Advances in Genetics

One of the most fascinating branches of science is the study of Man himself. What are we made of, why do we do what we do, what is our potential, and how can we improve ourselves? The field of genomics (the study of human genes) and the related field of proteomics (the study of human proteins, the basic building materials of cells) are attempting to answer these questions at the molecular level, and rapid strides are being made as new and more powerful tools for genome research are coming into use. The current episode of Future Talk examines recent progress in these fields with two top researchers. Michael Snyder is Chairman of the Genetics Department and Director of the Center of Genomics and Personalized Medicine at Stanford University, and has a PhD from Caltech. He’s a leader in the field of functional genomics and proteomics, he’s created several new genome mapping technologies,  and is cofounder of several biotechnology companies, including Protometrix, Affomix, and Personalis. Russ Altman is Professor of Bioengineering, Genetics, and Medicine and former Chairman of the Stanford Bioengineering Department, with MD and PhD degrees from Stanford. His primary research is in the use of sophisticated computer modeling to determine how our genetic traits influence the way our bodies respond to medicinal drugs, which could open the way to much more personalized medical treatment. Russ was a recipient of the U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Questions addressed on the program include whether the genome contains information for intangible traits such as intelligence and personality, the type of methodologies used to unlock the secrets of the genome, how a person's genome can be used to predict susceptibility to certain diseases, whether it's possible to modify the genome to reduce susceptibility to disease or make general improvements to a person's physical attributes, and how to address possible ethical issues involved in altering the genome. It's quite an interesting program. To view it, click here.

Future Talk tours NASA Ames

The Future Talk crew

NASA's Ames Research Center, located at Moffett Field in Mountain View, CA, is one of the top space research facilities in the world, and the home of a lot of cutting edge science. The Future Talk crew recently had the opportunity to take a guided tour of ARC, at the invitation of Pete Worden, the ARC director, who appeared as a guest on a recent episode of Future Talk. Dr. Worden is a retired Brigadier General in the U.S. Air Force with a Ph.D. in Astronomy who's regarded as an expert in almost every area of space research, both civilian and military. ARC's main focus these days is exoplanetary research, which means finding planets circling other stars and studying them to see if they have any earthlike qualities. The Kepler Mission has already found many planets whose surface temperature appears to be in the range capable of supporting life, and the next step is to study the chemical composition of those planets to see if the actual ingredients for life are present.  

Heat shield simulation

Part of our tour included a visit to Rus Belikov's Coronagraph Lab, which is devising experiments to test for the elements of life, especially oxygen. We also visited the NASA Supercomputing Center, which uses some of the most powerful computer systems in the world to solve difficult problems, many of them involving computer simulations. For example, we saw a display showing the heat resistance properties of differently shaped nosecones traveling at different air speeds, something crucial in launching rockets and also returning them back to earth. 

Simulated air traffic control tower

NASA also contracts with civilian agencies to apply its computing power to earthbound problems as well. We visited a simulated air traffic control tower, where we enjoyed a highly detailed 360 degree view of Los Angeles airport, with planes constantly taking off and landing. We observed the airport operations under several sets of conditions, including daylight, nighttime, rain, snow, fog and earthquake. The purpose of the simulation is to define the best runway layouts for airports so they can handle the maximum number of flights with the least possible risk of accidents. 

After a while, the technician pushed a button,  and instead of seeing LA airport, we were seeing a panoramic view of the surface of Mars, the Curiosity Rover in the distance and its tracks clearly visible. Our overall impression was that of very serious people doing very serious work that could ultimately help us better understand our place in the Universe. 

zCon shows off 3D technology

zSpace is a Silicon Valley company that's creating fascinating tools for 3D computing. They've created their own 3D hardware platform, and are now inviting outside developers to create applications for it. In order to promote and expand these partnerships, they recently held zCon 2013, the zSpace Developers Conference, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. The technology was indeed impressive. At one display, putting on a pair of special glasses, I could see a 3D image of the Mars Curiosity Rover. By pointing with a penlike device, I could grab one of the legs and make it move up and down. Or I could grab the entire craft and by rotating the pen, flip it over to see the underside. There clearly seems to be a high demand for this type of technology in many areas of design. 

There was also a very interesting talk by Hollywood producer Jon Landau, whose film credits include Titanic and the 3D hit Avatar, and who gave a fascinating behind the scenes look at the creation of Avatar. For the technically minded, there was an interesting presentation by Mark Flynn, zSpace's Director of Displays, who explained how zSpace's specially made display screens work with zSpace glasses, using circular polarization of light to get the 3D effects. I think we can expect to see this technology popping up in many places in the near future.

