Akron's New "Green" Holy Grail: Sustainable Plastics

From sustainable polymers in Akron, to semiconductors near Columbus, Defense R& D in Dayton, and Solar Panels in Toledo; Ohio is a hotbed of new technology. To find out more, and why the future of new technology in Ohio is so bright; I talked to Chris Berry, who is the President and CEO of Ohio X; a non-profit organization aimed dedicated to building Ohio's tech hub. Listen now:

Better, smaller, more powerful batteries are the wave of the future, not only for vehicles; but also for whole home energy storage, and all the electronic gadgets you use every day, like laptops and mobile phones. But when it comes to Ohio; the focus is squarely on batteries that power electric vehicles, and that's why both The Ohio State University in Columbus, and The University of Akron have received big government and private industry grants to discover both better ways to make and recycle them. Listen now for details on the work that will be done at Ohio State University's still under construction $29 million dollar battery cell research center, and how the University of Akron is paving the way for a cleaner, safer, and more sustainable future with EV battery-related polymer recycling. Our special guests are Dr. Jay Sayre, from Ohio State University, and Dr. James Egan, from the University of Akron. Dr. Sayre is the Director of the OSU battery cell research and development center, and is also an Assistant Vice President in the Office of Research, as well as the Director of Innovation for their Institute for Materials Research.  Dr. Egan is an Assistant Professor in the School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering at The University of Akron.

This week, we're doing a roundup of some of the most interesting tech-related stories that have occurred over the past week. Find out more about a wide variety of topics including election-related social media disinformation, AI enabled deep-fake child porn, driverless vehicles, robocalls, and possible NASA landing sites on the moon. Listen now.

Consumers have been complaining loud and long about how when they try to cancel subscriptions, they either can't do it at all; or they get such a big run-around, that it takes a lot of time, effort, and money to make it happen, That's why this week's news that the FTC's new "Click to Cancel" rule is in effect, which make It easier for consumers to end recurring subscriptions and memberships, is such a big deal. Of course, no good deed goes unpunished, and that new rule is now under fire fromt he cable industry, home security companies, and advertisers, who are suing to block it. Some other good news for consumers is a new rule banning the sale or purchase of fake online reviews, as well as a new report on the need for stepped up efforts to protect seniors from scams. Find out more. Listen now.

Ice, Ice, Baby!: NASA's New Europa Clipper Mission It was a big week for NASA, as they launched their largest ever planetary spacecraft, which is now headed toward Jupiter's moon, Europa. The goal, they say, is to determine whether there are places below the surface that could support life, and the reason they suspect it is possible; is that there is a vast ocean of water beneath Europa's icy surface. To find out more, we talked to the Principal Technologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Passadena, California, Dr. Greg Davis.  Davis, who is originally from the Akron area, and started his career as a Physics teacher at Stow High School, has been with NASA for 35 years. Listen now as he explains how the Europa Clipper's nearly six year, 480 million mile journey from Earth to Europa will work, and what his colleagues at NASA hope to learn from it.

The University of Akron has joined with Summit County, and The City of Akron to install a new high-tech security system aimed at keeping students safe off-campus. 33 security cameras connected to the County's new high-speed fiber optic network, have been installed in neighborhoods near campus. They are hooked into both the Akron and Campus police departments, and are monitored 24/7 by Artificial Intelligence (AI) which can notify officers to respond in the event of an emergency, crime in progress, or even just suspicious activity. According to Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro's Chief of Staff, Brian Nelson, the cameras are part of what is envisioned as a high tech "neighborhood watch" program, which will eventually include local businesses as well.  But what about citizens' privacy and civil liberties? Will they get lost in the shuffle? What can area residents do to make sure a fair balance is achieved, before this new technology gets deployed in more nighborhoods citywide? Find out more. Listen now.

