Bionic Bug Podcast

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 42. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on January 26, 2019.  I’m sad to say that this is my final episode of the Bionic Bug podcast. This is somewhat bittersweet because I’ve grown fond of sharing my thoughts with you. If you’ve been listening from the beginning, thank you so much for joining me on this journey. If you want to keep listening to me, I’ll be launching a new podcast called the Authors of Mass Destruction Podcast.  I’ll talk tech and weapons of mass destruction, but will take a slightly different approach. I’m planning to focus on helping authors write great stories about national security issues while getting the technical details right. Tune in for interviews with leading experts on weapons of mass destruction and emerging technologies, author interviews, technical modules, and reviews of what TV shows and movies get right and wrong. The podcast will help authors who write about mass destruction develop impactful ideas for their page-turning plots and provide tips for conducting research. Let’s talk tech one more time. I have two headlines for this week: The first is “Beware the Jabberwocky: The AI Monsters Are Coming,” published on www.natashabajema.comon January 22. I wrote this essay as part of A Strategic Multilayer Assessment (SMA) Periodic Publication entitled AI, China, Russia, and the Global Order: Technological, Political, Global, and Creative Perspectives edited by Nicholas D. Wright and Mariah C. Yager. I’ll link to the full paper in the show notes. Science fiction plays an important role in shaping our understanding of the implications of science and technology and helping us to cope with things to come.  I describe three AI monsters depicted in science fiction films as one day disrupting the global order and potentially destroying humanity: the automation monster, the supermachine monster, and the data monster.  Fears about the implications of the automatic and supermachine monsters distract us from the scariest of them all.  Below the surface of our daily lives, the data monster is stealthily assaulting our sense of truth, our right to privacy, and our freedoms.  My second headline is “AI can be sexist and racist — it’s time to make it fair,” published in on Nature.com on July 18, 2018. If you listen to this podcast, you’re aware of the growing influence of machine learning algorithms in our lives. One of the more troubling issues about the excitement around the power of algorithms for helping society, is the lack of attention to data. Machine learning algorithms rely upon huge datasets to train them on the relationships between data. But what if the data is biased? Humans are biased, therefore the data we generate is biased. If data scientists do not take special care to ensure the data does not under or over represent certain groups, things go wrong with the algorithms they develop. Data is not the only place where bias can occur; algorithms are created by humans. As such, they can inject bias into them as well. This is one of the most important issues of our time, and it’s not well understood or even regulated by policymakers. Okay, let’s turn to the final chapter of Bionic Bug. Last week, we left Lara in a bit of a sticky situation, with a deadly syringe pressed to her neck. Let’s find out what happens next. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 41. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on January 20, 2019.  Two episodes in one week? Yes, it’s true. This is my second to last episode of Bionic Bug. If you’ve enjoyed the podcast, I hope you’ll tune into my new podcast called Authors of Mass Destruction, which will be launching in March. Let’s talk tech: I have one headline for this week: “Twins get some 'mystifying' results when they put 5 DNA ancestry kits to the test,” published on CBC online on January 18.  Throughout this podcast, I’ve talked about the power of data and warned you to think about how freely you give it out. I’ve talked about the potential risks in sending away your DNA to companies like 23&Me and Ancestry.com. Many of you do it anyway since you’re curious about your ancestry, and I can understand that. However, this article raises questions about the value of that data. The DNA of twins is identical. In other words, if a pair of twins each send off their DNA for ancestry result, then the results should be exact matches.  A pair of twins, Charlsie and Carly Agro decided to test this premise and sent their DNA to five companies:  AncestryDNA, MyHeritage, 23andMe, FamilyTreeDNA and Living DNA. They were surprised by the results, which were not exact matches. “The results from California-based 23andMe seemed to suggest each twin had unique twists in their ancestry composition. According to 23andMe's findings, Charlsie has nearly 10 per cent less "broadly European" ancestry than Carly. She also has French and German ancestry (2.6 per cent) that her sister doesn't share. The identical twins also apparently have different degrees of Eastern European heritage — 28 per cent for Charlsie compared to 24.7 per cent for Carly. And while Carly's Eastern European ancestry was linked to Poland, the country was listed as "not detected" in Charlsie's results.” “None of the five companies provided the same ancestry breakdown for the twins.” Dr. Mark Gerstein, a computational biologist at Yale University thinks that this must have “to do with the algorithms each company uses to crunch the DNA data.” What does this mean? Detecting ancestry from DNA is more an art than a science. But this isn’t what the companies are selling in exchange for your precious data. “Despite the popularity of ancestry testing, there is absolutely no government or professional oversight of the industry to ensure the validity of the results.” Let’s turn to Bionic Bug. Last week, Lara interviewed Fiddler and tried to get information about CyberShop. Will she bring Sully’s killer to justice? Let’s find out what happens next. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 40. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on January 20, 2019.  Let’s talk tech: Outerspace is heating up. My headline for this week is “Pentagon to Study Putting Anti-Missile Laser Weapons in Space,” published on Defense One by Patrick Tucker on January 16. The Pentagon released its long-awaited Missile Defense Review, the first one since 2010. It includes a controversial proposal by the Pentagon “to study the possibility of space weapons — perhaps particle beams, ray guns, space lasers, or orbiting missiles — that could intercept enemy missiles coming off the launch pad.” This is a response to a dramatically altered security environment since 2010 in which we face “not just ballistic missile threats but also cruise missile threats and novel types of weapons like hypersonics.” The proposal is reminiscent of President Reagan’s Star Wars effort in the 1980s; it’s controversial because it involves the weaponization of space, will cost billions of dollars and may not be any more effective than the ballistic missile defense system we currently have. If it is effective, it could lead to a decline in strategic stability and increase incentives for first-strike nuclear attacks. For decades, since the dawn of the exploration of space, countries have agreed not to weaponize space. Today, we rely upon space for satellite communications and GPS tracking. If shots are fired in space at missile launches, they will also be shot across space at the missile defense laser systems. What could possibly go wrong? We might get into satellite wars, and our country could go dark. To offset this troubling news, I have another headline that’s going around. Netflix announced that Steve Carell will star in a comedy based on Trump's space force. According to Twitter’s website, this show will be a story about how the U.S. government stands up the new branch of the military. .