Israeli group seeks Google Lunar X Prize

The Google Lunar X Prize, an attempt to promote private exploration of space, will pay $20 million to the first privately funded organization to land a robotic spacecraft on the Moon, have that craft travel at least 500 meters across the lunar surface, and send back television pictures. To make it even more challenging, the mission has to take place before the end of 2015. 

An Israeli group called SpaceIL has accepted the challenge and is hoping that its unique approach will enable it to beat out the other 25 registered competitors. Speaking in Silicon Valley the other night, Yariv Bash, the founder and CEO of SpaceIL, explained their approach. First, they won't design their own rockets from scratch. Instead, they'll rent space on a commercial rocket that's already scheduled to lift a satellite into orbit about 22,000 miles above the earth. The very small size of the SpaceIL robot, named "Sparrow", makes this arrangement feasible. It will weigh about 100 kilograms (220 pounds), about 2/3 of which is fuel. Once it's in Earth orbit, it will use its own power to get to the Moon. Rather than traversing the lunar landscape in a wheeled vehicle which is complicated and expensive to build, it will achieve its motion by "hopping" in the light lunar gravity. According to Bash, advanced nanotechnology and high quality electronics will be the keys to its success.

SpaceIL was launched by a tiny group of friends with no real resources or expertise, but because of their inspiration and determination they've gained the support of many of Israel's leading high tech companies and agencies as well as Israel's president Shimon Peres. Still, Bash says the effort will probably cost more than the prize is worth, but even if they don't win the prize, they'll still continue their work until they achieve a lunar landing. He says the real goal is to inspire young Israelis to seek careers in science, as well as to make Israel the third nation, after the U.S. and the (former) Soviet Union to plant its flag on the lunar surface.

Can social networking technology bring peace?

Pakistani and Indian students
getting along

Can social networking tools such as Facebook advance the cause of peace? In order to find out, I recently interviewed two researchers from the Peace Innovation Lab at Stanford University. Margarita Quihuis is the Director of the Lab, as well as a social entrepreneur, mentor capitalist, and former head of a Silicon Valley technology incubator for women entrepreneurs. Mark Nelson is a co-founder of the Lab, and head of the EPIC Challenge, which promotes positive social interactions across conflict boundaries. The goal of the Peace Innovation Lab is to create grassroots contacts between people on opposite sides of conflicts in the hope that this may eventually tip the balance of power from war to peace. In addition to discussing the work of the Lab, which includes significant support from Facebook itself, we also touched on the underlying causes of conflict, whether peace or war is the natural condition of Mankind, and whether fostering a global consciousness  can overcome the many divisions pushing the world toward armed conflict. To view the program in its entirety, click here. To see it broken down into three shorter segments, click here.

What's new in neuroscience?

An early conception of the brain

The human brain is one of the most fascinating objects in the universe, and one of the most important to understand, but also one of the most difficult to study. However, a lot of new research is taking place which is opening up our understanding of the mind like never before. The latest Future Talk features a discussion of the latest developments in neuroscience with two guests. Michael Merzenich is a professor emeritus of neuroscience at the University of California at San Francisco who has won many awards and honors for his work, and who is especially well known for his research in brain plasticity. Simon Tan is a clinical neuropsychologist at Stanford Medical Center who also maintains a private practice in neuropsychology.

The discussion includes the differences between "brain" and "mind", common mental impairments and untapped mental potentials. We also talked about the nature of thought, consciousness and intelligence. Although these latter topics are far from understood, just discussing them seems to be a worthwhile exercise in itself that can conceivably lead to new insights.

To watch the show in its entirety, click here, or to watch it as a series of three shorter segments, click here.

How to create a mind

Ray Kurzweil

I went to an interesting talk at the Commonwealth Club a few days ago by Ray Kurzweil, the well known author, inventor and futurist who has spent decades studying human intelligence and machine intelligence and trying to enhance them both, and who is especially known for his work on the "technological singularity". He was discussing his latest book, "How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed", in which he attempts to reverse engineer the human brain to figure out how it works, and then find ways to apply that knowledge to make both men and machines more intelligent than ever before, perhaps merging the two to create a new kind of being altogether. Although he has his critics, Kurzweil's past predictions have proven to be surprisingly accurate, and he's certainly one of today's most interesting and stimulating futuristic thinkers. I'll have more to say when I finish reading his book.

