Spark

By CBC

Technology

What's Spark about?

Spark on CBC Radio One Nora Young helps you navigate your digital life by connecting you to fresh ideas in surprising ways.

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LAST EPISODE

The Fight For Your Right To...

12.08.2023

Since most things in our life now are electronic and increasingly rely on software, they're not as easy to repair or noodle around with as mechanical devices once were. And sometimes you can't repair them even if you know how, ...

Spark episodes:

12.08.2023 The Fight For Your Right To Repair Since most things in our life now are electronic and increasingly rely on software, they're not as easy to repair or noodle around with as mechanical devices once were. And sometimes you can't repair them even if you know how, ...
12.01.2023 Gamifying investment and sports betting Thanks to fun apps and celebrity endorsements, the gamblification of sport has long been on the rise and continues to grow. And, there's a whole spate of fintech apps that are hot on the trend as well. So what are ...
11.24.2023 Intimacy - Being Human Now, part 3 How long do you wait to text after a date? What did that emoji really mean? Is it healthy to feel emotionally attached to an AI chatbot or celebrity you follow on social media? Our tech nourishes intimacy, but it ...
11.17.2023 Designing tech for everybody The most vulnerable users can offer designers insight into safety and security loopholes in their tech, which leads to better products for all.
11.10.2023 20th century tech still powers our 21st century world The technology that powers modern life is vulnerable to severe disruption. A look at what it will take to modernize and secure our aging electrical grid, as well as how to combat the growing ransomware industry.
11.03.2023 Rage Against the Machine From knitter revolts to unionizing content moderators, online communities are rebelling against the constraints, labour abuse, and bad behaviour of tech platforms.
10.27.2023 Being Human Now 2: Death Despite the growing digital dimension of our lives, death is still a largely analog experience. A look at the uses and limits of tech at the end of life and in the afterlife.
10.20.2023 Supertalls and superhighways Stacking up the social and ecological impacts of our tallest buildings and expansive road networks, and how roadway innovation, alongside building vertical cities, can combat urban sprawl and protect wildlife.
10.13.2023 V-tubers and digital identity As avatars and filters get more sophisticated, is that changing how we think of our real physical selves? We look at the v-tubers phenomenon, and the expression of gender, sexuality and identity online.
10.06.2023 Can we design cities that foster well-being? There's a powerful connection between our built environment and our mental health, and architects are approaching the design of buildings and cities to better serve people.
09.29.2023 Being Human Now, Ep. 1: Creativity What does it mean to be human in this particular, technological moment? For the first episode of this series, Spark examines the ways that humans experience, interact with and confront creativity
09.22.2023 Robotaxis and a future with driverless cars The promise of autonomous vehicles is they'll be safer, and reduce congestion. But designing them to anticipate rare events is a tough nut to crack. With robotaxis already on U.S. city streets, are self-driving cars ready to hit the road?
09.15.2023 The future of remote work Employers are laying down the 'back to the office' law, but with digital tools that make remote work possible, what does it take to build a hybrid workplace that really takes advantage of being together?
09.08.2023 Is there life beyond algorithms? As the EU brings in the Digital Services Act, we reflect on the role of algorithms in determining what we see, and imagine a future of self-curated content.
09.01.2023 Butterfly Effect 10 - The Audio Recorder From the phonograph to field recordings to the cultural impact of mixtapes — a look at how recorded sound gives us access to history, fantasy, joy, and moments of genuine awe from around the world.
08.25.2023 Butterfly Effect 9 - The Camera The impact of the camera — from its technical evolution, to the changed way we see ourselves and historic events.
08.18.2023 Butterfly Effect 8 - Refrigeration How the ability to create cold on demand changed our relationship with food forever.
08.11.2023 Butterfly Effect 7 - The Pill The enormous impact of the birth control pill on our culture, society, and human rights.
08.04.2023 Butterfly Effect 6 - The Compass The lasting influence of the compass and the evolution and future of navigation technology.
07.28.2023 Butterfly Effect 5 - The Lock & Key How the 6,000-year-old invention has come to shape how we keep our valuables safe — physically and digitally.
07.21.2023 Butterfly Effect 4 - The LED The surprisingly long history and bright future of the light-emitting diode, or LED.
07.14.2023 Butterfly Effect 3 - The Personal Audio Player How the Sony Walkman paved the way for the iPod and streaming a million songs, TV shows and movies from our smartphones.
07.07.2023 Butterfly Effect 2 - The Battery The evolution of the battery, and how the need for stored energy became one of the biggest demands of our time.
06.30.2023 Butterfly Effect 1 - The Microchip How the integrated chip changed the world, powering nearly every device we use, from toasters to Telecasters.
06.23.2023 How to stop the scroll and enjoy this summer Tackling technology overuse with a toolkit and a challenge to digitally disengage. Just in time to get out and enjoy the summer.
06.16.2023 Butterfly Effect 10 - The Audio Recorder From the phonograph to field recordings to the cultural impact of mixtapes — a look at how recorded sound gives us access to history, fantasy, joy, and moments of genuine awe from around the world.
06.09.2023 How to improve workplace collaboration A designer, an environmental psychologist and an AI expert to help us get better at workplace collaboration: understanding why it matters, and where it's going.
06.02.2023 How science fiction helps us harness the power of imagination From inspiring innovation, to framing collective visions of the future — a look at the imaginative power of science fiction.
05.26.2023 Butterfly Effect 9 - The Camera The impact of the camera — from its technical evolution, to the changed way we see ourselves and historic events.
05.19.2023 Digital data's environmental cost Data centres are enormous facilities that store and give us access to our digital lives. But as the amount of digital data we produce soars, so does the energy data centres demand. This week, an updated episode from November 2022.
05.12.2023 Why is innovation so difficult to sustain? The new movie, BlackBerry, has us thinking about the dizzying heights, and seemingly inevitable decline, of innovation in organizations. The film's director talks about what really happened there, and we look at why it's so hard to keep up the ...
05.05.2023 Power, politics, fungi, bacteria: the surprising history and creative future of textiles One of civilization's oldest technologies, textiles have long been linked to money, power, and politics. Now, researchers are looking to produce novel, more sustainable textiles using organisms like yeast, fungi, and bacteria.
04.28.2023 The influencer industry, 15 years on How influencer culture has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry and shaped the way we present ourselves online.
04.21.2023 Butterfly Effect 8 - Refrigeration How the ability to create cold on demand changed our relationship with food forever.
04.14.2023 Wild and innovative materials are revolutionizing design From constructing whole buildings out of fungal threads, to growing furniture in orchards, to storing our data in living cells, we take a special look at 'living' design.
04.07.2023 Understanding the language of plants and animals From the sophisticated, social squeaks of bats, to the ability of plants to 'hear' where water is, digital technology allows researchers to listen in on the extraordinary sounds of animal and plant life and may hold the key to protecting ...
03.31.2023 Ageism in tech A look at the pervasive age-related stereotypes that have seeped into the technologies we use and the implications of that on aging populations.
03.24.2023 Butterfly Effect 7 - The Pill A look at the enormous impact of the birth control pill on our culture, society, and human rights.
03.17.2023 ChatGPT and the future of AI ChatGPT has been dominating headlines since it was released publicly late last year, but is it really the future of AI?
03.10.2023 The trouble with data The data we generate, as individuals and as a society, offer powerful tools to better understand our own behaviour, but this may come at the cost of data privacy.
03.03.2023 A web with many winners What happened to the promise of the early web and will we ever get it back? This week, a nostalgic, updated episode from October 2022.
02.24.2023 The Butterfly Effect, Part 6 - The Compass The lasting influence of the compass and the evolution and future of navigation technology.
02.17.2023 Smart, sustainable buildings New developments promise sustainable networked homes and buildings that are easy and practical, but can we have them without sacrificing privacy?
02.10.2023 Dissent and repression in the digital age A look at how the Iranian government is using high-tech surveillance tools against anti-government protesters, and the rise of "digital repression" by governments around the world.
02.03.2023 567: Designing from the margins Technology design and programming can often exclude communities of users — sometimes even those the technology is specifically designed to help. So how can technologists better meet the needs of all users?
01.27.2023 Countercultures and Computing (repeat) How countercultures, subcultures and niche communities have shaped, and continue to shape, digital tech.
01.20.2023 566: Under lock and key For the 5th instalment of our Butterfly Effect series, we look at how the 6,000-year-old invention and concept has come to shape how we keep our valuables safe — physically and digitally.
01.13.2023 565: Urban design for well-being There's a powerful connection between our built environment and our mental health, and architects are approaching the design of buildings and cities to better serve people.
01.06.2023 564: Innovative uses of data A lot of technological innovation is fueled by data. We look at how new approaches to data are fueling art, and fighting disinformation. From artist Giacomo Miceli's imaginary conversation created by AI, to Dries Depoorter's surveillance art, to Starling Labs' ...
12.30.2022 563: The future of tech: A Spark retrospective Over 16 seasons of Spark, we've talked a lot about the evolution of tech and our changing relationship to it. We look back at some eerily accurate predictions of the future past, some out-there theories that turned into reality, and ...