@SteveCarell will star in a new workplace comedy series he co-created with #TheOffice’s Greg Daniels about the people tasked with creating a sixth branch of the armed services: the Space Force! pic.twitter.com/6GEFNgP18w — See What's Next (@seewhatsnext) January 16, 2019 Let’s turn to Bionic Bug. Last week, Lara and her team worked to stop Fiddler from carrying out his plot to kill thousands of innocent people with his beetles. Let’s find out what happens next. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 39. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on January 13, 2019.  Thanks to the winter storm, you’re getting a bonus episode this weekend.  Let’s talk tech! I have one more tech headline for you this weekend. “DARPA Thinks Insect Brains Might Hold the Secret to Next-Gen AI” published on Defense One on January 10. If you’ve read Bionic Bug, then you know why I love this headline. DARPA is soliciting “ideas on how to build computing systems as small and efficient as the brains of ‘very small flying insects.’” The new program is called the Microscale Biomimetic Robust Artificial Intelligence Networks program, or MicroBRAIN. Gotta love the acronym! “Understanding highly-integrated sensory and nervous systems in miniature insects and developing prototype computational models … could be mapped onto suitable hardware in order to emulate their impressive function.” Think about it. Much of AI has focused on developing systems that mimic the human brain. A human brain contains “between 60 to 70 billion interconnected neurons... By contrast, some insect brains contain less than 1,000 neurons, making them much easier map. Despite the smaller number of neurons, insects are capable of sophisticated activities, especially coordinated activities over thousands of individual insects. Think about how ants work together to build their mounds and tunnels or how certain insects swarm to devour a target. “DARPA will provide up to $1 million in funding to groups to create a physical model of insects’ neural systems, analyze how insects’ brains develop over time and design hardware platforms that mimic the neural structure of those brains.” “Responses to the solicitation are due Feb. 4, and the program is expected to launch April 3.” Since I read this article, I’ve been tinkering with the notion of a return of the beetles in the Lara Kingsley Series. I can’t make promises, but this idea of converging insects with AI has definitely lit a fire. Speaking of beetles, let’s turn to Bionic Bug. Last week, Lara got closer to uncovering Fiddler’s true intentions and tries to stop him. Let’s find out what happens next. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 38. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on January 13, 2019.  No personal update today except that we’re stuck inside in the middle of a beautiful winter snow storm.  Let’s talk tech. I have one headline for this week: “I Gave a Bounty Hunter $300. Then He Located Our Phone,” published on motherboard on January 8. I talked about the power of location data a few weeks ago. As a nation, we are behind the curve in understanding the power of data. Many Americans still believe that data without direct connection to identity is somehow anonymous. Policymakers have failed to address privacy issues for data and issue proper protections. Private sector companies who gather your data are selling it off. If this article is true, it’s possible for anyone to pay a couple hundred bucks to geolocate your smartphone. In other words, anyone can find you wherever you are because of your handheld tracking device. How is this possible? I thought even the police need a warrant to track cell phones. It’s possible because the cell phone companies are selling access to their customer’s location data. Scary stuff, eh? Let’s turn to Bionic Bug. Last week, Lara realized that Fiddler had fooled her about his true intentions. Let’s find out what happens next. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.  

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 37. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on January 6, 2019.  Happy New Year everyone! I hope this year is full of promise. For the past three years, I’ve spent the end of the year reflecting on what I’ve achieved as an Indie author. I also set my publishing goals for the coming year. My first of two posts is entitled “Sowing the Seeds for your Writer’s Journey” and takes a look at how I met my writing goals in 2018. I’ll include the link in the show notes. We are nearing the end of this podcast with five more episodes left to go. If you enjoy following my writer’s journey and listen to me discuss technology, you’ll be relieved to know that I’m launching a new podcast in March 2019 called “Authors of Mass Destruction”. For this podcast, I’ll be helping authors get the technical details write on WMD and emerging technology. I’ll feature interviews from subject matter experts and authors who write on these issues. We can use fiction to generate awareness among the public about technology issues. Let’s talk tech. Only one headline for this week: “Sequencing the DNA of Newborns Uncovered Hidden Disease Risks and a Whole Lot of Tricky Issues,” published on gizmodo.com on January 3. “In the not-too-distant future, it will be possible to get a complete readout of a person’s genetics with ease, even right after they’re born.” “many children are born with genetic conditions that can’t be found with current screening” What will this mean for the practice of medicine? How will this information change society and change how we think about genetic tinkering? “Doctors and researchers at the Brigham Women’s Hospital and the Boston Children’s Hospital, both in Massachusetts, began a trial in 2015 that would test just how practical and useful sequencing could be if it were regularly done on newborns. They called it the BabySeq Project.” If you want to read more, the study was published in The American Journal of Human Genetics. More than 300 families volunteered for the BabySeq Project; they were randomly assigned to two groups. “Those in the control group would get the same sort of usual care, including standard genetic screening for the newborns and genetic counseling for caretakers with a family history of genetic disease. Newborns in the second group would get all that and also have their DNA sequenced in whole.” 159 babies received genetic sequencing. “15 (9.4 percent) were found to have mutations that raised their risk of health conditions likely to show up before they turned 18.” “None of them were anticipated [to have a risk] based on their family or clinical histories.” “the team was initially allowed to tell the families only about mutations known to raise the risk of childhood genetic conditions. But they could also spot mutations that raised the risk of conditions that would pop up in adulthood.” “Of 85 families who consented to having this information disclosed, three newborns had such mutations. And when the parents of these children were tested, they too were found to have the mutations.” Let’s consider the implications: First, the study shows that DNA mapping at birth is superior to other screening in detecting potential health problems. Having this knowledge from the outset will change behaviors. Many genetic conditions are recessive, meaning that people carry one copy of the gene (not two) and do not develop the condition. Instead, they carry it to future generations. Second, genetic conditions are often inherited. Medical treatment could involve from treating an individual to an entire family Third, in the future, we’ll be receiving customized treatments based on our genetic make-up, called precision medicine. Fourth, such findings about potential health risks in the future could lead to discriminati...

