Fixing the Future

Latest Episodes:

Using AI to Clear Land Mines in Ukraine May 29, 2024

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Gabriel Steinberg, co-founder of the nonprofit Demining Research Community and the startup Safe Pro AI talks with Spectrum editor Eliza Strickland about using machine learning to speed up demining operations in former Ukranian battlefields.

Never Recharge Your Consumer Electronics Again? May 15, 2024

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Founder and CEO of Exeger, Giovanni Fili, talks with IEEE Spectrum editor Stephen Cass about Exeger's Powerfoyle flexible dye-based solar cells for consumer electronics, which can recharge devices even in indoor light, and how Exeger convinced major companies to incorporate its tech into their products.

The UK's ARIA Is Searching For Better AI Tech May 01, 2024

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The United Kingdom has created a new government agency, the Advanced Research and Invention Agency, or ARIA, similar to the United States' DARPA. ARIA's first foray is into creating new enabling technologies to make AI faster and more energy efficient, and the program director, Suraj Bramhavar spoke with Spectrum editor Dina Genkina about some of the new avenues that ARIA would be helping investigate.

Zipline's Droid Brings U.S. Commercial Drone Delivery Closer Apr 17, 2024

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Zipline originally established itself delivering medical supplies in rural Africa. Now, Zipline cofounder and CTO Keenan Wyrobek talks with senior editor Stephen Cass about recent milestones in bringing commercial drone delivery to the United States, including the development of Platform 2 and its tethered mini-droid that makes precision drop-offs possible in urban areas.

Heat Pumps Go North Apr 03, 2024

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Governments in America and Europe are pushing the deployment of heat pumps to reduce the energy demands of home heating and cooling. Spectrum's power and energy editor Emily Waltz talks with Stephen Cass about her reporting on new advances that will let heat pumps work in colder climates than before, expanding their range considerably.

The Cutting Edge of Integrated Circuits: Exploding Chips, How Meta's Stacking It Up For AR, and More Mar 20, 2024

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IEEE Spectrum's semiconductor expert, Samuel K. Moore, talks with Stephen Cass about his visit to one of the key conferences in emerging integrated circuit technology, ISSCC. We talk about Meta's new 3D chip-stacking tech for faster AR, faster AI through in-memory computation, and security technology that can cause a chip to self-destruct if anyone tries to hack it.

Lean Software, Power Electronics, and the Return of Optical Storage Mar 06, 2024

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In this March roundup, IEEE Spectrum's editor-in-chief Harry Goldstein and senior editor Stephen Cass talk about some of the highlights of Spectrum's recent coverage, including a plea for programmers to stop producing bloated programs, a new transistor that could help make how we handle electrical power smarter, and the potential return of optical discs as a high-density date storage medium.

The Autonomous Research System Lets Robots Do Your Lab Work Feb 21, 2024

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The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) recently released the open-source ARES_OS, a key software component of their Autonomous Research System. ARES_OS allows relatively simple robots to perform experiments, and develop new experiments based on the results. The AFRL's Benji Maruyama talks with IEEE Spectrum associate editor Dina Genkina about how he hopes the system becomes not just an invaluable helper for grad students, but opens up research to many more people outside traditional labs and enables progress in tackling hard problems like climate change.

Figuring Out Semiconductor Manufacturing's Climate Footprint Feb 07, 2024

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The semiconductor industry is in the midst of a major expansion driven by the seemingly insatiable demands of AI, the addition of more intelligence in transportation, and national security concerns, among many other things. What this expansion might mean for chip-making's carbon footprint? Can we make everything in our world smarter without worsening climate change? Lizzie Boakes is a lifecycle analyst at IMEC, the Belgium-based nanotech research organisation, and she speaks with senior editor Samuel K. Moore about her work on this problem.

The Brain Implant That Sidesteps The Competition Jan 24, 2024

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We've all seen impressive demos of prototype brain implants being used by paralyzed patients to interface with computers, but none of those implants have entered general clinical use. Biomedical device company Synchron is close to actually coming to market with its stentrode technology, promising less spectacular results than some of its competitors, but making up for that with ease of use and implant longevity. Synchron's co-founder Tom Oxley talks with IEEE Spectrum senior editor Eliza Strickland about the new tech, and you can read more in our January issue article by Emily Waltz.

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