A foldable display in your future?

One of the most perplexing issues for designers of mobile computing devices is how big to make the screen. On the one hand, we want it to be as big as possible so it can contain more information, and on the other hand we want it to be as small as possible so it's easy to carry. Some have suggested that the solution is to create a screen as thin as a piece of paper that you can fold up and put in your pocket, or roll into a tube. Now, researchers at the University of Cincinnati's Novel Devices Lab have demonstrated that it's possible to do just that! In a breakthrough "proof of concept" experiment, using a technology called "electrofluidic imaging film," they've demonstrated that such thin film displays can indeed work. In addition to the advantage of being easy to carry, they can display sharp colors even in bright sunlight, and require very low power and no heavy batteries, since they get their energy directly from ambient light. Of course, there are many issues still to resolve, and it will probably be years before these devices are commercially available. But it's a big step forward.

Mobile Apps and Mental Health

Smartphones have proven to be a terrific platform for enabling us to do all kinds of things we could never do before, and now they're being used in the field of mental health. Though not a substitute for one on one sessions with a doctor, smartphone apps can be a valuable and ever present resource that can help you through difficult times and give you access to additional resources as well. The current Future Talk explores the use of mobile technology in promoting mental health, and features two guests. Julia Hoffman is a clinical psychologist and mobile apps lead at the Department of Veterans Affairs, where she develops apps to help people with post traumatic stress disorder, and Nicholas Chapa is mobile team lead at the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, where the goal is to help people overcome destructive behaviors and replace them with positive healthy ones instead. Even though this entire field of combining mobile technology with mental health is only in its infancy, it's already shown a great deal of promise. If you'd like to view the show in its entirety, please click here. To see it divided into three shorter segments, click here.

Gray Matters

Went to an interesting discussion on the workings of the brain today, titled "Gray Matters",  at Stanford's Maples Pavilion. It was moderated by Juju Chang of ABC News and featured some really interesting panelists, including Bob Woodruff of ABC who went through a long recovery after suffering severe brain injury from a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2006. Brain science is still in its infancy, but more and more people are studying it, addressing questions such as: what are thoughts, how are memories stored, and how can we retain our mental agility. Much of the research is focused on gaining better understanding of ailments of the brain, such as Alzheimer's disease. All of the panelists seemed to feel that the research is moving in the right direction, although there's obviously so much more to be done.

Outsmarting Google

Evan Bailyn

I went to a fascinating talk yesterday by Evan Bailyn, author of the bestselling book "Outsmarting Google", which gives practical advice on how to increase your ranking in Google searches. If you own a business that relies on Internet sales, you know how important it is to appear at or near the top of the Google listings when people use search terms related to your products. Evan has founded and sold several companies that succeeded by using his methods of search engine optimization, and now heads a company called First Page Sage which works with companies both large and small to heighten their Internet presence. Among his recommendations are updating your site frequently with new material. He says if you add new content 5 days a week, Google will recognize it as a news site and give it higher ranking, but four days a week won't be enough. He also says that being linked to by a lot of other pages will increase your ranking, and he gives practical methods for getting those links. Interestingly, he advises an approach based on sincerity rather than attempts at manipulation, such as paying people to link to your site. He says that people who use manipulative or dishonest methods to increase their ranking are regarded as spammers by Google and actively fought against, and if Google thinks you're spamming, your ranking will be dramatically lowered with little chance of improvement. Evan has been featured in major media such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and ABC News, and apparently has a lot of very satisfied clients. If you have a company that badly needs an Internet boost, you might want to look him up.

The Higgs Boson

Scientists around the world were elated by the recent discovery of the Higgs boson. The elusive subatomic particle was first postulated by British physicist Peter Higgs in 1964, and was finally detected for the first time this year at CERN, with its Large Hadron Collider, the world's biggest particle accelerator at over five miles in diameter. The Higgs boson is believed to be what enables matter to have mass, and is thus part of the essential "glue" that holds the entire universe together. 

Interestingly, the particle was not so much detected, as created. Most people are familiar with Albert Einstein's famous equation e=mc² which states that when converting mass to energy or vice versa, the amount of energy is equal to the amount of mass times the speed of light squared, meaning that a very small amount of mass can produce a very large amount of energy. This is the principle of the atomic bomb. But in the Higgs experiment, protons were accelerated to nearly the speed of light, giving them a huge amount of kinetic energy, and when they were brought into head on collisions with each other, the tremendous energy released by the collisions resulted in the formation of numerous new particles, including the Higgs boson. 

