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Copyright: © Richard Jacobs
Sleep: it's essential for our health, mental well-being, work productivity, quality of life…the list continues. Identifying sleep issues, however, can be a long and difficult process. Why? Sleep is difficult to measure, which means it's hard to generate the data that's necessary in order to better understand and address sleep problems. Why is it difficult to measure? According to Roy Raymann, Ph.D., true measurements of sleep—those that are more objective than simple questionnaires—are obtrusive, requiring multiple sensors on the brain, face, wrists, etc., which neglects the fact that comfort is a crucial element of good sleep.
On today's podcast, you'll learn about a new form of technology 13 years in the making that could very well change the way sleep is studied from here on out. Among other accomplishments, Dr. Raymann has conducted research in sleep science for more than 25 years, his work has been published in multiple peer-reviewed journals, and he currently serves as Vice President of Sleep Science and Scientific Affairs at SleepScore Labs. He discusses the ins and outs of SleepScore's technology, which utilizes sounds waves, algorithms, and a whole lot of data processing to detect and translate micro-movements during sleep into useful data about sleep quality. All that's required is a small bedside device, which means no annoying sensors tacked to your head and no wires in your bed.
Tune in to hear more about the SleepScore product and the extra features it includes, and check out https://www.sleepscore.com/ to learn more.
Pedro J. Alvarez, George R. Brown Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University, delivers an interesting overview of the important new technologies that can help provide clean water to global communities.
Alvarez is truly passionate about science and engineering and has devoted his career to the study and research of the environmental implications and applications of nanotechnology, the water footprint of biofuels, bioremediation, antibiotic resistance control, toxic chemicals, and water treatment and reuse. He is the founding Director of the NSF Engineering Research Center on Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) at Rice University.
Alvarez discusses his work at Rice, and his passion for bringing clean water to everyone, to support global health and economic development. The engineering expert explains the dangers of bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic chemical used to make plastics, and he details how it affects fertility and reproduction rates. He states that many contaminants are not regulated, and wastewater treatment often meets the bare minimum only. Unfortunately, many cans for foods such as soups, baby foods, etc., have linings that may contain BPA or similar compounds. He talks about the need for better water treatment, and discusses the micron-sized spheres that have been developed to capture and destroy BPA. Alvarez talks about their work utilizing technology and advanced materials to bring clean water to the global population, in areas where it is desperately needed. He explains how the original concepts were lacking in regard to energy efficiency and thus not adapted by industry. With new developments, energy usage can be cost-effective and exceedingly more sustainable.
The technology expert delves into the processes that they use to develop these advanced technologies. As he states, water is somewhat of a difficult space to make changes within, and some barriers do exist. He explains the scientific methods that are utilized for the treatment of water. Fortunately this advanced technology can potentially work for other polluting compounds in addition to BPA. He details the scientific technology they use for treating wastewater and also drinking water. He cites specific examples of the use of their photocatalyst that showed it was capable of successfully treating the water in select communities, eliminating pesticides and fecal matter.
Finally, Alvarez lays out their plans for future development and how they hope to expand, to help curb potential problems with contamination of water in many areas and industries. Professor Alvarez received a B. Eng. Degree in Civil Engineering from McGill University as well as MS and PhD degrees in Environmental Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Over 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain, which is more than the number of people suffering from cancer, diabetes, and heart disease combined. Considering this statistic, the current opioid epidemic isn't terribly surprising. And even over-the-counter medications have a variety of side effects that can lead to kidney, liver, and GI issues over time. For many of these people, there's a solution: Quell 2.0, a completely drug-free, wearable device that blocks lower-extremity pain signals by stimulating nerves with high-frequency electrical stimulation. No bigger than the size of a credit card, the device is worn comfortably and discretely around the calf and is the only over-the-counter therapeutic pain device that's been FDA-cleared for use while sleeping. This is important since there is a positive feedback loop between pain and sleep; pain leads to loss of sleep, and sleep loss leads to the exacerbation of pain.
Frank McGillin, COO of Quell, joins the podcast to discuss all the details of how the product works, feedback from chronic pain patients who've used it, how long it takes to start working, the device's ability to track quality of life measures to provide users with useful information over time, and the soon-to-be-launched AI-assisted Quell product that utilizes years' worth of data to make the device smarter and more personalized to the individual pain sufferer.
Interested in learning more or getting one for yourself? Tune in and visit quellrelief.com.
Louis Rosenberg, Ph.D., founder, chief scientist and CEO of Unanimous AI (unanimous.ai), delivers an insightful overview of the many ways that AI is improving human intelligence and yielding higher quality outcomes in many industries.
