The Future of Everything
Stanford Engineering
Host Russ Altman, a professor of bioengineering, genetics, and medicine at Stanford, is your guide to the latest science and engineering breakthroughs. Join Russ and his guests as they explore cutting-edge advances that are shaping the future of everything from AI to health and renewable energy.
Along the way, “The Future of Everything” delves into ethical implications to give listeners a well-rounded understanding of how new technologies and discoveries will impact society. Whether you’re a researcher, a student, or simply curious about what’s on the horizon, tune in to stay up-to-date on the latest developments that are transforming our worl
Best of: The future of bioprinting
February is American Heart Month, and in light of that, we’re bringing back an episode about a group here at Stanford Engineering that’s developing 3D printing methods for human tissues and organs, a process known as bioprinting. Motivated in part by the critical need for heart transplants, Mark Skylar-Scott and his team are specifically working to bioprint tissues of the human heart. It may sound like science fiction, but it’s actually just another example of the groundbreaking research we do h
Trailer: The Future of Everything
Welcome to Stanford Engineering's The Future of Everything, the podcast that delves into groundbreaking research and innovations that are shaping the world and inventing the future. The University has a long history of doing work to positively impact the world and it's a joy to share about the people who are doing this work, what motivates them, and how their work is creating a better future for everybody. Join us every Friday for new episodes featuring insightful conversations with Stanford fac
The future of coronary arteries
Guest Kristy Red-Horse is a biologist who specializes in coronary artery development and disease. She says the latest advances in treatment of blockages could do away with invasive bypass surgeries in favor of growing new arteries using molecules like CXCL12, known to promote artery regrowth in mice. Red-Horse explains how leaps forward in medical imaging, expanding atlases of gene expressions, and new drug delivery mechanisms could someday lead to trials in humans. But, before that day can arri
The future of transparent tissue
Materials scientist and physicist Guosong Hong is an expert in getting materials to do remarkable things. Recently, he and collaborators used a common food dye found in snack chips to turn living tissue transparent, allowing light to penetrate through skin and muscle. Hong is now working to realize a new age of medical imaging that lets doctors see deep into the body – without surgery. It’s a miracle of physics but it could change medicine, Hong tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford
Best of: The future of science education
With the tremendous amount of information available to us today, the ability to discern what’s reliable from what’s not is crucial to combating the spread of misinformation. In 2023, we sat down with Jonathan Osborne, an expert in science education to talk about the tools our students (and really all of us!) need to critically evaluate science news and information. We hope you’ll tune into this episode again to hear about the three valuable skills Osborne says we should be teaching our students
The future of seaweed
Oceanographer Kristen Davis, an authority on ocean physics and climate sustainability, discusses the growing excitement around seaweed and kelp as tools to combat climate change. Like trees on land, these underwater plants use photosynthesis to absorb carbon dioxide and convert it into organic matter. When they die, some of that carbon may sink to the ocean depths. However, the science is still evolving and there’s a lot we don’t yet understand about how seaweed farming might impact carbon seque
The future of kidney dialysis
Nephrologist Manjula Tamura discusses the downsides of kidney dialysis, especially for old or frail patients. Her field has set its sights on offering alternatives, including supportive medical management without dialysis, dialysis in increments, wearable artificial kidneys, and transplanted kidneys from genetically modified pigs – in addition to advances in preventive care that can help humans avoid kidney failure in the first place. Dialysis can extend life, she says, but it is a lifestyle cha
The future of robotic surgery
Guest Renee Zhao works at the cutting-edge of robotic surgery – literally. Emboldened by advances in 3D-printing and miniaturization, she builds “millibots,” magnet-controlled, millimeter-scale soft robots that navigate the bloodstream to remove blood clots and treat brain aneurysms. While the millibot’s promise is clear, much work remains before the devices are commonplace. Revolutionizing health care with surgical robots will require a delicate balance of design, buildability, and functionalit
Best of: The future of exercise
Happy New Year! For many of us, a new year brings a renewed sense of motivation when it comes to health. Earlier this year, Russ sat down to speak with Jonathan Long, a Stanford biochemist who studies the chemicals produced during exercise. The conversation was one of our most popular during 2024 and today we’re re-sharing it. As many of us look to create healthy habits in 2025, we hope you’ll tune in to hear the exciting research Professor Long is doing to better understand the deep chemical co
Best of: The future of skin longevity
Happy Holidays! However you’re celebrating, we hope you’re able to find time to connect with friends, family, and loved ones. To accompany you through the season, we’re re-running one of our most popular episodes from 2024, the future of skin longevity with Professor Zakia Rahman. As an expert in dermatology, Professor Rahman explains that our skin is our most photographed organ, and taking care of it is not about vanity but rather vitality. Tune in to hear our conversation about everything from
The future of depression care
Leanne Williams is an expert in depression. The first thing that she wants the world to know is that depression is not some sort of character flaw, but a real illness with symptoms that can impair one’s ability to function day to day. The past decade has seen remarkable advances, she says, as functional MRI has opened new avenues of understanding depression’s mechanisms and its treatments. These are hopeful times for the science of depression, Williams tells host Russ Altman on this episode of S
The future of Alzheimer’s treatment
Guest Michael Greicius is an authority on Alzheimer’s disease. He makes the case that while effective treatments have remained elusive, there are high hopes for new approaches that target tau proteins in the brain associated with the disease. In the meantime, to reduce Alzheimer’s risk stay active, eat well, and manage circulatory risks, but skip genetic testing for now until better treatments emerge, Greicius tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everyth
The future of AI and democracy
Two-time guest Nate Persily is a professor of law and policy who studies the intersection of artificial intelligence and democracy. AI is creeping into democracy, he says, and 2024 saw its share of deepfakes and synthetic media, but with surprisingly little impact. His bigger concern is the opposite – politicians claiming the truth to be fake. It breeds distrust and, for democracy, that’s more pernicious, Persily tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Ever
Best of: The future of underwater robotics
The field of robotics has a long history at Stanford Engineering, and Professor Oussama Khatib has been a pioneering leader in that field, working on everything from human-interactive robots to underwater exploration, pushing the boundaries of what robots can do. Most recently, he’s led the opening of a new Robotics Center at Stanford. Today we’re bringing back the conversation we had with him about his work on OceanOneK — a humanoid robot who now has a new home in the Robotics Center. Join us a
The future of AI coaching
Guest James Landay is an expert in human-centered artificial intelligence, a field all about optimizing technology for human and societal good. Landay says one of the most promising intersections is in education and AI, where the technology excels as a coaching and tutoring tool. His Smart Primer and Acorn apps use augmented reality and AI to engage children in outdoor, hands-on environmental science, and his GPT Coach is an AI-powered fitness planning tool. When it comes to AI and education, th
The future of extreme climate events
Climate change authority Noah Diffenbaugh says that the effects of climate change are no longer theoretical but apparent in everyday, tangible ways. Still, he says, it is not too late to better understand the effects of climate change, to mitigate them through reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and other measures, and to adapt how we live in the face of a warmer planet. Society is falling behind in its ability to deal with increasingly extreme climate events but solutions are not out of reac
The future of climate projection
Climate modeler Aditi Sheshadri says that while weather forecasting and climate projection are based on similar science, they are very different disciplines. Forecasting is about looking at next week, while projection is about looking at the next century. Sheshadri tells host Russ Altman how new data and techniques, like low-cost high-altitude balloons and AI, are reshaping the future of climate projection on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.Have a question
Best of: Computation cracks cold cases
Halloween may be behind us in the US but here at The Future of Everything we’re not quite done with spooky season. If you’re pairing your trick-or-treat haul with some scary movies, we invite you to revisit with us a conversation Russ had with Lawrence Wein a couple years ago about the work he’s doing in forensic genetic genealogy to crack cold cases. Professor Wein shares how he’s using math to catch criminals through traces of their DNA. It’s both haunting and hopeful, and we hope you’ll take
The future of autonomous vehicles
Returning guest Marco Pavone is an expert in autonomous robotic systems, such as self-driving cars and autonomous space robots. He says that there have been major advances since his last appearance on the show seven years ago, mostly driven by leaps in artificial intelligence. He tells host Russ Altman all about the challenges and progress of autonomy on Earth and in space in this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.Have a question for Russ? Send it our way in writ
The future of ultrafast electronics
Physicist Matthias Kling studies photons and the things science can do with ultrafast pulses of X-rays. These pulses last just attoseconds – a billionth of a billionth of a second, Kling says. He uses them to create slo-mo “movies” of electrons moving through materials like those used in batteries and solar cells. The gained knowledge could reshape fields like materials science, ultrafast and quantum computers, AI, and medical diagnostics, Kling tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford
Best of: An innovative polling model can move us beyond political polarization
We’re just weeks away from a national election, and in our polarized society, we all know it can be difficult to find and create spaces for thoughtful policy discussions. A couple of years ago, James Fishkin, a professor of communication at Stanford, joined the podcast. He talked about a system called deliberative polling that can serve as a model for structuring small group discussions to help bring people together and bridge differences in conversations about some of the most politically fraug
The future of GPS
Astronautics professor Grace Gao is an authority on the Global Positioning System. GPS has long been key to navigation on Earth, she says, but science is now shifting its focus outward to the frontiers of space. Gao is working on a GPS-like system for the Moon. To keep costs low, this lunar positioning system will leverage Earth-based satellites complemented by a network of smaller satellites in lunar orbit. It could lead to autonomous vehicles on the moon and a new era of lunar exploration, Gao
The future of female athletic health
Sports medicine physician Emily Kraus knows a lot about the health challenges of female athletes. Women face far more ACL tears and bone stress injuries than men, for instance, and excessive training or poor nutrition can also delay puberty and affect menstruation. These differences are vastly understudied, she says. To close the gap, Kraus initiated the “Female Athlete Voice Project” that asks female Olympic and Paralympic athletes about their health experiences. We need to tailor approaches sp
Best of: How to fight climate change
Today, we’re bringing you a best-of from our archive of over 250 episodes. We’re all aware that the consequences of climate change range from rising sea levels, to drought, wildfires, economic disruption and the displacement of populations. We’re seeing and living through many of these effects, but is there hope for managing additional risk? A couple years ago we sat down with environmental scientist Chris Field to ask this question. He shared that it’s still possible to pave the way to a sustai
The future of skin longevity
Taken any selfies lately? Dermatologist Zakia Rahman studies both the science of healthy skin and the effects of the exponential increase in skin images on self-esteem. As a result, skin health is linked to mental health, she says. It’s not about vanity, it’s about vitality, Rahman tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.Have a question for Russ? Send it our way in writing or via voice memo, and it might be featured on an upcoming episode
The future of AI at work
Arvind Karunakaran studies the intersections of work, AI, and organizational behavior. He says AI can enhance speed and productivity in the short run, yet degrade skills over time. But it is in organizational power dynamics where AI has had its most marked impact, he says, telling host Russ Altman about situations in law firms where AI has fostered tension between paralegals and junior attorneys. It’s AI and the modern workplace on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything
Best of: Better ways to build an airplane
We want to wish our listeners in the states a happy Labor Day weekend. We hope, wherever you are, you’re taking some time to savor the last bit of summer. After a couple months full of travel and news about the airplane industry, we can’t help wondering — are there better ways to build airplanes? Our previous guest, Ilan Kroo, an expert in aeronautics, discusses how recent developments in fuels, engines, materials, and computer controls are leading to a new era of airplanes. We hope you’ll tune
The future of Russia and Ukraine
Political scientist Kathryn Stoner is the Director of the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) at Stanford and an authority on Russian/Ukrainian politics. She says views on the current war depend on which side someone is on: Many Russians and their leader Vladimir Putin say Ukrainians are Russians and have been since the 10th century. Ukrainians strongly disagree, likening the two nations to the U.S. and Great Britain. How the present conflict is resolved has important im
The future of educational technology
Dan Schwartz is a cognitive psychologist and dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Education. He says that artificial intelligence is a different beast, but he is optimistic about its future in education. “It’s going to change stuff. It’s really an exciting time,” he says. Schwartz imagines a world not where AI is the teacher, but where human students learn by teaching AI chatbots key concepts. It’s called the Protégé Effect, Schwartz says, providing host Russ Altman a glimpse of the future of
Best of: A more thoughtful approach to technology can improve medical care
Today, we’re re-running a fascinating conversation with Sara Singer, a Stanford professor of medicine, and an expert on integrated healthcare. Anyone who’s had to navigate the healthcare system knows it’s extremely complex, and care can often feel disjointed or inefficient. In this episode, Sara highlights new technologies that could improve integration within the healthcare system, ultimately enhancing a practitioners’ ability to care for patients. We hope you’ll take another listen and enjoy.E
The future of cognitive tools
Psychologist Judy Fan is an expert in how physical objects facilitate learning. In the classroom, these include pencils, pens, paper, and whiteboards. But in any learning situation, the physical world provides tools for learning and communicating, often trumping the speed and reach of today’s digital technologies. These objects are cognitive tools – physical representations of human thought, she says. They help us think, solve problems, and communicate with others better and more effectively, as
The future of perceptual phenomena
From witchcraft to shamans to those with schizophrenia, voices and visions have always been part of human experience and they have always intrigued anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann. She now studies how various cultures understand these mysterious mental phenomena. Luhrmann has observed and talked to hundreds who’ve experienced voices and visions and learned there are “different pathways” to understand them, as she tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everyt
Russ’s Summer Playlist
Whether you’re taking a summer road trip, planning a long plane ride, or simply enjoying walks in the warm weather, we want to take a moment to recommend to you a few recent episodes of The Future of Everything to listen to along the way. You’ll find a list of these episodes in the show notes, but as a brief preview we’ve got conversations on robotics, brain science, cybersecurity, the universe, and exercise waiting for you. If you’re interested in any one of these topics, check out this summer
The future of polymers
Alberto Salleo is an expert in the long, chain-like molecules known as polymers. The world relies on polymers and the most common are in plastics. Salleo is now working on a new generation of organic polymers made of Earth-abundant materials that could lead to flexible electronics that can biodegrade or be easily recycled. These polymers could be game-changers, Salleo tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.Episode Reference Links:Stanfor
Best of: How math makes markets fairer
We have another best-of episode for you today. This one is a conversation with Irene Lo about the work she’s doing to study and leverage markets for social impact — think markets for public school assignments, or medical school residency matches. Irene reminds us that markets exist to help effectively allocate limited resources, and not all marketplaces are based in cash. We hope you’ll tune in again to this thought provoking conversation to hear Irene talk about the changing face of markets.Epi
The future of exercise
Jonathan Long is a biochemist who studies the chemicals produced during exercise. In Long’s world, “you always start with molecules,” which offer “clean handles” to understanding complex processes. His lab has identified a chemical produced in the digestive tract during exercise that can make a person stop eating. Long now studies this “gut-brain axis” for ways to treat obesity, diabetes, and, perhaps, even age-related conditions like dementia, as he tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Sta
Best of: The future of proteins
We’re digging back into our archives with an episode with bioengineer Polly Fordyce. Polly studies the form and function of proteins. She refers to proteins as the “workhorses” that make things in the body happen, and her study of these molecules reveals a greater understanding of human life. We hope you’ll tune in to this conversation again, and enjoy.Episode Reference Links:Stanford Profile: Polly FordycePolly’s Lab: The Fordyce LabConnect With Us:Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everythi
The future of computer-aided education
Chris Piech is a professor of computer science who studies how computers can help students learn. In comparing human- and computer-aided education, he says humans are great one-on-one, but AI is more consistent at grading and feedback. He and colleagues have created several generative AI grading apps to take advantage of these relative strengths, as he tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.Episode Reference Links:Stanford Profile: Chris
The future of effective communication
Guest Matt Abrahams is a master communicator who helps others overcome their fear of speaking — before live audiences, in small groups, or even one-on-one. His catchphrase, “Think Fast, Talk smart,” describes a mindset that, he says, is key to speaking well. Thinking fast is the ability to recognize and respond to patterns in order to talk smart — becoming more salient, relevant, and concise in the process. Abrahams coaches host Russ Altman on how to talk smart on this episode of Stanford Engine
Best of: What happens when computers can write like humans
We’re bringing you a timely best-of episode, given the recent advances in generative AI tools like ChatGPT. A couple years ago we interviewed Jeff Hancock, a Stanford professor of communication whose research explores the psychological and interpersonal processes at play when people communicate with each other and with computers. At the time of this conversation, ChatGPT wasn’t yet available to the public, but today Jeff’s insights about how such technologies impact the ways we communicate seem
The future of the universe
Astrophysicist Risa Wechsler studies the evolution of the universe. She says that our understanding of how the universe formed and how it will change over time is changing as new technologies for seeing and measuring space come online, like a new high-resolution camera that can quickly map the full sky to see everything that moves, or new spectrographs that will map the cosmos in 3D and enable us to get new clues about the elusive dark matter. You can’t understand the universe or our presence in
The future of robotics
Guest Jeannette Bohg is an expert in robotics who says there is a transformation happening in her field brought on by recent advances in large language models. The LLMs have a certain common sense baked in and robots are using it to plan and to reason as never before. But they still lack low-level sensorimotor control — like the fine skill it takes to turn a doorknob. New models that do for robotic control what LLMs did for language could soon make such skills a reality, Bohg tells host Russ Alt
The future of brain science
Guest Sergiu Pasca is a physician-scientist who turns skin cells into stem cells and then into brain tissues he calls “organoids” and “assembloids” in order to study psychiatric and neurological illness in a dish instead of in living human beings. With this knowledge, Pasca hopes to develop new treatments for conditions ranging from schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders to chronic pain, he tells host Russ Altman in this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.Epi
The future of cybersecurity
With TikTok in the hands of 170 million Americans, cybersecurity expert Amy Zegart says it’s time to talk about consequences. Foreign access to all that data on so many Americans is a national security threat, she asserts. For those as concerned as she, Zegart has good news and bad. The government has gotten better at fighting cyberthreats, but artificial intelligence is making things very complicated, very fast. The US needs to adapt quickly to keep pace, Zegart tells host Russ Altman on this e
Best of: Regenerating and rejuvenating human tissues
A best of episode where Russ interviews one of his bioengineering colleagues, Fan Yang, about some of the fascinating work she’s doing in the realm of tissue engineering. Hear more about the ways her lab is modeling human tissue to help develop a better understanding of how we might effectively replace damaged tissues and alleviate a number of health concerns.Episode Reference Links:Fan Yang's Stanford Profile: WebsiteFan Yang’s Stanford Lab: WebsiteEp.174 Regenerating and Rejuvenating Human Ti
Best of: How do you build a better robot? By understanding people.
