VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE 23
((AIR DATE: 06 22 2018))
((TRANSCRIPT))
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
Brain Science
((SOT))
I’ve been through so many tests in my life and no one has ever been able to show me this is where the issue is and how we can solve it.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Tech for a Cause
((SOT))
We have a real strong commitment to using technology to address equality, bridge gaps.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Science of Cosmetics
((SOT))
My mission in makeup is to make sure women of color are no longer challenged.
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((PKG)) MIND BLOWING SCIENCE
((Banner: Tech Frontiers))
((Reporter/Camera: Elizabeth Lee))
((Map: Los Angeles, California))
((Caption: Smarter Microbes))
((Courtesy: Zymergen))
We use automation and machine learning to engineer microbes, little single cell creatures to turn them into the chemical factories of the future
((End Courtesy))
((JOSHUA HOFFMAN, CO-FOUNDER & CEO, ZYMERGEN))
making novel molecules for industrial and health applications.
((Courtesy: Zymergen))
Microbes exist in the real world. We’ll modify them slightly to make more of the thing they make naturally or maybe to make something new altogether.
((End Courtesy))
((JOSHUA HOFFMAN, CO-FOUNDER & CEO, ZYMERGEN))
So it might be an adhesive that works inside the human body in a way that a glue that you might make conventionally can’t.
((End Courtesy))
We can work to increase the effectiveness of crop protection agents so herbicides, fungicides, those sorts of things. We can reduce the toxicity of agents that seem to work but actually cause other kinds of problems.
((JOSHUA HOFFMAN, CO-FOUNDER & CEO, ZYMERGEN))
What we’re doing is we’re searching the genome for the things that might work. What machine learning does is it looks for patterns that a human wouldn’t find.
((Courtesy: Zymergen))
For sure it wouldn’t have been possible five much less ten years ago.
((End Courtesy))
((Smarter Storage))
((HYUNJUN PARK, CO-FOUNDER, CATALOG TECHNOLOGIES))
The idea of storing information in DNA has been around for several decades. It’s just that we hit upon an idea that makes it economically attractive to do it.
We, as a society, are generating so much data with 5G wireless networks, Internet of Things, high definition video and just social media. So, by the year 2025, we’re going to generate a lot more data and a lot more useful data than we’ll have the capacity to store. And so, we are in need of a new medium that can be much more efficient than the current solutions.
What we want to do with a new medium like DNA is it decrease the footprint, environmental footprint, physical footprint of data storage tremendously, so nature has had to store all of the genetic information in these really tiny cells in the form of DNA so that really pushed for the selection of information density.
((Courtesy: Catalog))
So that’s the amount of bits you can store in the same volume.
DNA is actually just a biopolymer, meaning it’s just a chemical material that we’re using.
((End Courtesy))
It happens to be the material that stores genetic information when it’s inside of your body, but it doesn’t have to come from a cell. It can be chemically synthesized just as plastics will be made.
When we’re manipulating, it’s a liquid. It’s a liquid solution that you move around to assemble different pieces of DNA and then for storage, we will dry that down so that it’s a powder in any tube that you are storing it in. You can have it last for thousands of years.
((Smarter Kids?))
((VIVIENNE MING, FOUNDER, SOCOS LABS))
What I’m interested in is cognitive neuro-prosthetics. Can I literally jam something in your brain and make you smarter.
How much you can think about, pay attention to, kind of, mentally operate on at any given moment, we’ve actually found that we can increase that by about 15%.
What you’d find is the kids with the greater working memory span might earn as much as a whole grade higher in school. 15 to 30% greater income throughout their lifetimes.
((Courtesy: BioMed Central))
There are groups and labs out there that have been able to show, for example in that funny hat kind, the non-invasive technologies, they can increase people’s honesty. They can modulate your preferences for experiences, taking a bland movie and suddenly making it something that you loved and you want to go back and see it again.
((Courtesy: neuroscape.ucsf.edu))
In a world of increasing technology, this is one possibility to keep us ever relevant, is to find the best of who we are and combine it with the best of what we can build.
((End Courtesy))
((Banner: Blockchain Technology))
((Reporter/Camera: Jill Craig))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: Memphis, Tennessee))
((Blockchain is a digital ledger that aims to keep a permanent, unalterable record of all transactions.))
((CODY BEHLES, FED-EX INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY))
Blockchain is, in many respects, one of the most important emerging technologies that businesses are paying attention to today. It is frequently cast as the next Internet. And not because of the similarities to the technology itself, but to the potential for business and commerce and how we think about data exchanges globally.
((SAM BORICK, COMPUTER PROGRAMMER))
So, what we're doing is we're writing a piece of software that will leverage blockchain technology to make these records not able to be changed. So, when somebody writes, "I'm Officer Bob, I picked this up off the ground on Tuesday," that will go somewhere where it can never be changed. So, you can't go back and rewrite that.
