#34 - Technology and its unintended consequences

Can't believe we made it to episode 40!! Thank you all for the continued support and we hope to keep this flywheel in motion.  Big things on the horizon!

Yes, another pod on EVs, but from a very interesting angle. Many thanks to this video by Johnny Harris for providing the curiosity spark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_T5DgsO0jc.  And yes, the fun fact for the week: Cobalt is used to make certain blue ceramics. You'll thank me later when winning the $400 Jeopardy question from the rare earth metals column.  We hope you enjoy!

Perhaps (some) sequels are undervalued? Your favorite duo, the scientist and the salesman, are back behind the microphones to give some life updates and discuss recent events involving Twitter and Elon Musk (someone you probably heard of by now).  We hope you enjoy!

When people consider nuclear power, they think fission. The emergence of nuclear reactors in the 20th century sought uranium and plutonium isotopes as fuel sources, not hydrogen and helium. While fission is one method of harnessing atomic energy, and the first to be commercialized, other approaches exist. In this episode, we dive into an alternative method called nuclear fusion. If fission breaks things down, fusion builds them up. The net result: energy. Nuclear fusion has been hiding around us in plain sight. Look up into the sky and you see fusion at work, powering the stars in this galaxy, including our Sun. Light hydrogen isotopes, usually deuterium and tritium, are fused together to form helium and energy is released. The main challenge researchers face is how to recreate a mini-Sun here on Earth. Fusion requires at least one of the following ingredients: extreme pressure or temperature. The first component, pressure, requires gravity pushing down on a star's core to enable fusion. Unfortunately, it is not feasible to simulate extreme pressure on Earth so researchers opt for the second component, temperature. Using tokamaks, doughnut-shaped vessels with walls lined by supercooled coils, research teams can contain a plasma 10x hotter than the Sun's core using strong magnetic fields. This brings us to recent fusion experiments done at the Joint European Torus in late 2021. Scientists were able to sustain a suspended plasma for 5 seconds with heat production that more than double the previous record set back in 1997. The bottom line, positive advancements in nuclear fusion are providing the green light for the construction of ITER in southern France, which will become the world's largest nuclear fusion reactor and involve collaborations with scientists from over thirty countries.  Nuclear fusion will not be commercially available to address immediate climate concerns, but it holds promise as becoming a suitable renewable power source sometime this century. Only time will tell. We hope you enjoy! 

Canada recently received global news coverage surrounding the Freedom Convoy, a group of protestors who arrived in Ottawa to oppose vaccine mandates and demand freedom. The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, invoked the Emergencies Act, providing the federal government with new power to address the growing protest movement. A series of donations, provided in bank accounts or on funding sites, were immediately frozen and thus restricted access to funding that protesters would need for fuel, food and lodging. This story is not new. Therefore, I will not provide a thorough description here as it will likely only be reiterating information reported from other sources over the past few weeks. What I will say is this: the Canadian Freedom Convoy movement has sparked similar protests around the globe.  In discussing these matters it is tough to properly address each component, especially in a recorded conversation under one hour. We therefore encourage curious listeners to dive deeper into this story and learn about how the global situation is evolving. We hope you enjoy!

With Cana, anyone can be a barista, bartender, or mixologist from the comfort of their own kitchen. All it takes is water and a combination of key chemical compounds. Instead of buying single-use bottles from a store, Cana enables consumers to recreate their favorite drinks, and even design entirely new ones, all while reducing global beverage waste. Your cherished university mug not only contains warm coffee in the morning, it also caters to your thirst for an afternoon lemonade and an evening mojito (Well, it's 5pm somewhere!). With just water and the addition of a select combination of compounds that provide the beverage odor, color and taste, a delicious red wine can be created using only a fraction of the compounds commonly found in a nice Cabernet Sauvignon from your favorite vineyard. Although I am no sommelier, many participants have not been able to discern red wine produced from Cana devices compared to local wineries.  As we enter the era of "Netflix for drinks" we should review our twice forgotten, once stained notes on cocktail ideas and set to work. White Claw may never consider producing a Mint or Guava hard seltzer, but you might. Cana, at least for beverages, may be the closest thing to the Star Trek Replicator that consumers will have at their disposal this decade. For all the non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinkers out there I only ask a simple request: when the times comes, drink up! We hope you enjoy!