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 36. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on December 24, 2018. Happy holidays! First off, I have an update for Bionic Bug fans. Last week, I produced my first “Bionic Bug On Location” video where I take readers behind the scenes to visit a real location in my novel. I show how the location inspired the drone show that takes place at the beginning of the book. I’ll include the link to the video on YouTube in the show notes. Second, the drones are coming. And I don’t mean as presents for Christmas. They’ve made headlines quite a bit this past year, most significantly in the alleged assassination attempt on the President of Venezuela. Most recently, drones made the headlines for closing down Gatwick airport in London last week, the second largest airport in the UK. The sightings of two drones shut down the airport leading to the cancellation of hundreds of flights and disruptions for thousands of passengers. The incident has demonstrated how woefully unprepared we are for the misuse of existing technology. These types of disruptions have been predicted for years, but governments have done next to nothing to prepare for the era of drones. Today’s off-the-shelf drone capabilities allow individuals to project power into the air. Until recently, this was the sole domain of nation-states.  Read about our lack of preparedness and possible solutions in “Drones At Gatwick Airport Was Just Waiting To Happen,” published by Noel Sharkey on forbes.com on December 20. One of the many unrecognized dangers of not preparing for drone incidents is the potential for knee-jerk reactions to the use of drones. In reality, drones offer far more benefits to society than risks—think agriculture, film, construction, humanitarian aid, emergency response, and delivery. In the latest reporting on the incident, it’s not even clear that there were any drones sighted. Again, this speaks to our lack of preparedness. Drones are hard to detect, but it’s not impossible. If we start shutting down airports for fear of sighting drones, we’ve lost the war before it’s even started. This lowers the bar for anyone who wishes to cause mischief leading to major economic loss. We can’t afford to keep things as they are. Last week, Lara made it out of the beetle tank with some unexpected assistance. Now they need to figure out a plan to stop Fiddler from killing thousands of innocent people. Let’s find out what happens next. The views expressed on this podcast are my own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 35. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on December 16, 2018.  Let’s talk tech: “Does AI Truly Learn And Why We Need to Stop Overhyping Deep Learning,”published on Forbes.com on December 15. This is great article that clearly articulates what today’s AI is and more importantly what it isn’t. The media hype about AI has led the general public to have misconceptions about the art of the possible When I talk about AI to my students, I refer to it as the next generation in software applications. Of course, that’s an oversimplification. Hardware is important as well. But it’s important to understand that machine intelligence at this current stage is not all that intelligent, at least not when compared to humans. Can machines outperform humans in certain areas? Yes, but that’s been true for decades.  Machine learning refers to a new approach that allows computers to “learn” from data rather than be limited to manually coded sets of rules and to “reason” their way to accurate outcomes. But it’s important to understand what “learning” and “reasoning” means when it comes to computers. It’s not even close to human notions of learning and reasoning. The author of this piece argues that data scientists “treat their algorithmic creations as if they were alive, proclaiming that their algorithm ‘learned’ a new task, rather than merely induced a set of statistical patterns from a hand-picked set of training data under the direct supervision of a human programmer who chose which algorithms, parameters and workflows to use to build it.” When a machine learning tool “learns” to identify dog breeds, it does so using “spatial groupings of colors and textures with particular strings of text.” The tool doesn’t understand what “breed” or “dog” means or that the dog is wearing a collar and why that is the case.  A slight change of context and this tool would fail to perform its task. For example, what if we dressed the dogs up in Halloween costumes? Unless the tool was specifically trained on images of dogs in costumes, it would most likely fail to identify them as dogs. Compare this to human ability to learn – once a child understands what a dog is, it doesn’t matter if the dog is wearing a hat, boots or a costume, it is a dog. For a detailed understanding of the current status of AI, I encourage you to check out the Artificial Intelligence Index, 2018 Annual Report. It will give you current numbers, but also analysis on the current capabilities and limitations.  “Congress Can Help the United States Lead in Artificial Intelligence,” by Michael Horowitz and Paul Scharre on foreignpolicy.com on December 10 The U.S. has fallen behind in the development of AI. Last year, China released its “Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan.” It plans to become the world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030. Many other countries have released AI strategies. The US does not yet have a comprehensive AI strategy. Congress is about to hold hearings to assess Department of Defense’s progress on AI. The most recent National Defense Authorization Act mandated the creation of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. Members will be appointed by senior congressional leaders and agency heads and will develop recommendations for advancing the development of AI techniques to bolster U.S. national security. The authors make three important recommendations for the commission: First, we need to accelerate the pace of bureaucracy to leverage developments in the private sector Second, we need to address some of the key problems with today’s AI such as data bias, the brittleness of machine learning tools, the lack of transparency of certain AI methods Third,

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 34. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on December 9, 2018.  First off, a quick personal update. I’m now in the editing phase for Genomic Data, Book Three of the Lara Kingsley series. If you’re enjoying Bionic Bug thus far, you can order Project Gecko. I’m offering print versions on Amazon and the ebook version on Kobo or Walmart. Also, I’ve selected a professional narrator to produce the audiobook for Bionic Bug. I expect that will become available in February or March of 2019. Let’s talk tech. Two headlines for this week: Last week, I talked at length about the CRISPR baby controversy. This week’s headline is “Despite CRISPR baby controversy, Harvard University will begin gene-editing sperm” published on November 29 in MIT’s technology review by Antonio Regalado. This article highlights a critical dilemma surrounding many emerging technologies, the many benefits they offer to society. Of course, these are juxtaposed with risks and ethical gray areas. What troubles me most is the lack of discourse and awareness beyond the scientific communities who are concerned with the research. Do we want to prevent genetic diseases from birth? If so, under what conditions? At Harvard University, scientists will use CRISPR to edit the DNA of sperm cells in order to reduce the risk of Alzheimers. Unlike the controversial experiment in China, this research will not produce embryos or the birth of genetically modified babies. We’re getting closer to the reality in which we can alter the DNA of children before they are born to enhance their health prospects. But should we? This article raises some important questions: “What if a new killer virus arises and sweeps the world? Maybe there will be no vaccine but some people will be able to resist it thanks to their genes, as some fared better with the Black Death in medieval times. Wouldn’t we want to then give the genetic antidote to all members of the next generation?” Last week, the Atlantic came out with a great summary of the issues surrounding the CRISPR baby controversy: “The CRISPR Baby Scandal Gets Worse by the Day.” I’ll include the link in the show notes. My next headline is “The coming cyberwar: China may already be monitoring your electronic communications,” an opinion editorial published by Morgan Wright on The Hill on December 4. Over the course of this podcast, I’ve talked a lot about China and its appetite for data. I’ve also spoken about some of its predatory technology transfer practices. In fact, this is a running theme in the Lara Kingsley series that starts in Project Gecko, the second book. This op-ed highlights yet another example of China’s activities designed to support its “Made in China 2025” strategy. And it shows how we’re missing the big picture.  In the article, Mr. Wright discusses how U.S. subsidiaries of Chinese transportation companies are competing for contracts in the United States. In fact, they’ve “won four contracts valued at $2.5 billion.” For example, one of these Chinese-owned companies won the bid for producing 254 subway cars for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. The bid was half the amount of the next highest bid. How’s that possible? The Chinese government offered the company massive subsides to give it the upper hand in the competition.  If you’re upset about this, then you’re really missing the big picture. The real issue is the technology installed on these subway cars: “Wi-Fi. Surveillance cameras. Automatic passenger counters. Internet-of-things (IoT) technology. And Chinese software and hardware.” All of this allows China to gather data. It’s time for a soapbox moment. I don't think we value data in this country. Most of us, myself included, offer up massive amounts of data about ourselves to ...

