Best IEEE Brain Podcasts (2024)

1
Heat Pumps Go North 12:49

6d ago12:49

12:49

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.…

1
The Cutting Edge of Integrated Circuits: Exploding Chips, How Meta's Stacking It Up For AR, and More 29:21

21d ago29:21

29:21

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…

1
Lean Software, Power Electronics, and the Return of Optical Storage 36:21

1M ago36:21

36:21

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 …

1
The Autonomous Research System Lets Robots Do Your Lab Work 30:15

2M ago30:15

30:15

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…

1
Figuring Out Semiconductor Manufacturing's Climate Footprint 25:48

2M ago25:48

25:48

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 worseni…

1
The Brain Implant That Sidesteps The Competition 26:54

3M ago26:54

26:54

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 competitor…

1
The Finnish Future of Sustainable Electronics 23:56

3M ago23:56

23:56

The EU Sustronics program aims to make creating, maintaining, and recycling electronics more sustainable. Liisa Hakola is a senior scientist and project manager at the VTT Technical Research Center in Finland. She talks with IEEE Spectrum senior editor Stephen Cass about VTT's role in the EU's program, helping manufacturers to develop flexible, pri…

1
How To Avoid Trusting The Cloud 23:17

4M ago23:17

23:17

Security researchers Bruce Schneier and Barath Raghavan believe it's time to stop trusting our data to the cloud, where it can be exposed by greed, accident, or crime. In the December issue of IEEE Spectrum, they proposed a plan for "data decoupling" that would protect our data without sacrificing ease of use, and in this episode Raghavan talks thr…

1
New MEMS Tech Lets Watches Run For Over A Decade On A Single Battery 18:19

4M ago18:19

18:19

Co-CEO's of Silmach, Pierre-Francois Louvigne and Jean-Baptiste Carnet, talk about their new MEMS technology with IEEE Spectrum editor Glenn Zorpette. The tech has been used to create the first major upgrade to the movement of quartz watches in decades, a power efficient motor that is 50 percent smaller, allows fluid forward-and-back motion of the …

1
SUSE, Oracle, And CIQ Create a New Linux Alliance 17:04

5M ago17:04

17:04

Alan Clark of SUSE talks with IEEE Spectrum editor Stephen Cass about the disruption in the enterprise Linux community caused by recent announcements by Red Hat over open source access to its codebase, and the formation of the Open Enterprise Linux Alliance (Open ELA) by SUSE, Oracle and CIQ in response.…

1
Justine Bateman's Fight Against Generative AI In Hollywood 27:12

5M ago27:12

27:12

Justine Bateman is an author and filmmaker. She also holds a degree in computer science from UCLA and is the AI advisor to SAG-AFTRA, the actors' union currently striking against movie and television studios. In this episode, Bateman talks with IEEE Spectrum senior editor Stephen Cass about actors' demands for control and compensation over digital …

1
Your Life As A Digital Ghost 25:58

6M ago25:58

25:58

Wendy H. Wong is a professor of political science at the University of British Columbia, and author of the just released book, We, The Data: Human Rights in the Digital Age. An excerpt from the book regarding the emerging prospect of digitally reanimating the departed is available on IEEE Spectrum's website. In this episode of Fixing The Future, Wo…

1
The Future of Moore's Law Is Inside This Willy Wonka Machine 27:31

6M ago27:31

27:31

IEEE Spectrum's resident semiconductor expert Samuel K. Moore talks with host Stephen Cass about ASML's enormous machine that's at the heart of chip manufacturing and explain the latest tricks with extreme ultraviolet that will keep Moore's Law going. In addition, new technologies from Edwards and Nvidia should make manufacturing chips greener and …

1
Finding Battery Minerals With AI 23:07

7M ago23:07

23:07

Reducing our global carbon footprint by switching to electric vehicles means we need a lot more batteries. And that means we need a lot more copper, nickel, cobalt, and lithium to make those batteries. Josh Goldman of KoBold Metals talks to senior editor Eliza Strickland about using AI to decipher geological formations and find new deposits of thes…

1
Intel's Open Source Strategy 22:40

7M ago22:40

22:40

IEEE Spectrum's Stephen Cass talks with Arun Gupta, vice president and general manager of Open Ecosystem Initiatives at Intel and chair of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, about Intel's contributions to open source software projects and efforts to make open source greener and more secure.By IEEE Spectrum

