Steve Callahan is an inventor, sailor, Naval architect, and author. In 1981 Steve lost `Napoleon Solo', a ship he designed and built, during a storm in the mid Atlantic, and spent the next 76 days adrift on an inflatable rescue boat. Steve very kindly agreed to share his story. We discuss the event itself, but also the way that it has shaped his view of the world, and subsequently coloured his life - from further world travels and sailing, to working on set of `The Life of Pi'. This is a conversation that ranges from the gritty realism of eating raw sea birds to survive, to touching philosophical thoughts about life and facing adversity. ►Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/doyhLBmOAyk ►Find out more about Steve here: https://www.stevencallahan.net/schome.html ►Steve's book `adrift' can be purchased here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618257322/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwstevencall-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399353&creativeASIN=0618257322

Matthew F. Ferraro is an attorney and former intelligence officer who writes widely on national security and legal issues. Matt is currently a counsel at the international law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, and a visiting fellow at the National Security Institute at George Mason University. (The views Matt expressed here are his own.) In this episode of the podcast we discuss the development of deep fake technology from a policy and legal standpoint. What impact does deepfake technology have on the spread of disinformation and misinformation? What are the implications of this new technology for the balance of global power? Does manipulated media only have malicious uses or might it be used as a tool for good? What policy and legal frameworks are being implemented to ensure a positive outcome? ►Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/RwVMo7wwZUU ►Information about Matt's work can be found here: https://www.wilmerhale.com/en/people/matthew-ferraro ►Matt's personal website can be found here: http://matthewfferraro.com/ ►At 0:36:20 Matt discusses a news story which can be found here: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/syrian-electronic-army-hackers-attack-guardian-twitter-accounts-8597629.html

Tim Flannery is a Mammologist, palaentologist, environmentalist, conservationist, and explorer. He was named Australian humanist of the year in 2005 and Australian of the year in 2007. Tim served as chief commissioner of the Australian Climate Commission and is currently leading the Climate council. He has discovered more than 30 mammal species, and and discovered cretaceous fossils that that extended the Australian mammal fossil record back 80 million years. In 2018 Tim played a key role in putting an end to a 91 year old cycle of killings in the Solomon islands. In this episode of the podcast we discuss first contact with indigenous tribes, tribal ceremonies, discovering species, climate change, the value of money, and how to have a good life. ►Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9rMXtmlRpJE ►Find out more about Tim's work at the Climate Council here: https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/author/tim-flannery/ ►A list of Tim's books can be found here: https://groveatlantic.com/author/tim-flannery/ ►Find out more about Tim's work as a professorial fellow at University of Melbourne here: https://www.climatecollege.unimelb.edu.au/speaker/prof-tim-flannery

Jonathan McDowell is an astrophysicist at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who studies black holes, quasars and X-ray sources in galaxies, as well as supporting the development of data analysis software for the X-ray astronomy community. In addition to his research Jonathan runs `Jonathans Space Report', which is a newsletter that has been running since 1989 that reports on recent space launches, International Space Station activities and space craft developments. In this episode of the podcast Jonathan discusses space junk, where it comes from, why it is a problem, and possible solutions for cleaning it up. ►Watch this episode on Youtube: https://youtu.be/BMdw1VueAiw ►Check out Jonathan's space report here: https://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/jsr.html ►Find out more about Jonathan's research here: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/people/jonathan-mcdowell ►Visit Jonathan's personal website here: https://planet4589.org/jcm/index.html

Rene is an Associate Professor of Sociology, History of Medicine, American Studies, and Public Health (Health Policy) at Yale university. Her research focuses on gender and medicine. We discuss the historic lack of research attention in men's reproductive health, and the impact this has had, and continues to have on the individual lives of men, as well as on health policy and research funding. ►Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KXrifZYXvjw ►Find out more about Rene's research here: https://sociology.yale.edu/people/rene-almeling Further information, including ►information about Rene's two popular books can be found here: https://www.renealmeling.com/

On this episode of the podcast I speak with Professor Josh Bongard who is one of the inventors of Xenobots. We discuss their development, their potential applications, and the moral and philosophical implications of their creation. ►Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3B5WnPoXXpQ ►Check out Josh's staff page at the University of Vermont for more information: https://www.uvm.edu/cems/cs/profiles/josh_bongard

Deanna Barch is a professor of psychology, radiology, and psychiatry at Washington University. Deanna is a key contributor to the Human connectome project, which aims to build a network map of the anatomical and functional connectivity within the healthy human brain, as well as to produce a body of data that will facilitate research into brain disorders such as dyslexia, autism, Alzheimer's disease, and schizophrenia. We discuss what is known about the way that our brain are connected, and the impact of stress and trauma on brain development. More information about Deanna's work can be found here: https://psych.wustl.edu/people/deanna... https://sites.wustl.edu/ccplab/people... Information about the Human Connectome Project can be found here: https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/en/

How good is our understanding of the human brain, and how close are we to being able to simulate it? In this episode Steve Furber discusses SpiNNaker, an artificial neural network realized in hardware that incorporates over one million processor cores, and which is designed to simulate 1% of the neurons in the Human brain.   Find out more about Steve's work here: https://apt.cs.manchester.ac.uk/people/sfurber/ Follow him on twitter here: https://twitter.com/furbersteve?lang=en

Luisa von Albedyll discusses travelling to the arctic as part of the MOSAiC expedition. Polar bears, melting ice, global warming, and the beauty of the arctic. Note: At the beginning of the interview, Luisa states rough numbers on the decline of Arctic sea ice extent and thickness. Here are the exact ones: Sea ice decline: In 1979, 7.05 million km2 of the Arctic ocean were covered at the end of the melt season (“minimum extent”) by sea ice. In 2020, this area had decreased to 3.92 million km2 (More information and animations: https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/arctic-sea-ice/) Sea ice thickness: Over a time of six decades, between the pre-1990 period and the recent years (2011-2018), the average thickness near the end of the melt season decreased from 3 m to 1 m (Kwok 2018, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aae3ec)”   Find out more about Luisa's work at the Alfred Wegener Institute here: https://www.awi.de/en/about-us/organisation/staff/luisa-von-albedyll.html

Katherine Moseby discusses the threats to Australian wildlife in arid zones, and in particular the threats due to introduced species such as feral cats, foxes, and rabbits. She explains how insurance species of certain endangered species are kept safe on small islands, and behind electrified fences. Her work will hopefully one day allow Australian native species to roam once again beyond the fences. Find out more about Katherine's work here: https://research.unsw.edu.au/people/dr-katherine-moseby