The goal of particle physics is to discover the most fundamental objects in the universe, and explain their interactions in the simplest way possible. To learn more about the Higgs boson and the world of particle physics in general, you can view the current episode of Future Talk in its entirety by clicking here, or divided into three shorter segments by clicking here.

Build your own submarine!

Underwater exploration is finally coming within reach of the common man, thanks to OpenROV, an open source, remotely operated mini-submarine that can be customized with a variety of cameras and sensors. The co-creators, David Lang and Eric Stackpole, have put all the blueprints on the Internet and invited comments and suggestions for improvements, and they're also selling kits so people can put together their own OpenROVs at home. The OpenROV was featured prominently at the 2012 Maker Faire, and is very much part of the Maker culture. In case you think there wouldn't be much interest in this type of thing, David and Eric used Kickstarter, the crowd funding website, to raise money for their work. They set a goal of raising $20,000 in a month and raised more than $100,000, mostly in small donations. Even NASA has gotten actively involved in the project, because of the similarities between exploring oceans and exploring space, and because the open source methodology is something that NASA is trying to develop for its own use. The current episode of Future Talk features an interview with David Lang, footage of the OpenROV in action, and an extensive report on the Maker Faire itself. You can view the show in its entirety by clicking here, or divided into 3 shorter segments by clicking here.

The future of television?

        Many people have tried to merge computer technology with television, but the problem remains elusive. Although most modern TV's can receive digital input, there's still no universal standard for seamlessly merging the two technologies into one. Still, piecemeal advances are continually being made in the form of new products that give computerized features to ordinary TV's.

        One entrant in the field is Reincloud, a Mountain View startup headed by Dan Reitan. Dan has a long history of applying computer technology to television. He was a pioneer in augmented reality TV and one of his inventions in the 1980s scored the highest TV ratings ever in the history of automated television. I visited his office this week and he gave me a demo of his current product, which I found quite interesting.

        It's not quite ready for delivery and he's looking for additional funding to take it to the next step, but it's basically a platform that grants new capabilities to content providers. For example, it gives the content provider tools to create a real life three dimensional world where the TV screen acts as a viewport. By manipulating a few buttons, the home viewer can rotate that 3-D world to bring any portion of it into the viewport. This functionality opens up new possibilities for both producing TV shows and viewing them, and making them much more interactive than before. 

        He also showed me a segment from an old Monty Python program, and while John Cleese was talking, a can of Mountain Dew tumbled into the picture and landed on the desk next to him. Basically, the technology allows the easy placement of virtual objects anywhere in an existing program, in an appropriate place, for example on a table and not hanging in space. Ultimately, these objects will be live links, and clicking on them will lead to further information about them. Of course you'll be able to return to your original program at any time. The implications not only for advertising but also for news and documentary programs are huge.

        Although I'm not expert enough to predict how these tools will do in the marketplace, they do seem to add some exciting new dimensions to our current TV viewing experience.

Self driving car in your future?

Self driving car with Googlers (l-r) Eric
Schmidt, Larry Page and Sergey Brin

What could be better than letting your car drive you effortlessly through rush hour traffic, while you doze, read the newspaper, or answer your email? Although a number of companies, including Google, are working on self driving cars, they're still far from being a commercial reality. Getting a computer to operate the car's controls is the easy part. What's hard is to get it to drive safely and with good judgment in heavy traffic and unpredictable road conditions.  The car has to "see" the road and interpret what it sees in real time. It has to read and understand traffic signs, know all the traffic laws, and judge the speed, direction and distance of other vehicles. It also has to know when to break traffic laws to avoid dangerous situations, such as driving at the speed limit when everyone else is far exceeding it. It has to recognize emergency vehicles such as police and fire, and know how to behave when a policeman signals it to pull over. Although computers can already perform some of the functions of driving, it looks like it will be a while before we can yield total control to the machine.

The right to privacy?

