also discusses long term trends in robotics. Also, videos of two very different kinds of robots.

How new information technology is opening up new possibilities for good health. There are two studio guests. John de Souza is CEO of MedHelp, the world’s largest online health community with over 12 million unique visitors per month, and Bruce Cohen is CEO of VitaPath Genetics, which develops tools for individual DNA analysis. We also have footage from the recent Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco, including interviews with Karl Ulfers of Optum Health, Brent Poole of Mindbloom, and Damon Ramsey of Healthism.

One of the biggest problems facing us today is how to find enough clean and sustainable energy to feed our ever growing economy. This episode features two guests from SRI International, one of the world’s leaders in energy research. Barbara Heydorn is Director of the Center of Excellence in Energy at SRI, where she develops the strategy that links SRI’s R&D capabilities to the needs of the marketplace. Ripudaman Malhotra is a research fellow at SRI, Associate Director of SRI’s Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory, and co-author of the recent book, “A Cubic Mile of Oil”.

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence as conducted by the SETI Institute, which uses an array of radio telescopes to search the skies for signals that might have an intelligent origin. Supported largely by private donors such as Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and actress Jodie Foster, they focus on regions that are thought to have large numbers of earthlike planets. The guest is Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at SETI, who has a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Caltech, is the host of the SETI Institute's radio show, and who won an award from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for his contributions to the public understanding of astronomy.
 

The Triple Helix Conference is an annual event that seeks innovative solutions to major world problems by fostering greater collaboration between industry, government and academia. The studio guests are Keith Devlin and Marina Ranga. Keith is the founder and Executive Director of Stanford’s H_STAR Institute, but is probably best know as “The Math Guy” on National Public Radio. He’s written 31 books and has received numerous awards, including the Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization. Marina Ranga was co-organizer of the conference and is also a senior researcher at the H-STAR Institute. She's a member of several United Nations commissions, and is a consultant to the European Commission as well.

A look at CliniSpace, a multiuser, online virtual hospital where real doctors and nurses expand their training by treating virtual patients. The emphasis is on making the right decisions quickly in high pressure situations, such as mass casualty incidents. CliniSpace won the 2011 Grand Prize of $25,000 at the Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge, sponsored by the US Army Research Lab. The two guests are the co-founders of Innovation in Learning, the company that created CliniSpace. Wm. LeRoy Heinrichs, MD, PhD, is Executive Medical Director, and Parvati Dev, PhD, is President and CEO of the company.