Recycling made both national and local headlines this week, with the State of California suing Exxon-Mobil for promoting the "myth" of recycling, and Akron city officials celebrating the fact that they're finally making money on recycling, because residents have gotten so good at keeping trash out of their recycling bins. The two competing narratives; i.e.; "Recycling doesn't work, and it is all part of a money-grubbing plot on the part of oil companies", and "Hey this stuff really works and its great for the planet", point to the deeper truth about how much we rely on plastic, how bad it is for the environment and our health, and how how badly we all want to do something about it. The good news is that scientists and researchers here in Akron are gearing up to transform industry worldwide, by creating sustainable, earth-friendly polymers, and they're doing so with the help of a  nearly $100 million dollar cash infusion from the State and Federal governments. In addition, the US EPA has taken action over the past couple of years to  monitor and regulate extremely toxic chemicals that are used to make some types of plastic. These so-called "forever chemicals" known by their acronyms, PFAS, and PFOA, have been used for decades in hundreds of products that we use every day, including Teflon pans, and food packaging. As you'll hear now, it is all connected; oil, toxic chemicals, cancer, thyroid disease, immune disorders, and the tons of plastic slowly degrading but never really disappearing from our landfills, streams, and oceans. So, that's where Akron being named a Sustainable Polymers Tech Hub, comes in. Find out how research being done here, can one day maybe save the planet one plastic bottle at a time.

Another day, another data breach–or so I thought. But even though there have been a lot of other really big data breaches over the past few years; hearing about the one perpetrated recently by a hacker called USDoD, gave me pause.  As reported by Bloomberg Law; it is possible they stole the Social Security numbers of every American, along with other personally sensitive information from a total of nearly 3 billion people in the US, UK, and Canada. This occurred in December 2023, when they cracked the defenses of National Public Data, which is a data broker offering personal information to employers, private investigators, staffing agencies and others doing background checks.  With that in mind, along with the knowledge that in June 2023, the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles warned about an identity theft scam using stolen driver's license information, I began to wonder; do we need some new form of identification?  To find out, I contacted Detective Troy Looney of the Akron Police Department's Financial Crimes Unit.  He is a subject matter expert in several Criminal Justice Field disciplines, such as Internet Investigations, Digital Forensics, Cybercrime, and Marketing, and has a doctorate in Organizational Management/Leadership, a Master of Science in Internet Marketing, and a Bachelor of Arts in Business/Marketing.  Looney is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Akron, teaching several courses in the College of Applied Sciences Department. Courses include Digital Forensics, Cybercrime, Digital and Scientific Evidence, File System Forensic Analysis, and Computer Forensic Methods II. Listen now.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the time when I decided to upcycle my old, obsolete MacBook Pro, and turn it into something useful with a free, open-source Linux operating system. The good news is; it works! I had some glitches along the way, and the journey from old to "new" was a little frustrating. But honestly; the main reason it was a problem for me is that I decided to mess with it after I already had it up and running. It really was one of those deals where "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". But, in the end; I got it sorted, and I learned a whole lot of really useful information along the way. So, even if it seems a little daunting at first; you can be successful as well, if you are careful, curious, and motivated to make it work. By the way, it works for both PC's and Macs, so really no matter what kind of computer you have; there's a way to get it done–if you have the patience and perseverance to doggedly pursue your goal. Find out how you can save money, and keep your currently pretty useless old computer out of the landfill for at least a few more years. Listen now.

The depth and breadth of cyberattacks and data breaches in the past few years is breathtaking, and as a result; it's fairly likely that pretty much everybody in this country has had at least some their personal information stolen. Some examples of extremely serious recent incidents include the March 2024 AT& T breach, which resulted the dark web dissemination of data from 7.6 million current account holders and approximately 65.4 million former account holders, last year's MOVEit breach, which resulted in the loss of data from at least 62 million people, and 2,000 organizations, as well as the May 2024 Ticketmaster breach, affecting 560 million customers. In addition, with the introduction of new, more robust AI-powered hacking tools; the bar to entry for would-be hackers has become astonishingly low, and hacking as a lucrative source of income for a vast network of criminal enterprises is growing. But, while the bad guys are most definitely strong and smart; there are still some things you can do to protect yourself, according to our special guest, and former federal law enforcement officer, Art Bowker. Listen now to find out how, as he talks about the soon-to-be-released new book he co-wrote with Todd Shipley; "Surviving a Cyberattack: Securing Social Media & Protecting Your Home".