Most people recognize the value of privacy, and the right to keep their personal life out of the public view. But is such a right enforceable in the Internet age? With almost everybody carrying miniature recording devices that take both pictures and sound, and with the ability to upload these images for the whole world to see, and with miniature surveillance cameras in almost every public place and every place of business, privacy may be becoming a thing of the past. Certainly, politicians have learned that the slightest misstatement on or off the podium can have instant national repercussions. Wikileaks has shown that secret diplomatic talks are not necessarily so secret anymore. And the potential for malicious spying just for the sake of causing mischief is very great. Technology seems to be moving far faster than any possible laws capable of restraining it. Does this new situation require changes in behavior? Will we have to be a lot more careful about we say and do, in both public and private venues? Although we still haven't digested the full impact of these changes, it might be a good idea to try to live our lives so that everything we do can withstand the light of day, because that light might be shining on us sooner than we think.

Life on other planets?

The recent SETIcon II conference in Santa Clara, CA had optimistic news for those hoping that there's life on other planets. In recent years, thousands of planets have been discovered by NASA's Kepler Project, and many of them show signs of containing water, considered essential for the development of life.  But just because conditions are capable of supporting life doesn't mean they're capable of originating life. What does it take to get biology started? Is it enough just to have the right chemical elements on hand? Will such chemicals, floating in water, automatically combine to produce higher and higher levels of organized complexity and ultimately result in conscious living creatures? That seems a bit improbable, even leaving aside the question of how consciousness can arise from nonliving atoms, unless there's an invisible mind, or spirit, that guides this process of organizing atoms into highly complex, self replicating sentient beings and imparts a bit of its own spirit to them.  If such a spirit exists, then life could occur almost anywhere the basic elements are present, and we shouldn't be surprised to find it. But if not, it would take an extraordinary set of random accidents and coincidences for life to start anywhere, and we would expect it to be extremely rare in the universe.

Fracking discussed at Stanford conference

A recent conference at Stanford University sponsored by the Brookings Institution discussed America's energy future, including the controversial practice known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking". Fracking is the process of causing fractures in rocks beneath the Earth so that natural gas trapped in those rocks has more channels to escape to the surface, where it can be captured by gas wells. Since gas is one of the cheapest and cleanest burning fuels, there's huge demand for it, and the increasingly widespread use of fracking has increased the supply, brought down the price, and made our "energy crisis" seem to recede into the distance. But fracking has risks. Sometimes the released gas doesn't go where you want it to, but seeps out into other areas, such as underground water supplies. Also, it seems intuitively obvious that when you fracture large rocks under the Earth, you're tampering with the planet's structural integrity and making the ground less stable, inviting catastrophic and irreversible damage. Also, every time a fracking procedure goes well, it just adds more incentive to keep doing it. The question is, are the environmental consequences of fracking being considered carefully enough, of is the prospect of huge energy supplies at great prices making us blind to the potential dangers? 

Starting an online business

Ever think about starting an online business? Setting up a website and using it to sell your merchandise all over the world? It can be done, and it's not that hard, according to Muffi Ghadiali, adjunct professor at Stanford University who teaches courses in Internet entrepreneurship, and who is this month's guest on Future Talk. There are many software packages that enable you to easily create good looking websites, complete with shopping carts and the ability to accept credit cards, even if you have no programming background. Or you can hire a professional to do the technical part. It's still much cheaper than operating an actual physical store, and your potential reach is far greater. This of course doesn't mean that you're guaranteed to make a profit. You'll have to work just as hard to understand your customers and their needs, and make your products appealing, as you would in any brick and mortar business. You'll also have a lot of online competitors and it can be hard to get noticed, but you'll be able to use tools like Google AdSense, which posts your ads next to relevant searches, and which you only pay for when someone clicks on them. To see the complete interview with Muffi Ghadiali, click here, or to see it broken down into 3 shorter segments, click here.

The Maker Faire

The Maker Faire is one of the largest "do-it-yourself" gatherings in the world. The annual event took place last weekend at the San Mateo Fairgrounds, with about 1000 exhibitors and over 100,000 attendees. The event has grown explosively in the seven years since its founding, and is now in several other cities as well. I went with my camera crew to record material for an upcoming episode of Future Talk and was not disappointed. From homebuilt helicopters and submarines to robotic kits used for making your own robots at home, to 3-D printers and soldering classes for kids, there were ingenious devices and eye popping art and sculpture as far as the eye could see. It's all part of the Maker movement (which some prefer to call the Maker subculture), which also includes a flagship publication, Make Magazine. The goal is to encourage people to master technology, learn from each other, and "do-it-themselves". It wouldn't surprise me if some really useful inventions were to come from the people who exhibited at the Faire.