Technology Today

Join us on a road trip. Our destination? The future of driving. Our guest is Dr. Steve Dellenback, vice president of the Intelligent Systems Division at Southwest Research Institute and an expert in the field of automated vehicles, or self-driving cars. The technology is in the fast lane and is already in limited use in commercial and military settings, but there are also plenty of road blocks. For instance, you program an automated car to obey traffic laws. So, how do you teach it to react in unexpected situations that require it to break the law, let’s say, to save a life? If the technology fails and results in an accident, who’s to blame, the passenger, the manufacturer, or the software designer?

Along with the accelerated advancements come the ethical speed bumps. Listen now as we merge into automated traffic and hit the highways of self-driving vehicles.

What happens when you add art to science and engineering? Our guest in this episode is Dr. Amy McCleney, a Southwest Research Institute fluids engineer. She’s collecting data in a creative, colorful way. In addition to running numbers and poring over spreadsheets, she’s gazing at beautiful images and compiling information from pictures and videos. She says it’s one way to bring more art into the sciences. So, how does this technique work? And how can art, like photos and abstract images, transform the future of engineering and technology? Listen now to learn about an inspiring approach painting new possibilities in science.

What’s in our food? Scientists are chopping, grinding and pureeing their way to answers. In this episode, we meet food chemistry expert Lorraine Scheller, a food lab manager at Southwest Research Institute. Learn how her team breaks down our food, both fresh and processed, to test for everything from calories, carbs and vitamins to pesticides, plastic and residues. After nearly thirty years of food testing, hear what Scheller has to say about organic versus regular produce, the best way to clean produce and what she thinks of our current food supply. Listen now for some information to chew on next time you’re at the grocery store!

Robots are busy behind the scenes, contributing to a variety of industries. How do robots impact our daily lives? What tasks are they taking on and who’s using them?

SwRI robotics expert Matt Robinson says everything manufactured today is being touched by a robot! Join us as we discuss what robots do and what they are on track to accomplish in the future (think robots helping you around the house).

Plus, have you ever heard of open source software? It’s software available to anyone, anywhere and if you have access to the right materials, well, you could use it to build your own robot. Robinson tells us where to find it.

Tune in as we learn about today’s helpful, innovative robots!

Get ready for a front row seat on a history-making mission to the far reaches of the outer solar system! Southwest Research Institute space scientist Alan Stern is leading NASA’s galactic journey to the Kuiper Belt to explore 2014 MU69, or Ultima Thule, an object suspended in the “third zone” of our solar system, more than 6 billion kilometers from Earth. The New Horizons spacecraft will fly by Ultima Thule on New Year’s Day 2019. This is the farthest exploration of an object in space on the fastest spaceship ever launched. Stern tells us how Ultima was discovered, how it got its unique nickname and what information this object frozen in time could hold about the beginnings of our universe. In this episode, an inside look at the upcoming farthest planetary encounter in history.

Hear from the experts making big ideas in tech, science, engineering and research a reality. Join us for the Technology Today Podcast presented by Southwest Research Institute. It’s a new way to listen and learn about the innovative solutions changing our world. Coming soon!