1
Finding The Wisest Ways To Global AI Regulation 30:17

8M ago30:17

30:17

Around the world, legislators are grappling with generative AI's potential for both innovation and destruction. Russell Wald is the Director of Policy for Stanford's Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. In this episode, he talks with IEEE Spectrum senior editor Eliza Strickland about creating humane regulations that are able to cop…

1
Why Cyberwar is Overhyped 23:09

9M ago23:09

23:09

Scott Shapiro is the author of Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age in Five Extraordinary Hacks. You can read an excerpt of Fancy Bear at IEEE Spectrum, but in today's episode of Fixing the Future, Shapiro talks with Spectrum editor David Schneider about why cybersecurity can't be fixed with purely technical solutions, …

1
Episode 26: Q&A with Brad Aimone, Sandia National Labs 13:12

9M ago13:12

13:12

In partnership with IEEE Electron Devices Society. IEEE Brain Podcast Series special episode with Dr. Brad Aimone, a leading researcher in neuromorphic computing at the Center for Computing Research, Sandia National Laboratories. Dr. Aimone discusses his work with computational and theoretical neuroscience, focused on bridging the gap between next-…

1
Explainer: Why No-Code Software Isn't Just For Developers 27:29

10M ago27:29

27:29

As large language models like GPT4 and Bard continue to take the world by storm, one of their most high-profile applications is their most unexpected: writing code. AI programming systems like Github Copilot are primarily used by software developers as a writing partner, but no-code programming tools can also help non-programmers find new ways to u…

1
How Our Body's Electrome Defines Us 35:45

11M ago35:45

35:45

Sally Adee's new book, We Are Electric: The New Science of Our Body’s Electrome, exams the centuries-long quest to understand how the body uses electricity. Beyond just how neurons send electrical signals, new research is showing how ancient biological mechanisms use electricity to heal our bodies and dictate how cells behave. Adee, a former editor…

1
The Race To Link Chips With Light For Faster AI 19:32

1y ago19:32

19:32

Samuel K. Moore, IEEE Spectrum's senior editor and semiconductor beat reporter, talks about the competing technologies that hope to dramatically speed up computing, especially for machine learning.By IEEE Spectrum

1
Functional Programming: The Biggest Change Since We Killed The Goto? 28:50

1y ago28:50

28:50

Charles Scalfini, the CTO of Panoramic Software, makes the case for why programmers should make the leap to functional programming, which promises more maintainable code, and eliminates some of the problems inherent to conventional languages.By IEEE Spectrum

1
Episode 25: Q&A with Behnaz Ghoraani, Professor and I-SENSE Fellow, Florida Atlantic University 14:16

1y ago14:16

14:16

In partnership with IEEE Computer Society. IEEE Brain Podcast Series special episode with Dr. Behnaz Ghoraani, Professor and I-SENSE Fellow, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Florida Atlantic University. Dr. Ghoraani discusses her research in biomedical applications and shares insights on how technological advancements may …

1
Truepic's Glass-to-Glass Fight Against Digital Fakes 25:41

1y ago25:41

25:41

Nick Brown, vice-president of product at Truepic, describes how the company's technology and standards developed by the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity is fighting fakes and other forms of image tampering, by securing data from the camera lens to the users' screens.By IEEE Spectrum

1
Rerouting Intention And Sensation In Paralyzed Patients 24:27

1y ago24:27

24:27

Patients who have traumatic nerve injuries can face significant paralysis, including paraplegia and quadriplegia. Chad Bouton's research is on developing devices that can decode and recode the electrical signals that normally flow between a limb and the brain, allowing damage to be bypassed.By IEEE Spectrum

1
Better Carbon Sequestration With AI 18:52

1+ y ago18:52

18:52

One potential path to tackling climate change due to rising carbon dioxide levels is to lock the carbon dioxide away in geological reservoirs deep underground. Deep learning AI technologies can produce better models of these reservoirs, essential if they are to be used at a big enough scale to make a difference.…

1
The Bionic-Hand Arms Race 24:29

1+ y ago24:29

24:29

Britt S. Young talks with IEEE Spectrum senior editor Stephen Cass about her investigation into high-tech prosthetic hand design: "We are caught in a bionic-hand arms race. But are we making real progress? It’s time to ask who prostheses are really for, and what we hope they will actually accomplish. Each new multigrasping bionic hand tends to be m…