Older episodes

Spark

What's Spark about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Spark episodes:

The Fight For Your Right To Repair

Gamifying investment and sports betting

Intimacy - Being Human Now, part 3

Designing tech for everybody

20th century tech still powers our 21st century world

Rage Against the Machine

Being Human Now 2: Death

Supertalls and superhighways

V-tubers and digital identity

Can we design cities that foster well-being?

Being Human Now, Ep. 1: Creativity

Robotaxis and a future with driverless cars

The future of remote work

Is there life beyond algorithms?

Butterfly Effect 10 - The Audio Recorder

Butterfly Effect 9 - The Camera

Butterfly Effect 8 - Refrigeration

Butterfly Effect 7 - The Pill

Butterfly Effect 6 - The Compass

Butterfly Effect 5 - The Lock & Key

Butterfly Effect 4 - The LED

Butterfly Effect 3 - The Personal Audio Player

Butterfly Effect 2 - The Battery

Butterfly Effect 1 - The Microchip

How to stop the scroll and enjoy this summer

Butterfly Effect 10 - The Audio Recorder

How to improve workplace collaboration

How science fiction helps us harness the power of imagination

Butterfly Effect 9 - The Camera

Digital data's environmental cost

Why is innovation so difficult to sustain?

Power, politics, fungi, bacteria: the surprising history and creative future of textiles

The influencer industry, 15 years on

Butterfly Effect 8 - Refrigeration

Wild and innovative materials are revolutionizing design

Understanding the language of plants and animals

Ageism in tech

Butterfly Effect 7 - The Pill

ChatGPT and the future of AI

The trouble with data

A web with many winners

The Butterfly Effect, Part 6 - The Compass

Smart, sustainable buildings

Dissent and repression in the digital age

567: Designing from the margins

Countercultures and Computing (repeat)

566: Under lock and key

565: Urban design for well-being

564: Innovative uses of data

563: The future of tech: A Spark retrospective