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 33. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on December 2, 2018. Several distinct threads are converging in this episode—my personal update, tech news and Chapter 33 of Bionic Bug. For my personal update, I just finished the first draft of Genomic Data, Book Three in the Lara Kinsley Series, which features topics such as genomic data, CRISPR, germ-line genetic engineering, in-vitro fertilization, designer babies, and China. Chapter 33 of Bionic Bug features Fiddler, our rogue scientist, explaining how and why he created bionic bugs; he used CRISPR and gene drives to modify the beetles to bite humans and spread disease. The big tech news last week came out of China. “Chinese scientists are creating CRISPR babies,” published in the MIT Technology Review on November 25. We knew this was on the near-term horizon and in my novel, I anticipated the development coming from China. In 2015, Chinese scientists modified human embryos for the purpose of curing genetic disease. Scientists in the U.S. have carried out similar experiments. Germ-line engineering, i.e., producing humans with edited genes has been banned in the U.S. Germ-line engineering is fundamentally different from the kind of gene editing or gene therapies that show promise for curing disease in humans. This type of fix affects only the person whose genes are edited. Germ-line engineering—editing embryos—makes changes that are passed on to future generations. CRISPR combined with in-vitro fertilization made genetically modified babies a theoretical possibility. According to MIT Review, Statnews and the NY Times, this possibility is no longer theoretical. Last week, Chinese scientists announced the birth of genetically modified twins who have been edited to be immune to the HIV virus He Jiankui, on leave from Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, led the experiment. Risks include unwanted mutations or children with mixed batches of cells edited in different ways. Also, “studies are already under way to edit the same gene in the bodies of adults with HIV.” There are other issues with the study such as the utility of making humans immune to HIV when exposure to the virus is not pervasive, and there are simpler ways of protecting against infection. Some think the experiment is in the ethical gray zone between treatment and enhancement This experiment has not yet been verified and a Chinese investigation is now underway. Statnews provides some supplementary information in “What we know — and what we don’t — about the claim of world’s first gene-edited babies,” published on November 26. The twin girls were born a few weeks ago. The parents consented to the experiment. The infants appear to be healthy. The scientist’s home university has denounced the experiment. The announcement has led to a major outcry across the scientific community. The scientist claimed later in the week that another genetically modified child is on the way. Are we a step closer to a future of designer babies as portrayed in the film Gattaca? For more information, read “Gene Editing for ‘Designer Babies’? Highly Unlikely, Scientists Say,” published in the NY Times on August 4, 2017. Researchers are getting closer to being able to correct single gene mutations that lead to genetic diseases But it’s unlikely that we will be able to use gene editing to producer smarter, better looking, and more talented children any time soon. “That’s because none of those talents arise from a single gene mutation, or even from an easily identifiable number of genes. Most human traits are nowhere near that simple.” “Even with an apparently straightforward physical characteristic like height, genetic manipulation would be a tall order.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 32. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on November 25, 2018. I’m thrilled to deliver a bonus episode this weekend! This is to make up for the one we missed earlier in November. Just one additional news headline for today: “The Human Brain is a Time Traveler” published in the New York Times Magazine this weekend. This is a fascinating piece and worth reading several times. It looks at the inner workings of the human brain and how AI might augment or replace our ability to analyze the past and predict the future. In neuroscience in the 1990s, scientists wanted to use scans of the brain’s “resting state” to compare scans of the brain doing certain activities. The theory was that the brain uses different amounts of energy depending on the activity. But it turned out that the brain’s resting state was more active that the brain’s active state. This revelation was “one of the first hints of what would become a revolution in our understanding of human intelligence.” When our brain is resting, it engages in time travel. And that’s unique to being human. Our brain’s ability to time travel is one thing that sets Homo sapiens apart from other mammals. This refers to our ability to go back in time and imagine things that occurred in the past, but also our ability to imagine ourselves in the future and to plan for future prospects. “The seemingly trivial activity of mind-wandering is now believed to play a central role in the brain’s “deep learning,” the mind’s sifting through past experiences, imagining future prospects and assessing them with emotional judgments.” The article examines how AI and machine learning might come to support human decision-making and potentially replace it. For me, one of the more stunning revelations was how our use of smartphones prevent us from entering into the brain’s resting state. Before smartphones, how did we spend our downtime – reflecting on the events of the day or week and planning for the future. What are the consequences of filling all the gaps for human time travel with the use of the smartphone? If time travel is key to our being wise, are we becoming dumber? Let’s turn to Bionic Bug. Last week, Lara had a strange conversation with Fiddler. Let’s find out what happens next. The views expressed on this podcast are my own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 31. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on November 25, 2018. Let’s talk tech: My first headline is “Wanted: The ‘perfect babysitter.’ Must pass AI scan for respect and attitude” published in the Washington Post on November 23 Machine learning tools are beginning to impact our lives in big ways without us taking a moment to think through the limitations of such tools or the potential consequences. It’s scary. This article describes new software tools/services driven by machine-learning to improve the screening of potential employees—in this case, babysitters. Parents are increasingly turning to online services like Predictum to make choices about babysitters. This service leverages “artificial intelligence” to screen the social media activity of prospective babysitters to generate an automated risk rating. Babysitters are assessed for their risk of negative behaviors such as drug abuse, violence, bullying, and harassment. The system is a black box – it spits out a number, but doesn’t explain how it produced its ratings. The article talks about parents who previously thought their babysitter was trustworthy, but began to have doubts when the risk assessment score came back as a 2 instead of a perfect 1. The system is based on the concept that social media shows a person’s character. I can imagine a future system also analyzing a person’s google searches, in which case I and all other fiction writers are doomed. This is problematic on so many levels. A computer software tools tends to produce more trust than human instinct. This is problematic if the tool is flawed. And I’ve never met a computer software that wasn’t flawed. Unlike your standard computer software, humans don’t program the rules for machine learning tools. A machine learning tool determines rules based on patterns of data. Here’s a question: how many of us are honest on social media? Platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter lend themselves to the creation of online personas – designer versions of our true selves. Are the images we show to the public for consumption actually the full truth. How well can these tools determine the context for social media posts? Can they decipher between sarcastic and serious posts? How do these tools distinguish between things people actually say and what articles or people they may be quoting. According to the article, “The technology is reshaping how some companies approach recruiting, hiring and reviewing workers, offering employers an unrivaled look at job candidates through a new wave of invasive psychological assessment and surveillance.” My second headline is “China blacklists millions of people from booking flights as 'social credit' system introduced” published on the Independent on November 23. I’ve talked about such headlines before. Many of you know that China plans to fully implement its social credit system by 2020. This system tracks the behavior of citizens based on the their data and evaluates them for “trustworthiness”, which is determined by the behaviors the government wishes to encourage or discourage. Citizens with low scores will be denied access to travel, high-speed internet, good schools, certain jobs, certain hotels and even the right to own pets. You might breathe a sigh of relief that at least you don’t live in China. Most democracies have resisted the alluring pull of monitoring technologies in the name of protecting privacy. Or have we? If our data trail is not being funneled to our government, then to whom are we giving the power? And do we trust them to do the right thing? Let’s turn to Bionic Bug. Last week, Rob, Lara and Vik went to check out Linda’s apartment, but just missed her. Let’s find out what happens next. The views expressed on this podcast are my own and do n...