Rosenberg is a seasoned scientific mind and has been instrumental in the success of many companies, public and private. He founded Unanimous AI as a means to further his interests in the study and development of collaborative systems, artificial intelligence (AI), as well as human-computer interaction. Rosenberg received a bachelor's and master's degree from Stanford University and then went on to complete his Ph.D., also at Stanford. He has spent many years developing for robotics, human-computer systems, and of course, virtual reality—an area of particular interest.
Rosenberg discusses his extensive background in artificial intelligence, and human intelligence, and the bridge between. While he states that society often worries about people being replaced by algorithms, he underscores that people are actually very smart, and the goal is to use AI to amplify human intelligence. He discusses the use of groups… a swarm functionality as he calls it. In a swarm system, people can answer questions to a problem together, which increases overall accuracy. The AI can measure general confidence level, etc. and help to zero in on the most accurate answers to a question or problem. Regarding medicine, doctors are able to reduce errors significantly by using swarm / collective intelligence. Ultimately, people are smarter collectively than on their own, and AI is helping this to become a reality in business and industry.
Rosenberg talks about the major companies, small businesses, universities and more that are taking advantage of swarm technology. As he explains, human knowledge provides an edge and AI is amplifying this significantly. He details some of their work implementing swarm-based predictive insights for upcoming products, entertainment, etc. The tech expert expounds upon their innovative technology and the many ways that everyone can get involved and utilize the swarm concept to increase their results, outcome, knowledge, etc. Additionally, Rosenberg discusses how predictive technology can help manufacturers better understand their markets.
As a noted expert in his field, Rosenberg has been awarded an astounding 300+ patents globally for his contributions to innovative technology in the areas of virtual and augmented reality, AI, and of course, human computer-interaction.
Wynand De Beer has always had an interest in evolution as a mechanism for life on Earth, but it wasn't until about a decade ago that he really started diving into the study of it, guided by a question similar to the one that framed his doctoral work at the University of South Africa: is it possible to reconcile the Christian belief in creationism with the scientific evidence for evolution, and if so, to what degree? In the search for an answer, Wynand De Beer found himself immersed in Greek philosophy and surprised by what he was learning about cosmology, biology, and the connections between the two. He has since authored an account of all this and more, titled From Logos to Bios: Evolutionary Theory in Light of Plato, Aristotle & Neoplatonism.
Wynand De Beer offers a compelling conversation that touches on a variety of topics, including the mathematical foundations of the cosmos taught by Pythagoras, Platonism versus Neoplatonism, Aristotle as the first Western thinker to analyze biological phenomena among pants and animals, the concept that matter is shaped by the soul, physical versus metaphysical realities, how quantum behavior might be compatible with notions of a higher reality, the inaccurate conflation between evolution and Darwinism, the standard scientific explanation of the mind and the rebuttals to it, and the potentially imminent merge between man and machine.
Tune in for the full conversation and find his book on Amazon
Business operations are often bogged down by slow or inaccurate transfers of data, and project costs can skyrocket when specialists have to be called on site to redirect or explain specific tasks. Kieran Hall, head of strategic partnership development at Rokid, explains the solution he and the Rokid team have developed: Rokid Glass, an AI and augmented reality-enabled, wearable remote assistive device designed to streamline enterprise and B2B operations by speeding up the transfer of important information and allowing for two-way calls between workers in the field and specialists on off-site locations. How does it work?
By combining computer vision technologies and AI learning, Rokid has developed glasses with a built-in camera that allows off-site managers or specialists to see exactly what their workers in the field are seeing and make real-time annotations in the worker's field of vision. For example, the specialist could circle a problem area or type directions in the worker's line of vision. In this way, a worker's attention can be drawn to the correct location at the correct time, they can receive pertinent information precisely when they need it, and the specialist can maintain full oversight and provide ongoing instruction from anywhere in the world. The AI aspect of Rokid Glass benefits the worker by not only providing them with important information about their environment, but even predicting and preempting them with the information they might need as they approach a new or changing work site, thereby keeping them prepared and informed.
Hall discusses other use cases of this technology, one of which has already allowed a company to reduce their information overhead by 99% and to reduce a project's completion time by 66%. Tune in for all the details, and with the official launch just right around the corner this May, stay up to date by visiting glass.rokid.com
"The average patient doesn't understand what causes cavities, and quite frankly, the average dentist doesn't understand it well enough, although that's changing," says Dr. Kim Kush, who's been a practicing dentist in his hometown for 40 years now. It wasn't until about 20 years ago that he started realizing that if everything he was taught in dental school were all there is to it, then his patients wouldn't continue to get cavities, year after year. Rather than focusing on how to repair the damage of cavities once it's already occurred, Dr. Kush wanted to focus on identifying and targeting the factors that cause cavities in the first place. So, what are the causes? Why can some people go their whole life without a single cavity—and without particularly good oral hygiene—while others will have new cavities every time they see the dentist—despite flossing and brushing every day?