1
The Why, How, and Maybe Not of Geoengineering 26:01

1+ y ago26:01

26:01

Silver Lining's executive direction Kelly Wanser explains why rising temperatures are behind the push to geoengineer the world's climate, the most plausible technologies, and why we need a lot more research to find out if it's a good idea, and if so, how to do it on a global scale. Hosted by IEEE Spectrum editor Eliza Strickland.…

1
Episode 24: Q&A with Dr. José del R. Millán, Professor, UT Austin and Dell Medical School 16:29

2y ago16:29

16:29

In partnership with IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society. IEEE Brain Podcast Series special episode with Dr. José del R. Millán, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin; and Professor in the Dell Medical School, Department of Neurology. Dr. Millán discusses technology advancements in cli…

1
Episode 23: Q&A with Dr. Maria Giulia Preti, Research Staff Scientist, University of Geneva 13:27

2y ago13:27

13:27

In partnership with IEEE Signal Processing Society. IEEE Brain Podcast Series special episode with Dr. Maria Giulia Preti, Research Staff Scientist, CIBM SP EPFL-UNIGE Section Maître-Assistante, University of Geneva. Dr. Preti shares her research on functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and brain connectivity, and highlights the importance of…

1
Episode 22: Q&A with Dr. Damien Coyle, UKRI Turing AI Fellow at Ulster University, UK 16:01

2y ago16:01

16:01

In partnership with IEEE Computational Intelligence Society. IEEE Brain Podcast Series special episode with Dr. Damien Coyle, UKRI Turing AI Fellow at Ulster University. Prof. Coyle highlights recent advancements in non-invasive brain-computer interfaces for therapeutic applications and the potential of wearable, AI-enabled neurotechnology.…

1
Stopping Infection Outbreaks with AI and Big Data 21:14

2+ y ago21:14

21:14

Hospitals are where we go to get cured of infections and diseases, but sadly, sometimes tragically, and ironically, they are also places we go to get them. According to the Centers for Disease Control, “On any given day, about one in 31 hospital patients has at least one healthcare-associated infection.” Yet, according to Dr Lee Harrison, “The curr…

1
Episode 21: Q&A with Erika Ross, Director, R&D Applied Research at Abbott Neuromodulation 11:38

2+ y ago11:38

11:38

In partnership with IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Brain Podcast Series special episode with Erika Ross, Director, R&D Applied Research at Abbott Neuromodulation. Erika shares insights on her education and career path, looks at case studies in the technology space, and offers advice to students and young professionals intere…

1
Episode 20: Q&A with Dr. Jerald Yoo, National University of Singapore 26:24

2+ y ago26:24

26:24

In partnership with IEEE Circuits and Systems Society. IEEE Brain Podcast Series special episode with Dr. Jerald Yoo, Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, The N.1 Institute for Health at the National University of Singapore. Dr. Yoo shares insights on the benefits of advancing wearable health technology, particularly as it rela…

1
A Small Startup Fights Rare Diseases With Big Data 20:51

2+ y ago20:51

20:51

Rare diseases are, well, rare. In two not unrelated ways. By definition, they’re diseases that afflict fewer than 200,000 people. But because, in the world of big business, in particular big pharma, that’s not enough to bother with, that is, it’s not profitable enough to bother with, rare diseases are rarely worked, to say nothing of cured. For exa…

1
Solving the Electric Vehicle Charging Conundrum 36:24

2+ y ago36:24

36:24

Like a lot of people, you may be thinking about trading in your car. Me too. The case, morally and even financially, for an all-electric car is becoming stronger and stronger. And yet, what about recharging? What’s it like going from, say Pittsburgh to New York’s Hudson Valley—a trip that doesn’t even have a solid cellular connection? What about a …

1
Episode 19: Q&A with Dr. Mark Stiles, National Institute of Standards and Technology 27:45

2+ y ago27:45

27:45

In partnership with IEEE Magnetics Society. In this episode, Mark Stiles, an active member of the IEEE Magnetics Society and a fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, shares his insights on the society's work as it relates to neuroscience and brain-inspired computing technologies. Mark also offers his advice to students and yo…

1
IBM’s Fall From World Dominance 25:55

2+ y ago25:55

25:55

IBM is a remarkable company, known for many things—the tabulating machines that calculated the 1890 U.S. Census, the mainframe computer, legitimizing the person computer, and developing the software that beat the best in the world at chess and then Jeopardy. The company is, though, even more remarkable for the businesses it departed—often while the…