Devices are designed for consumers with functional purposes, not criminal intent. Tracking fobs are designed to locate purses, backpacks and car keys, not someone's home. In this episode we discuss the dark side of technology and how good intentions can be negated by bad actors. We begin by covering recent news surrounding Apple's AirTags being used to track strangers, and end with a discussion on employee monitoring software and the future of remote work. We hope you enjoy!

Just as our car engines fail so to may our organs. Kidney, heart, and liver, just to name a few, may not function optimally to sustain the demands of life. The trouble with addressing these health concerns is less about the surgeon's dexterity in rewiring blood vessels, or availability of effective immunosuppressants. The real enemy is time, and your number on the waiting list. There are shortages of life-saving organs available for transplantation. Interestingly, this human problem does not necessarily require a human-based solution. Time for a history lesson! Xenotransplantation, or the transfer of organs and tissues between different species, peaked humanity's curiosity for centuries. From frog-based skin grafts to chimpanzee testicle transplantations as the 1920s Viagra, the medical record of xenotransplantation runs deep. A fundamental issue with organ transplant between distinct species is compatibility. Failure may arise if either the recipient's immune system rejects the new organ or the administration of immunosuppressants dampens immune strength such that the body is left vulnerable to infection. Ultimately, different donors have different advantages. Nonhuman primates, think baboon or chimpanzee, have closely related immune systems to humans compared to other potential donors but suffer from limited supply, cost, and time to achieve organ size sufficient for transplantation. The cons for using nonhuman primate organs are the pros for other donors, specifically pig. These barnyard animals offer cheaper and more abundant organs for saving a human's life. The trade off: decreased compatibility.  In this episode we discuss the use of genetically modified pig organs that have the potential to address organ shortages and improve the outcome of patients suffering from organ failures. The genetic modifications, or the select reprogramming of biological software, provide more compatible organs with a reduced risk of immune rejection once transplanted into a patient. While not FDA approved, the first wave of surgeries transplanting pig kidneys and hearts have been performed. The experimental results are optimistic, enough so that medical teams across the US are motivated to move the process forward towards clinical trials. We need novel solutions to combat organ shortages, otherwise more than a dozen patients on a transplant list will continue to die each day. In addition to genetically modified xenotransplantations, we discuss the role of regenerative medicine in providing an alternative approach to addressing the organ shortage without the use of animals. Instead of growing kidneys in a pig, one would grow them from cells in a lab. Just as consumers may one day embrace cultured meat, patients in need of a new heart may turn to accept a lab-built one.  We really dive into this one. Hope you enjoy!

History tends to repeat in cycles. There are highs and lows, but one thing remains persistent, conflict. Eastern Europe is one region with a complicated history where certain autonomous countries today were once part of the vast Soviet Union. Following the collapse in 1991, the redrawing of borders led to Ukraine and Russia becoming bordering countries. Although close geographically, the two nations have different ideologies and global identities. For those living in eastern Ukraine, the threat of Russian invasion remains a possibility.  In this episode we discuss the false-flag operation in eastern Ukraine and the possibility of Russian forces moving west. When tensions escalate, meaningful discussions may hold solutions. There is a lot to dissect in this one! We hope you enjoy. 

The power of an idea comes from its potential to be spread. In today's society, ideas are a dime a dozen. Good ideas and accurate, objective information is the needle in the media haystack. The medium may be the message, but not all mediums are created equal. In this episode we focus on the dissemination of information through writing. Adam Grant's writing framework is as follows: writing = thinking + communicating. What's written on the page is not a raw thought, but rather the refined idea worth conveying to readers. Discovery is not only restricted to the reader. We learn through reading, but we grow through writing.  Journalism is practical writing that provides a living. The current model can be summarized as: writers write, corporations take credit. A journalist is subject to the policies of their employer, where building a personal brand comes second to maintaining an organization's reputation. However, journalism is changing. Writers write to build their personal brands and attract audiences without the limitations or constrains working under an employer. Anyone can be a writer and spread messages today, just select the appropriate medium. Medium and Substack are recent platforms that provide a voice for writers eager to share ideas. Generally speaking, Medium is for bloggers as Substack is for newsletters. As ideas are always in demand there can be no shortage of new writers. Ultimately, the internet gives a voice for anyone willing to broadcast a message. Just because one doesn't hear back doesn't mean the message was not received.  We hope you enjoy.