Dr. Kim Kush has identified four main risk factors in his practice, the first of which has been validated in large clinical trials with over 12,000 people: dry mouth, diet, biofilm, and genetics. He discusses how and why each risk factor contributes to the development of cavities, and along the way provides surprising facts about bottled water, mouthwash, prescription medications, the importance of when you brush your teeth, and how almost everything having to do with dental health boils down the pH in your mouth.
Dr. Kush offers a fascinating and informative conversation on today's podcast, so tune in and visit https://carifree.com/ to learn more.
One out of every three people in the world suffer from sleep problems, whether it's the inability to fall asleep, the inability to stay asleep longer, or just waking up feeling tired. Of all the complaints surrounding poor-quality sleep, one, in particular, is the most difficult for people to deal with: trying to get through the demands of the day. While some people will successfully locate a sleep clinic in their area, many others won't be able to; sleep doctors are in short supply and high demand. But what if you could train your brain to sleep better, from the comfort of your home, or whenever and wherever it's convenient for you? Guirec Le Lous is the co-founder of URGOTech, a company that's offering a product that will allow for just that.
URGOTech's training material differs in no way from what sleep clinics and doctors use, which means you have the chance of receiving legitimate, medical-grade help with your sleep problem. It only takes three 15 to 20-minute training sessions per week to start seeing improvements within a month. In addition to falling asleep faster, users of URGOTech's product have seen a 53% reduction in the number of times they wake up at night. The product comes with a headband which measures your brain activity and an app which gives you feedback on how you're progressing along the way.
Interested in learning more? Guirec Lu Lous explains all the details about how it works and when you can expect to get one for yourself. Learn more by visiting urgonight.com.
Solar One is a non-profit organization that launched about 15 years ago with the goal of both educating people in the Greater New York community on solar energy and sustainability and making solar energy more accessible to everyone—particularly those who wouldn't typically have access to it, such as community groups and affordable housing providers.
There are three main programs being run by Solar One: a K-12 environmental education program that's been implemented in over 800 public schools in New York City, the Green Workforce Training Program that helps people obtain the skills necessary for entry-level positions in building operations and maintenance, electrical, carpentry, plumbing, and solar installation, and Here Comes Solar, a program dedicated to making solar energy accessible to everyone by providing technical support to groups and organizations in need.
Noah Ginsburg is the program director of Here Comes Solar, which identifies organizations that are interested in utilizing solar energy, answers all of their questions, sets them up with preliminary solar designs for their buildings, creates financial savings estimates, and helps them get bids from local solar installers. The program has already helped 20 affordable housing communities go solar, and there are no signs of slowing. Ginsburg discusses several of the projects they're working on, one of which is a community-shared solar project making it possible for renters to participate in large solar projects occurring somewhere else in the city, and to benefit by not only saving on their energy bill but by gaining shareholder status in the cooperation. For example, their subscription will entitle them to a 15-20% discount on solar credits and a vote as to what is done with any profits from the cooperation. In this way, consumers hold the power, rather than corporations.
Tune in for all the details, and learn more by visiting solar1.org. If you live in the Greater New York City area and are interested in becoming part of a cooperation, visit sunsetparksolar.org and herecomessolar.nyc.
"Even if listeners are not very familiar with virtual reality or not sure if they're interested in it, this really is just a universal story about a kid who invents something and decides to not sell out…and then he does end up selling out, which makes for a more interesting story," says Blake Harris, commenting on his newest book, The History of the Future: Oculus, Facebook, and the Revolution That Swept Virtual Reality.
It's the story of how a young, brilliant teenager named Palmer Luckey set out to develop the first virtual reality headset during a time when the concept of virtual reality was still a technological punchline—akin to the idea of flying cars and jet packs. But, driven by passion and determination, it wasn't long before he succeeded in his invention and founded Oculus, the virtual reality company that would soon catch the attention of Mark Zuckerberg and be bought out for more money that Luckey ever sought, or ever even imagined.
Blake Harris is also the author of Console Wars, the behind-the-scenes business battle story between Sega and Nintendo in the early 90s, and he joins the podcast today to discuss a little bit about both books, as well as a range of other topics, including insider information he's gained from years of interest in the development of the virtual reality and gaming space, the material that he wanted to include in The History of the Future but couldn't, the backlash surrounding Facebook's acquisition of Oculus, how the emergence of virtual reality can be compared to the emergence of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, and where he sees the future of virtual reality going.
Tune in for the full conversation, reach out to him via Twitter, and stay current on his latest work by visiting blakejharris.com.
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