The Lab With Brad

Jupiter’s magnetic personality

After geeking out over space hardware, we turn an eye toward Jupiter and talk about the most massive planet’s massive magnetic field.

Here’s a NASA site on Jupiter’s magnetosphere.

Jupiter's Magnetosphere

Here’s someone else’s site on Jupiter’s magnetosphere.

The Outer Planets: Giant Planets: Magnetospheres

Here’s NASA’s site on the MarCo mission, two cube sats that went to mars.

In Depth | Mars Cube One

Here’s an overview of cube sat technology.

CubeSats Overview

And here are a couple of videos about cube sats.

Real World: CubeSats

By the way, this last video is old news now.

Cubesats | Mini cube satellites

The Martian robotic invasion

As of yet, no humans have made it to Mars. However, many of our spacecraft, landers and rovers have. Join us as we take a little look at a few missions, and a large look at what we’ve learned about our neighbor, the red planet.

Here’s NASA’s site on exploring Mars.

NASA’s Mars Exploration Program

Here are a couple of articles about the Martian polar ice caps.

Mystery at Mars's Pole Explained

Water at Martian south pole

And here are a couple of articles about the InSight mission, sent to map out the interior of Mars by measuring Mars quakes.

NASA's InSight Reveals the Deep Interior of Mars

NASA's InSight Finds Three Big Marsquakes, Thanks to Solar-Panel Dusting

Hit and miss missions to Mars

Most of the early missions to Mars failed, but by the mid-70s, orbiters circled the red planet, and some landers sat safely on its surface. We also have a look at a few Martian mirages, when astronomers squinting threw telescopes saw things that weren’t actually there.

Here’s an article about the things Astronomers saw that weren’t really on Mars.

Seeing and Interpreting Martian Oceans and Canals

Here’s an article talking about how what were thought to be subsurface liquid water lakes might actually be totally dry beds of clay.

Clays, Not Water, Are Likely Source of Mars 'Lakes'

Here’s a video about some missions to Mars.

A Brief History of Mars Exploration

And here’s a timeline of Mars missions.

Chronology of Mars Exploration

Of time and tides and Mercury

The smallest planet in our solar system is also the fastest and closest to our sun. In fact, on occasion, the sun will reverse direction in Mercury’s skies. Join us for a look at this good thing in a small package.

Here’s a video about Mercury.

Mercury 101

Here’s a NASA page about Mercury.

Overview | Mercury

Here’s somebody else’s page on Mercury.

Mercury, world of extremes

Here’s NASA’s sight on the Mariner 10.

In Depth | Mariner 10

Here’s NASA’s sight on the Messenger.

MESSENGER

Here’s a bit about how we learned of Mercury’s unusually large inner core.

Mercury’s Spin and Gravity Reveals the Planet’s Inner Core

And here’s a little something on Mercury’s spin orbital resonance.

Mercury’s Spin-Orbit Resonance

The Venus bot trap

Humans have never been to Venus, and a good thing too. Judging by the wreckage of failed automated missions, the Goddess of love, loves to eat robots.

Here’s a link to our first episode on space and space travel.

Ep 288: From stones to strings to

space

Here’s a link to our first episode on robotics and automation.

Ep 311: Building brain bits for bots based on big beasties

Here’s a site on Venus, and its wild weather.

What is the weather like on Venus?

Robots orbiting the Earth

We’re combining and continuing our episodes on robots, automation, space and space travel with a look at what robots have been up to while orbiting our planet.

Here’s a link to the beginning of our episodes about space.

Ep 288: From stones to strings to space

Here’s a link to the beginning of our episodes about robots

Ep 311: Building brain bits for bots based on big beasties

Here’s the company who built and flew the MEV.

Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV) Satellite Technology - Northrop Grumman

Here’s a video about the MEV-1.

MEV-1 Mission Profile

Here’s NASA’s site on the Detxtre.

Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator

And here’s an article about some of the repair work done by Dextre.

Canadian Robot Dextre Fixes Space Station Power Issue

Robots, saving lives and curing cancer

With a side trip to the largest robots in the world, we talk about robots used for search and rescue, and some very small robots being developed to fight illness.

Here’s an article about nanobots, robots that are very tiny, sometimes smaller than cells.

These tiny robots could be disease-fighting machines inside the body

Here’s a sight on a four footed robot for search and rescue.

Why this blind, catlike robot could transform search and rescue

Here are robots that can be dropped from the sky, hit the ground, and keep right on ticking.

These squishy robots are designed to survive falls, save lives

Here’s an article about rescue robots in general.

Robots to the Rescue: Discover the New Generation of Life-saving Robots

Here’s a little bit about the world’s biggest humanoid robot, as of 2019

World’s largest humanoid robot is too tall to leave its warehouse

And finally, here’s something about little motors that can swim around inside cells.

Driving nanomotors through road blocks inside living cells

The robot apocalypse is nigh

In honor of Halloween, we get just a little bit spooky this week. With more and more robots in the world, and with said robots becoming smarter over time, what happens if they turn against us and start to harm humans? In fact, it has already happened.

Here is a paper on a brain reaction, detectible via EEG, that signals our choice before we’re aware that we’ve made it.

What is the Bereitschaftspotential?

Here’s an article about the same reaction, studied while the participants were bungy jumping.

To jump or not to jump

Here’s an article about the evidence that we might make a choice before we are aware of doing so, bringing the concept of consciousness into question.

Benjamin Libet - a short delay.

Here’s a site on an AI that is less than reasonable about ethics.

Scientists Build AI System to Give Ethical Advice, Turns Out to Be a Bad Idea

Here’s an article about deaths caused by robots.

Robot deaths are nothing new but AI will change everything

Here’s something about how patients have died under robotic knives.

Robot surgeons kill 144 patients, hurt 1,391, malfunction 8,061 times

Here’s info on an AI that was deliberately taught to think of nothing but violent answers.

Scientists Have Created a 'Psychopath' AI Called Norman

And here’s an article about a chat bot that learned racism by communicating with humans.

Racist Microsoft AI Breaks Down on Twitter

Should robots think for themselves?

We get to robot brains today, including an early neural network, made from analog circuits, instead of digital.

Once again, for background you can checkout our series on computers and computing and the history thereof, starting with:

Ep270: Stone age computers

And here are a couple of episodes on the beginnings of artificial neural networks.

Ep 283: An early AI, and the birth of the transistor

Ep 284: Back up a bit

And here are a couple of articles on how modern designers are using analog circuits, because they come in handy.

Developers Turn To Analog For Neural Nets

A Brave New World of Analog Artificial Neural Networks

Hey robot, get a job!

From the birth of wireless, to the first industrial robot—it’s about time we put these robots to work.

For background on the development of computers, starting from the stone age, check out the following episode.

Ep270: Stone age computers

Here’s a couple of articles about Nikola Tesla’s remote control boat.

In 1898 Nikola Tesla tricked an entire crowd into believing they could control a boat by shouting commands - in fact he invented Radio Control and piloted the boat himself

Tesla's toy boat: A drone before its time

Here’s a site on a slightly more advanced form of remote control that ended up being a flash in the pan.

The Telekino of Torres-Quevedo

And here’s a site on the first industrial robot put to work, the Unimate.

Unimate - The First Industrial Robot