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 30. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on November 18, 2018. First off, a personal update. I’m excited to announce that I’m in the midst of producing an audio book for Bionic Bug.I’m currently auditioning professional narrators and expect the project to be finished in early 2019. I apologize for the break in releasing podcast episodes. I’ve been recovering from a nasty sinus infection the past few weeks, and my voice continues to be scratchy. You’ll probably notice if you listen to the next chapter of Bionic Bug. I hope you enjoyed the bonus episode where I interviewed Samuel Bennett, an expert on robotics, AI and Russia. Check out the episode and the show notes, which include links to his recent publications. Let’s talk tech. Just two headlines for this week. “Jon and Daenerys United in First Pic from Game of Thrones’ Eighth and Final Season,” published on Nov 1 on SyFy.com “Production on the final season stretched to 10 months and includes another year of post to tackle the challenging visual effects.” “Season 8 is anticipated to showcase what's being touted as the biggest battle in TV history, which took an unprecedented 55 nights to shoot.” “And the whole process has been so secretive that HBO has taken to deploying "drone killers" to take out any drones that might have been flying above the set to spy on the action.” “HBO Literally Shooting Down Drones To Prevent Game of Thrones Season 8 Spoilers” “Shaped like a gun, a "drone killer" is aimed at any flying nuisance and shoots out a beam, disabling the drone and driving it back down to the ground. IXI Technology in Yorba Linda, California is responsible for the technology, which costs about $30,000 a pop. The company's also supplied new gadgets to the U.S. military for over three decades.” “Are Killer Robots the Future of War? Parsing the Facts on Autonomous Weapons,” published on Nov 15 by Kelsey Atherton in the NY Times. This article addresses a fundamental question: should machines be allowed to make lethal decisions in battle. Until now, these decisions have been made by humans. Even though autonomous systems exist today, a human remains in the loop to make the ultimate decisions on destroying targets. But we’re moving into an era where autonomous systems are becoming more intelligent and thus more capable of making such decisions. One of the challenges is the decision-making speed of machines exceeds that of humans. When one country decides to go fully autonomous on the battlefield, others may be compelled to follow. Because as Paul Scharre has said: speed kills. Check out his book Army of Noneon Amazon. This is a fantastic article to introduce you to the key issues and I encourage you to read it. Let’s turn to Bionic Bug. Last week, Lara found important clues at Sully’s townhouse, and Rob and Lara got locked in the safe room. Let’s find out what happens next. The views expressed on this podcast are my own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

This is a special episode of the Bionic Bug Podcast streamed LIVE on YouTube on November 12 at 7:00PM EST. Join me for a riveting interview with Mr. Samuel Bendett to talk AI and Robotics. Mr. Bennett is currently a researcher at the Center for Naval Analyses and specializes in robotics and Russia. He is also a Fellow in Russia Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council. Mr. Bendett has over 15 years of program and project management experience with US government, Department of Defense and private sector. Currently conducting research on the Russian defense and security issues, as well as the emergence of unmanned warfare. Formerly an Assistant Research Fellow at the National Defense University, working on emerging and disruptive technology for the Department of Defense policy development and concept of operations. If you’re interested in reading more, check out some of Sam’s latest articles: Samuel Bendett, "Here’s How the Russian Military Is Organizing to Develop AI,” Defense One, 20 July 2018. Samuel Bendett, "In AI, Russia Is Hustling to Catch Up,” Defense One, 4 April 2018. Samuel Bendett and Elsa B. Kania, "Chinese and Russian Defense Innovation, with American Characteristics? Military Innovation, Commercial Technologies, and Great Power Competition,” Strategy Bridge, 2 August 2018. The views expressed on this podcast are my own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 29. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on November 4, 2018. Last week, I was at the United Nations in New York City where I spoke about the digitization of biology at a side event of the UN Security Council Committee on Resolution 1540 hosted by the Bolivian and Swedish missions. I’m happy to say that my remarks were well received. It was thrilling to be a speaker in the same room where I was once a junior staffer taking notes. I’ve included some pictures in the show notes. Project Gecko is now available both in paperback and ebook. You can purchase the paperback on Amazon.The ebook version is currently only available on Kobo.I’ll include the links in my notes if you’re interested. This month, I’m participating in Nanowrimo which stands for National Novel Writing Month. This is a challenge in which hundreds of thousands of novel writers attempt to write 50K words in one month. I am writing Genomic Data, the third novel in the Lara Kingsley Series and hope to finish it by the end of the month. Let’s talk tech: My first headline for this week is “Slightly heavier than a toothpick, the first wireless insect-size robot takes flight” published on cnbc.com on November 2. Engineers from the University of Washington have managed to fly the first wireless insect-size robot. This work has been going on for some time, the key challenge being the weight of the power source. The engineers created the “RoboFly, a robo-insect powered by an invisible laser beam that is pointed at a photovoltaic cell, which is attached above the robot and converts the laser light into enough electricity to operate its wings.” The engineers designed a circuit to boost the power in the solar cell to power the robot’s wings and a microcontroller that acts as its brain. The RoboFly can only take off and land at this time, but they are working on a way to steer the robot. They expect such robots to be fully autonomous within five years. Of course, if you’ve been listening to me read Bionic Bug, you know why I like this story. Robot insects have been constrained by the weight of power sources and electronics. Live insects are self-powered; work to control the flight of insects has advanced more quickly. My second headline is “Can we predict when and where a crime will take place?”published on bbc.com on October 30. Cops in the UK are using algorithms and big data to predict where and when crimes will occur and adjusting their policing accordingly. The idea is that crime prediction leads to crime prevention. Sound familiar? In Minority Report (1956), a short story by Philip K. Dick, a set of precogs are able to see and predict all crime before it occurs, eliminating crime in a future society. Instead, people are arrested and tried for precrimes based solely on the logical progression of their thoughts. There is historical precedent for these practices. In the past, police would use hot spot analysis based on past crime patterns to determine where to post officers. Predictive tools offer a way to show where crime will take place based on a wide range of factors. But what about bias? Some allege the system has learned racism and bias, leading to increased policing in areas with high crime rates and to self-fulfilling prophecies. Let’s turn to Bionic Bug. Last week, we learned Lara’s fate from her beetle bites and put the pieces together on Fiddler’s plot. Let’s find out what happens next. The views expressed on this podcast are my own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 28. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on October 28, 2018. First off, I have a personal update. On Tuesday of next week, I’m headed to the United Nations in New York. I’ve been invited to talk about the digitization of biology at a side meeting of the UN Security Council on Resolution 1540. My colleagues and I published a paper on this topic. I’ll include a link in the show notes in case you’re interested in reading it. This is a particularly exciting opportunity for me since I began my career in WMD working as a Junior Political Officer at the UN where it was part of my job to track developments in the Security Council on various WMD-related resolutions. Let’s talk tech. A few headlines caught my attention this week: “Designer babies aren’t futuristic. They’re already here” published in MIT’s Technology Review on October 22. Many of you know that I’m working on my third novel in the Lara Kingsley series called Genomic Data. One of the themes I’ll be addressing in my novel is that of designer babies and related issues. You may have watched the movie Gattaca in the 1990s which is a story about a naturally born man trying to navigate a world full of fully-grown designer babies who are not only viewed to have all the advantages, they are given preference over naturally born humans. That future is here. Our knowledge of the human genome, vast repositories of genomic data combined with well-established procedures of in-vitro fertilization means that we are on the cusp of allowing parents to customize their children. Parents are already selecting embryos for health purposes. The only thing stopping us from picking traits in the near-term is public opinion. “In general, Americans approve of using reproductive genetic tests to prevent fatal childhood disease, but do not approve of using the same tests to identify or select for traits like intelligence or strength.” One of the major issues is that IVF and genetic screening are expensive. That means only the wealthy population can afford giving their children genetic advantages from the start. “Microlight3D Offers a New Kind of Microscale 3D Printing” published on October 18 at 3Dprint.com One feature of advanced technology that I find fascinating (and scary) is our ability to study and manipulate matter at smaller and smaller scales, invisible to the human eye. A company called Microlight3D is capable of producing parts at the microscale—100 times smaller than a strand of hair. “These microscopic parts have a wide variety of applications, including in micro-optics, microfluidics, micro-robotics, metamaterials, and cell-biology. “FLIR Nano Drone Creating a Buzz for Military,” published on dronelife.com on October 22 Speaking of microrobotics, my next headline involves a tiny drone system called the Black Hornet Vehicle Reconnaissance System. It is designed to be integrated with and launched from a robust vehicle. These drones are tiny, one of the world’s smallest so far, about the length of a pen and flies with a single rotor. It can fly up to 25 minutes in close quarters and up to a mile. It is virtually undetectable from 15 feet away. It provides live video feed to the operator on a chest-mounted display. The total system of two drones, a controller and a video screen weighs less than three pounds The company describes the missions of the tiny drones as “situational awareness, threat detection and surveillance.” It could also be used by law enforcement and first responders. “Mystery of how black widow spiders create steel-strength silk webs further unraveled” published on October 22 at sciencedaily.com Continuing the theme of very small stuff, my next headline addresses the popular topic of spider silk. Scientists have been trying to synthesize spider si...

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 27. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on October 21, 2018. I’m excited to deliver a bonus episode this week. There’s been so many interesting tech headlines lately, I couldn’t resist sharing more. Especially since recent headlines have featured technologies I use in my fiction novels. I’m thrilled to announce that Project Gecko is now available as a paperback on Amazon. I’ll include the link in my show notes. I hope you check it out! My first headline is not a headline, but rather a YouTube video to demonstrate the rising quality of “deep fakes”. In Project Gecko, I use fake photos as a tool of blackmail. This week, I watched a short video where a young Harrison Ford has been inserted into the new Hans Solo movie. Here you can see for yourself how authentic such videos can be and ponder the potential implications for social media, politics and elections. My second headline is “How Swarms of Super Intelligent Drones Are Taking Over Live Entertainment” published on gizmodo.com on October 10, 2018. Of course, you’ve probably already seen a drone show at a major sports event. A few years ago, Lady Gaga took stage during the Super Bowl half-time show and sung to a swarm of drones above. There was also a drone show at the Winter Olympics in February. This is becoming increasingly more common, which fits nicely with the drone show featured at the start of Bionic Bug. My third headline is “Volocopter flying taxi sets down in Singapore” published in newatlas.com on October 18, 2018. German aviation startup Volocopter has tested an 18-rotor electric aircraft in Dubai, essentially a passenger drone. It has plans to begin testing in Singapore and launching the first-ever taxi service by drone. This is particularly fun because Lara makes her fear and dislike of passenger drones clear in the beginning of Bionic Bug. In Project Gecko, she must confront that fear head-on and decide if she’s ready to take a ride. Finally, several weeks ago, I talked about how police were able to determine the identity of the Golden State killer by comparing his DNA profile to those loaded up in a free online genealogy database. Several additional headlines on this issue came out recently. The first is “The DNA technique that caught the Golden State Killer is more powerful than we thought” published on theverge.com on October 11, 2018. Several scientists have published a research paper in Science Magazinesuggesting that nearly an entire population could be identified using a small base of samples. These scientists have “devised a way to extrapolate from incomplete samples, building out a broader picture of the genome than was originally tested. Taken together, those techniques would allow researchers to identify nearly anyone using only existing samples, a frighteningly powerful new tool for DNA forensics.” What does this mean? It may not matter that you haven’t had your DNA mapped or uploaded into a database, soon your identity may be determined from any DNA samples you leave behind. Okay, that’s scary, right? Let’s turn to Bionic Bug for some comic relief (or maybe not). Last week, Lara was attacked by a swarm of bionic bugs. Will she get the plague? Let’s find out what happens next. The views expressed on this podcast are my own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 26. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on October 20, 2018. First off, a quick personal update. Last week, I was unable to record a podcast episode because I was in Austin for a writer mastermind event. I’m still processing everything I learned talking to fellow writers about my fiction and author business. Perhaps, my biggest takeaway is that I should develop a presence on Medium. I’m certain that most of you have read a post from medium.com at one point or another. It is a platform designed specifically for quality content by the world’s most insightful writers, thinkers, and storytellers. I will be posting articles regularly building upon the content in this podcast. If you’re interested in learning more, I hope you follow me there. While in Austin, I have the opportunity to visit my first Amazon bookstore. What’s the big deal, you say? It’s just a bookstore. Actually, it’s a different experience than most book stores and it comes down to curation and displays. Your typical bookstore is curated by the traditional publishers; if you’re an Indie publisher, you can’t get into most of these bookstores unless one features local authors. The different spaces and displays in a bookstore are like real estate for purchase to the highest bidder. In some cases, placement on the tables out front go for tens of thousands of