Verge of Discovery
47 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 8 years ago - ★★★★★ - 47 ratingsVerge of Discovery is a podcast created for everyone who loves to learn and wants to know more about the most recent developments in the field of science and technology. We interview today's brightest scholars, intellectuals and visionaries in the field of science and technology and bring their knowledge, passion and wisdom to you. Our goal is bring the latest scientific developments to you directly from the minds of people who are propelling us into the future. We want to learn from them and be inspired by them.
Just imagine Christopher Columbus telling you personally what it was like to explore the Americas or the Wright brothers describing to you what it was like to fly for the first time. What would that feel like?
This is what the Verge of Discovery is about, that moment of personal discovery from the hearts and minds of today's brightest stars.
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Episodes
041: Top 10 Episodes - Season 1 of Verge of Discovery Podcast
June 06, 2016 06:00 - 18 minutes - 17 MBLet's recap season one with the top 10 episodes of the very first season of Verge of Discovery Podcast.
040: Video Games and the Nature of Aging and Play with Dr. Bob De Schutter
May 16, 2016 06:00 - 44 minutes - 41 MBBob De Schutter is a Belgian video game designer and researcher. He is best known for his work on the design of video games for players in middle through late adulthood. We discuss video games designed for older adults and why it might be the next frontier for game development.
039: Biomechanics of Riding and Balancing a Bicycle with Dr. Stephen Cain
May 02, 2016 06:00 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBDr. Stephen Cain is a research investigator in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan. His research interests include: human/bicycle dynamics; the development and use of novel experimental methods and instrumentation to quantify changes in biomechanics that accompany learning, adaptation, or fatigue; human gait; human balance; sports biomechanics; and MEMS inertial sensor applications. He shares his passion for cycling with us and enlightens us in his field of...
038: Glycoimmunology and the Groundbreaking Research of Glycan Signatures with Dr. Maverakis
April 11, 2016 06:00 - 29 minutes - 27.1 MBDr. Maverakis is an award-winning physician-scientist at the University of California, Davis. He introduces his field of glycoimmunology and describes how this field is wide open to new discoveries. Dr. Maverakis goes in further detail regarding characterization of immune glycome and glycan signature considerations in future treatments. He concludes our interview by sharing some of his advice and resources.
037: The Dangers of the Zika Virus and its Transmission with Dr. Sarkar
March 28, 2016 06:00 - 20 minutes - 19.3 MBDr. Sarkar is Professor of Integrative Biology and of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin where he has taught since 1998. His laboratory focuses on spatial ecological planning and neglected tropical diseases including Chagas, Dengue, and Zika. Dr. Sarkar discusses his work on the modification of transmission models for dengue to perform risk analyses for the emerging threat of Zika. He also discusses Zika virus with its implications and transmission patterns in added detail.
036: The Future of Renewable Energy with Dr. Christopher Clack
March 21, 2016 06:00 - 31 minutes - 29.4 MBDr. Christopher Clack is a mathematician and research scientist for the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at Colorado University at Boulder. He joins us to talk about his latest work of building an energy, well more specifically electric, simulator. Dr. Clack discusses how it allows us to seek out the most cost effective approach to rebuild the future energy system in a methodical calculated way. It is a model, so you can investigate almost infinite possibilities ...
035: Visual Attention, Neural Networks and Computational Neuroscience with Dr. Rougier
March 07, 2016 07:00 - 27 minutes - 25.6 MBDr. Nicolas Rougier is a full-time research scientist at the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control. During the past decades he’s been working extensively on visual attention in order to understand how we visually explore a scene. Dr. Rougier discusses his work and visual attention and computation neuroscience in particular. He also dives deeper into how seeing is mostly an illusion and that we do not process all visual information that passed through our ...
034: Part 2 - The Quantum Violation of the Pigenhole Principle and its Implications with Dr. Tollaksen
February 29, 2016 07:00 - 32 minutes - 29.5 MBDr. Jeff Tollaksen joins us to discuss his groups’ latest discovery of the quantum violation of the pigeonhole principle. Dr. Tollaksen expands on how the field of physics has transformed from classical physics to quantum physics over the years. He explains how the culture has shifted from a deterministic view to a more capricious view with the acceptance of the quantum theory. We then discuss the quantum violation of the pigenhole principle and it's implications in more detail.
