Stanford Radio

Stanford Professor Emily Levine discusses her new book, Allies and Rivals: German-American Exchange and the Rise of the Modern Research University. Originally aired on SiriusXM on August 14, 2021.

Stanford Professor Wiliam Damon, who made a startling discovery about his father later in life, explains how exploring your past can help you find purpose in your present. Originally aired on SiriusXM on August 14, 2021.

Full title: Stanford alum Rob Siegel, a venture capitalist and lecturer on staying competitive when combining digital and traditional business functions. Rob Siegel, author of "The Brains and Brawn Company: How Leading Organizations Blend the Best of Digital and Physical" an eBook on maintaining a competitive business advantage in today's digital economy. Originally aired on SiriusXM on July 7, 2021.

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: E158 | Emmanuel Candes: How to increase certainty in predictive modeling Today’s predictive algorithms carry too much uncertainty says one mathematician, who is working to bring confidence to the models that, increasingly, rule our lives. Anyone who’s ever made weekend plans based on the weather forecast knows that prediction – about anything – is a tough business. But predictive models are increasingly used to make life-changing decisions everywhere from health and finance to justice and national elections. As the consequences have grown, so has the weight of uncertainty, says today’s guest, mathematician and statistician Emmanuel Candès. Candès knows this paradigm all too well. He is an expert in identifying flaws in today’s highly sophisticated computer models. He says the secret to better prediction rests in building models that don’t try to be right every time, but instead offer a high degree of certainty about things of real consequence. In that regard, th

Emma Seppala, expert in mindfulness, explains how teachers and parents can encourage restorative practices like meditation to help mental well-being as we emerge from the trauma of the pandemic. Originally aired on SiriusXM on July 31, 2021.

Psychologist Geoffrey Cohen discusses what teachers can do to help students feel a sense of belonging, and how that feeling propels learning. Originally aired on SiriusXM on July 31, 2021.

Dr. Ying-Ying Goh, Director & Public Health Officer, City of Pasadena & Stanford alum talks public policy, research, and medicine. Ying-Ying Goh leads the Pasadena Public Health Dept. in its dedication to the physical, social and mental well-being of all those who love, live, work, learn, and play in Pasadena. Originally aired on SiriusXM on July 24, 2021.

Legal issues surrounding the elderly and mentally incapacitated have been making headlines lately, particularly the conservatorship for popstar Britney Spears. But why are these legal tools used? What are the alternatives? And what rights do people like Britney have? In this episode of Stanford Legal, Michael Gilfix , a leading authority in the field of law, aging, and estate planning, answers these questions and more. Originally aired on July 17, 2021 on SiriusXM.

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: E157 | Srabanti Chowdhury: New forms of semiconductors are key to the future An electrical engineer discusses how new materials for semiconductors could lead to smaller, faster, more powerful, more energy efficient, and more versatile electronics. Electronics are everywhere these days, so much so that often we don't even register that we are using them. The use of electronics will only grow over time as engineers solve societal challenges through increased connectivity, faster computation, new high-tech gadgets, and energy sustainability. Against that backdrop, electrical engineers like Stanford’s Srabanti Chowdhury have been searching for new semiconductors that can expand the application space beyond the ubiquitous silicon. Among the options she’s exploring is an old familiar friend—diamond—and a few new ones, too, like gallium nitride. The diamonds Chowdhury works with are a far cry from the sparkly gems a jeweler might prize. These diamonds are “doped” with ot

Private online team building facilitated by experts Michael McCarroll and Bob Sutton, both Stanford alums. Blurb: Experts at Teamraderie discuss winning strategies on developing trust, commitment, and innovation through virtual team building.

Guest Glenn Kleiman outlines the main levers for changing school systems for the better.

We grumble about paying taxes, but appreciate the roads, bridges, safety net, and more that they pay for. But is the U.S. tax system fair? Should the rich pay more, and the poor pay less?