A best of episode where Russ interviews computer scientist and electrical engineer, Dorsa Sadigh. They had a fantastic conversation about the work she’s doing to train robots to better understand humans, and as she shares, it turns out that one key to this work is better understanding human behavior. If you’re curious about how we’re going to make human-robot interaction work, this is a great episode to tune into again. Enjoy.Episode Reference Links:Dorsa Sadigh: WebsiteDorsa Sadigh: Stanford P
Best of: Why AI must embody the values of its users
We’re bringing back an episode about trust and AI. In a world where the use of Artificial Intelligence is exploding, guest computer scientist Carlos Guestrin shares insights from the work he’s doing to support the development of trust between humans and machines. We originally recorded this episode in 2022, but the insights are just as if not more relevant today. We hope you’ll take another listen and enjoy. Episode Reference Links:Carlos Ernesto Guestrin (Stanford Profile)Carlos Guestrin (Carl
The future of addiction
Guest Anna Lembke is a psychiatrist and a specialist in the behavioral sciences who studies addiction. While there is tremendous variety in the things people can be addicted to, all forms are tied to dopamine, a biochemical that is key to human senses of pleasure, reward, and motivation. She says that new treatments are combining traditional abstinence with programs that help patients reenergize dopamine centers in the brain through physical exercise, which is a known producer of dopamine. If pa
The future of computer music
Humans and computers making music together, it’s the best of both worlds.Ge Wang is a professor of music, a computer scientist, and director of the Stanford Laptop Orchestra – an orchestra in which human musicians and computers collaborate to make music. “I once thought computer music was abstract and inaccessible, but it can be very playful, too,” he says. Humans and computers making music together, it’s the best of both worlds, Wang tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineerin
The future of pediatric pain
Laura Simons is a clinical psychologist and an authority on pain, particularly chronic pain in childhood, which is much more common than widely understood. Most people don't even think chronic pain happens in children, says Simons. The consequences, however, are serious, ranging from learning gaps from missed school to social isolation and even depression. Better treatment begins with a better understanding of the science of pain, as Simons tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engi
The future of measuring cancer
Guest Olivier Gevaert is an expert in multi-modal biomedical data modeling and recently developed new methods in the new science of “spatial transcriptomics” that are able to predict how cancer cells present spatially and will behave in the future. Tumors are not monolithic, he says, but made up of various cell types. Spatial transcriptomics measures cells in the undisturbed organization of the tumor itself and enables a more detailed study of tumors. This new technology can be used to determine
The future of reading
Rebecca Silverman is an expert in how humans learn to read. It’s a complex process, she says. First we must connect letters and sounds to decode words in texts. Researchers know a lot about the decoding process and how to teach it. But, beyond that, we must also comprehend what the words in texts are conveying. Comprehension is complex, and researchers know much less about the comprehension process and how to teach it, Silverman tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s Th
The future of culture
Professor and cultural psychologist Michele Gelfand’s latest book, Rule Makers, Rule Breakers, explores notions of what she calls “tight” and “loose” cultures, and how each shapes us as individuals and the world around us. Tight cultures closely follow unwritten cultural norms, while those on the looser side have more latitude. Culture is complicated, she says, but understanding its nuances is key to understanding the world, Gelfand tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’
Best of: What makes a surgeon great?
We’re taking you into our archive of over 250 episodes to re-share an interview Russ Altman did in 2022 with Stanford Medicine Professor of Surgery, Carla Pugh. Performing surgery is profoundly complex and requires precision, dexterity and lots of practice. Dr. Pugh shares about how she’s studying the movements of skilled surgeons to better understand what makes them successful, which can in turn help to improve training for new surgeons.Episode Reference Links:Technology Enabled Clinical Impro
The future of bioprinting
Mark Skylar-Scott is one of the world’s foremost experts on the 3D printing of human tissue, cell by cell. It’s a field better known as bioprinting. But Skylar-Scott hopes to take things to a level most never imagined. He and his collaborators are working to bioprint an entire living, working human heart. We’re printing biology, Skylar-Scott tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.Episode Reference Links:Skylar-Scott LabConnect With Us:Ep
The future of language learning
Cognitive scientist Michael Frank studies differences in how children and AI learn language. There is a “data gap” between the billions of words ChatGPT has to work with and the millions of words a toddler is exposed to. But, says Frank, children learn in a rich social context that supports their learning. He’s currently conducting the “BabyView Study,” where he puts cameras on young children's heads to help him understand their learning experience, as Frank tells host Russ Altman on this episod
Best of: Computational modeling can help us understand Alzheimer’s disease
We’re re-running an important episode on Alzheimer’s disease — a topic that touches many people. We still don’t have a complete understanding of the disease and that makes it hard to design effective therapies. In 2022, Russ Altman sat down with mechanical engineer Ellen Kuhl who offered a glimpse into the way she’s using computational modeling to help improve our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease.Connect With Us:Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everything WebsiteConnect with Russ >>> Th
The future of immigration
Ran Abramitzky studies the economic history of immigration by tapping into now-public government records and using AI to chart changing attitudes on immigration captured in written documents and official speeches. What’s revealed is a remarkable story that often diverges from conventional wisdom. Not all streets were paved with gold, Abramitzky tells host Russ Altman, himself a descendant of immigrants, on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.Connect With Us:Ep
Best of: The future of art
We’re re-releasing a wonderful episode about the positive impact art has on individual and societal health. Guest Deborah Cullinan, vice president for the arts at Stanford, shares how including just 10-20 minutes of art in your day — whether through drawing or dancing to your favorite song — can contribute to improved health. Her insights remind us, and hopefully will remind you as well, that art plays a valuable role in both individual and societal well being. Connect With Us:Episode Transcript
The future of digital health
As the pandemic made a doctor visit as easy as a Zoom call and computer vision proved able to distinguish a benign blemish from something more worrisome, guest Eleni Linos, MD, DrPH, grew fascinated with the many ways digital technologies will impact all of medicine, not just her specialty, dermatology. She now believes the future of digital health is the future of health, period. But much work remains to ensure those benefits extend to every sector of society. Linos previews the future of digit
Best of: New life for old muscles
To kick off 2024, we’re bringing you an episode that’s been one of our most popular. The timing is just right as many of us are headed into the new year thinking about how to live better. In this episode, Professor Helen Blau, a stem cell biologist, tells us all about how she’s recruiting stem cells to regenerate youthful muscle in older people. We’re thrilled to bring this episode out of the archives for another listen and renewed hope about possibilities ahead in the world of health. Happy Ne
Russ's Holiday Episode Playlist
Russ's curated playlist of six episodes from our archive to accompany you through the holiday season & into the new year.Curated Episode Links:Is it time to rethink philanthropy? (Robert Reich) --> YouTube or Episode PageThe future of the gut microbiome (KC Huang) --> YouTube or Episode PageHow 3D printing is changing medicine (Joseph DeSimone) --> YouTube or Episode PageThe future of computational linguistics (Chris Manning) --> YouTube or Episode PageWhy physical books will always be with us (
Best of: Making sense of the gut biome
Professor Michael Fischbach, tells us that the “gut biome” – that is, the complex community of bacteria that lives in our gastrointestinal tract – is what makes digesting and extracting nutrients from those meals possible. We hope you’ll tune in.Connect With Us:Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everything WebsiteConnect with Russ >>> Threads / Bluesky / MastodonConnect with School of Engineering >>> Twitter/X / Instagram / LinkedIn / FacebookChapters:(00:00:00) Introduction to Microbiome: A
Best of: What can the DNA in your blood reveal about your health?
Professor Stephen Quake's research has helped countless patients avoid the pain and suffering that can come with invasive diagnostic testing. Russ and Stephen discuss his work to develop a number of noninvasive blood tests to help detect preterm births, genetic disorders like Down Syndrome, cancer, and organ transplant rejection. It’s an episode that reminds us of the power of good science. We hope you’ll take another listen and enjoy.Links:Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everything Websit
The future of AI Chat: Foundation models and responsible innovation
Guest Percy Liang is an authority on AI who says that we are undergoing a paradigm shift in AI powered by foundation models, which are general-purpose models trained at immense scale, such as ChatGPT. In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast, Liang tells host Russ Altman about how foundation models are built, how to evaluate them, and the growing concerns with lack of openness and transparency.Connect With Us:Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everything Webs
The future of ecohydrology
Guest Alex Konings studies fundamental links between the global cycle of water percolating into the ground and evaporating into the skies and a similar cycle of carbon moving through the world, shaping ecosystems, droughts, and fires. These cycles are inextricably bound, she says, and understanding how they function individually and in tandem is key to life on planet Earth. These important cycles may be easily overlooked but they cannot be ignored, Konings tells host Russ Altman on this episode
Best of: Bendable electronics
We’re re-running a fascinating conversation Russ had with Zhenan Bao back in 2017 about the work she and her lab are doing to develop artificial skin. The possible applications of a material that could replicate properties of human skin range from restoring a sense of touch for amputees to creating bendable electronics. Thank you for tuning in, we hope you enjoy this episode from the archives.Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everything WebsiteConnect with Russ >>> Threads or Twitter/XConnec
Best of: Developing electronics for the extremes of space
Space exploration and travel are two topics that are always exciting, and that have sparked a lot of enthusiasm about the future. Debbie Senesky, a previous guest on the show, researches ways to develop tiny, tough electronics that could help augment our abilities to further explore extreme environments, such as those found in space. Today we’re re-running a conversation Russ had with Debbie in 2017 on this topic. Enjoy.Connect With Us:Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everything WebsiteCon
The future of computational imaging
Using math to improve photographs, with expert guest Gordon Wetzstein. Such methods have exploded in recent years and have wide-ranging impacts from improving your family photos, to making self-driving cars safer, to building ever-more-powerful microscopes. Somewhere in between hardware and software, he says, is the field of computational imaging, which makes cameras do some pretty amazing things. Wetzstein and host Russ Altman bring it all into focus on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s Th
Best of: Guided missiles target cancer
Almost everyone knows someone who has battled cancer. Today, on The Future of Everything, we’re re-running our episode with Professor Jennifer Cochran who is bringing some hope in this area through work she and her lab are doing to find ways to localize therapies directly to the site of cancer tumors for more efficient and effective treatment. You won’t want to miss this one, it’s full of inspiring insights that will hopefully move us toward a future of improving outcomes for cancer patients.Con
The future of neuroscience: Karl Deisseroth sheds light on the inner workings of the brain
Transformational research techniques shaping our understanding of how the brain works.Guest Karl Deisseroth is a bioengineer and a psychiatrist who has developed two of the most transformational research techniques shaping our understanding of how the brain works — optogenetics, which allows neuroscientists to control brain cells with light, and CLARITY, a way to render the brain’s gray matter transparent yet retain all its intricate wiring for easier study. There is a vast chasm between neuros
Best of: How do we educate a new kind of engineer?