033: Part 1 - Why God Plays Dice and the Quantum Pigenhole Effect with Dr. Tollaksen
February 22, 2016 12:51 - 25 minutes - 23.5 MBDr. Tollaksen details the discovery of the quantum pigenhole principle and describes the physics leading up to this discovery. Part one of a two part series.
032: LiFi is the future of WiFi with Dr. Haas
February 15, 2016 07:00 - 35 minutes - 32.7 MBProfessor Haas received the PhD degree from the University of Edinburgh in 2001. He currently holds the Chair of Mobile Communications at the University of Edinburgh, and is co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of pureLiFi Ltd as well as the Director of the LiFi Research and Development Center at the University of Edinburgh. He first introduced and coined LiFi. LiFi was listed among the 50 best inventions in TIME Magazine 2011.
031: Rockets and the Challenges of Space Travel with Dr. Vanstone
February 08, 2016 14:29 - 36 minutes - 33.4 MBDr. Leon Vanstone is an aerodynamic engineer and a real life rocket scientist. Travelling really fast through the atmosphere generates a lot of heat due to friction from the air. Leon’s work looks at how to stop things that do this from melting. It’s pretty hard to travel fast enough to melt something unless you drop the object from space and so this problem usually only applies to rockets and re-entry vehicles. Leon discusses some of these challenges and tells us a bit more about orbital ...
030: Big Data, Cloud Computing and Machine Learning with Dr. Ryoo
February 01, 2016 08:17 - 31 minutes - 28.7 MBDr. Jungwoo Ryoo is the interim head of the division of business, engineering, and information sciences and technology (BEIST) and an associate professor of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) at the Pennsylvania State University-Altoona. He discusses his field of expertise in big data, cloud computing and machine learning. Dr. Ryoo dives deeper into the state of big data field and how we need more and more qualified interdisciplinary experts in the field to advance this industry int...
029: Brain 'Zaps' to Improve Language, Cognition & Motor Abilities with Dr. Mehta
January 25, 2016 07:00 - 27 minutes - 25.4 MBDr. Jyutika Mehta is an associate professor at Texas Woman’s University and directs Neurophysiology lab in the department of Communication Science & Disorders. Her primary research interests are to study speech and language representation in normal and disordered brains.
028: Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Scans and ADHD with Monica Rosenberg
January 18, 2016 07:00 - 25 minutes - 23.1 MBMonica Rosenberg is a graduate student in the Department of Psychology at Yale University. Monica discusses how applying cognitive neuroscience research can help identify and treat disorders like ADHD. She expands on how ability to sustain attention varies widely across individuals and researchers lack a standardized way to measure it. Monica dives deeper into her groups recent work introducing a new fMRI measure of sustained attention based on patterns of functional connectivity, or corre...
027: The Undersea Internet Network with Dr. Starosielski
January 11, 2016 07:00 - 25 minutes - 23.3 MBDr. Nicole Starosielski is the author of "The Undersea Network," a book on the undersea cable systems that carry almost all transoceanic internet traffic today. She discusses the history of the network and how it was started and how it developed into what it is today. Dr. Starosielski discusses the technology behind the network and why it is being used today. She also dives deeper into other factors such as security, longevity and reliability of the network and its future.
026: Macular Degeneration, Pigmentation and Alzheimer's with Dr. McKay
January 04, 2016 07:00 - 21 minutes - 19.9 MBDr. Brian McKay is an associate professor at the Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Science at the University of Arizona. Dr. McKay joins the show to discuss age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and its potential causes. He dives deeper into the relationship between certain pigments and persons susceptibility to AMD or glaucoma and how they are related. Dr. McKay also shares with us his most recent results in which Alzheimer’s drug can potentially help us treat and even prevent futu...
025: Predictive Policing, Space Travel and The Internet of Things with Dr. Perkowitz
December 28, 2015 09:01 - 27 minutes - 25.3 MBDr. Sidney Perkowitz is Emeritus professor of physics at Emory University. He is a scientist and a writer. Dr. Perkowitz discusses some of his interests in science and technology and dives deeper in his most recent articles including predictive policing, the internet of things and space travel.
024: Mathematics in Social Media and Scientific Networks with Dr. Struppa
December 21, 2015 07:00 - 28 minutes - 26 MBDr. Daniele Struppa introduces his work as a mathematician working primarily in the area of Fourier Analysis and it’s applications. He has recently become interested in some aspects of social media and how he can use mathematics to judge the “impact” of certain content in various networks and in scientific publications in particular. He expands on his findings and tell us a bit more about the best ways to diffuse knowledge and ideas through social media.
