Latest Chris vales Podcast Episodes
Here's an Idea: Going for the Gold with Aerodynamic Luge Sleds
Here's an Idea - February 11, 2022 13:08 - 12 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsLuge is one of the three sliding sports on the program at the 2022 Winter Olympics being held in Beijing this month. The sport requires athletes to barrel down an ice track on small sleds accelerating to speeds of nearly 90 mph. Traditionally, lugers design and build their own sleds, often thro...
Here's an Idea: How to Make an 'Ocean Battery'
Here's an Idea - January 28, 2022 19:01 - 11 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsDr. Frits Bliek and his team at Ocean Grazer are building an "Ocean Battery" that brings hydrodam technology to the sea. On this episode of Here's an Idea, Bliek, CEO of the Netherlands-based energy company, talks about an innovative idea for power that involves plastic bags, underground reservo...
A Major Role for Microneedles in Drug Delivery, Post-Pandemic
Here's an Idea - December 10, 2021 20:35 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsWho really likes needles? A brand-new episode of our Tech Briefs podcast series Here’s an Idea™ explores the emergence of a drug-delivery patch made of micro-needles. The Velcro-like option is less painful – and more effective, it turns out. And the devices are especially valuable during a pandem...
Reinventing the Hearing Aid: From DIY Devices to Brainwave Monitoring
Here's an Idea - August 02, 2021 13:30 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsWe speak to four researchers about their hearing innovations: a 3D-printed stent for collapsed cartilage, a one-dollar hearing aid that can be built in an hour, a "mind-reading" hearing aid that solves the cocktail party problem, and a brain monitor for cochlear-implant calibration. See acast....
The Robot’s Emerging Role: Surgeon
Here's an Idea - June 21, 2021 20:15 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsTech Briefs talks to three researchers who are finding ways to automate surgical tasks, from suturing, to spotting tumors, to operating one of the biggest machines in surgery today: The Da Vinci. Ken Goldberg of UC Berkeley discusses how his team got the Da Vinci to autonomously perform a trainin...
Inside the New Medical Wearables: Patches, Tattoos, and Skin-Like Sensors
Here's an Idea - March 22, 2021 11:00 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsMedical wearables are advancing past smartwatches and Fitbits, but will they catch on? We talk to the researchers behind an assistive mouth sensor, skin-like sensor tattoos called “BodyNet,” a low-cost UV patch, and an electronic sensor that's 3D-printed directly on the skin. See acast.com/priv...
Hospital Robots Join the COVID-19 Fight: Meet Tommy, Spot, and Tiago
Here's an Idea - February 15, 2021 12:00 - 20 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsAs doctors and nurses seek hands-free ways to disinfect environments, operate equipment, and contain the spread of coronavirus and COVID-19, some hospitals have turned to a higher-tech idea: Robots. We talk to the researchers behind “Tiago” and other robotic technologies finding a place in patien...
A "Teflon" for Dangerous Bacteria: Dr. Leyla Soleymani and RepelWrap
Here's an Idea - January 18, 2021 12:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsIt looks a bit like the plastic wrap you’d find around a Coca-Cola bottle, but with a big difference. This “RepelWrap” fends off viruses like one that causes COVID-19, and dangerous drug-resistant bacteria. Dr. Leyla Soleymani of McMaster University discusses how an idea for biosensors turned int...
A Bug-Inspired Building Material for Mars: Javier Gomez Fernandez and "Chitin"
Here's an Idea - November 16, 2020 12:00 - 20 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsIf humans end up on Mars in the next ten years, astronauts will need to use as much of the planet’s resources as possible and potentially build habitats to stay there. Chitin is found in the exoskeletons of insects and when combined with Martian soil, results in a potential building material for ...
3D Printing in Space: NASA's Tracie Prater
Here's an Idea - October 05, 2020 11:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsThe International Space Station is full of spare parts that can replace any faulty or broken ones. Tracie Prater, a materials engineer at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, wants astronauts to be able to quickly print out the tools and parts that they need on demand. She discusses NASA's effort...
The Future of Urban Air Mobility: Tim McConnell and the 'Aerodrome'
Here's an Idea - September 08, 2020 11:00 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsWhen our urban environments are filled with drones and other unmanned aircraft, they'll need to be able detect and avoid obstacles. University of California, San Diego robotics researcher Tim McConnell oversees the Aerodrome — a facility that may look like a driving range, but is, in fact, a test...
A Jumping Robot to Explore the Moon and Mars: Hendrik Kolvenbach and "SpaceBok"
Here's an Idea - August 10, 2020 13:00 - 22 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsThe Mars-bound Perseverance rover is as sophisticated as it gets. But can it jump? Hendrik Kolvenbach, PhD researcher at the ETH Zurich Robotics Systems Lab, sees the best way to get around on the Moon and Mars as less of a step and more of a giant leap. Kolvenbach discusses his team's work in cr...
A Shape-Shifting Airplane Wing: Ben Jenett's "MADCAT" Idea
Here's an Idea - July 13, 2020 13:00 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsEvery airplane wing and body has basically the same shape. "That means they're suboptimal," says MIT's Ben Jenett. Learn how Ben is creating a shape-shifting airplane wing — built by tiny assembler robots. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Looking for Life on Mars: Roger Wiens and the “SuperCam”
Here's an Idea - June 08, 2020 12:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsRoger Wiens, a fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory, talks about how he and his team created the SuperCam. The "Super" instrument will be aboard the 2020 Mars rover, ready to vaporize rocks and search for signs of past life on the Red Planet. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out in...