A perspective on the need for diversity and empathy in the engineering profession. As we enter a new academic year, it’s an opportune time to think about how we’re educating the next generation of engineers. Russ's conversation in 2020 with Sheri Sheppard, an emeritus professor of mechanical engineering and founder of the Designing Education Lab at Stanford, sheds light on this important topic. Professor Sheppard shares about ways that will help us educate engineers who not only are technically
The future of quantum mechanics: Unraveling entanglement's secrets
Discover how quantum mechanics is reshaping our understanding of time, reestablishing computational capabilities, and ensuring the security of sensitive data transmission. Guest Monika Schleier-Smith is a physicist who says that quantum principles, like entanglement, can make atoms do funny things, such as allowing two atoms to share secrets across great distances. While entanglement opens tantalizing possibilities like quantum computing, there’s still much we don’t know about quantum mechanics
The future of the gut microbiome
Discover the astonishing intricacies of microbial ecosystems and their potential to improve healthcare. Guest KC Huang is many things: A bioengineer. A microbiologist. An inventor. But mostly he’s an expert on the ecology of the human gut. He and his collaborators have developed a device that can sample bacterial DNA and create a living map of the gut microbiome from mouth to … ah, well … you know. Every step of the way, he says, we play host to trillions of guests we know very little about. It
The future of coastal erosion
Guest Jane Willenbring is a geoscientist who studies accelerating coastal erosion. The challenge lies not in understanding why coasts are receding today, but in determining what they looked like a thousand years ago to know how much they’ve changed — a secret revealed in coastal rocks through isotopes shaped by cosmic radiation. But measurement is only one part of the equation, she says. We must now think about erosion’s impact on humans, Willenbring tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Sta
The future of Muslim mental health
Join host Russ Altman with guest Rania Awaad, M.D., a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine where she is the Director of the Stanford Muslim Mental Health & Islamic Psychology Lab. Delve into the intersection of mental health and spirituality, shedding light on the importance of holistic approaches for comprehensive healing. Drawing from historical wisdom, Awaad introduces the concept of Maristans, ancient healing centers that integrate physic
The future of science education: Cultivating critical thinkers
Bad science is a big problem for society, says guest Jonathan Osborne, an expert in science education, but we don’t have to surrender to it. Beating bad science requires young people to learn three skills, Osborne says. First is an ability to size up conflicts of interest. Second, to evaluate a source’s qualifications. And third, to more rigorously question those who go against consensus. The whole goal of science is consensus, Osborne tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineeri
Best of: How computer chips get speedier through specialization
The Future of computer chip design: delve into a revolutionary approach to chip design. A re-run of a conversation Russ had in 2021 with Priyanka Raina, an assistant professor of electrical engineering. Priya is an expert in computer chip design. Whether or not you realize it, chips are everywhere and power everything from your toaster to your car. Priya discusses the slowing pace of progress in improving chip efficiency, and how she sees a future where chip makers will need to shift away from
Best of - AI and safety critical systems
Today we're rerunning a conversation Russ had in 2020 with Mykel Kochenderfer, a professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University.Mykel's research has impacted anyone who has been on a plane recently for any kind of travel. His research led to the creation of a program known as the Airborne Collision Avoidance System, or ACAS X , which as he explains in more detail, is a critical tool in keeping air travel safe.Thank you for tuning in, and we hope you enjoy this episode from the
The future of longevity
Guest David Rehkopf is an expert in population health who says that where we live is one of the strongest influences on how long we live. While we know diet and health care are important, it has been tough to tease out what about these places allows people to live longer and healthier lives. By examining environmentally induced changes in DNA, we may be able to more quickly and more accurately quantify what aspects of environments promote longer, healthier lives, Rehkopf tells host Russ Altman i
The future of health outcomes
As anyone with chronic disease knows, access to health care doesn’t always equate with equitable health care outcomes, says guest Alyce Adams, an expert in innovations in health policy. Too often, care delivery breaks down along racial and socioeconomic lines. Our focus should be on better outcomes for all people, she says. Adams now develops interventions to help communities and health systems improve care delivery — and health equity — as she tells host Russ Altman in this episode of Stanford
Best of - How misinformation spreads
We’re on the cusp of another election season. As people across the country educate themselves on the issues and candidates on this year’s ballot, one question they will have to ask themselves is, how do I tell fact from fiction? In early 2022, my guest Johan Ugander shared his research to better understand the ways information spreads online. We’re re-running this episode today, and I hope you’ll take the time to hear a few of the strategies he recommends for preventing the spread of misinformat
Best of - How light can power higher speed computing
Delve into the possibilities of silicon photonics as a game-changer in chip manufacturing. This is a re-run of a show that Russ did with David Miller back in 2021. David is an electrical engineer, and works in the field of photonics. As he shares in this conversation, there’s great potential for the field of photonics to help solve the problems posed by an increasing demand for computing power. Silicon-chip computers are starting to hit fundamental limits, and advances in the field of photonics
The future of antibiotic synthesis
Chaitan Khosla is a chemical engineer who says that the world’s most advanced drug factories are not behemoths of the industrial age, but microscopic bacteria. These tiny creatures have evolved enzymatic assembly lines that ingest raw materials and churn out valuable other molecules, like life-saving antibiotics. By engineering new microbes, we hope to create next-generation drugs, Khosla tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.Chapter Sh
Best of - How 3D printing is changing medicine
Explore the frontiers of 3D printing in healthcare and its potential to revolutionize personalized medicine, reshape prosthetics, and reimagine drug delivery systems.In this episode we're re-sharing a conversation Russ had in 2021 with Joseph DeSimone, a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford University. This one is about health, and Joe tells us how 3D printing is transforming healthcare. His group is using it to make vaccine delivery easier and more effective. They're also creating impl
The future of human vision
Neuroscientist Kalanit Grill-Spector studies the physiology of human vision and says that the ways computers and people see are in some ways similar, but in other ways quite different. In fact, she says, rapid advances in computational modeling, such as deep neural networks, applied to brain data and new imaging technologies, like quantitative MRI and diffusion MRI, are revolutionizing our understanding of how the human brain sees. We’re unraveling how the brain “computes” visual information, as
The future of trauma therapy
Guest Debra Kaysen is a psychologist specializing in treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who says that promising new cognitive and behavioral therapies are, quite literally, giving people “their lives back.” These therapies work without drugs to help patients manage their disease and its symptoms and, perhaps, even cure PTSD. We’re providing tools to change how they think, Kaysen tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.For
Best of - The future of robot simulations
Hi everyone, Russ here, we’re running a best-of episode this week to re-share a conversation I had in 2021 with Karen Liu, an associate professor of computer science here at Stanford Engineering. The conversation is relevant today because, as we all know, AI is having a moment, and robotics is an important part of that. Karen and her lab have a goal of enabling robots to contribute in caregiving roles - think of tasks like helping medical patients get dressed each day - and they’re using physics
The future of wastewater
Guest Bill Mitch says it’s no secret the world is running short of fresh water. As a civil and environmental engineer, he sees wastewater as a potential solution, if only we can eliminate the impurities. Mitch designs systems to remove toxic chemicals from wastewater to enable its reuse as a drinking water supply. It’s not easy, but it costs half as much as desalinating seawater, Mitch tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.Show Notes &
The future of greenhouse gases
Guest Matteo Cargnello approaches the challenge of greenhouse gases from a different perspective. He doesn’t study how harmful chemicals got in the skies, or even the consequences. Instead, Cargnello is using his skills as a chemical engineer to turn them into other benign or useful chemicals. So far, he’s turned greenhouse gases into valuable industrial chemicals, polymers, renewable fuels, and even ethanol. Useful products from greenhouse gases, that's the dream, Cargnello tells host Russ Altm
Best of - New forms of semiconductors are key to the future
This episode of The Future of Everything podcast with Srabanti Chowdhury first ran in 2022. We’re sharing it again to offer a glimpse into research being done to identify new materials for semiconductors that could lead to smaller, faster, more powerful and more energy efficient electronics. Since we recorded this episode, the CHIPS and Science Act was signed into law, creating a $280 billion dollar investment in the field over the next 10 years, and in light of the renewed commitment to this te
The future of art
Deborah Cullinan’s job is to integrate arts of every form across campus. She says art has the power to heal and may be the answer to many of our present-day societal problems, such as growing political polarization and social isolation borne by the pandemic. Art advances equity, improves health, and enhances well-being for all, she says. Everyone should see themselves as artists—engineers, physicians, political scientists alike. "We all want to have creative lives," Cullinan tells host Russ Altm
The future of movement disorders
Helen Bronte-Stewart is a neurologist and an expert in movement disorders, like Parkinson’s. She says new approaches, such as closed-loop deep-brain stimulation, and new digital health technologies that chart subtle changes in movement are reshaping the field, leading to new understandings and new treatments for this once-untreatable disease. To modulate behavior, you first have to measure it, Bronte-Stewart tells host Russ Altman. It’s the future of movement disorders in this episode of Stanfor
The future of computational linguistics
Our guest, Christopher Manning, is a computational linguist. He builds computer models that understand and generate language using math. Words are the key component of human intelligence, he says, and why generative AI, like ChatGPT, has caused such a stir. We used to hope a model might produce one coherent sentence and suddenly ChatGPT is composing five-paragraph stories and doing mathematical proofs in rhyming verse, Manning tells host Russ Altman in this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The
Best of - The future of computer science education
This episode of The Future of Everything podcast with Mehran Sahami first ran in 2019. We’re sharing it again to offer a glimpse into the ways our faculty are thinking about computer science education, an increasingly popular and impactful field of study. Earlier this week, Sahami and another of his colleagues, Chris Piech, launched the third offering of Code In Place, a free online course that offers coding education to people all over the world.
The future of simple rules
Kathleen Eisenhardt is an expert in strategy and organizational behavior. She studies corporate decision making. She says the most creative companies are like jazz bands. Bound by a few simple rules, they are able to innovate continually. Other companies are like orchestras, tied to rigid scores and complex rules; they find it hard to improvise. If innovation is your metric, Eisenhardt says, having a few simple rules is the best path to success, as she tells host Russ Altman on this episode of S
The future of proteins
While DNA may be the blueprint of life, proteins are the workhorses, says Polly Fordyce, a bioengineer, explaining how one of her favorites, kinesin, “walks” in 8-nanometer steps transporting chemical cargo through the body. More remarkable still, Fordyce says, kinesin is just one among thousands of “incredible” proteins that make life happen, as she tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.
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The future of mosquito-borne diseases
Rising temperatures and rainfall from climate change will have a surprising effect on human health, says biologist Erin Mordecai, an expert in diseases borne by mosquitoes, ticks and other living creatures. Such conditions are perfect breeding grounds for parasites that will bring deadly diseases to the U.S. and other places once thought out of reach. Hope may rest in mathematical models to guide smarter environmental policies, as Mordecai tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engin
The future of infectious disease immunology
When we’re sick, the time between onset and diagnosis is critical, sometimes life-saving. It turns out the human immune system is pretty good at knowing what’s making us sick. In fact, it’s telling us all the time, but only now is science tuning in to what nature has to say, explains Purvesh Khatri. The immune system is a “perfect diagnostic,” he tells host Russ Altman in this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.
The future of computational health economics
When one has a medical procedure in America, it is often an algorithm that figures out how much of the cost will be reimbursed. That leads to a lot of unfairness, worse health outcomes for many and a group of insurers who learn to game the system, says guest Sherri Rose, a statistician and health policy researcher who studies the causes of such inequities. Rose is using artificial intelligence to root out these bad incentives and to bring greater equity and better care to the American health sys
Michael Snyder: Insights from medicine’s most-measured man
With the advent of wearable devices and omnipresent monitoring of heart, lungs, blood and more, scientists can now gather unprecedented amounts of personal medical data. Just ask guest Michael Snyder, referred to as “medicine’s most-measured man.” He is the author of Genomics and Personalized Medicine: What Everyone Needs to Know and has collected billions of bytes of his own biodata. Snyder says that all this data can lead to earlier diagnosis than ever before, often before symptoms appear, as
Barbara van Schewick: Net neutrality and the future of the internet
While many users remain blissfully unaware, a battle is raging for the future of the internet. On the one hand are the large phone and cable companies who want to promote their services and to charge more for video and other data. On the other are people, like guest Barbara van Schewick, a lawyer, who champions a more democratic approach known as net neutrality. Net neutrality guarantees unfettered access for all and makes sure that we get to choose what we do online, van Schewick tells host Rus
Beatriz Magaloni: Data illuminate the cycle of police violence in Latin America
Beatriz Magaloni is a lawyer and a professor of political science who studies the challenges at the intersection of governance, poverty, and police violence in Latin America. On this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast, Magaloni tells host Russ Altman that the solution to these challenges begins with studying the root causes as explained by people living in the communities that are most impacted.
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Nicholas Bloom: Home is where the work is
Guest Nicholas Bloom has studied telecommuting for 20 years. Prior to the pandemic, he says, just five percent of days were “worked from home,” but the number is now closer to one in three. It looks like the hybrid workplace is here to stay. What was once thought to be a boon to employee morale has also helped companies slash real estate budgets. But, it’s not all sunshine and roses, as Bloom tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.
Mac Schwager: How engineers are putting the ‘auto’ in autonomous
On this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast, guest Mac Schwager talks safety in multi-robot systems, like those controlling the autonomous vehicles that will soon fill our future. Some engineers are helping robots communicate better among themselves while others are working on “emotionally aware” algorithms able to pick up on subtle cues in how others are driving to help robots make better on-the-road decisions.Never fear, Schwager says, the future is in good hands
Ilan Kroo: Better ways to build an airplane
Our guest on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast, Ilan Kroo, is an expert in aircraft design. But when Kroo talks of aircraft, he means a new generation of flying vehicles that could transform our very concept of transportation—like personal flying cars that take off and land vertically or commercial airliners fueled by clean-burning hydrogen.Kroo says the rapid changes he’s seeing in the industry could lead to safer, less expensive, more efficient—and quieter
Helen Blau: New life for old muscles
Helen Blau is a stem cell biologist and expert in why, as we age, our muscles weaken, even if we get exercise and try to stay fit. In an age when humans are living longer, our muscles are critical to living life to the fullest and Blau is helping them keep pace by recruiting stem cells to regenerate youthful muscle in older people.Join us on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast as Blau and host Russ Altman discuss the science of muscle regeneration.
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Lawrence Wein: Computation cracks cold cases
This episode's guest on Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast is Lawrence Wein, an expert in the science of catching criminals using DNA left behind years or even decades prior. All it takes is a snippet of the killer’s DNA and for a relative of the killer to have registered their DNA with one of the many genealogy websites in operation today. Armed with those few details, genetic detectives quickly narrow in on the suspect. They’ve used it to capture some of the most reviled,
Doug James: Computer-generated sound catches its graphical sibling
Natural sounds in the world around us are based on the principles of physics. Today’s guest on Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast, Doug James, uses those same principles to create computer-generated sounds to match the imaginary computer-generated objects and creatures that inhabit almost every movie or game these days.His algorithms speed the animator’s work and make the final product all-the-more believable, as James tells host Russ Altman on this episode of The Future of
Melissa Valentine: The rise of the flash organization
This episode's guest on Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast, management science and engineering professor Melissa Valentine studies a workplace phenomenon known as the flash organization. These ad hoc groups of experts are assembled online and exist only long enough to solve a particular problem—perhaps a week or few months at a time. As soon as the problem is solved, the flash org dissipates, and the participants get paid for their time and expertise. It’s a whole new way to
Elaine Treharne: Why physical books will always be with us
Our guest on this episode of Stanford Engineering's The Future of Everything podcast, Elaine Treharne, is an English professor and an authority on ancient manuscripts. She's using modern tools like machine learning to unlock the secrets hidden inside these aged pages. Despite frequent predictions of the demise of physical writing, she says, books will never go away. Physical writing, she believes, is a perfectly human manifestation of our humanity—an effort by transient beings to create somethin
Oussama Khatib: What if Aquaman were a robot?
On this episode of Stanford Engineering's The Future of Everything podcast, robotics expert Oussama Khatib takes us on a deep dive into the vagaries of creating robots that swim. His most recent project is OceanOneK, a 200-pound, humanoid robot with stereoscopic vision and opposable thumbs that can travel nearly a thousand meters below the surface. When the pressure was on, Khatib had to redesign everything he thought he knew about robots, he says, beginning with a new glass-like shell good to 6
Desiree LaBeaud: The curious connection between plastic trash and infectious disease
On this episode of Stanford Engineering's The Future of Everything podcast, Stanford infectious disease expert Desiree LaBeaud talks trash, literally. She says carelessly discarded plastics can collect water, providing a perfect nursery to mosquitoes that then spread dengue, chikungunya, Zika, yellow fever and other killer diseases worldwide. Plastic trash has become a public health nightmare as LaBeaud tells host Russ Altman and listeners of The Future of Everything. Reducing it is now a critic
Alexandria Boehm: Wastewater helps reveal COVID’s real reach
Civil and environmental engineer Alexandria Boehm joins Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast to discuss how a new form of epidemiology is using the tools of engineering to test wastewater to track COVID-19’s true spread. The wastewater that enters a treatment facility is really just one big biological sample, Boehm says. Testing it is far more accurate than COVID-19 case data, and it is useful for tracking other diseases in our communities, as well.Listen in to this episode of
Is a good diagnosis possible without revealing your medical secrets?
On this episode of Stanford Engineering's The Future of Everything podcast, Stanford bioengineer Jan Liphardt talks about the challenge of getting good medical recommendations and diagnoses while guaranteeing that a patient's health secrets remain private. Computing on encrypted data is the way, he says. Tune in as health data expert Liphardt and host Russ Altman discuss the future of health privacy.