((ELENA NADOLINSKI, SOFTWARE ENGINEER))
So, for example, let's say I pay to you, and then you pay to Sam, and then Sam pays to Carol, and then Carol pays to Bob. That entire history of transactions gets saved on this ledger that we call the blockchain. And every node, so basically, every computer in the world that decides to participate in hosting this blockchain, basically stores a copy of this ledger. And because there are countless of computers around the world, that are helping this network, there is no single point of failure.
((SAM BORICK, COMPUTER PROGRAMMER))
Imagine you have Twitter or group chat or some other social network and you have a bunch of people. Now, say, among that bunch of people you want to keep track of something. For simplicity, we’ll call it ‘Your Group Bucks.’ Instead of having a piece of paper or a coin that you actually trade around, what you do is you just know how much everyone else has. Okay, Sally has 2. Mindy has 5. And I have 5. And when you want to make a change, you just tell everyone else. You say, “Hey, everybody, I’m sending Bob 1 buck”. And everybody, OK, writes that down. And everyone keeps track of everyone else.
((ELENA NADOLINSKI, SOFTWARE ENGINEER))
You see exactly where the funds go to, from what organization, from what wallet to what wallet, so if there's ever a scenario, where, say, you donate some money and you don't know how the agency is actually using your money, then if you were to apply that to the blockchain, you could exactly see where your money is going.
((LUTHER "CHIP" HARRIS, CYBERSECURITY EXPERT))
So hopefully we're going to start looking at more security aspects of how to secure that data, secure that money, secure that funding, secure that medical records, hopefully within the next couple years.
((SAM BORICK, COMPUTER PROGRAMMER))
It’s public accountability. And that’s basically what blockchain does. That’s exactly how Bitcoin works. It’s everybody keeping track of everybody else, except everyone is a computer.
((PKG)) KENZIE TECH ACADEMY
(Banner: Spreading Technology))
((Reporter: Carolyn Presutti))
((Camera: Mike Burke, Deana Mitchell))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: Indianapolis, Indiana))
((COURTNEY SPENCE, CO-FOUNDER, KENZIE ACADEMY))
Indianapolis – Indy - is a terrific city. It's on the cusp of what we are seeing as being a tech boom. There’s a lot of companies that have moved in, SalesForce being one of them. There’s a lot of opportunity and there’s a lot of hunger amongst those people that live in Indy, but also across the state, to get into technological fields, to become developers and coders.
((STEVE HERSHBERGER, BEER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM))
For Indianapolis proper, to be successful, we have to have the world’s best coders and engineers. And they have to have the right type of experience. Let me tell you, the big universities used to train for that. They don't train for it today.
((ANGELA SMITH JONES, INDIANAPOLIS DEPUTY MAYOR))
We are really a great city. We have so much to offer that very often people don’t know until they come here. We also have a lot of talent and opportunities here. So many strong universities in the city of Indianapolis. And then, right next door, we have Perdue University, Indiana University, Rose Hulman, Notre Dame, ISU. So the talent is very close as well as within the city. So, it’s really a great energetic place.
((STEVE HERSHBERGER, BEER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM))
The thing that I’ve come to appreciate about the Kenzie Academy is the approach and the style is very Silicon Valley, but it’s not. It’s Midwest.
((COURTNEY SPENCE, CO-FOUNDER, KENZIE ACADEMY))
Kenzie Academy is really addressing a gap that we saw in Indy that is providing a different form of education that can put more senior developers into the market more quickly.
((MYA WILLIAMS, STUDENT, KENZIE ACADEMY))
After I graduate Kenzie, I hope to take my skills and apply them in some type of health care discipline.
((KAVITHA KAMALBABU, STUDENT, KENZIE ACADEMY))
I learned about Kenzie and I really like their idea and the main thing which attracted us (is) project-based learning, where you do life projects. You work on life projects and you get that experience.
((COURTNEY SPENCE, CO-FOUNDER, KENZIE ACADEMY))
We have really seen the role that technology has played in both accelerating certain communities and decelerating other communities. And I think we have a real strong commitment to using technology to address inequality, using technology to bridge gaps. I think we’ve seen in the recent history of our country here that there is a disparity, there is a division and really ultimately what the Kenzie Academy is doing is trying to provide tech forward education to communities that don’t have access to it.
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up….
((Banner))
Brain Science
((SOT))
I want to know if there is something wrong in my brain, and I’ve battled a lot of depression and anxiety growing up so I want to see. I was told I had a chemical imbalance. I was told a couple of different things. I’m kind of excited to see what it actually is.
BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((Banner: Inside the Brain))
((Reporter: Carolyn Presutti))
((Camera: Adam Greenbaum))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: Reston, Virginia))
((DR. LANTIE JORANDBY, PSYCHIATRIST, AMEN CLINICS))
SPECT is a functional scan. It tells you what areas of the brain work well and what areas are underactive, what areas might be working too hard. If you had a CT scan or an X-ray or an MRI, those are just snapshots that are just like a quick picture of the anatomy, whether it be of the brain, or the arm, or the leg, and you have no good clear idea of how that part of that imaging or how that part of the body is working. A CT scan of someone who’s alive looks like the same CT scan if you do it on someone who’s dead. So that’s kind of a way to look at it, is the functional MRI, or the functional SPECT scan, tells you more about what is working well and what isn’t.
((NAT WITH NURSE WENDY))
My name is Wendy, and I will be doing your brain scans while you’re here at the Amen clinic. Today we’re going to do the concentration scan.
((PARWEEN NOORUDDIN, PATIENT))
I had a lot of issues that I was never properly diagnosed. I had seizures for a long time that randomly stopped when I came to the United States. So, I want to know if there is something wrong in my brain, and I’ve battled a lot of depression and anxiety growing up so I want to see. I was told I had a chemical imbalance. I was told a couple of different things. I’m kind of excited to see what it actually is.
((DR. LANTIE JORANDBY, PSYCHIATRIST, AMEN CLINICS))
We are one of the only fields that doesn’t actually look at the organ that we’re treating. Meaning, if you were to go to a cardiologist, they’re going to do an EKG or they’re going to do an image of your heart, they’re going to do an echo (cardiogram). And if you were to go a surgeon, they’re going to do an X-ray or a cat scan, but a psychiatrist never actually, most traditional psychiatrists do not look at the brain.
((PARWEEN NOORUDDIN, PATIENT))
I’ve been through so many tests in my life, and no one has ever been able to show me “Well, this is where the issue is” and how we can solve it.”
((DR. LANTIE JORANDBY, PSYCHIATRIST, AMEN CLINICS))
Some people have depression, have had a terrible brain injury that hasn’t been diagnosed. Some people with depression have been exposed to toxins or chemicals that haven’t been picked up yet. You can see, this is what we’re looking at on the alpha of the brain. So, this is just the cortex. You can see each picture. It’s the same brain, just looking from different angles.
((PARWEEN NOORUDDIN, PATIENT))
I mean, I’m kind of a little bit overwhelmed, but also kind of happy that it kind of got validated, that it wasn’t all in my head, that the depression wasn’t something I made up. Like, as my siblings would like to think that I made up this whole, you know, depression thing. So, kind of validating it and also knowing that I wasn’t the only person. So, the fact that I have this route of going naturally is very, made me happy in a way, that I have other options versus “Well, your only option to survive is Zoloft”, you know, like how my doctor pretty much sold it to me when I was younger. That was pretty exciting and knowing that my other parts of my brain are healthy. I think I was nervous seeing what else I could have, the bumps and the holes, but I didn’t have any of that, so that was pretty interesting. And it’s interesting how they do it.
((DR. LANTIE JORANDBY, PSYCHIATRIST, AMEN CLINICS))
The academic field still sees it as kind of a research tool, rather than a clinical tool.
((Banner: “Outside” the Gym))
((Reporter/Camera: Elizabeth Lee))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: Austin, Texas))
((NATS))
((KYRA CONSTAM, MARKETING ASSOCIATE, BLUE GOJI))
Our company makes technology that makes fitness fun. I am the marketing associate at Blue Goji here in Austin, Texas. We have been making VR games that make you move, so what we call active VR. We have our Infinity Treadmill that pairs with the VR headset.
((LEONARDO MATTIAZZI, TREADMILL RUNNER))
It was pretty cool. I think I did exercise in, what, three minutes. You have much more motivation to actually get running and do something that pushes your limits a little bit. Not just, ugh, for twenty minutes running a boring treadmill. It’s much more fun.
((KYRA CONSTAM, MARKETING ASSOCIATE, BLUE GOJI))
So the belt keeps you centered as well as giving you that security. Since you’re in VR, you can’t see where your feet are going. So, a lot of VR experiences cause motion sickness because there is a disconnect in the brain, just psychologically. You’re moving in the game but you’re not moving in real life, and we have come up with a solution, active VR. When you’re moving on the treadmill and you’re moving in the game, it mitigates that motion sickness, and you really get full immersion without all the negative side effects.
((LEONARDO MATTIAZZI, TREADMILL RUNNER))
Pretty quickly I adjusted. In the beginning, it’s, you know, it’s a different experience and you don’t know what to do. But, you know, it takes ten seconds to adjust.
((MARK SACKLER, VR TREADMILL TESTER))
You know, it’s funny. I don’t get motion sickness easily, but I got a little, felt a little queasy when I was out of control, so it’s surprisingly realistic. All I could think of when I was doing it, if my wife was doing this, she’d have been barfing all over it, because it’s interesting how the brain works. It was like, going downhill, it felt like I was on a rollercoaster.