1
It’s Easy for Computers to Detect Sarcasm, Right? 19:29

3y ago19:29

19:29

There’s no question that computers don’t understand sarcasm—or didn’t, until some researchers at the University of Central Florida starting them on a path to learning it. Software engineers have been working on various flavors of sentiment analysis for quite some time. Back in 2005, I wrote an article in Spectrum about call centers automatically sc…

1
Fixing the Chemical Industry’s Sustainability Problem 18:30

3y ago18:30

18:30

The most honest and inadvertently funny marketing message I ever saw was at a gas station that was closed for remodeling; it had been an Amaco station before that company was bought by BP. The sign said, “Rebranding, to serve you better.” I’m afraid we’re a bit guilty of that here at Spectrum. This is the 30th episode of IEEE Spectrum’s relaunched …

1
Let’s Put Cheap, Portable Nuclear Reactors onto Barges 24:04

3y ago24:04

24:04

Today’s startup invites us to rethink nuclear energy. Their plan? To put cheap, portable nuclear reactors onto barges and float them out to sea. What could go wrong? According to today’s guest, basically nothing. The reactor design avoids the type of fuel rods that gave us the fictional meltdown in The China Syndrome and the real-life ones in Chern…

1
Until We Get Rid of Fossil Fuels, Can Data Make Them More Efficient? 19:44

3y ago19:44

19:44

A few months ago, we had on the show an economist who specialized in the energy sector. She noted that while the Trump administration had put drilling rights the Alaska Natural Wildlife Refuge, or ANWAR, on the block, there wasn’t much interest from the oil industry, and, more generally, the Arctic and other cold climes, presented logistical—and th…

1
Can a Robot Be Arrested? Hold a Patent? Pay Income Taxes? 31:44

3y ago31:44

31:44

When horses were replaced by engines, for work and transportation, we didn’t need to rethink our legal frameworks. So when a fixed-in-place factory machine is replaced by a free-standing AI robot, or when human truck driver is replaced by autonomous driving software, do we really need to make any fundamental changes to the law? My guest today seems…

1
The Future of Post-Industrial Cities 33:07

3y ago33:07

33:07

As we begin to finally address climate change in a serious way, we need to look at our cities in a serious way. And not just first-tier cities like, well, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles, and not just flashy growing cities like Las Vegas, Austin, Atlanta, and Columbus. We need to look at cities like Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, …

1
Are Fossil Fuels Impoverishing Middle America? 31:59

3y ago31:59

31:59

I suppose it’s elitist and maybe even nationalistic of me but I was surprised to hear the phrase “resource curse,” which I associate with the developing world, used recently in a webinar in the context of a region of the United States. The region is northern Appalachia, comprising 22 counties in eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and northern West…

1
Self-Walking Exoskeletons 24:45

3y ago24:45

24:45

In the world of prosthetics, we’re still at the stage where a person has to instruct the prosthetic to first do one thing, then another, then another. As University of Waterloo Ph.D. researcher Brokoslaw Laschowski puts it, “Every time you want to perform a new locomotor activity, you have to stop, take out your smartphone and select the desired mo…

1
Can 5G Close the Digital Divide? 26:42

3y ago26:42

26:42

Has there been any technology more widely talked about and yet still less understood than 5G? Qualcomm’s Vice President of Engineering, Our guest, John Smee, holds dozens of patents in wireless technologies; his designs and innovations range from CDMA and LTE to Wi-Fi and now 5G. He’ll explain the challenges of 5G—and what 6G will be like. A full t…

1
A Theory of (Almost) Everything 39:09

3y ago39:09

39:09

If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that the world is not only changing quickly, it’s changing at a faster rate than ever. Or does it just seem that way? Surely we can all agree that the Industrial Revolution has changed everything. Or has it? One noted economist says there in fact were three industrial revolutions, and only one of them—…

1
Is Cyberwar War? 24:30

3y ago24:30

24:30

At a conference of chief technology officers in 2016, General Michael Hayden, former head of, at different times, both the NSA and the CIA, told the audience, “Cyberwar isn’t exactly war, but it’s not not-war, either.” Cyberattacks, at the nation-state level, were already almost a decade old at that point. In 2007, over the course of 22 days a Russ…

1
Mathematics, Politics, and Justice Denied 28:07

3y ago28:07

28:07

In the 2020 elections for the North Carolina State House, Democrats received 49 percent of the votes but won only 42.5 percent of the seats. In three-quarters of the state-level elections, the winning margin was more than 20 percentage points—in other words, landslides—even though statewide, the margins between the two main political parties is raz…

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