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The water problem that’s still unresolved in schools across the country
Stanford pediatrics professor Anisha Patel tells us how engaging a local community about their health concerns can lead to impactful discoveries and interventions. She recounts how a visit to a middle school helped her team realize that simple access to drinking water was a problem in schools across the nation. Patel also shares how similar interactions during the COVID pandemic created a system of free lunches at public schools that helped ensure food security for children throughout the countr
A scientist uses radar technology to map the insides of ice sheets
To better understand the inner workings of glacier — which are often many kilometers in depth — researchers are using ice-penetrating radar, which sends radio waves through the ice, to create maps of what it looks like inside.In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Stanford radio glaciologist Dustin (Dusty) Schroeder explains how this technique works and how the data it generates can help us understand the implications of climate change here on Earth. Together with ho
How un-syncing the brain can help Parkinson’s patients
When we think of synchrony, we often think of positive things, like ice skaters gliding in tandem. But if there’s too much synchrony in the brain – when neurons fire simultaneously – it can be a problem.In fact, abnormal neural synchrony underlies many neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and dystonia. In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Stanford professor of neurosurgery Peter Tass joins host, Stanford bioengineer Russ Altman, to disc
How to put AI tools into the hands of primary care physicians
Primary care medicine represents 52% of all care delivered in the United States, but when it comes to AI innovation, it’s been largely left behind.In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Stanford physician Steven Lin, explains how AI could improve healthcare logistics, optimize patient care, and significantly lower costs by reducing the clerical burdens that cost the U.S. healthcare system billions of dollars a year and keep physicians from spending more time with the
A mobile app can be the gateway for helping communities improve their health and well-being
Take a look around your neighborhood and you’ll see a few things you like -- and, most likely, a few you don’t. Maybe you need a crosswalk near the senior home. Or garbage keeps getting dumped on the sidewalk.Now imagine if you and others in your community could document what you saw, collect those data, identify and agree on issues to prioritize, and then find feasible solutions for them?In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Stanford faculty member Abby King, profe
How to design algorithms with fairness in mind
Algorithms inform the news you read, the TV shows you watch, and the advertisements that appear on your internet searches – and they also have a say in who gets a bank loan, what medical procedures are covered by insurance, and who gets selected for a job interview. As algorithms are used to make these decisions, how do we make sure they’re fair? And what does fairness even mean?In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, computer science professor Omer Reingold explains
Using technologies from the gaming industry to improve medicine
Unfortunately, not every medical procedure is 100% successful. Due to the complexity of breast cancer lumpectomies, for instance, 16–25% of surgeries fail to remove the entire tumor, requiring patients to repeat the procedure. But to improve surgery success rates, and their efficiency, physicians are now looking to technologies from a surprising source: the gaming industry.In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Bruce Daniel, a professor of radiology, explains how tec
How to make quieter airplanes
Since they were invented more than a century ago, airplanes have gone from carrying a single person to ferrying many hundreds of people and several tons of cargo. Despite the increase in size and capacity, commercial aircraft have actually become quieter over the past several decades, thanks to a few key design changes informed by fluid mechanics, a branch of physics that studies fluids in motion.In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Sanjiva Lele, a professor of aer
A cardiologist says embracing diversity will catalyze medical research
Data shows that greater gender diversity on company leadership groups leads to improved business outcomes, says Stanford cardiologist Hannah Valantine. Likewise, she says, in medical research, where diversity boosts the development of new technologies.In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Valantine, the former inaugural chief officer for scientific workforce diversity at the National Institutes of Health, as well as a senior investigator at the National Heart, Lung,
An innovative polling model can move us past political polarization
In our deeply polarized society, the prospect of holding thoughtful discussions on policy issues seems impossible. But it doesn’t have to be. In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, James Fishkin, a professor of communication at Stanford, describes the deliberative polling model, a system of structured and moderated small group discussions that can help bring people together and bridge differences in perspective on even some of the most politically fraught issues. Tog
How cryptography and Web3 can fight misinformation and help restore trust in digital media
Many of the lies, distortions, and pieces of disinformation online are easy to spot. But as technology advances it will become harder to tell the difference between video and images that are true and accurate and those that are manipulated or outright made up. In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Jonathan Dotan, of Stanford’s Starling Lab for Data Integrity, and host, bioengineer Russ Altman, discuss what researchers are doing to keep ahead of advances in deep fake
Computational modeling can help understand Alzheimer’s disease
Physicians diagnose Alzheimer’s disease with tests that measure memory loss and behavioral change. But many years before these symptoms appear, the disease is changing the brain, leading to the buildup of misfolded proteins and brain shrinkage that cause cognitive decline. In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Stanford mechanical engineer Ellen Kuhl explains how she’s using databases of brain images of both Alzheimer’s patients and healthy individuals to create comp
Data is transforming our understanding of natural disasters
Humans have been trying to predict when earthquakes will happen for centuries, with little success, by developing earthquake detectors and by wondering if unusual animal behavior could be a sign of an incoming temblor. In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Eric Dunham, a geophysicist at Stanford University, explains that while we’re still unable to predict when earthquakes will happen, advanced computers and new sensors on the seafloor are pushing the field of natur
How to develop ever better computer chips
Computer chips are everywhere: your cellphone, your car, even your refrigerator. And they’re essential to enabling advances in artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and faster and better computers -- and to solving global challenges such as climate change. The omnipresence of this foundational technology has been growing for decades, but the pandemic accelerated the digital transformation of society, significantly increasing the demand for more and better chips.In this episode of Stanfor
Training the next generation of entrepreneurs
Search online and you’ll find lists of all the skills entrepreneurs should have - among them are imagination, creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship. But are entrepreneurs born with these relevant skills, or can they be taught?In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Tina Seelig, professor of the practice in the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford, explains the differences between imagination, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship, and
How to Fight Climate Change
The consequences of climate change have already been devastating: wildfires, drought, coastal flooding, and increased temperatures, among them. And there are massive economic, societal, and geopolitical and security costs as well. It's no wonder that many people may feel the situation at this point is hopeless. But in this episode of the Future of Everything, Stanford’s Chris Field tells host and bioengineer Russ Altman that the world has made more progress than we might have expected a decade a
The physics of gel-like substances
The vast majority of substances are neither liquid, solid, nor gas – but an alternative form that shares characteristics of liquids and gases. Among them are gels, glasses, and colloidal suspensions, and they’re an essential part of everyday products like toothpaste, paint, hair products, and even windows. Stanford chemical engineer Roseanna Zia is an expert on the gel-like substance known as colloids.In this episode of Stanford Engineering's The Future of Everything, Zia joins host Russ Altman
What makes a surgeon great?
Conducting a surgery is one of the most complex tasks an individual can do — but how do you recognize the difference between the highly skilled surgeons performing at the top of their game and those still honing their techniques? With the help of wearable sensors, motion tracking and video, physicians can now watch surgeons in action, quantify their movements, and determine how highly skilled physicians accomplish the unique choreography of surgery. In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The
How social media can help gauge societal health
Are U.S. adults happy? Sad? Depressed? One can answer these questions by calling thousands of people and surveying their psychological state, a strategy that’s both costly and time-consuming. But with the help of machine learning and artificial intelligence, you can also measure a population’s well-being by turning to social media platforms and tracking what millions of people are talking about. In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, computational social scientist Jo
What happens when computers can write like humans
Start an email with “I hope” and before you can type the next word, the program will suggest you complete it with “all is well.” You may not have realized it, but this is AI-generated text. In the past several years, this technology has advanced beyond completing sentences in emails: It can now respond to others’ emails, and write essays, hip-hop songs, public health messages, and much more. What’s more, it can sometimes be even more effective than humans at conveying certain messages. In this e
The impact of income gaps on children’s health
The world has made remarkable gains in pediatric medicine and public health over the past several generations. The average American child of the 21st century has access to clean water and milk, fully functioning sewage systems, and antibiotics, vaccines, and other medicines. Result: Child mortality rates have declined dramatically over the past century. At the same time, a widening income gap in the United States has led to vastly different prevalence rates for health conditions between low- and
The crucial role of data compression
It may not be immediately obvious, but there are huge financial, environmental and security costs associated with storing all the selfies, videos, documents and other digital assets the world is generating. One way to address this issue is by developing better compression algorithms that can represent the data more succinctly. Another is by creating new ways of storing the information itself, including, potentially, within biological molecules.In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future
Regenerating and rejuvenating human tissues
Children have an amazing capacity for healing after injury. Break a leg, the bone grows back; cut a finger, the skin heals. But as we age, most tissues no longer heal easily, and tissue loss is unavoidable due to aging, degenerative diseases such as arthritis, and cancer.In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Fan Yang and host and fellow bioengineer Russ Altman, discuss how biomaterials created in a lab can be injected into wound sites to enable tissue regeneration o
Why AI must embody the values of its users
You might not realize it, but AI-driven systems are integrated into virtually every aspect of our lives. But how can we be certain the values AI systems are striving for reflect what we want for ourselves and for society? And how can scientists and engineers do a better job of increasing people’s trust in AI? Stanford computer scientist Carlos Guestrin is a leading voice on how to advance and implement a more trustworthy AI. Learn about his work in this area, and his particular interest in AI an
A more thoughtful approach to technology can improve medical care
Anyone who’s ever been to a hospital knows that the healthcare system is extremely complex. Every patient has their own challenges – and they will typically see multiple physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare practitioners, and come into contact with a slew of medical technologies, protocols, and billing and insurance systems.Sara Singer, a Stanford professor of medicine, is an expert on integrated care – the development of tools, technologies, and processes designed to improve th
How do you build a better robot? By understanding people.
Whether it’s autonomous vehicles or assistive technology in healthcare that can do things like help the elderly do core tasks like feeding themselves, some of the most challenging problems in the field of robotics involve how robots interact with humans, with all of our many complexities.Drawing from fields as varied as cognitive neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics, Stanford computer scientist Dorsa Sadigh is exploring how to train robots to better understand humans – and how to g
James Zou: Trust is AI’s most critical contribution to health care
Among the many areas James Zou might have chosen to apply his considerable knowledge of artificial intelligence, he opted for health care. It was the most interesting, the most complex and the most impactful area of study. In short, it was the most exciting outlet for his expertise.Since that epiphany, Zou has gone on to publish influential studies that have improved the patient experience, shaped basic research and sped the development of new drugs. Among his most important contributions, Zou s
Johan Ugander: How misinformation spreads faster than truth
Stanford professor Johan Ugander is an expert in making sense of messy data. Lately he’s been working to tell fact from fiction online, as news stories spread on social media. He comes at the question from a unique angle, using machine learning to study the differing patterns in how both types of information spread (or don’t). In so doing, Ugander has come to some interesting conclusions and, more important, suggests some novel strategies for preventing the spread of misinformation. False storie
Martin Fischer: AI and virtual reality can help society build better
For a profession that has existed essentially since the beginning of human civilization, few people fully appreciate the importance of construction in our everyday lives, but Martin Fischer does. To build the key infrastructure of society, he says, requires intimate understanding of human nature, the environment, the materials and the ever-evolving techniques of building things. Fischer has grown frustrated with the present state of his profession and decided to change its trajectory using artif
Gill Bejerano: How cryptogenomics advances both science and privacy
Much of what the world knows about genetic diseases is learned by comparing the DNA of people with a shared disease against the DNA of otherwise healthy people to learn where the differences lie. This is all well and good except that, written into all that DNA, is a lot of other information that the subjects would rather keep private. And that’s where Gill Bejerano enters the scene. He’s an expert in cryptogenomics, a discipline that marries the fields of cryptography and genomics to essentially
Cynthia Lee: How to teach computer science
As the field of computer science has evolved over the last half century, so too has the way in which computer science is taught and to whom it is taught. Stanford lecturer Cynthia Lee says she is encouraged by the diversity she sees as she looks out over her classroom. But that wasn’t always the case, particularly when she, a woman, was in college. Lee has since dedicated her career to changing that mindset from a fixed and rigid outlook to one that is more open and welcoming of diverse backgro
Chelsea Finn: How to make artificial intelligence more meta
In one of computer science’s more meta moments, professor Chelsea Finn created an AI algorithm to evaluate the coding projects of her students. The AI model reads and analyzes code, spot flaws and gives feedback to the students. Computers learning about learning—it’s so meta that Finn calls it “meta learning.”Finn says the field should forgo training AI for highly specific tasks in favor of training it to look at a diversity of problems to divine the common structure among those problems. The re
Kayvon Fatahalian: How the pandemic changed the virtual world
For experts in digital graphics and visual perception, like computer scientist Kayvon Fatahalian, the recent pandemic has been a call to arms. Fatahalian says he and others in the field felt an urgent responsibility to harness their background in computer graphics and interactive techniques to improve life for people across the globe. He says new, virtual tools have proved better than past, real ones in improving certain aspects of our everyday lives. His job as a computer scientist is to make t
Kuang Xu: How to make (and keep) genetic data private
One underappreciated fact about the explosion in genetic databases, like consumer sites that provide information about ancestry and health, is that they unlock valuable insights not only into an individual’s past and future, but also for that individual’s entire family. This raises serious concerns about privacy for people who have never submitted their genetic information for analysis, yet share much the same code as one who did.Today’s guest, Kuang Xu, is an expert in how genetic information c
Eric Appel: Gels are changing the face of engineering ... and medicine
Readers of Eric Appel’s academic profile will note appointments in materials science, bioengineering and pediatrics, as well as fellowship appointments in the ChEM-H institute for human health research and the Woods Institute for the Environment. While the breadth of these appointments does not leap to mind as being particularly consistent, the connections quickly emerge for those who hear Appel talk about his research.Appel is an expert in gels, those wiggly, jiggly materials that aren’t quite
Lianne Kurina: How controlling confounders makes better epidemiology
As the world has learned through the recent pandemic, epidemiological studies can be complicated by many unanticipated factors. Lianne Kurina is an expert in the design of epidemiological studies who says that the key to greater confidence is better design.The gold standard, she says, is the randomized controlled trial—a study that compares groups that are essentially identical by every apparent factor but one— the vaccinated vs. the unvaccinated, for instance. In the case of COVID-19 vaccinati
Priyanka Raina: How computer chips get speedier through specialization
For decades, the general-purpose central processing unit—the CPU—has been the workhorse of the computer industry. It could handle any task—literally—even if most of those capabilities were unnecessary.This model was all well and good as chips grew smaller, faster and more efficient by the day, but less so as the pace of progress has slowed, says electrical engineer Priyanka Raina, an expert in chip design. Raina says that, to keep chips on their ever-improving trajectory, chip makers have shifte
Biondo Biondi: How to measure an earthquake through the internet
Most people know the seismograph, those ultrasensitive instruments that record every small shift in the Earth’s crust.But did you know that the very latest method for measuring earthquakes involves fiber optic cables that carry internet data around the world?Stanford geophysicist Biondo Biondi says that the waves of energy sent forth by an earthquake cause fiber optic cables to stretch and contract ever so slightly. Using precise mathematical algorithms, experts like Biondi can measure earthquak
Emmanuel Candès: How to increase certainty in predictive modeling
Anyone who’s ever made weekend plans based on the weather forecast knows that prediction – about anything – is a tough business. But predictive models are increasingly used to make life-changing decisions everywhere from health and finance to justice and national elections. As the consequences have grown, so has the weight of uncertainty, says today’s guest, mathematician and statistician Emmanuel Candès. Candès knows this paradigm all too well. He is an expert in identifying flaws in today’s hi
Srabanti Chowdhury: New forms of semiconductors are key to the future
Electronics are everywhere these days, so much so that often we don't even register that we are using them. The use of electronics will only grow over time as engineers solve societal challenges through increased connectivity, faster computation, new high-tech gadgets, and energy sustainability. Against that backdrop, electrical engineers like Stanford’s Srabanti Chowdhury have been searching for new semiconductors that can expand the application space beyond the ubiquitous silicon. Among the op
Simona Onori: How ready are we for our electric future?
