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. C...
Oct 20, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Oct 13, 2023•33 min•Ep 232•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Oct 06, 2023•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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....
Sep 29, 2023•33 min•Ep 231•Transcript available on Metacast 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’...
Sep 22, 2023•32 min•Ep 230•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Sep 15, 2023•30 min•Ep 229•Transcript available on Metacast 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 physica...
Sep 08, 2023•29 min•Ep 228•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Enginee...
Sep 01, 2023•31 min•Ep 227•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
Aug 25, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 t...
Aug 18, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Aug 11, 2023•30 min•Ep 226•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Aug 04, 2023•32 min•Ep 225•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Jul 28, 2023•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
Jul 21, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 S...
Jul 14, 2023•31 min•Ep 224•Transcript available on Metacast 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 im...
Jul 07, 2023•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Jun 30, 2023•34 min•Ep 223•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Jun 23, 2023•29 min•Ep 222•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Jun 16, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 &...
Jun 09, 2023•30 min•Ep 221•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Jun 02, 2023•29 min•Ep 220•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
May 26, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Alt...
May 19, 2023•29 min•Ep 219•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Stanfo...
May 12, 2023•32 min•Ep 218•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
May 05, 2023•33 min•Ep 217•Transcript available on Metacast 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. Connect With Us: Episode Transcripts >>&g...
Apr 28, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Apr 21, 2023•28 min•Ep 216•Transcript available on Metacast 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. Connect With Us: Episode Transcripts >>&g...
Apr 14, 2023•32 min•Ep 215•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Engi...
Apr 07, 2023•32 min•Ep 214•Transcript available on Metacast 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. Connect With Us: Episode Transcripts >>> T...
Mar 17, 2023•28 min•Ep 213•Transcript available on Metacast 