dollars. The cheapest real estate in a bookstore is on the shelves in a spine-out layout. Face-out displays cost more. In an Amazon bookstore, the readers curate the selection. That’s right, you choose the books. Simply put, the highest ranking books in different genres are featured in an Amazon bookstore. Each book is face-out and has rank information listed. The face-out displays make for an entirely different experience for browsing. You don’t have to know what you’re looking for, you can simply browse covers and pick up ones that interest you. Let’s talk tech: Last time, I mentioned the news headline about the alleged hardware hack by China, which sent ripple effects through technology and national security circles. There’s has been much debate since the article that’s worth discussing. Since the publication of the article, Amazon and Apple have denounced the veracity of the story. Most recently, DHS issued a statement during a Senate hearing rejecting the claims made by the Bloomberg article. My first headline for this week is “The security community increasingly thinks a bombshell Bloomberg report on Chinese chip hacking could be bogus” published on businessinsider.com on October 13. The article raises doubts about the claims made in the bombshell article. Even if the article is wrong, however, government and technology experts are saying that such a scenario is possible. And I think that’s what is key. Today, everything increasingly depends on electronics, which use chips produced overseas. Such a hardware hack could provide back doors into computer networks. My next headline is related and even more distressing than the hardware hack. “Many of the US Military’s Newest Weapons Have Major Cyber Vulnerabilities: GAO” published on Defense One by Patrick Tucker on October 9, 2018. The GAO has assessed the U.S. military’s weapons systems and found them vulnerable to cyberhacks. “Using relatively simple tools and techniques, testers were able to take control of systems and largely operate undetected, due in part to basic issues such as poor password management and unencrypted communications.” If you’re interested reading more, you can read the report Again this is a function of our reliance on computers connected to networks and/or the Internet. If not secured properly, they are exposed to a wide range of cyber-vulnerabilities My last headline is a bit of good news. While emerging technologies pose new risks,

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 25. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on October 7, 2018. Two episodes in one weekend? Yeah, that’s right. Next weekend, I’m heading off on my final trip of the year. I’m going to Austin, Texas for a writer event. I wanted to make sure you don’t wait too long for the next chapter, so I’m doing double duty this weekend. Let’s turn to what I think was the biggest tech story last week. “The Big Hack: How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate U.S. Companies” published on Bloomberg Business Week on October 4. If you’ve been following the news about China, you know their government is making an aggressive push to acquire a technological edge and using all sorts of tactics to do this. You’re probably also aware of how the U.S. has outsourced production of a wide variety of goods to China, including electronics. If this story is true, the implications are enormous for national security. A U.S. company based on Oregon sells servers for storing data to their customers. The servers were produced by another company based in San Jose. The Oregon company sent a number of these servers to a third-party tester in Canada. That’s when they discovered microchips the size of a rice grain embedded in the servers. The company has sold servers to the Department of Defense, the CIA, the Navy, Amazon and Apple. The chips allowed hackers to install a door into networks and access data. Both Amazon and Apple refuted the report. In any event, this article brings home the fact that we entering a whole new world of conflict. One that occurs in the digital world rather than the physical one. Let’s turn to Bionic Bug. Last week, Rob and Lara interviewed Ashton and learned more details about Fiddler’s plans. However, he was hesitant to say too much. Let’s find out what happens next. The views expressed on this podcast are my own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 24. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on October 6, 2018. First off, I have a fiction update. I’m excited to announce that my first novel, Bionic Bug, is now available as a paper back on Amazon. To find it, type in bionic bug fiction. I’ll also include the link the show notes. The release is especially timely given a headline in the New York Times last week. My first tech headline for this week: “Viruses Spread by Insects to Crops Sound Scary. The Military Calls It Food Security” by Emily Baumgaertner in the New York Times on October 4. This article is about DARPA’s Insect Allies Program, which has three technical areas—viral manipulation, insect vector optimization, and selective gene therapy in mature plants. DARPA wants to improve the resilience of crops against drought, floods and even foreign attacks by genetically modifying them to be more resilient with gene therapy. And they want to do this through a virus that will be carried by insects. Typically, classical plant breeding would be used to improve crops, but this takes a long time. Moreover, scientists are unable to address emerging threats quick enough. Using an army of insects, quick and comprehensive modifications to crops to ensure food security. The project kicked off in 2016 seeking proposals by scientists and researchers. Universities and companies have already received the awards to begin this work. For example, scientists at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI), the University of Minnesota, the University of California, Davis, and Iowa State Universityreceived a four-year $10.3 million award in 2017. Why is this project making the news now? A group of scientists recently published a warning in Science magazine about the dangers of controlling a swarm of insects and the equally troubling prospect of inadvertently creating biological weapons. In fact, they’re alleging that doing so might be breaching the Biological Weapons Convention, an international treaty prohibiting the development and use of dangerous pathogens and toxins as weapons. DARPA published its rebuttal last week, defending its project and disagreeing with the claims made by these scientists. Notably, DARPA is not funding open release projects at this time. All work under the project will be conducted inside. If you’ve been listening to my podcast from the beginning, you know that I’ve envisioned the scenario the scientists warn about. In my novel, Bionic Bug, a rogue scientist genetically modifies a swarm of beetles to carry a disease—a particularly frightening form of a biological weapon, invoking images of the plagues from the Bible. Aside from DARPA’s good intentions and my concerns about food security in the U.S., I’m inclined to agree with the dangers of controlling such a swarm. If for some reason, we are not able to control what happens with this flying gene therapy mechanism, we could undermine the goal of food security in the first place. My second headline is “A Controversial Virus Study Reveals a Critical Flaw in How Science Is Done” by Ed Yong in the Atlantic on October 4. This article continues the debate around the horsepox experiment carried out in Canada a few years ago, the results of which were published last January. As you may recall, scientists were able to reconstruct the horsepox virus, a cousin of the smallpox virus, from genomic data. They ordered sequences of the virus’s genome from companies and stitched them together. Once they had the full genome, they inserted it into a cell and booted up the organism, recreating the virus from scratch. They were able to do this in under 6 months for about $100K. This experiment has led to concerns about bad actors doing the same thing with the now eradicated smallpox virus. If you’re interested in the debate surrounding research that can...