It now seems more certain than ever that the world will make the all-important transition to electric vehicles, but that shift raises important questions about global preparedness.The world is going to need a lot of batteries to make it happen and engineers are rightly concerned about everything from the availability of raw materials to how many miles can I drive before I run out of juice?Simona Onori is an electrical engineer by training and a professor of energy resources engineering as well a
Irene Lo: How math makes markets fairer
Engineer Irene Lo studies markets, but not traditional marketplaces based in cash.Instead, she studies markets for goods/resources that place a high value on social goods like diversity, fairness and equity.Thus, Lo came to help San Francisco create an algorithm to assign kids more fairly to public schools across geographic, social, racial and economic boundaries. As it turns out, math is just the first step. The most challenging part was getting families to trust in the system, begetting a mult
Joseph DeSimone: How 3D printing is changing medicine
Oft-heralded 3-dimensional printers can build objects ranging from simple spoons to advanced running shoes.While those objects are usually made very slowly, the latest printing technologies portend a new era of 3D printing in real-time for use in health care. The possibilities are endless, says Joseph DeSimone, who is an expert in translational medicine – the field of transferring promising technological breakthroughs into real-world products. He says printers he developed have led to the first
Tina Hernandez-Boussard: How data improves the quality of health care
Tina Hernandez-Boussard is an expert in biomedical informatics who says a new era of understanding the real outcomes of our health care systems is on the horizon thanks to big data, artificial intelligence, and the growing availability of electronic health data. She says that the combination of these tools and data holds the promise of providing never-before-possible insights into whether health procedures truly improve patient quality of life and for which populations.With these tools, she says
Nate Persily: How to restore faith in America’s elections
Nate Persily is a professor at Stanford Law School and an expert in election law.He sees the most recent presidential election as a fundamental change in the way Americans vote. For the first time ever, the majority of voters cast their ballot by mail, rather than at a polling place. It “was an earthquake,” Persily says, speaking metaphorically about the 2020 election’s profound implications for future elections.But not all agree it was a success. Republicans and Democrats are further apart than
Krishna Shenoy: How brain-computer connections could end paralysis
Whether by injury or disease, paralysis has afflicted humans through the ages.Only now have science and technology converged to a point where scientists can contemplate a day when computers and the human mind can communicate directly to restore a certain degree of independence to people with debilitating spinal injuries and other physical conditions that impede or prevent movement.Electrical engineer Krishna Shenoy is an expert in such brain-computer interfaces and has built machinery by which h
Sam Wineburg: How to improve American students’ fact-checking skills
Sam Wineburg, a research psychologist at Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, recently conducted a nationwide study of the fact-checking skills of thousands of American high school students.He didn’t go about it with a survey asking the kids to self-report their own behaviors. Instead, he devised a live experiment that charged the 3,000 students in the study to determine the veracity of a now-famous bit of fake news from the 2016 election. Wineburg and team were then able to follow along as
Julie Parsonnet: How faith in herd immunity may be misplaced
Many have now become familiar with the term herd immunity, an idea few outside the infectious disease community knew just a few short months ago.It’s an elusive concept to comprehend, and harder still to achieve, but Stanford epidemiologist Dr. Julie Parsonnet says it’s important to understand just what herd immunity does – and doesn’t – mean for today’s pandemic.Broadly speaking, herd immunity is reached when enough people have either recovered from or have been fully vaccinated against an infe
Maneesh Agrawala: How AI is changing video editing
Imagine typing words into a text editor and watching on a nearby television as a well-known celebrity speaks those words within seconds.Computer graphics expert Maneesh Agrawala has imagined it and has created a video editing software that can do it, too. Given enough raw video, Agrawala’s application can produce polished, photorealistic video of any person saying virtually anything he types in.While he acknowledges concerns about manufactured “deep fakes” of political leaders or others speaking
Noah Rosenberg: How biology is becoming more mathematical
Biology is not typically considered a mathematically intensive science, says Noah Rosenberg, an expert in genetics, but all that is about to change.Math, statistics, data and computer science have coalesced into a growing interest in applying quantitative skills to this traditionally qualitative field.The result will be better and more accurate models of life, ranging from genetic inheritance to the entirety of human society. The yield will be a greater understanding and, quite possibly, revolut
Ram Rajagopal: How the grid is becoming more human-centric
Slowly but surely, the highly centralized, industrial electric grid that supplies power to the vast majority of American homes and business is changing.Our existing system of massive power plants and huge networks of high-voltage wires is giving way to a much leaner, decentralized system of small-scale power generation on a more personal, neighborhood- or residence-level scale.In other words, we’re going from an “infrastructure-centric” model to a “human-centric” one, says grid expert Ram Rajago
Meagan Mauter: How freshwater supply is becoming more circular
The world’s once linear — take it, treat it, use it, dispose it — model of freshwater usage is changing fast.Despite two-thirds of Earth being covered in water, just 2.5% of it is fit for human consumption. And that share is dwindling by the day, says civil and environmental engineer and expert in water treatment and distribution systems Meagan Mauter. With a rapidly increasing population and climate change disrupting traditional weather and distribution patterns, access to freshwater is headed
Catherine Gorle: How cityscapes catch the wind
Humankind has long harnessed the wind to its advantage. From ancient mariners to millers grinding grist, the wind has been an ally for millennia, but only now do engineers have at their disposal advanced computer simulations to better understand the details of wind flow and to optimize designs.Catherine Gorle is one such engineer who has made it her career to design better built environments able to improve walkability, temper extreme winds, shuffle air pollution far away and dissipate heat isla
Anthony Kinslow: How to close the clean-energy divide
As the world moves to more efficient and cleaner energy solutions, there is a growing divide between the clean-energy haves and have-nots, says Anthony Kinslow II, PhD, a lecturer in civil and environmental engineering. Too often the divide falls along racial and socio-economic lines, as minority and low-income communities do not benefit from clean energy to the degree that whiter and wealthier communities do.The problem is founded in history and in the federal government’s askew system of finan
Kunle Olukotun: How to make AI more democratic
Electrical engineer Kunle Olukotun has built a career out of building computer chips for the world. These days his attention is focused on new-age chips that will broaden the reach of artificial intelligence to new uses and new audiences—making AI more democratic. The future will be dominated by AI, he says, and one key to that change rests in the hardware that makes it all possible—faster, smaller, more powerful computer chips. He imagines a world filled with highly efficient, specialized chips
Julie Owono: How local voices will shape the global internet
Julie Owono is a lawyer, executive director of Internet Sans Frontières and a fellow at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society. She wants the world to know that the internet is the not the same for every person, everywhere. Born in Cameroon, and having grown up in Russia, she understands firsthand that every nation sets and maintains its own content standards.Owono has dedicated her career to establishing and securing basic digital rights, but also to developing standards by which
Dan Jurafsky: How AI is changing our understanding of language
Words are a window into human psychology, society, and culture, says Stanford linguist and computer scientist Dan Jurafsky. The words we choose reveal what we think, how we feel and even what our biases are. And, more and more, computers are being trained to comprehend those words, a fact easily apparent in voice-recognition apps like Siri, Alexa and Cortana.Jurafsky says that his field, known as natural language processing (NLP), is now in the midst of a shift from simply trying to understandin
Riitta Katila: How diversity drives innovation
When Riitta Katila looks at old photos or movies about the space program of the 1960s, she sees one common thread among the people depicted there — homogeneity. The engineers and technicians who first put humans on the moon were, almost without exception, white and male.While society has come a long way in the decades since, Katila, who is an expert in technology strategy and organizational learning, says there’s still a long way to go. She notes that companies need innovation not only to reach
David Miller: How light could transform computing
As the silicon chip embarks upon its second half-century of dominance in computing and communications, the field is confronting fundamental boundaries that threaten to halt that progress in its tracks.The transistor cannot get much better or smaller and the copper wires that connect them cannot carry much more data than they do now. But, says electrical engineer David Miller, an alternative technology that uses light instead of electricity has the potential to transmit vastly more data than pres
Jin Hyung Lee: How can we systematically cure brain diseases?
In recent decades, medical and biological science have advanced by leaps and bounds using technologies that allow us to peer into the brain in myriad new and insightful ways — MRI, CT, PET, EEG, etc.However, Stanford electrical engineer Jin Hyung Lee says, we are still missing critical insights that could lead to a cure for currently incurable brain diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, epilepsy and others.Even in diagnosis, we still rely on “diagnosis of exclusion,” where tests are used to ex
Mark Schnitzer: How to better understand the brain
Stanford’s Mark Schnitzer says several of the more exciting recent advances in his field of applied physics have come through developing new imaging technologies that peer into the brain as never before. What’s more, Schnitzer says the insights gained have put the world closer to solving long-vexing brain diseases, like Parkinson’s and others, where the circuitry of the brain seems to be malfunctioning.Schnitzer says that these new imaging methods are helping medical science discern the specific
Mutale Nkonde: How to get more truth from social media
The old maxim holds that a lie spreads much faster than a truth, but it has taken the global reach and lightning speed of social media to lay it bare before the world.One problem of the age of misinformation, says sociologist and former journalist Mutale Nkonde, a fellow at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS), is that the artificial intelligence algorithms used to profile users and disseminate information to them, whether truthful or not, are inherently biased against mi
Karen Liu: How robots perceive the physical world
Stanford’s Karen Liu is a computer scientist who works in robotics. She hopes that someday machines might take on caregiving roles, like helping medical patients get dressed and undressed each day. That quest has provided her a special insight into just what a monumental challenge such seemingly simple tasks are. After all, she points out, it takes a human child several years to learn to dress themselves — imagine what it takes to teach a robot to help a person who is frail or physically comprom
Jef Caers: How better mineral exploration makes better batteries
It has been said that batteries hold the key to a sustainable future.But so-called “clean energy” does not come without environmental costs. For instance, says Stanford geoscientist Jef Caers, the batteries in a single Tesla contain some 4.5 kilograms — about 10 pounds — of cobalt, in addition to plenty of lithium and nickel, too. With some 300 million cars in the U.S. right now, a full transition to electric vehicles would be impossible without new resources. But, finding new deposits and getti
Evan Reed: How to discover a magic material
Evan Reed and a team of scientists recently identified a promising solid material that could replace highly flammable liquid electrolytes in lithium-ion batteries.The trick? Reed didn’t discover the material the old-fashioned way, using trial and error to narrow down a list of candidates. Instead, he used computers to do the legwork for him. He says that until recent advances in computer science, the seemingly never-ending search for new materials was more like a quest for unicorns. Breakthrough
Renée DiResta: How to beat bad information
Renée DiResta is research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory, a multi-disciplinary center that focuses on abuses of information technology, particularly social media. She’s an expert in the role technology platforms and their “curatorial” algorithms play in the rise and spread of misinformation and disinformation.Fresh off an intense period keeping watch over the 2020 U.S. elections for disinformation as part of the Election Integrity Partnership, DiResta says the campaign became one o
Will Tarpeh: How to take the waste out of wastewater
Once the bathwater is drained, the toilet flushed or the laundry done, few give a passing thought to the wastewater that leaves our homes. But chemical engineer Will Tarpeh might change your mind, if you give him the chance.Tarpeh says that that water is a literal mine of valuable chemicals. Chemicals like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium make great fertilizers. Lithium can be used in lithium ion batteries. And even pharmaceuticals could be recovered and reused. In fact, Tarpeh points out that
Kwabena Boahen: How to build a super-efficient super-computer
Bioengineer Kwabena Boahen builds highly efficient “neuromorphic” supercomputers modeled on the human brain. He hopes they will drive the artificial intelligence future. He uses an analogy when describing the goal of his work: “It’s LA versus Manhattan.” Boahen means structurally. Today’s chips are two dimensional — flat and spread out, like LA. Tomorrow’s chips will be stacked, like the floors of the skyscrapers on a New York block. In this analogy, the humans are the electrons shuffling data
Daphne Koller: How machine learning is transforming drug discovery
In a world where a drug takes years and billions of dollars to develop, just one in 20 candidates makes it to market. Daphne Koller is betting artificial intelligence can change that dynamic.Twenty years ago, when she first started using artificial intelligence to venture into medicine and biology, Koller was stymied by a lack of data. There wasn’t enough of it and what there was, was often not well suited to the problems she wanted to solve. Fast-forward 20 years, however, and both the quantity
Markus Covert: How to build a computer model of a cell
When Stanford bioengineer Markus Covert first decided to create a computer model able to simulate the behavior of a single cell, he was held back by more than an incomplete understanding of how a cell functions, but also by a lack of computer power. His early models would take more than 10 hours to churn through a single simulation and that was when using a supercomputer capable of billions of calculations per second.Nevertheless, in his quest toward what had been deemed "a grand challenge of th
Rafael Pelayo: How to get a good night’s sleep
COVID-19 is changing how many scientists, like Stanford sleep expert Rafael Pelayo, MD, view their field. First off, the shift to telemedicine is providing Pelayo, author of the new book How to Sleep, an unprecedented glimpse into the sleep environments of his patients. “I’m making house calls for the first time,” he says.Second, surprisingly, some of his patients, unburdened of long commutes, say they are sleeping and dreaming more than ever. But, others are not so fortunate, reporting increase
Marietje Schaake: Can democracy survive in a digital world?
Marietje Schaake was a Member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2019 and now serves as the international policy director at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center and international policy fellow at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. As she has watched democracy evolve in the age of instantaneous global communication and hyperconnected social media, she has grown concerned about the resilience of democracy as technology disrupts the status quo. While the tec
Andrew Huberman: How stress affects the mind — and how to relieve it
Andrew Huberman is a Stanford neurobiologist and ophthalmologist keenly interested in the biology of stress and ways to manage stress.He’s developed and tested a number of stress-relieving techniques — from specific patterns of breathing to visual tools — and uses virtual reality to help humans control their stress in adaptive ways. He is also testing how people can access better sleep using stress-relief tools. Much of this work is done in collaboration with David Spiegel, MD, associate chair o
Manu Prakash: How to beat a pandemic on a budget
Manu Prakash was in France when COVID-19 took hold throughout the world. There, the Stanford bioengineer, famous for “frugal science” like his $1 field microscope made of paper, witnessed the challenges a relatively well-resourced nation experienced holding back the disease. His head was soon filled with visions of the nightmare awaiting developing nations, given that a COVID-19 test in developing countries can cost as much as $400.In a flurry, Prakash jotted down an engineering manifesto of sor
Byron Reeves: What our screens tell us about us
With the emergence of touchscreen smartphones, tablets and watches, so much of our lives is spent on our devices that in many ways we are what appears on screen. This “mediatization,” as Byron Reeves, a professor of communication at Stanford University, puts it, sparked a remarkable and unprecedented study of the way we live today.In a series of field studies, Reeves has recorded screen time of his subjects one frame every five seconds for days on end — with promises of absolute privacy, of cour
Newsha Ajami: How engineers restored hope for our water supplies
There was a time when all great cities were built near water. Whether for agriculture, aesthetics, energy or just plain drinking, water was a life-affirming, life-sustaining resource. But with the advent of advanced engineering in the form of dams, pumps and pipes, cities like Los Angeles thrived in places with very little fresh water. Now, global climate change is leaving many of those cities in danger of running dry.But there is hope on the horizon, says Newsha Ajami, senior research engineer
Susan Holmes: How statistics are reshaping our understanding of biology
In recent years, biologists have learned that the vaginal microbiome — the make-up of the bacteria in the vagina — during pregnancy may be the best predictor of pre-term birth. It is a valuable finding that could reshape obstetrics. What is perhaps more revelatory about this emerging knowledge is that biologists have learned it from a surprising source: statistics.Stanford’s Susan Holmes is one such statistician in the rapidly evolving science of using statistics to understand biology. Holmes is
Sheri Sheppard: How do we educate a new kind of engineer?
Mechanical engineer Sheri Sheppard got her start in engineering working on the Corvette for General Motors and later worked for both Ford and Chrysler.Back then, she was among a handful of women engineers in the auto industry, where she learned firsthand the risks a monolithic culture presents.Today, Sheppard is a professor at Stanford University, where she works to encourage diversity in the student body, in the classroom and in the curriculum. She says that engineering needs to reach beyond th
Jonathan Chen: Can algorithms make doctors better?