Bonus: What will be the greatest scientific discovery in the next ten years?
December 18, 2015 07:00 - 15 minutes - 14.4 MBWhat will be the greatest scientific discovery in the next ten years? Is extending the human life the next big discovery?
023: Top 10 American Fears with Dr. Christopher Bader
December 14, 2015 07:00 - 24 minutes - 22.6 MBDr. Christopher Bader is one of the principal investigators of the Chapman University Survey of American Fears. Dr. Bader starts our interview by discussing satanic panic back in the 80s/90s and how it peaked his interest in the overall study of fear. He then introduces his group’s work with the Chapman University Survey of American Fears. Dr. Bader dives deeper into finding of the study and how it affects our lives. Stay tuned for top 10 fears of 2015.
Bonus: What is the farthest human-made object?
December 11, 2015 07:00 - 3 minutes - 3.47 MBWhat is the farthest human-made object?
Bonus: Has any astronaut ever slept on the moon?
December 09, 2015 07:00 - 4 minutes - 3.93 MBHas any astronaut ever slept on the moon?
022: Tracking the Collective Behavior of Sheep with Dr. Francesco Ginelli
December 07, 2015 05:36 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBDr. Francesco Ginelli’s work is all about collective effects. The idea is that when you have a system composed of many units, certain collective properties of a system may emerge unexpectedly out of rather simple individual rules. Dr. Ginelli discusses his work in the study of collective behavior in animal groups and sheep in particular. He discusses the techniques of his study and what that means for our world as a whole.
Bonus: Is everyone's experience of color the same?
December 04, 2015 07:00 - 4 minutes - 4.18 MBIs everyone's experience of color the same?
Bonus: Is it possible that a technologically advanced civilization existed 100,000 years ago?
December 02, 2015 19:49 - 5 minutes - 5.08 MBIs it possible that a technologically advanced civilization existed 100,000 years ago?
021: The Importance of Sleep to Your Health and Well-being with Dr. Aric Prather
November 30, 2015 07:00 - 30 minutes - 28.2 MBDr. Aric Prather introduces his field of work as a clinical-health psychologist. He stresses the fact that too much stress or not enough sleep is bad for us and we are starting to look inside the body to understand why, as well as understand who is especially vulnerable, who is resilient, and what types of interventions might be most effective. He also introduces and expands on his latest project that studied correlation between sleep and sickness. Dr. Prather concludes the interview by t...
020: Ingestible Electronics, Tiny Batteries and Sensors with Dr. Chris Bettinger.mp3
November 23, 2015 07:00 - 27 minutes - 25.7 MBDr. Christopher Bettinger introduces his field of ingestible electronics. He expands on what these ingestible electronics are and what their purpose is in medical fields. Dr. Bettinger then goes in further detail about his specific work in powering these devices and some of the challenges that his group is facing today. He concludes the interview by sharing with us his vision of the future and what these technological advances mean for the world as a whole.
019: Biophysics, Charges, Forces and the Living World with Dr. Adrian Parsegian
November 16, 2015 17:14 - 38 minutes - 35 MBDr. Adrian Parsegian discusses his field of work in biophysics. He begins by expanding on how our world is guarded by various forces from gravitational forces of our universe to electromagnetic forces and chemical bonding and charges in all of our biological systems. Scientists like Dr. Parsegian want to know how molecules are organized to make functional groups and further functioning objects from sugars, lipids, proteins etc. Dr. Parsegian expands on this merger of physical and biologic...
018: Environmental Engineering, Biochar and Oil Spill Cleanup with Julia Vidonish
November 09, 2015 07:00 - 26 minutes - 24.5 MBJulia Vidonish introduces her field of environmental engineering and her work in oil spill cleanup in particular. Julia expands on oil spills and it's implications and how her team is focusing on heavier constituents that are more difficult to clean up. She describes her group's vision to take contaminants and utilize them as a possible resource without damaging the environment. She concludes the episode by describing potential benefits of this new technology and how it affects our world ...
017: Science and Technology Recap October 2015
November 06, 2015 00:24 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MBEvgeniy Shishkin recaps new discoveries in Science and Tech for the month of October 2015. Topics include comets, volcanoes, water on mars, meat as carcinogen, personal hygiene and sickness. Episode is concluded with questions of the month and the recap of this months episodes.
