Stanford Radio

Researchers Dion Burns and Naomi Ondrasek from the Learning Policy Institute on the learning outcomes of children experiencing homelessness. Originally aired on SiriusXM on August 13, 2022.

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: E192 | How to design algorithms with fairness in mind Algorithms are behind many serious decisions in mortgages, medicine, and a range of other areas. A computer scientist explains how we can build notions of fairness into algorithms. Algorithms inform the news you read, the TV shows you watch, and the advertisements that appear on your internet searches – and they also have a say in who gets a bank loan, what medical procedures are covered by insurance, and who gets selected for a job interview. As algorithms are used to make these decisions, how do we make sure they’re fair? And what does fairness even mean? In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, computer science professor Omer Reingold explains how we can create definitions of fairness that can be incorporated into computer algorithms. Reingold and host, bioengineer Russ Altman, also discuss how flawed historic data may result in algorithms making unfair decisions and how a techniqu

While polls of Republican voters still show strong support for former president Trump, some of the most powerful testimony against him during the January 6 Congressional hearings have been by members of his administration and party. In this episode we hear from Stanford Law Professor Michael W. McConnell, a former judge on the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit nominated by President George W. Bush, about a new report he co-authored, Lost, Not Stolen: The Conservative Case that Trump Lost and Biden Won the 2020 Presidential Election, which examined every count of every case of election irregularities brought by Trump’s team in six battleground states—and concluded that “Donald Trump and his supporters had their day in court and failed to produce substantive evidence to make their case.” Originally aired on SiriusXM on July 30, 2022.

What have we learned from the Congressional hearings into the January 6 storming of the Capitol and then-President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election? Join Stanford criminal law expert Professor Robert Weisberg for a discussion of the hearings—what we learned and who might face criminal charges. Originally aired on SiriusXM on July 30, 2022.

Helping families with children on the autism spectrum. Originally aired on SiriusXM on July 30, 2022.

Full title: ALAN CHIU, CEO, BOBA NETWORK & STANFORD ALUM: BLOCKCHAIN, CRYPTOCURRENCY, & WEB 3 DEMYSTIFIED. Description: Making crypto accessible to all, best of Web 3. Originally aired on SiriusXM on July 23, 2022.

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: E186 | How cryptography and Web3 can fight misinformation and help restore trust in digital media A group of researchers explore how the tools of cryptography can be used to verify the veracity of the images and videos you see online. Many of the lies, distortions, and pieces of disinformation online are easy to spot. But as technology advances it will become harder to tell the difference between video and images that are true and accurate and those that are manipulated or outright made up. In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Jonathan Dotan, of Stanford’s Starling Lab for Data Integrity, and host, bioengineer Russ Altman, discuss what researchers are doing to keep ahead of advances in deep fakes and other forms of manipulated media. Dotan explains how the lab is using cryptography and blockchain technologies to verify the veracity of images and videos, and how these tools are already being used to document war crimes in Syria and Ukr

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: E189 | How to make quieter airplanes A Stanford professor explains how fluid mechanics can help decrease the sound generated by airplanes. Since they were invented more than a century ago, airplanes have gone from carrying a single person to ferrying many hundreds of people and several tons of cargo. Despite the increase in size and capacity, commercial aircraft have actually become quieter over the past several decades, thanks to a few key design changes informed by fluid mechanics, a branch of physics that studies fluids in motion. In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Sanjiva Lele, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and of mechanical engineering, explains how adjustments in aircraft design, landing gear, and engines can have massive consequences for the field of aeroacoustics. Lele joins host, bioengineer Russ Altman, to also discuss how high-fidelity simulations can be used to study and improve the fluid mechanical mode

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: E188 | A cardiologist says embracing diversity will catalyze medical research Diversity in medicine boosts innovation and has even improved physicians’ ability to prevent transplant rejection. Data shows that greater gender diversity on company leadership groups leads to improved business outcomes, says Stanford cardiologist Hannah Valantine. Likewise, she says, in medical research, where diversity boosts the development of new technologies. In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Valantine, the former inaugural chief officer for scientific workforce diversity at the National Institutes of Health, as well as a senior investigator at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, discusses why increasing the diversity of researchers and study participants is vital to medical innovation. Valantine and host, bioengineer Russ Altman, then explore the barriers that keep new medical technologies, such as a blood test to detect signs of heart

Tara VanDerveer, head coach of the Stanford women’s basketball team (and all time winningest women’s bball coach) on the anniversary of Title IX and its impact on girls in sports. Originally aired on SiriusXM on July 16, 2022.