We’re all familiar with those algorithms on our favorite e-commerce and streaming services that recommend purchases, books or movies based on what “others like you” have enjoyed. In the industry, they are known as “recommender engines.”Medical doctor Jonathan Chen is an assistant professor of medicine at Stanford and an expert in bioinformatics who wondered if the medical profession might benefit from similar artificial intelligence. He now creates recommender engines for doctors that comb real-
Mykel Kochenderfer: AI and Safety-Critical Systems
Artificial intelligence can help us design safety-critical systems for aircraft and other vehicles that are more robust to the many sources of uncertainty in the real world, says aerospace professor Mykel Kochenderfer.Building systems that meet the exceptionally high level of safety expected of commercial air transport is challenging, but Kochenderfer says that the key is in modeling the likelihood of the full spectrum of outcomes and planning accordingly. Validating the safety of these systems
Pamela Chen: How meme culture and algorithms are reshaping photography
With a degree in photography with a concentration in mathematics and boasting high-profile jobs at two of the most influential visual outlets in the last century, National Geographic and Instagram, Pamela Chen knows a bit about the state of modern photography and the algorithms that shape popular tastes.Now, as the Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence and John S. Knight Journalism (HAI-JSK) Fellow at Stanford, she studies how artificial intelligence is shaping the role of photography in societ
Michael O'Sullivan: Data leads New Zealand’s COVID-19 response
Stanford engineering alumnus Michael O’Sullivan, now at the University of Auckland, likes to say his business is the “science of decision-making,” and that expertise paid off handsomely in his native New Zealand’s successful response to COVID-19.O’Sullivan pivoted his knowledge of computer modeling, usually reserved for optimizing business processes, to help predict how quickly the disease might have spread through the island nation’s 5 million inhabitants, and to gauge various national response
Megan Palmer: COVID-19’s scientific silver lining
Megan Palmer, executive director of Biopolicy and Leadership Initiatives at Stanford, joins bioengineer Russ Altman for this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast, to discuss how we can better prepare for future virus outbreaks and how the world could ultimately become a more secure, peaceful and prosperous place as a result of the lessons learned from COVID-19. The key to that future, she says, will be better coordination and communication among world leaders in sci
Catherine Blish: Immunology is on the trail of a killer
As she tells it, the life of immunologist Catherine Blish has not changed all that much from what it was just a couple months ago.Her lab still studies deadly infectious diseases, but instead of myriad killers like HIV, dengue fever, influenza and the like, her team is now focused solely on the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. Only a select group of researchers in the world are qualified to work with such serious viruses, and fewer still are properly equipped with the protective gear and s
Seema Yasmin: How to conquer a pandemic with communication
Seema Yasmin is a rarity in public health: a medical doctor who is also a journalist. As such, she’s seen a lot, from Ebola in West Africa to SARS and MERS, and now COVID-19, the most serious pandemic in a century.Yasmin is currently director of research and education at the Stanford Center for Health Communication. From her years in the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — a group widely described as “the disease detectives” — and as a reporter
Victor Carrion: How to beat stress in a pandemic
Child psychiatrist Victor Carrion has dedicated his career to studying and helping people deal with trauma, especially kids. He says that it is understandable that everyone in the family is dealing with some degree of stress due to COVID-19, and that’s okay. The key is to recognize and acknowledge the stress and deal with it head on.In this episode of Stanford Engineering's The Future of Everything with host, bioengineer Russ Altman, Carrion explains that stress manifests differently at differen
Sanjay Basu: The power of healthy eating
When humans roamed as hunters and gatherers, the ability to retain calories likely determined who lived and who died in times of famine.Today, that evolutionary advantage may make us prone to diabetes.Join host Russ Altman, professor of bioengineering, and guest Sanjay Basu, a foremost expert in disease prevention, for a broad-ranging discussion of what works, what doesn’t and what new approaches—including an emphasis on community gardens and healthier diets—are on the horizon as society battles
Alison Marsden: Computer models could transform cardiovascular surgery
Imagine being born with just half a heart. Alison Marsden does, pretty much every day. She is an associate professor of pediatrics specializing in cardiology and also of bioengineering. She works with children born with such dire defects.Fortunately for those kids, Marsden is also an expert in computational modeling of cardiovascular system and developer of SimVascular, software that helps surgeons simulate surgeries on the computer without risk to living patients. The software provides research
Jayodita Sanghvi and Grace Tang: Big data meets big business
Jayodita Sanghvi is director of data science at Grand Rounds, a startup that connects members to high-quality health care. Grace Tang is a data scientist at LinkedIn. Both are alumnae of Stanford bioengineering.While the connection between big data and bioengineering may not be readily apparent, Sanghvi and Tang say that the connection couldn’t be more clear or timely than right now when big data is now firmly entrenched in big business.From applications that help diagnose and guide people to re
William Chueh: How to build a better battery
Stanford materials engineer William Chueh got interested in battery design as way to battle climate change. He looked across the energy landscape and understood that a future filled with renewable solar and wind energy will require more and better batteries to even out the troughs when the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing.Chueh says battery design has come a long way in the last 10 years. But sating the energy needs of a future filled with countless smartphones, laptops, electric ca
Russ Altman: Artificial intelligence takes on COVID-19
Days after COVID-19 broke out in the United States, Russ Altman and colleagues at Stanford's Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) scrambled to organize a full-day online conference to replace the in-person meeting they were planning for spring 2020. Their topic: using AI to defeat the deadly new virus behind COVID-19 and, in particular, analyze how countries were responding; developing new ways of tracking and anticipating its spread; reshape the search for treatments and a
John Etchemendy: How can we get the most from artificial intelligence?
The co-director of Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence discusses how AI can reach its potential to enhance human capabilities and enrich human lives.Connect With Us:
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Nigam Shah: A researcher turns to data to fight the COVID-19 virus
An expert in bioinformatics describes how better information and modeling can help caregivers stay a step ahead of the new virus.Connect With Us:
Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everything Website
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Connect with School of Engineering >>>Twitter/X / Instagram / LinkedIn /
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Alex Dunn: When cells communicate by nudging one another
New research explores how physical pushing and pulling between cells helps them differentiate into the myriad cell types in the body.
Have you ever pondered how the cells in your hand knew to become a hand and not, say, a foot or a heart or an ear? Alex Dunn is a chemical engineer who thinks about such things a lot. He has always marveled at the way — from brain to blood to bone — the many cells that make up our bodies derive from just a single cell created when sperm meets egg. He says that pr
Fiorenza Micheli: The race to save the ocean
A marine scientist travels the world to understand whether and how the ocean will respond to climate change, overfishing and other challenges.
Fiorenza “Fio” Micheli grew up on the Mediterranean Sea, where she fell in love with the ocean and made it the object of her scientific career. Now a marine ecologist and co-director of Stanford’s Center for Ocean Solutions, her research spans the spectrum of marine science.
She has studied the overfishing of sharks and how their absence affects coral ree
Nick Ouellette: What flocks of birds can tell us about engineering
A civil engineer explains how new insights gleaned from the flight of birds may one day be applied to fields as far-ranging as autonomous cars and crowd control.
Anyone who has ever observed a large flock of starlings in flight – darting and swirling as if the entire flock were one big beautiful being – cannot help but marvel and wonder at how all those birds keep from crashing into one another.
Nick Ouellette is studying the in-flight behavior of birds to draw lessons he can apply to engineerin
Shaili Jain: Treatments for PTSD are more effective than ever
How a revealing father-daughter conversation led to a career dedicated to studying and treating severe trauma and stress-related disorders.
Shaili Jain first got interested in studying post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on an East Coast road trip listening to her father describe his experiences during the 1947 Partition of British India. As she listened to details of his trauma and losses, many revealed to her only for the first time, Jain realized she had a deep personal connection to trauma
Michelle Mello: Patient privacy and the law are on a collision course
A rapidly shifting legal debate is raging in healthcare over patient data and privacy. One legal expert says that even though regulations have lagged, a reckoning is due.
How much control should patients have over who sees their medical records? How readily should researchers share patient-level data from their clinical studies? In today’s world, should the answers to these questions depend on whether the data are “anonymized?”
These are but a few of the ethical and legal conundrums that Miche
Bonnie Maldonado: The science is clear. Vaccinations save lives.
An expert in infectious diseases says that vaccinations are more powerful than ever, but better communication by the medical community is needed to combat misinformation.
Stanford professor Yvonne “Bonnie” Maldonado is a medical doctor and an expert in pediatric infectious diseases. She has been fighting and preventing disease her entire career. She says that vaccinations have made remarkable progress in recent years and yet, despite well-known programs that have virtually wiped out once-dreaded
Simone D’Amico: “The Swarm” is coming to an orbit near you
The geostationary satellites used for communication and weather forecasting today are very large and very expensive — and most are still functioning perfectly when they must be disposed of because they run out of fuel. In their place, Stanford astronautics professor Simone D’Amico imagines an new era of smaller, less expensive, more efficient satellites that work in tandem to accomplish things their bigger brethren never imagined. He calls it distributed space systems — formations or “swarms” of
Jelena Vuckovic: Photonics — a light on the computing horizon
Photonics engineers are working toward a day when fast, energy efficient computers do their mathematics using photons — packets of light — instead of electrons.
Experts estimate that computers gobble up as much as 10% of global electricity. They predict that that share will only grow as data centers expand and the internet of things brings scads of new computer-controlled devices to the world.
Jelena Vuckovic is an electrical engineer who sees a light on the horizon — quite literally. She is b
Sharon Chinthrajah: The air is making us sick
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Emma Brunskill: Amped-up education with AI
Computer programs that purport to help humans learn have been around almost as long as there have been computer programs, but their track record for success has been less than impressive.
Emma Brunskill, an expert on artificial intelligence and machine learning, thinks that less-than-stellar record is about to change and has dedicated her career to finding new and better ways to teach computers to teach humans. Her research creates innovative "reinforcement learning" algorithms in which computer
Scott Delp: Better gait, better life
A biomechanical engineer explains how new diagnostics and improved understanding of human movement are yielding great leaps forward in the treatment of motor dysfunction.
Engineer Scott Delp first got interested in the details of human movement when he was injured in a skiing accident and spent five years trying to recover.
Back then, today’s powerful diagnostic tools, like MRI, weren’t generally available, and Delp experienced many roadblocks and false starts in his recovery.
Delp turned tha
Stephen Quake: What can the DNA in your blood reveal about your health?
Russ Altman: Today on The Future of Everything, the future of detecting DNA in your blood.Now DNA is the building block of life. It is a relatively simple long molecule or polymer made out of four components or DNA bases which have one letter abbreviations, the famous ATCG, which stand for their chemical names. It’s like a string of beans, beads, beads, but it is long. A human genome is made of about three billion DNA bases, divided into 23 chromosomes. So if you add up the beads in each chromos
Elizabeth Sattely: Plants are the ultimate chemists
They make a remarkable array of chemicals to survive the world around them. One engineer is using that knowledge to help people live better.
When things aren’t going well for humans and other ambulatory creatures, they simply move on to a new location, a new life. For plants, it’s different, says chemical engineer Elizabeth Sattely, who studies the evolutionary adaptations plants make to survive.
Unable to migrate, plants must make do with the hand that’s dealt them. And sometimes that hand is
Ross Shachter: Can AI improve mammography?
In breast cancer pathology, a 2 percent chance of malignancy is the accepted threshold at which a radiologist refers the patient for further study. In reality, that threshold varies among doctors; some are more conservative, others less so. The result is either more false positives, in which a healthy patient worries unnecessarily they have cancer, or more-worrisome false negatives, in which a patient is told they are fine when they are not.One researcher working to reduce that gap is Stanford’s
Ash Alizadeh: A New Age in Oncology
In cancer detection, could a blood test replace a biopsy?
Once, when a cancer was suspected, the next move often involved a biopsy – literally cutting out human tissue to ascertain malignancy. But that highly invasive model is now being overshadowed by the promise of “liquid biopsies.” In these non-invasive approaches, blood, spinal fluid and other bodily liquids are drawn and tested for the presence of cancer cells, bits of DNA or other molecules that are the unmistakable markers of serious di
Margot Gerritsen: How to get more women into data science
Women face many roadblocks to careers in data science and other STEM disciplines. One Stanford professor is out to change perceptions and realities for women in these fields.
It was in 2015 when Margot Gerritsen was asked to speak at a data conference with not a single other woman on the program that she knew that something had to be done to get women into the field. As then-director of the Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering (ICME), Gerritsen knew more than a thing or two
Mildred Cho: Ethics in the age of easy gene editing
How do new technologies and techniques for altering DNA get used? And who gets to use them?
In recent years, the development of inexpensive genetic sequencing and easy gene editing technologies has given rise to a community of non-academic, amateur researchers who like to refer to themselves, only half-jokingly, as “biohackers.”
But, says Mildred Cho, a research professor who has published frequently about bioethics, such communities are not bound by traditional “first-do-no-harm” ethical norms
Lynn Hildemann: What pollutants are lurking in our indoor spaces?
An expert on air quality talks about the hidden dangers inside our homes and offers some helpful tips on what you can do to reduce your exposure.
We all know about the decades-long battle to improve air quality outdoors, but Stanford environmental engineer Lynn Hildemann says that while much progress has been made in that regard, it may have caused us to look past the pollutants in our own homes.
Hildemann, who studies air pollution and its effects inside and outside the home, says that chemic
Steven Collins: New prosthetics should be better than the real thing
A mechanical engineer explains how more and better data is helping to create new prosthetics unlike any before.
For years prosthetic limbs were merely functional devices, but recent advances in robotics and neuroscience are transforming the very meaning of the word "prosthetic."
Steve Collins is a mechanical engineer who is helping to lead that transformation to the benefit of people who've had an amputation, stroke or battlefield injury. The field has come a long way since the days of strap-o
Ami Bhatt: Lessons from the microbial world living within us
Russ Altman: Today, on The Future of Everything, the future of the microbiome. Now, the microbiome has gotten a lot of attention in the last few years.
Now, what is a microbiome? I guess we will learn more, but for the purposes of this discussion, it’s the full set of microbial organisms, chiefly bacteria, but maybe others, that live in different niches within our body. Our mouth, nasal cavity, skin folds, everywhere that has contact with the outside world.
The gut microbiome is one of those mic
Mehran Sahami: The evolution of computer science education
Once the core American curriculum meant reading, writing and arithmetic, but Stanford professor Mehran Sahami says we might soon have to add a fourth skill to that list, “coding.”
Sahami thinks deeply about such matters. He’s the leading force behind recent changes in Stanford’s computer science curriculum. He notes that it may not be surprising that more students are choosing to major in computer science than ever before, but what might turn heads is the changing face and intellectual landscape
John Markoff: The past, present and future of Silicon Valley
Russ Altman: Today, on The Future of Everything the future of Silicon Valley. Periodically, in human history every now and then there is an unusual mix of opportunity, capital, talent, technology in a geographical region that concentrates this and creates perhaps an unusual period of creativity, invention and sometimes great impact on a global scale. Far beyond, what you might expect from that local geography.
I like to think about the Italian Art Renaissance in the 15th and 16th century, focuse
James Landay: What’s next in human-computer interaction?
Computers are everywhere and humans are engaging with them in nearly everything they do. Knowing this, the question becomes: How do we design a world around us so that technology makes life better, not worse? James Landay, an expert in human-computer interaction, says the key to thoughtfully integrating humans with digital technology is to put people first.
This perspective draws on a philosophy known as human-centered or user-centered design. Within this approach, the first priority is to under
Sylvia Plevritis: Better cancer treatment through data
Biomedical data scientist Sylvia Plevritis is an expert in computational modeling of cancer risk and treatment options hidden in the remarkable quantity of data available today. Rarely is a tumor made up of a single mutation, she says, but more commonly of a mix of different mutations. Such heterogenous tumors may require complex combinations of drugs to produce the most effective treatments. That’s where computers can help.