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: E156 | Simona Onori: How ready are we for our electric future? An expert in energy resources engineering says “battery biopsies” are key to a tomorrow filled with electric vehicles.` It now seems more certain than ever that the world will make the all-important transition to electric vehicles, but that shift raises important questions about global preparedness. The world is going to need a lot of batteries to make it happen and engineers are rightly concerned about everything from the availability of raw materials to how many miles can I drive before I run out of juice? Simona Onori is an electrical engineer by training and a professor of energy resources engineering as well as an expert in creating computer models of what that electric future will look like. For instance, she is developing mathematical battery management systems that assess the internal chemistry of a battery to predict how much life is left in it, how safe it is and, yes, how long until that

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: E155 | Irene Lo: How math makes markets fairer An expert in algorithms discusses how the changing meaning of the word “market” is being leveraged to achieve important social goals. Engineer Irene Lo studies markets, but not traditional marketplaces based in cash. Instead, she studies markets for goods/resources that place a high value on social goods like diversity, fairness and equity. Thus, Lo came to help San Francisco create an algorithm to assign kids more fairly to public schools across geographic, social, racial and economic boundaries. As it turns out, math is just the first step. The most challenging part was getting families to trust in the system, begetting a multi-year community engagement effort. Lo is now turning her attention to other markets with social impact, like her work on the system that places medical students in residency programs across the country or one trying to make the palm oil supply chain fairer for farmers. Listen in as Irene L

The 2020 Election continues to have an unprecedented impact on the country, the “big lie” about fraud spread by some media outlets and used by at least 14 states as justification to undo key election laws. Yet since Trump was banned from popular social media platforms, his voice is less prevalent in mainstream America. In this episode, we hear from election law expert Nate Persily about Facebook’s oversight board and its decision to continue the ban on Trump for another two years. Nate also discusses efforts by state legislators to curtail voting laws and why he is sounding the alarm bells for a threatened American democracy.

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: E 154 | Joseph DeSimone: How 3D printing is changing medicine With growing precision and new materials, 3D printing stands to reshape health care. Oft-heralded 3-dimensional printers can build objects ranging from simple spoons to advanced running shoes. While those objects are usually made very slowly, the latest printing technologies portend a new era of 3D printing in real-time for use in health care. The possibilities are endless, says Joseph DeSimone, who is an expert in translational medicine – the field of transferring promising technological breakthroughs into real-world products. He says printers he developed have led to the first FDA-approved 3D printed dentures, ultra-thin microneedles that make it easier and more effective to deliver vaccines, and even implantable chemotherapy devices that kill tumors while reducing side effects for patients. From dentistry to oncology, the promise of 3D printed medical devices is only just emerging, as DeSimone exp

Peri Hansen, Stanford alum, shares how executive search works and how best to position yourself for career success. Strategic career planning for upper-level executive recruitment, retention, and leadership development. Originally aired on SiriusXM on June 12.

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: E153 | Tina Hernandez-Boussard: How data improves the quality of health care A specialist in bioinformatics explains that the tools of data science are delivering insights into health care outcomes and improving care as never before. Tina Hernandez-Boussard is an expert in biomedical informatics who says a new era of understanding the real outcomes of our health care systems is on the horizon thanks to big data, artificial intelligence, and the growing availability of electronic health data. She says that the combination of these tools and data holds the promise of providing never-before-possible insights into whether health procedures truly improve patient quality of life and for which populations. With these tools, she says, her field can peer into the “real-world” details hidden in the medical records, even going so far as to use natural language processing to analyze the freeform notes and emails to and from the provider. The examples are virtually limitless:

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: E 152 | Nate Persily: How to restore faith in America’s elections Our recent election focused attention on the mechanics of democracy as never before. An expert in election law sizes things up and suggests ways to regain trust in the institution. Nate Persily is a professor at Stanford Law School and an expert in election law. He sees the most recent presidential election as a fundamental change in the way Americans vote. For the first time ever, the majority of voters cast their ballot by mail, rather than at a polling place. It “was an earthquake,” Persily says, speaking metaphorically about the 2020 election’s profound implications for future elections. But not all agree it was a success. Republicans and Democrats are further apart than ever in their beliefs as to whether the recent presidential election was free and fair. Addressing polarization in beliefs regarding the fairness of the election will be very difficult. Until leaders come together in a biparti

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: E151 | Krishna Shenoy: How brain-computer connections could end paralysis By listening into the chatter among a handful of brain cells, an expert in brain-computer interfaces says a future in which people with paralysis control computers with their thoughts is within reach. Whether by injury or disease, paralysis has afflicted humans through the ages. Only now have science and technology converged to a point where scientists can contemplate a day when computers and the human mind can communicate directly to restore a certain degree of independence to people with debilitating spinal injuries and other physical conditions that impede or prevent movement. Electrical engineer Krishna Shenoy is an expert in such brain-computer interfaces and has built machinery by which humans can control the movement of computer cursors with mere thoughts. Using small chips implanted in the brain itself, Shenoy “listens intelligently” to the electrical “chatter” among a hundred or s