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: E187 | An innovative polling model can move us past political polarization A Stanford professor explains how the deliberative polling model can get people to listen to one another and even compromise on some of society’s most complex policy issues. In our deeply polarized society, the prospect of holding thoughtful discussions on policy issues seems impossible. But it doesn’t have to be. In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, James Fishkin, a professor of communication at Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences, describes the deliberative polling model, a system of structured and moderated small group discussions that can help bring people together and bridge differences in perspective on even some of the most politically fraught issues. Together with host, bioengineer Russ Altman, Fishkin discusses how deliberative democracy has been successfully used in more than 30 countries, including Chile, Denmark, and Japan, and how it can

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: E185 | Data is transforming our understanding of natural disasters A Stanford professor explains how new types of data collection and advanced computers are improving our knowledge of earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes – and how we might prepare for them. Humans have been trying to predict when earthquakes will happen for centuries, with little success, by developing earthquake detectors and by wondering if unusual animal behavior could be a sign of an incoming temblor. In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Eric Dunham, a geophysicist at Stanford University, explains that while we’re still unable to predict when earthquakes will happen, advanced computers and new sensors on the seafloor are pushing the field of natural-hazard modelling forward and providing new information about the nature of earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes. Dunham and host, bioengineer Russ Altman, discuss how this modeling could help us understand where large

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: E184 | Computational modeling can help understand Alzheimer’s disease A professor of mechanical engineering explains how computational models of Alzheimer’s spread in the brain are providing new information about the disease. Physicians diagnose Alzheimer’s disease with tests that measure memory loss and behavioral change. But many years before these symptoms appear, the disease is changing the brain, leading to the buildup of misfolded proteins and brain shrinkage that cause cognitive decline. In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Stanford mechanical engineer Ellen Kuhl explains how she’s using databases of brain images of both Alzheimer’s patients and healthy individuals to create computational models that show how the disease spreads through distinct parts of the brain and gradually impacts different brain functions. Kuhl and host, Stanford bioengineer Russ Altman, explore how these models have generated new insights into how Alzhei

Using enterprise software, Arc provides tech startups with customized financial products they deserve. Originally aired on SiriusXM on July 9, 2022.

Nearly ten years after the massacre of 26 students and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the world has been shocked by another American school shooting—this one at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas where 19 students and two teachers were gunned down on May 24. That came barely a week after the racially motivated massacre of ten shoppers at a Tops Friendly Market in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York. And these are only the most lethal mass shootings—hundreds more have already occurred in cities across the United States. In this episode, Professor John Donohue, an expert on gun law, joins Rich and Joe to discuss can be done to meet this uniquely American challenge of mass shootings.

Full title: Dr. Trina Wiggins, pediatrician, wellness coach, & author on keeping it short and simple to live a healthy and balanced life. Description: Dr. Trina Wiggins, Stanford alum and past Miss Fitness winner on her mission to move others to a healthier lifestyle. Originally aired on SiriusXM on June 11, 2022.

Geoffrey Canada, founder, Harlem Children’s Zone on importance of Early Childhood Education through high school for disadvantaged communities. Blurb: Breaking the cycle of generational poverty from birth to college through education reform. Originally aired on SiriusXM on June 4, 2022.

Peter Tseng, Stanford alum and co-founder, Open, on designing a new way to practice well being. Originally aired on SiriusXM on May 28, 2022.

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: E183 | How to develop ever better computer chips The pandemic accelerated society’s digital transformation by years, requiring more and better computer chips. A Stanford electrical engineer explains how to make that happen. Computer chips are everywhere: your cellphone, your car, even your refrigerator. And they’re essential to enabling advances in artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and faster and better computers -- and to solving global challenges such as climate change. The omnipresence of this foundational technology has been growing for decades, but the pandemic accelerated the digital transformation of society, significantly increasing the demand for more and better chips. In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Stanford electrical engineer Philip Wong and host, bioengineer Russ Altman, discuss why filling that need will require a greater emphasis on semiconductor research in universities, global cooperation, and incre

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: E182 | Training the next generation of entrepreneurs Are entrepreneurs born or made? A Stanford professor explains how understanding and practicing a set of skills can make entrepreneurs of us all. Search online and you’ll find lists of all the skills entrepreneurs should have - among them are imagination, creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship. But are entrepreneurs born with these relevant skills, or can they be taught? In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything, Tina Seelig, professor of the practice in the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford, explains the differences between imagination, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship, and how all four can be taught and then applied to finding solutions to big challenges. Join Seelig and host, bioengineer Russ Altman, as they discuss how to train a generation of entrepreneurs who will make positive contributions to the world. Listen and subscribe here.