Using mathematical simulations, Plevritis is helping patients and thei
Jeremy Weinstein: Technology in the public interest
Political scientist Jeremy Weinstein has worked at both the White House and the United Nations. In both jobs, he encountered the ethical and policy concerns that new technologies can present to policymakers. As one example, he points to the fierce debate between Apple and national security experts over end-to-end encryption and the challenges investigators faced in accessing data on the iPhones of the perpetrators of a terrorist attack in San Bernardino in 2015.
He wants universities, like Stanf
Kari Nadeau: Science takes on food allergies
Once avoidance was the only answer, but a leading allergist says that advances in desensitizing allergies are challenging common convention.
Food allergy expert Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD, says that as many as one in ten adults in the U.S. has a food allergy, many without knowing it. With consequences that range from mild to serious (including lethal anaphylaxis), it is imperative that medical scientists become better adept at spotting food allergies and ultimately at helping patients cope with aller
Monica Lam: Privacy in the age of virtual assistants
Can we reap the benefits of artificial intelligence while also protecting our personal information?
From scheduling appointments to setting the thermostat to ordering pizza, virtual assistants are growing more commonplace by the day. Stanford professor Monica Lam says they will only become more entrenched as their capabilities grow and their voice-recognition skills become more accurate.
Such developments are welcomed by many who rely upon Alexa and Siri and other virtual assistants. But it is
Sharad Goel: How hidden bias affects the criminal justice system
In-depth statistical analyses show time and again that subtle, unconscious bias is pervasive in the American justice system. The bigger question, however, is what to do about it?
Sharad Goel is an expert in computational social science – that is, using computers and data to examine and address policy issues. He says unconscious bias is subtle but entrenched in American life, and nowhere are the consequences more concerning than in criminal justice.
Goel has analyzed hundreds of millions of cr
Paul Yock: Innovation in medical technology
When Stanford’s Paul Yock was a young interventional cardiologist, he was frustrated by the complex, two-person process required to deliver life-saving stents. So, he invented a better way. His Rapid Exchange stenting and balloon angioplasty system, one of several inventions Yock is known for internationally, can be managed by just a single operator, making procedures like stent placement faster and safer. Yock is a man of many talents. He is a doctor, a professor of bioengineering and of mechan
Margaret Brandeau: Math and computers help reshape health policy
Margaret Brandeau may carry a business card that reads Professor of Management Science and Engineering, but her expertise is in using complex systems models to solve challenges in public health policy. For instance, she recently created a sophisticated computer model of the national opioid crisis, which led her to the stark –and surprising – conclusion that it may take a short-term rise in deaths to ultimately reduce them.
She didn’t come to that conclusion lightly, but made no less than 10 mode
Tony Oro: Stem cell therapies for incurable diseases
By last count, there are 5,000 genetic diseases in the human body.
A few are merely annoying, but far more are devastating and without cure. In the last decade, much popular attention has been focused on the potential for stem cells and gene therapies to cure these once-intractable diseases. While the promise is clear, Tony Oro cautions patience.
Oro is a dermatologist and associate director of the Center for Definitive and Curative Medicine at Stanford. He is a leading expert in the scientific
Michelle Monje: New therapies for brain cancer
Brain cancers are known to be elusive and clever killers, but Michelle Monje, associate professor of neurology and neurological sciences, is helping to find new treatments through a better understanding of how healthy brain cells develop and how cancers often hijack those very same processes in order to grow themselves.
Monje says that the last decade has seen tremendous progress in our understanding of how cancers thrive and in the development of new drugs and therapies to kill the killers. Unf
Dennis Wall: The changing face of autism diagnosis and treatment
The current process for diagnosing autism requires no less than 10 hours of intensive doctor-to-patient observation.
It is expensive and time-consuming, says autism expert Dennis Wall, an associate professor of pediatrics and of biomedical data science at Stanford. Wall is developing new ways to tackle the problem.
He says advances in machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence focused on training computers to perform important medical tasks, stand to shake up the field. He’s developin
Xiaolin Zheng: New benefits of combustion revealed
Mechanical engineer Xiaolin Zheng really likes to burn things, but she is more like a modern-day Prometheus than a pyromaniac. She uses combustion to create minute nanoparticles of various metal oxides that have many practical and valuable uses in today’s world.
For instance, she has created nanoparticles that can turn water into hydrogen peroxide using only energy from the sun. Hydrogen peroxide is a powerful disinfectant that kills microbes and removes other pollutants from water. Zheng imagin
Londa Schiebinger: Why does gender matter?
In safety engineering, ergonomic differences between men and women are important. Conventional seat belts do not fit pregnant women properly and motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of fetal death related to maternal trauma. Analyses of sex differences have led to the development of pregnant crash test dummies that enhance safety in automobile testing and design.
In medicine, osteoporosis has been conceptualized primarily as a women's disease, yet after a certain age men account for nearl
Billy Loo: “FLASH” radiation therapy brings hope to cancer patients
Stanford radiation oncologist, Billy Loo, says that a new generation of radiation therapy technology called PHASER will be so fast that it can even compensate for the patient moving during treatment.
High-energy X-rays will be fired so quickly, like a flash photograph, that motion is frozen and radiation can be more precisely focused on tumors. His research team is also finding that such ultra-fast “FLASH” radiation kills cancer cells through new biological mechanisms while causing less damage t
Carlos Bustamante: Genomics has a diversity problem
Carlos Bustamante is an expert in genomics—the study of genetic variation and its effects on the living world. He says genomics holds tremendous promise but, so far, virtually all sequenced DNA comes from European blood lines and this presents a problem.
Without greater diversity in the genomic data that is collected, he notes that we cannot fully reap the benefits of this knowledge, particularly in areas such as healthcare.
"Genomics is the new oil," Bustamante says, of the opportunit
Robert Reich: Is it time to rethink philanthropy?
Why do well-off public schools often demand that parents supplement school programs with personal contributions? Why do many rare diseases receive the lion’s share of donor attention and money? Is basic science being driven by the whims of big donors?
These are questions that keep Stanford political philosopher Rob Reich up at night. Reich says that philanthropy is at an ethical crossroads in which the heart often leads the head in determining which causes get showered with money while other, pe
Toomas Ilves: Lessons in digital democracy from Estonia
Of the many nations that have implemented some measure of digital democracy, none perhaps has had more success than Estonia. Toomas Ilves, a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, would know: He served as president of the Baltic state for two terms. Ilves says that all Estonians have verifiable digital identities and they use them to vote, sign legal documents, order prescription medication, file taxes and more online.
Estonian digitization began with schools and banking in the
Nigam Shah: Artificial Intelligence transforms health care
In hospitals across the world, the unmet need for end-of-life palliative care threatens to overwhelm the few doctors who are equipped to adequately provide counseling that can help patients die on their own terms. There are just too many patients and too few doctors.
Stanford’s Nigam Shah, an expert in medical informatics, says that such scenarios may soon become a thing of the past. Artificial intelligence, founded on tens-of-thousands of data points gathered from millions of patients, is flipp
Paul Oyer: Where, exactly, is the gig economy taking us?
The worlds of academic economics and ride sharing are not so far removed – just ask Stanford labor economist Paul Oyer. When Oyer wanted to study the gig economy, he didn’t do it from afar; he became an Uber driver.
Oyer says lessons from the gig economy hold deep lessons for the job market for more traditional jobs. Uber’s surge pricing, for instance, is more than a payment structure – it entices Uber drivers to work odd hours or at times of peak demand. He says Uber is constantly reworking its
Alex Stamos: How do we preserve free speech in the era of fake news?
It’s nothing we haven’t already heard – the news you read is being shaped by the ubiquitous presence of social media. So-called “fake news” spread by bots and social media may continue to influence American elections and, ultimately, democracy.
Alex Stamos, the former chief security officer at Facebook and an adjunct professor with Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, explained at a recent live taping of “The Future of Everything” that the emergence of social media has
Adina Sterling: How will artificial intelligence change hiring?
The next job search you conduct will likely be shaped by artificial intelligence. In the age of LinkedIn and Monster.com, job hunters can count on their resumes being screened by non-human intelligence. So what does this mean for the future of hiring?
At a recent live taping of the Stanford School of Engineering podcast “The Future of Everything,” Adina Sterling, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business who studies labor markets, said that roughly
Greg Beroza: Data helps prepare us for ‘The Big One’
Earthquakes come in species, says Greg Beroza, professor of geophysics at Stanford and an expert in seismology.
There are, of course, the well-known sudden shocks, but there are also “slow earthquakes” that transpire imperceptibly in contrast to the obvious temblors, but which can measure 7 on the Richter Scale or more — a major quake by any standard.
Beroza knows about slow and other species of earthquakes because of a recent explosion in the availability of seismic data recorded by an expansiv
Anne Kiremidjian: Cities built to endure disaster
Like clockwork, every time a large natural disaster hits and wipes out billions in built infrastructure, public officials, developers and private citizens cry, “never again.”
And every time, equally like clockwork, very little gets done, says Stanford civil engineer Anne Kiremidjian, one of the world’s foremost authorities on constructing buildings that can withstand major natural disasters.
She says there are technologies available that could move us toward stronger, safer buildings, but a lack
Annelise Barron: The battle against Alzheimer’s is reinvigorated
While Alzheimer’s disease has cut short too many lives and devastated more families than can be counted, its root causes and effective treatments have eluded researchers for decades.
But, says Stanford bioengineer Annelise Barron, new science indicates that many Alzheimer’s cases are coincident with viral or bacterial infections in the brain, pointing to possible new approaches to treatment or prevention.
Barron says that one human protein in particular, LL-37 — which she refers to as a “Ninja p
Marshall Burke: The impact of climate change on human behavior
While climate change is likely to bring rising sea levels, more frequent and stronger storms, as well as vanishing glaciers and coral reefs, experts say there are other lurking impacts that could have a more lasting effect on human behavior and health.
Marshall Burke is a professor of Earth System Science and a fellow at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies who says that recent research shows rising global temperatures will lead to more wars, higher crime rates and great
Riana Pfefferkorn: How are the boundaries of digital privacy shifting?
Riana Pfefferkorn is a digital security expert and Cryptography Fellow at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society. She says that we are living in the “Golden Age of Surveillance,” in which the growing ubiquity of data-rich smart devices has produced a fundamental tension between the rights of users to protect their personal data and the needs of law enforcement to investigate or prevent serious crimes.
She says draft legislation in Australia could have major privacy and security implication
Balaji Prabhakar: Can digital incentives help alleviate traffic?
While well-known mapping apps have transformed the daily commute through better information, Stanford electrical engineer Balaji Prabhakar is exploring ways to digitally incentivize people to improve their driving habits.
He calls it “nudging,” and says that small shifts in commute times — just 20 minutes earlier or later — can make a considerable impact on the day’s congestion in highly trafficked urban areas, like San Francisco.
A few years ago, Prabhakar made headlines with a Stanford-only st
David Magnus: How will artificial intelligence impact medical ethics?
Professor David Magnus, director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, says that artificial intelligence and machine learning are reshaping the landscape of medical care, but the underlying algorithms and the overarching challenges of how to employ the data are begetting new and vexing ethical questions.
Magnus explains that concerns begin with who designs, builds and pays for the algorithms and whether the ultimate goal of AI is better outcomes for patients, or better bottom lines for p
Dan Boneh: Still in early days, Blockchain is rich with possibility
While cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ethereum gather the lion’s share of headlines, few know that these “killer apps” are just the first generation of products based on a relatively new ledger-like technology called blockchain.
Founder of the Center for Blockchain Research at Stanford, Dan Boneh says that blockchain is generating a swell of excitement among coders and computer scientists not witnessed since the earliest days of the internet. While the true killer apps are still to come, Boneh says
Gopi Shah Goda: You’re probably not saving enough for retirement
Am I saving enough for retirement? Will I outlive my money? Can I count on Social Security?
These are but a few of the nagging questions most every American grapples with when contemplating retirement.
Gopi Shah Goda of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) says that the migration from once ubiquitous and relatively secure pension programs to today’s self-directed retirement plans are producing anxiety and indecision in retirement planning precisely at the worst time, and i
Sarah Billington: How we shape our buildings — and how they shape us
Sarah Billington began her career in civil engineering studying concrete, a remarkable material that has literally shaped the world as we know it.
Concrete is one of the most-consumed materials on Earth — second only to water, but this one material alone is also responsible for 6 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere.
That cold realization and a dispiriting morning meeting spent in a bunkerlike concrete-walled room led Billington to alter her research focus. She now studies how w
Jeffrey Pfeffer: Your job is killing you
Over the last three-quarters of a century, global corporations have lost sight of their broader role in society and now are focused almost exclusively on serving their shareholders.
That reality has had dire consequences for the workers of the world who are, quite literally, dying for a job, says guest Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Pfeffer says the workplace is the fifth leading cause of death and that as many as 1 million people
Anna Grzymala-Busse: Lessons from the rise of global populism
Populism can be a powerful force in a democratic society.
But according to Anna Grzymala-Busse, a Stanford professor of political science and senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, once in power populists often implement authoritarian policies that threaten the very foundations of democracy itself.
Grzymala-Busse says that the antidote to authoritarianism is to defend democratic norms, to speak out and to vote. She discusses the issue in this episode of The Futu
Andrew Grotto: Combating cyberthreats in the age of the cloud
From Bitcoin theft to the embarrassing revelations in the Sony Pictures hacking to the recent assault on the U.S. election, the threats of international cyberattack are growing in both number and consequence.
As our technology steadily becomes more cloud based, these threats will only grow and could be soon be directed at fundamental institutions we all trust and rely upon, including the electrical grid and our financial systems.
Our guest in this episode of The Future of Everything radio show i
Anna Lembke: How do we fight the disease of addiction?
Beginning in the 1980s, medical doctors started treating pain with increasing amounts of opioid medications.
That shift was driven in part by an effort by the profession to be more humane to those in serious pain, but also by misinformation and aggressive marketing by the pharmaceutical industry, which wrongly convinced doctors that their drugs were both safe and not addictive.
According to Anna Lembke, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, those changes wrought the curre
Martha Crenshaw: Fighting terrorism in the age of social media
When Stanford’s Martha Crenshaw, senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and an expert on terrorism, is asked if she thinks terrorism is evolving, growing more widespread, violent and shocking by the year, she has one response: It’s complicated.
She says that many of those trends are true, but they are driven both by the intense motivation of the terrorists and by their ability to broadcast images and messages across the world in a flash. This ability to communica
Fred Turner: The 60s counterculture roots of today’s social networks
It may not be widely known, but before he launched Apple, Steve Jobs lived for a year on a commune.
The fact that he became one of the wealthiest capitalists in America, however, should not surprise anyone who knows anything about the antecedents of Silicon Valley, says Stanford’s Fred Turner, professor of communication and history.
The truth is that there is a strong countercultural thread running through the fabric of today’s digital world. From “phreaking” scams of the long-distance telephone
Maya Rossin-Slater: Health policy and its impact on families
Can an expectant mother’s exposure to air pollutants or even extreme temperatures impact her unborn child’s earning potential 30 years later?
Can paid family leave improve workforce attachment for new mothers?
According to Maya Rossin-Slater, economist and an assistant professor of health research and policy at Stanford School of Medicine, the answer to these and other questions is “yes.” She says that research on these topics can provide policy makers with more comprehensive information on the
Jeremy Bailenson: Taking a grand tour of the latest in virtual reality
From Oculus Rift to Samsung VR, the era of virtual reality is right around the corner, if not already upon us.
But what are the psychological impacts of VR and what are the best uses of this much-hyped technology — the “killer apps,” as they say?