Looking for Life on Mars: Roger Wiens and the “SuperCam”
Here's an Idea - June 08, 2020 12:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsRoger Wiens, a fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory, talks about how he and his team created the SuperCam. The "Super" instrument will be aboard the 2020 Mars rover, ready to vaporize rocks and search for signs of past life on the Red Planet. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out in...
A.I. in the Air
Here's an Idea - November 18, 2019 19:03 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsIn July of this year, Tech Briefs editors found themselves in the middle of a drone testing ground. Now, the race is on. See how engineers are writing code that can send aircraft through obstacle courses — all without a pilot. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Apollo 11
Here's an Idea - July 26, 2019 20:23 - 19 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsIn conjunction with our celebration of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, this month's Here's an Idea episode features an interview with Daniel Coleman, editor of the publication NASA Spin-Off. Many of the technologies we use today – from memory foam to our phone cameras – were first developed ...
Candy
Here's an Idea - June 17, 2019 19:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsWhether you're the owner of a candy shop in Brooklyn or you're one of the giant chocolate makers like Hershey's or Nestlé, you'll want to experiment. In this episode of Here's an Idea, we explore how candy manufacturers large and small turn to technology to support their newest, sweetest ideas....
Sports
Here's an Idea - April 29, 2019 20:44 - 37 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsThere was a time where the closest thing we had to a wearable was plugging your sneaker into a computer. But now that we’re so connected, now that we have the ability to gather a treasure trove of data, what do we do with it? We talk with a wide range of experts to explore how sensors are being u...
Sleep
Here's an Idea - March 18, 2019 21:01 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsWhen it comes to a better night's sleep, what role should technology play – if any? We talk with two noted sleep specialists and explore some of the innovative products being developed in the emerging field of Sleep Tech. And we go behind the scenes of the manufacturing and prototyping processes ...
Car Hacking
Here's an Idea - January 21, 2019 22:57 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsToday's cars are more connected than ever before. But the more you open up internal parts of your system to this connectivity, the bigger the chance that those vulnerabilities are accessible from the outside. In this episode, we’ll talk with researchers, including noted Jeep Cherokee hacker Chr...
Garbage
Here's an Idea - November 26, 2018 16:57 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsGarbage is everywhere — whether it’s paper in your trashcan, plastic in the ocean, blobs in the sewers, or junk floating out in space. In this episode, we talk with researchers who are finding small — and maybe even fun — ways to take out all the trash. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and o...
Asteroids
Here's an Idea - October 15, 2018 17:34 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsDetecting a potentially-hazardous, near-Earth asteroid requires a community of dedicated researchers, from amateur astronomers to NASA professionals. In this episode, we talk with NASA's Planetary Defense Officer Lindley Johnson, Dr. Bruce Betts of the Planetary Society, and astrophysicist Mike...
Haptics
Here's an Idea - September 24, 2018 09:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsYou've most likely felt the vibrations of a phone in your pocket, but did you know that the buzzing effect is one of the most basic forms of a field known as Haptics? Haptics refers to any interaction involving touch, or specifically touch feedback. What if vibrations could communicate more to ...
Alcohol
Here's an Idea - August 13, 2018 19:00 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsThe process for making wine, beer, and spirits has remained relatively the same for centuries. In this episode of Here’s an Idea™, we look at the efforts of vineyard owners, distillers, and brewers who are discovering small ways to innovate and adjust their own crafting processes. We speak wit...
Superpowers
Here's an Idea - July 17, 2018 14:08 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsEngineers today are using their creativity to build a variety of superhero-like technologies that enhance our human capabilities, including exosuits, invisibility cloaks, and wall-scaling gloves. What drives these researchers? Were they all comic-book reading dreamers? Or is a need to imagine b...
Sponges
Here's an Idea - June 12, 2018 07:00 - 24 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsAfter a disaster like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf coast, what if a giant sponge could clean up the area and the wildlife around it? What if a bunch of tiny sponges could quickly save gunshot victims? In this episode of Here's an Idea, we look at how researchers are doing jus...
Humanoid Robots
Here's an Idea - May 14, 2018 22:10 - 18 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsSome conditions are too dangerous, or just too mundane, for people. For decades, humanoid robots have been stepping in to take tasks off our hands. One named Manny spent a lot of the 80s being shot with a flamethrower. Another, R2, is currently doing chores in space. In this episode, we look a...
Rockets
Here's an Idea - April 09, 2018 14:30 - 15 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsOn a snowy day in 1926, a physicist named Robert Goddard set out to his Aunt Effie's ranch. What happened next was not your typical day on the farm – Goddard launched the first liquid-propellant rocket. In this episode of Here's an Idea™, we explore how Dr. Goddard's efforts, almost 100 years a...
3D Printing
Here's an Idea - March 12, 2018 17:54 - 15 minutes ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsChances are you’ve heard of 3D printing - the modern fabrication process being used today to make everything from football cleats to dental implants. In this episode of Here's an Idea™ we look at how 3D printing began. We speak with the creator of the 3D printer himself, Chuck Hull, who admits ...
Related Chris vales Topics