016: Demystifying the Out-of-Body Experience with Luis Minero
November 02, 2015 07:00 - 42 minutes - 39.1 MBLuis Minero is currently the President of the IAC and Director of the California center. The IAC focuses mainly on the study of Conscientiology (study of the consciousness or soul, spirit, essence) and Projectiology (projections outside the body, OBEs). Luis introduces his field of work in out-of-body experiences and describes what they are. He describes that his experience with OBEs started at a young age and he continued to study and explore this field throughout his years. Luis also e...
015: Aquaponics, Global Ecology and Making a Difference with Dr. George Brooks
October 27, 2015 18:25 - 45 minutes - 41.5 MBDr. George Benjamin Brooks Jr. introduces his field of aquaponics and discusses his work in the community. He tells us about the need for new disruptive innovations in aquaponics that will reduce costs, provide access to new markets and thereby increase access to healthy food. He also discusses the state of today's ecology and how new ways of bringing healthy food can positively influence our future. Dr. Brooks concludes by expanding on how new developments in aquaponics can improve socia...
014: 'Why We Are Wired to Worry and How Neuroscience Will Help You Fix It' with Sharie Spironhi
October 19, 2015 05:09 - 53 minutes - 49.3 MBSharie Spironhi is a renowned motivational speaker, educator, counselor and author of ‘Why We Are Wired to Worry and How Neuroscience Will Help You Fix It’, is an undisputed expert in human behavioral science, who has dedicated her life to helping people get off their Worry-Go-Round™. Inspired by her overnight defeat of Bi-Polar disorder, Sharie is a living example of neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to change and heal). She tells us her compelling story of living with Manic Depression ...
013: Toxicology, Google Glass and the Future of Healthcare with Dr. Peter Chai
October 15, 2015 06:00 - 25 minutes - 23.4 MBDr. Peter Chai is an emergency medicine physician and a fellow in medical toxicology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He introduces his field of work and how his group is using current technological advances to propel his field forward. Dr. Chai expands on the use of novel head mounted devices like Google Glass to allow physicians to access information on the go in a hands free manner. He mentions a number of advantages including an opportunity for specialists to see pa...
012: Clean Drinking Water with pAge and the Drinkable Book by Dr. Dankovich
October 12, 2015 12:57 - 22 minutes - 20.7 MBDr. Theresa Dankovich introduces her field of work with silver nanoparticles and her invention of bactericidal silver nanoparticle paper, pAge. She expands on her latest project of Drinkable Book which includes both a water filter (pAge) and an instruction manual for easy access to clean drinking water. She goes in more detail about the trials that were performed and the efficiency of the paper to filter out unwanted constituents. She concludes the interview by mentioning what it would me...
011: Food Testing, Pathogens and Recalls with Andy Moreno
October 08, 2015 06:00 - 33 minutes - 30.5 MBAndy Moreno introduces his field of work in pathogen testing and food safety. He expands on the topic of food poisoning and how many people it affects every year. He describes in detail what testing is currently being done on the food that we eat everyday and raises concerns of proper food labeling and Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) in particular. He concludes the interview by describing the current state of food industry as it relates to health and safety and stresses the importance o...
010: Plastic Solar Cells, Self-Assembly and Nano-tech with Dr. Sarah Tolbert
October 05, 2015 06:00 - 23 minutes - 21.6 MBDr. Sarah Tolbert introduces her field of work in nano-technology and self-assembly. She goes in detail about her research in solar cell technology and plastic solar cells in particular. She draws a comparison between current silicon solar cell designs and her group’s endeavors into organic solar cell developments. She expands on how todays developments in solar cell technologies are inspired by our biological system and photosynthesis cycle in particular. Dr. Tolbert concludes by sharin...
009: Science and Tech Recap September 2015
October 03, 2015 01:17 - 18 minutes - 17.2 MBEvgeniy Shishkin recaps new discoveries in Science and Tech for the month of September 2015. Topics include wormholes, number of trees in the world, oldest message in the bottle, cell phone usage, mountain McKinley vs Denali and 7 habits that can make you smarter. Episode is concluded with a question of the month an the recap of this months episodes. Credits: "Wallpaper" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/license...
008: Anxiety, Rituals and Religion with Martin Lang
September 28, 2015 06:00 - 30 minutes - 27.8 MBMartin Lang introduces his current study of rituals and ritualization in laboratory and field settings. He continues with the discuss of his latest project which is focused on the connection between ritual behaviors and anxiety. More specifically he found that when people experience anxiety, they tend to behave in a ritual like fashion. He expands on the role or ritualization and religion in our everyday lives and concludes the interview by discussing how Mickey Mouse and gods are compare...
