Here's an Idea

Whether you're the owner of a candy shop in Brooklyn or you're one of the giant chocolate makers like Hershey's or Nestlé, you'll want to experiment.

In this episode of Here's an Idea, we explore how candy manufacturers large and small turn to technology to support their newest, sweetest ideas.

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Today's cars are more connected than ever before. But the more you open up internal parts of your system to this connectivity, the bigger the chance that those vulnerabilities are accessible from the outside.

In this episode, we’ll talk with researchers, including noted Jeep Cherokee hacker Chris Valasek, who have found weaknesses in today’s connected cars, and we explore the teamwork involved in keeping today’s vehicles as secure as possible.

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Garbage is everywhere — whether it’s paper in your trashcan, plastic in the ocean, blobs in the sewers, or junk floating out in space.

In this episode, we talk with researchers who are finding small — and maybe even fun — ways to take out all the trash.

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Detecting a potentially-hazardous, near-Earth asteroid requires a community of dedicated researchers, from amateur astronomers to NASA professionals.

In this episode, we talk with NASA's Planetary Defense Officer Lindley Johnson, Dr. Bruce Betts of the Planetary Society, and astrophysicist Mike Owens, about working together to detect and deflect these near-Earth objects (NEOs).

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You've most likely felt the vibrations of a phone in your pocket, but did you know that the buzzing effect is one of the most basic forms of a field known as Haptics? Haptics refers to any interaction involving touch, or specifically touch feedback.

What if vibrations could communicate more to you than just the arrival of a text or phone call? What if touch was the only sense you had? The haptics field is wide open, and researchers are finding new and exciting ways to communicate and experience both the real world and the virtual world.

In this episode, we look at one haptics application right out of science-fiction — a full-body HoloSuit — and several smaller-sized ideas that could help people right here and right now.

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The process for making wine, beer, and spirits has remained relatively the same for centuries.

In this episode of Here’s an Idea™, we look at the efforts of vineyard owners, distillers, and brewers who are discovering small ways to innovate and adjust their own crafting processes.

We speak with former scientists and engineers who are putting their own spin on traditional ideas, using knowledge gained from their previous experience in the lab.

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Engineers today are using their creativity to build a variety of superhero-like technologies that enhance our human capabilities, including exosuits, invisibility cloaks, and wall-scaling gloves.

What drives these researchers? Were they all comic-book reading dreamers? Or is a need to imagine bigger and better human capabilities just a natural part of who we are?

In this episode of Here's an Idea, we talk with researchers whose technologies are giving people the capabilities of their favorite superheroes, from Spider-Man to Iron-Man. With some help from comic book writer Vita Ayala, we examine the motivations behind their projects, and what these impulses might say about our own desire to be super.

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After a disaster like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf coast, what if a giant sponge could clean up the area and the wildlife around it? What if a bunch of tiny sponges could quickly save gunshot victims? In this episode of Here's an Idea, we look at how researchers are doing just that, and expanding the sponge concept to entire cities.

Access full-length interviews with the episode's featured researchers here:

Reusable ‘Oleo’ Sponge Soaks Up Oil Spills

https://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/tb/stories/blog/28837

Sponge-Inspired XSTAT Device Quickly Seals Gunshot Wounds

https://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/tb/stories/blog/28810

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