((KYRA CONSTAM, MARKETING ASSOCIATE, BLUE GOJI))
There’s a bit of a learning curve for VR in general. I believe that the first time you do it, it is definitely going to be the most disorienting time. And then the more you do it, the more you get used to it. And there’s a bit of a transition between going from the real world into the virtual world. And it just, kind of, takes a second for your brain to adjust to that. So, the base price will be $12,000 dollars. That includes all of the hardware and all of the software. This is a prototype that we have here. It’ll be ready, officially, early 2019. And we are in talks with high-end gyms, VR arcades, as well as rehabilitation centers and physical therapy centers.
((LEONARDO MATTIAZZI, TREADMILL RUNNER))
A lot more fun than a regular treadmill.
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up….
((Banner))
Music and Tech
((SOT))
Technology is like a very important tool that even, very often, it’s also a very important part of inspiration.
BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((Banner: Robot Orchestra))
((Reporter/Camera: Elizabeth Lee))
((Map: Austin, Texas))
((NATS))
((NICO SIEREG, BAND MEMBER, JOASIHNO))
Hello, my name is Nico Siereg and I’m from Germany.
((CICO BECK, BAND MEMBER, JOASIHNO))
My name is Cico Beck and I play in a band called Joasihno. Actually, we call it, like, a psychedelic robot orchestra. It’s a combination of acoustic instruments but also very trashy robot instruments. The center of the whole setup is a computer. Most of this stuff is controlled by the computer. The computer can translate to voltage signals, so the robots are controlled by the voltage that is controlled by the computer.
((NICO SIEREG, BAND MEMBER, JOASIHNO))
We’re two drummers, but in this setup, we mostly play keyboards and synthesizers. It’s a little bit different because you always have in mind that there are machines playing with you, so there’s no reaction from them. We are a little bit free in doing our stuff then, so we want to combine just like this electronic stuff together with some free improvising setup.
((CICO BECK, BAND MEMBER, JOASIHNO))
Technology is like a very important tool that even, very often, it’s also a very important part of inspiration. Technology that can help you to have ideas and also the other way around, like you have ideas and then you try to find technology. I think it’s very connected to our music.
((Banner: The Science of Makeup))
(Executive Producer: Marsha James))
((Camera: Kaveh Rezaei))
((Map: Clark, New Jersey))
((BELANDA ATIS, Beauty Maker & Scientist; Manager, Women of Color Lab, L’Oreal USA))
I am so fortunate to be a scientist because in order for you to have beauty, you need to have science. In order for beauty to exist, science is at the core of that. I grew up in a very interesting Haitian community. Coming from a Haitian family, you’re either a doctor, a nurse, or something in the medical field.
I started at L’Oréal in 1999. I started off as a chemist working on mascaras, a great opportunity to learn and to go even further into cosmetics. Historically, women of color have been challenged on finding foundation shades. My mission in makeup is to make sure that women are no longer challenged.
So, when we had the opportunity to embrace this challenge, we took it, I guess, by the horns, and created a strategy to fix the problem. So, in order for us to understand the colors that make up the skin, we had to use, basically, a camera. And this camera, instead of giving us image, gives us numbers and those numbers translates to the color and the skins.
We had the opportunity to travel across the U.S., to different regions of the U.S., as well as internationally, such as South Africa, to gather skin tone measurements to make sure that the shades that we were creating were suitable for a large range of skin tones.
I think one of the great “aha!” moments that we had in taking the skin tone measurements and understanding the colors that make up the skin, is that women don’t necessarily go blacker. They tend to go deeper, deeper in color. So, what we found is that you can use a really special colorant, called ultramarine blue. And ultramarine blue is a truly clean, vivid, bright, rich color that allows you to go deeper, but as you go deeper, you’re still able to have a very natural color to the skin.
We really felt a sense of satisfaction. We felt complete in a sense, because we knew that we had found something that would allow us to give this natural look that so many women were looking for.
If I were stranded on a deserted island, I need lip gloss. I need for my lips to have a beautiful layer of protection and moisture. That is my go-to. If I have to have anything in the world, it’s lip gloss. What makes me smile is knowing that I’m putting a smile onto someone else’s face.
When I get a sense of the women that I touch, and hearing feedback from them, and hearing how the work that we’re doing impacts others in a positive way, it’s what gets me up in the morning, it’s what drives me, it’s what I find to be the best thing of my day.
NEXT WEEK / GOOD BYE ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
Opioids in America
((SOT))
CLOSING ((ANIM))
(Join) Facebook, (Follow) Twitter, (Watch) YouTube
BREAK THREE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
SHOW ENDS