007: Drones, Poaching and the African Plains with Dr. Thomas Snitch
September 25, 2015 12:15 - 50 minutes - 46.6 MBDr. Thomas Snitch introduces his current work with UAVs (drones) in Africa. He explains how by bringing appropriate technology to Africa, high resolution satellites, exquisite mathematics and UAVs, we can dramatically reduce, and in many cases stop the poaching of rhinos, elephants and other animals. He expands on the poaching behaviors in Africa and how it ultimately creates ecological, economic and environmental implications in the region and our world as a whole. Dr. Snitch concludes b...
006: Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision and Art with Dr. Elgammal
September 21, 2015 06:00 - 35 minutes - 32.8 MBDr. Ahmed Elgammal introduces his research in the field of computer vision and artificial intelligence. He explains that the goal of the computer vision field is to give the machine an ability to see and understand the world around it. He dives deeper and tell us about his latest research at the intersection of art and artificial intelligence where he focuses on quantifying creativity in art including masterpieces by Munch, Picasso and DaVinci. Dr. Elgammal ends the interview by sharing w...
005: Human Physiology and Work Health with Dr. Lucas Carr
September 17, 2015 06:00 - 25 minutes - 23.4 MBDr. Lucas Carr introduces his field of work which focuses on identifying and testing novel solutions for improving the health of at-risk populations including sedentary office workers. He explains how we can improve our health by utilizing active workstation in office settings and what that means for our future. Dr. Carr ends the interview by describing how designing our environment in a way that makes the healthy choice the easier choice is a sustainable and potentially cost-effective app...
004: Dark Energy, Dark Matter and Hard Work with Dr. Farooq
September 14, 2015 06:00 - 41 minutes - 38 MBDr. Omer Farooq introduces his field of theoretical physics and describes to us the dream of understanding the Universe in which we live. He continues his discussion of the Universe with his latest project of finding the constraints of the dark energy models. He enlightens us with his explanation of what is dark energy and dark matter and expands on the subject to educate us even more. Dr. Farooq ends the interview by sharing with us his passion for the field of theoretical physics and ho...
003: Behavior Design, Habits and Meditation with David Ngo
September 10, 2015 06:00 - 34 minutes - 32 MBDavid Ngo is a co-founding partner of Simplicity Labs, a Behavior Design firm. David discusses how Behavior Design is a cutting edge approach to creating solutions that change human behavior. He goes in detail of how changing human behavior, whether for ourselves or for others, is something that we do every day but we don’t have a systematic way of doing so. He goes in detail of how his work is inspired by Dr. BJ Fogg and his achievements in academia and industry as a whole. David ends t...
000: Welcome to the Verge of Discovery - Introduction
September 04, 2015 00:20 - 14 minutes - 13.1 MBMy name is Evgeniy Shishkin (Ev) and I’m interviewed by my wife Alexandra on the very first episode of Verge of Discovery podcast. This introductory episode of Verge of Discovery puts me in the guest seat and is held in the same format as all of our episodes. This is my chance to tell you a little about myself and what motivated me to start the Verge of Discovery podcast. Tune in and start your journey to the Verge of Discovery! Credits: "Wallpaper" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licens...
001: Robot Taxis and the Future with Dr. Jeffery Greenblatt
September 04, 2015 00:20 - 31 minutes - 29.1 MBDr. Jeffery Greenblatt introduces his field of energy modeling and explains how our ideal version of the future can look so much different with a few minor changes. He continues his discussion of the future with his latest research in autonomous vehicles and “robot taxis”. He explains how new developments in this field will benefit our energy usage and transportation efficiency and and how this will ultimately improve the way we live our lives. Dr. Greenblatt ends the interview by sharing...
002: High-tech Microstructures, Deep Sea Shrimps and Perseverance with Dr. Vikas Tomar
September 04, 2015 00:19 - 38 minutes - 34.9 MBDr. Vikas Tomar introduces composite materials and their application in todays technology including it’s aeronautical applications in commercial fields like new Boeing 787 dreamliners. He continues his discussion of structures and composites by introducing his more recent research that concentrates on the study of deep sea shrimp. He explains how findings of deep sea shrimps protective structure evolution to high temperatures and pressures can give us a glimpse into future of microstructur...