Jeremy Bailenson is a professor of communication at Stanford and author of the new book, Experience on Demand. He has been studying virtual reality and its effects on humans since 1999. Back then, his dream was to create virtual office spaces that might
Michal Kosinski: Living in a post-privacy world
Much has been made of the use of personal data gathered from social media and other channels to target voters during the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, but what reasonable expectations should we have in age of ubiquitous and “free” connectivity?
That question is the research focus of Stanford’s Michal Kosinski, a professor of organizational behavior in the Graduate School of Business. Kosinski has a doctorate in psychology and applies his interests to study how algorithms leverage our electron
Roz Naylor: Changing how — and what — the world eats
As the global population approaches 10 billion and the effects of climate change continue to alter familiar agricultural patterns, the world is already witnessing a transformation in how and where it gets its food.
Even diets are changing as people move away from traditional animal proteins, like beef and pork, to fish and vegetable sources.
Stanford’s Roz Naylor, the director of the Center on Food Security and the Environment, says those shifts could lead to a world that looks a lot different t
Craig Criddle: Redefining waste treatment
It’s been said that sewers were one of the major advances in human history and the Clean Water Act of 1972 was one of the most successful environmental laws ever enacted in this country.
Despite it all, America’s current waste treatment infrastructure is aging rapidly and poorly equipped for the needs of the 21st century and beyond. Such is the estimation of Stanford civil and environmental engineer, Craig Criddle, one of today’s leading thinkers about what words "waste treatment" mean
Michael Fischbach: Making sense of the gut biome
The bacteria of the human digestive system have been likened to tiny factories that ingest raw materials — food — and processing them into finished products — nutrients — that our bodies can absorb and use.
In fact, many of the complex carbohydrates and proteins critical for life cannot be absorbed unless first digested by bacteria. Yes, we may all be stardust, but not, it seems, before we are microbial excrement.
Scientists refer to this complex community as the “gut biome,” a stew of hundreds,
Paul Wise: Saving the children, on the frontlines of war
One of the tradeoffs of modern medicine is that technology that allows physicians to save more lives also drives them closer than ever to the frontlines so they can administer care as quickly as possible.
They do so at great personal risk, says Stanford pediatrician Paul Wise.
Wise began his career caring for children during Guatemala’s brutal decades-long civil war and recently returned from service during the siege of Mosul, which forced out ISIS but took a tremendous toll on Iraq’s second-lar
Michael Bernstein: Welcome to the future of crowdsourcing
While billions scroll their merry ways through Facebook and Twitter each day, behind the scenes are legions of reviewers scanning photos and video to prevent graphic content from making the newsfeeds of unsuspecting users.
Elsewhere, the faceless armies of the gig economy are making movies, building homes, driving Uber and working piecemeal to caption innumerable images for people too busy to do it for themselves.
Welcome to the future of crowdsourcing. While the collective actions of those on t
Maneesh Agrawala: Artificial intelligence comes to multimedia
As the digital world grows, the sheer amount of video and audio in our lives has become overwhelming.
It is easy to shoot and record, but few have the patience to endure the tedium of editing all that content into cogent stories. But, says Maneesh Agrawala, Forest Baskett professor of computer science, all that is about to change.
Agrawala is director of the Brown Center for Media Innovation at Stanford and says that advances in software and in artificial intelligence are making the editing of s
Sarah Heilshorn: Building replacement parts for the human body
Heart attacks, burns, strokes, disease and just plain-old aging can devastate human tissues.
But, emboldened by new understandings about the building blocks of life, engineers are applying their unique skill sets to creating replacement parts for the body.
It sounds like magic, says host and bioengineer Russ Altman, but it’s anything but. From synthetic mortars holding the biobricks of life together to new heart muscle, brain matter and skin tissue, bioengineering is on the precipice of a new ag
Manu Prakash: The physics of biology
Manu Prakash is a bioengineer, a physicist and an inventor, who has developed a $1.50 foldable microscope and the 20-cent “paperfuge” that are democratizing biosciences in parts of the world where resources are scarce and electricity is nonexistent.
Prakash’s passion flows from his deep love and understanding for how physics operates in the microscopic realm, in which bacteria, parasites and viruses thrive.
In this episode of The Future of Everything, he joins fellow bioengineer Russ Altman for
Jennifer Cochran: Guided missiles target cancer
For years, cancer treatment was confined to three flawed strategies. You could cut it out with a scalpel, you could burn it out with radiation, or you could kill it with chemicals. “Today, we are amid a renaissance in cancer treatment,” says Stanford bioengineer Jennifer Cochran. “We are creating designer proteins and using them to deliver drugs or to harness the immune system to help stop this killer dead in its tracks.”
On this episode of The Future of Everything radio show, Cochran and host,
David Relman: What dolphins can teach us about our own health
From weaponized anthrax to killer strains of bird flu, we often hear only the worst of the worst when it comes to the microbes who share our world.
The truth, however, is far from horrific. Bacteria do far more good for us than bad, and most viruses are harmless.
In this episode, host Russ Altman, professor of bioengineering, talks to infectious disease expert David Relman about his studies of one very specific microbiome—the mouths of dolphins—which have revealed many types of bacteria previous
Megan Palmer: How do we solve the security challenges in biotech?
As a founding member and former chair of the Department of Bioengineering, possibly no one has enjoyed a better purview on the recent remarkable advances in biotechnology than Stanford's Russ Altman.
From genome editing to synthetic biology to cloning, the ethical challenges of the field are almost as great as the therapeutic upsides, and advances often outpace our ability to contend with the ethical aftermath.
Listen in as host Russ Altman and policy expert and bioengineer Megan Palmer, of the
Marco Pavone: How autonomy is shaping the future of space exploration
The vast distances and extreme conditions of outer space make the prospects for remote control of exploratory vehicles extremely challenging, if not impossible. Stanford professor of aeronautics and astronautics, Marco Pavone, says the solution is to apply what we’ve learned about autonomous vehicles here on Earth to the mysterious reaches of space.
From vehicles that hop to swarms of robots to Gecko-inspired grippers, Pavone and host Russ Altman explore how autonomy is shaping the future of spa
Audrey Shafer: Why Frankenstein still holds a mirror to modern science
On the eve of the 200th anniversary of the first publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, medical doctor and bioengineer Russ Altman and Stanford anesthesiologist Audrey Shafer reflect on the enduring relevance of the book many call the first science fiction novel.
From artificial intelligence to stem cells, climate change to organ transplantation, Frankenstein’s monster seems more relevant than ever before as a mirror on the moral and ethical implications of modern science and its creations.
Jenny Suckale: A Better Plan B for Managing Disasters
Living in quake-prone California, Russ Altman is no stranger to the impending threat of natural disaster, but watching a devastating hurricane season in full force, he's wondered whether there’s anything society can do to better prepare for — or even lessen— the impact of severe storms.
Geophysicist and engineer Jenny Suckale says that, while there is much we do not know about the future, there are ways we can work with — and not against — nature to defend ourselves from disaster. All it takes,
Allison Okamura: Exploring the next big thing in modern robotics
As a bioengineer, Russ Altman has long marveled at intersection of biology and engineering that is modern robotics. Recently, he found himself wondering: what’s the next big thing in this intriguing field?
Mechanical engineer Allison Okamura says that robots that incorporate the sense of touch — either to understand the world around them or to provide better feedback to humans — are stretching boundaries in a variety of areas, including in operating rooms and disaster zones.
David Lentink: What small birds teach us about the physics of flight
If you’ve ever flown coast to coast or around the world, perhaps you wonder, as “Future of Everything” host Russ Altman did recently, whether engineers know how to design small drones for purposes like delivering goods and/or performing services in urban airspaces.
But as Stanford mechanical engineer David Lentink explains, the physics of flight change unfavorably when aircraft get small. That's why his lab studies nature’s aviators: small birds, including some migratory species that weigh less
Debbie Senesky: Developing electronics for the extremes of space
From his perch at Stanford, nestled in the heart of Silicon Valley, Russ Altman wonders whether the silicon-based electronics of which we Earthlings are so proud have the right stuff to help us explore the extreme environments of space?
Not really, says Debbie Senesky. She works at the intersection of aerospace and electrical engineering to develop new semiconductor materials that can survive the heat of Venus, where the surface temperatures are enough to melt lead. Learn more about her research
Euan Ashley: Exploring a new age of medical diagnostics
In the Future of Everything radio show, Stanford’s Russ Altman and Euan Ashley discuss wearable technology, data and the extraordinary challenges when diagnoses elude physicians and their patients.
Ashley is a professor of medicine (cardiovascular) and by courtesy, of pathology at the Stanford University Medical Center. Listen to more episodes of the Future of Everything with host, bioengineering professor Russ Altman.
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Kwabena Boahen: What does the next generation of computers look like?
In the Future of Everything radio show, Kwabena Boahen discusses the evolution of computers and how the next big step forward will be to design chips that behave more like the human brain.
Boahen is a professor of bioengineering and electrical engineering, exploring in his lab how these chips can interface with drones or with the human brain. “It's really early days,” he says.
Per Enge: How safe and secure is GPS?
Getting lost seems to be a thing of the past, thanks to the ubiquity of Global Positioning System.
Our phones and devices simply tell us where to go — and how long it will take to get there. But what are the risks? In the Future of Everything radio show, aeronautics and astronautics professor Per Enge discusses the accuracy of the system, how to keep the signals safe, and how systems will continue to improve. Listen to more episodes of the Future of Everything with host, bioengineering professor
Emmanuel Mignot: Sleep impacts our lives in ways we might not even recognize
Getting a good night’s rest can be a struggle for many. Yet good “sleep hygiene” is critical to normal brain function and remaining healthy. Listen to bioengineering professor Russ Altman discuss the importance of rest with Emmanuel Mignot, the Craig Reynolds Professor of Sleep Medicine at Stanford School of Medicine. He discusses the phenomenon of narcolepsy in humans and dogs and some of its “bizarre symptoms,” how to get more rest and how sleep disorders impact our lives in ways we might not
Amy Zegart: How vulnerable are we to cyber attacks?
In the Future of Everything radio show, Amy Zegart explains just how worried we need to be about cyber threats.
Among the threats: the security of our nation and the safety of our children. “The cyber threat landscape is changing at the speed of cyber,” she says. “And our responses are changing at the speed of government. So there's a velocity problem.”
Zegart, co-director of Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and Professor of Political Science (by courtesy), is also th
Pamela Hinds: How do you get the most out of a global team?
In the Future of Everything radio show, Pamela J. Hinds, professor of management science & engineering, discusses how multinational companies can get the most from a work force operating across borders and time zones.
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Jure Leskovec: The power of social networks
What’s most likely to go viral? Where do online trolls come from? How do recommendation engines work? What do fitness apps tell us about the world?
In the Future of Everything radio show, Jure Leskovec, Stanford associate professor of computer science and Pinterest chief scientist discusses the power of social media.
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Pat Brown: Where’s the beef? How plants could be used to build a better burger.
In the Future of Everything radio show, bioengineer Russ Altman and food entrepreneur Pat Brown discuss the creation of a better meat.
Brown, a Stanford professor of biochemistry, emeritus, devoted years to formulating meat from plant products that tastes and feels just like the real thing. Here’s how.
John Dabiri: Technology inspired by nature
In the Future of Everything radio show, Stanford’s Russ Altman and John Dabiri discuss renewable energy and technologies that are inspired by nature.
Jennifer Dionne: The power of light
Jennifer Dionne, an associate professor of materials science and engineering, talks about improving solar cells, creating invisibility, and how light could be used for less invasive medical procedures and cancer detection.
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David Eagleman: Adding to the senses
The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: "Adding to the Senses with guest David Eagleman" David Eagleman, an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, discusses sensory addition through wearable technology. Originally aired on June 3, 2017, on SiriusXM. Recorded at Stanford Video.
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Drew Endy: Exploring the biotechnology revolution
On the Future of Everything radio show, bioengineering professor Drew Endy discusses what's next for the bio-economy.
The question, he says, is, how do we get smarter at designing living systems? And the opportunity? “To focus attention on the fundamental tools by which people tinker and observe how biology is working.”
Fei-Fei Li and Chris Gerdes: The future of artificial intelligence and self-driving cars
At a live taping of The Future of Everything, a SiriusXM radio program hosted by Stanford bioengineering professor Russ Altman, two Stanford engineering professors discussed their contributions to two of the tech world’s most cutting edges: artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles.
Computer scientist Fei-Fei Li and mechanical engineer Chris Gerdes spoke about their work pushing the boundaries of what machines can do, and the many ways that our lives will be impacted by interactions with t
Oussama Khatib: “Bringing a new revolution in robotics”
In the Future of Everything radio show, Oussama Khatib, a computer scientist and director of the Stanford Robotics Lab, discusses a future in which robots and humans work together to solve some of the most difficult challenges facing humanity.
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Christina Smolke: How to grow better painkillers and other medications
In the Future of Everything radio show, Stanford bioengineers Russ Altman and Christina Smolke discuss advances in our ability to create medications and the implications it could have for billions of people worldwide in the not-too-distant future.
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Carolyn Bertozzi: How the sugars on the surface of human cells affect our health
In the Future of Everything radio show, Stanford bioengineer Russ Altman and chemist Carolyn Bertozzi discuss the biology of sugars on human cells and their role in potentially revolutionary cancer treatments. She also discusses cutting-edge new ways to detect HIV, type 1 diabetes, and other diseases early.
Audrey Bowden: What is the future of medical diagnostics?
Forget WebMD, a new technology will soon make it possible to bring a diagnosis lab into your bathroom.
On the Future of Everything radio show, Stanford's Russ Altman and electrical engineering professor Audrey Bowden discuss patient empowerment and the future of medical diagnostics.
David Camarillo: What can we do to protect ourselves from concussions?
From sports injuries to bicycle accidents, we're hearing a lot about concussions. On the Future of Everything radio show, Russ Altman talks to bioengineer David Camarillo about head injuries, how to measure neurological damage, and what we can do protect our brains.
Zhenan Bao: Bendable Electronics
The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: "Bendable Electronics with Zhenan Bao" Stanford Chemical Engineering Professor Zhenan Bao discusses innovations in bendable electronics, and how they will be used in the next generation of cell phones and even help amputees regain their sense of touch.
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Janine Zacharia: What is the future of media?
In the Future of Everything radio show, Stanford bioengineer Russ Altman discusses the future of journalism, fake news, and how to become an informed media consumer with Janine Zacharia, a Stanford lecturer in journalism.
Zacharia was Jerusalem Bureau Chief and Middle East Correspondent for the Washington Post from December 2009 through April 2011, and previously chief diplomatic correspondent for Bloomberg News.
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Hank Greely: How babies (will) get made
We’re entering a different world when it comes to procreating. In this episode of the Future of Everything radio show, Stanford Bioengineering Professor Russ Altman talks with Stanford Law Professor Hank Greely, author of The End of Sex and the Future of Human Reproduction, about the medical, legal and ethical implications of giving parents greater control over the baby-making process.
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Andrea Goldsmith: What is the future of wireless networking and communications?
In this episode of The Future of Everything, bioengineering professor Russ Altman talks with electrical engineer Andrea Goldsmith about the high-powered wireless networks we must build for widespread autonomous vehicles, smart garbage pick-up, and battery recharging.
Marc Salit: What is the future of genome measurement?
In the not too distant future, our ability to measure very tiny things will change the way we fight diseases ranging from cancer to the common cold.
In the Future of Everything radio show, Stanford bioengineering Professor Russ Altman discusses how we will arrive at that point with Marc Salit, an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering, who leads the Genome-Scale Measurements Group at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Jennifer Granick: Our digital fingerprints are everywhere. How do we protect ourselves?
Keeping our private information away from hackers and spies is a growing concern for many Americans.
In the Future of Everything radio show, Stanford bioengineering Professor Russ Altman discusses how to keep our data safe with Jennifer Granick, Director of Civil Liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School.
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