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 23. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on September 30, 2018. Just a quick intro today before we get to Bionic Bug. I spent the last few days visiting Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. I met with a number of scientists and experts to talk about nanotechnology, synthetic biology, additive manufacturing, and artificial intelligence. I also had the opportunity to visit the National Ignition Facility. The facility contains the world’s largest laser. The laser focuses its energy on a spherical target consisting of hydrogen smaller than a pea to compress the fuel and induce fusion. The target is heated to more than 100 million degrees Celsius—hotter than the center of the sun. Scientists then measure different outputs of the experiment and use this to support research on fusion and ensure the effectiveness of our nuclear stockpile. Each use of the laser is called a shot. We got to see inside the control room and the target chamber. The United States stopped testing nuclear weapons in 1992. As a result, we have not developed any new weapons designs. To ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent without full-scale testing, the Department of Energy operates the Stockpile Stewardship Program. This facility is critical to that effort since it can create the conditions that are relevant to understanding the operation of modern nuclear weapons. The experiments run at the facility support the simulations used to ensure the ongoing effectiveness of our arsenal. You can take a virtual tour of the facility online. I’ll include the YouTube video in my show notes. This past week, I didn’t get a chance to read tech headlines because like the majority of people in our nation, I was focused on news related to the Supreme Court nomination. First and foremost, I stand with survivors of sexual assault. Second, I expect those who seek leadership positions in this country should be held to a higher standard. Third, I believe that the impartiality of the Supreme Court must be protected to ensure the future of our democracy. I did not feel the testimony of the current nominee reflected a temperament or impartiality suitable for the highest court in the land. Let’s turn to Bionic Bug. Last week, Lara searched the violin shop owned by Fiddler and found some interesting clues, including directions to a company called Beautific Creations. Let’s find out what happens next. The views expressed on this podcast are my own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 22. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on September 23, 2018. Next week, I’m heading to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California to present my research on emerging technologies and weapons of mass destruction. This is the famous nuclear weapons laboratory where the hydrogen bomb was first developed. The bomb has also been referred as the “superbomb”. Today, we call them thermonuclear weapons. How are they different from the first nuclear weapons? The first atomic bombs were fission weapons in that they leveraged the energy released when atoms of U-235 split into two smaller parts. Thermonuclear weapons exploit the energy released when two atoms fuse into one, called nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion uses lighter elements (tritium, deuterium or lithium deuteride) than uranium. This way, we can get much greater yield from much less material. The catch is that you can’t produce nuclear fusion on its own. You need a fission bomb to compress the material and produce fusion. For all of you Star Trek fans out there, I’ll be getting a tour of the National Ignition Facility, home to a giant laser. This is the facility where scientists are studying nuclear fusion for the purpose of generating electricity. The NIF was used as the set for the starship Enterprise's warp core in the 2013 movie Star Trek Into Darkness. I look forward to reporting on my trip, hopefully next week. Let’s talk tech: Two weeks ago, I spoke at an event called “Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction: From Threat Detection and Disruption to Response Operations” hosted by Noblis. My panel was on the future of countering WMD. It surprised me that we spent most of our panel talking about big data and the implications of our digital actions. To be fair, we were talking about the revolution in biotechnology that promises to transform society, business and government. But we were also talking about a growing threat—the collection of data by companies and even more troubling, by potential adversaries. I’ll include the video in the show notes if you’re interested in watching. My first headline for today is an old one. “China’s Bid to be a DNA Superpower,” by David Cyranoski in Nature magazine in June 2016. China is buying up gene sequencing companies and collecting genomic data in a bid to be a DNA superpower. Already in 2016, it had more than half the world’s capacity to decode DNA. You may find this troubling, but companies in the U.S. are outsourcing the sequencing of American’s DNA overseas, in many instances, to China.That means that China has access to our genetic data. Now, you’re probably wondering why China is gobbling up all of this genetic data. In a word, precision medicine. This refers to the idea that someday soon, we’ll be looking at our DNA profile when we visit the doctor to identify the potential sources of disease and ailments and using that information to tailor medical treatments to your genetic make-up. There are other more ominous ways this information can be used, and hence the growing concern. This data grab by China is part of a broader strategy. If you’re interested in reading more about how China is preparing for the new era of digitization, both in life and on the battlefield, I encourage you to read “Applying America’s Superpowers: How the U.S. Should Respond to China’s Informatization Strategy” in War on the Rocks by Charles Rybeck, Lanny Cornwell and Philip Sagan published on September 10. That leads me to my final headline for this week: “China Is Rolling Out A Mandatory Program That Puts Tracking Chips In Every Car” published on June 14, 2018 in futurism.com “Starting next year, China will require all newly registered cars to be equipped with highly trackable RFID tags.” What are RFID tags?

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 20. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on September 16, 2018. I’m excited to note that we’re at the half way point for this podcast. Bionic Bug has only 43 chapters, and so we’ll have 22 more episodes. But never fear, I’m already working on the concept for my next podcast. You’ll hear about it first. In other personal news, I’ve started writing Book 3 in the Lara Kingsley Series. It’s called Genomic Clone. In this story, Lara tackles a missing persons case. If you’re enjoying the show, please leave a review on iTunes. You can also support my time and costs of producing in show for only a few dollars a month, please go to www.patreon.com/natashabajema- p a t r e o n / natashabajema Let’s talk tech: My first headline for this week is “Plant Wearables and Airdropped Sensors Could Sow Big Data Seeds” published on September 10 at spectrum.ieee.org. Most of you have heard about the Internet of Things. This is a trend of making electronic devices smart and connecting them to the Internet. It is the sensors that make them smart and allow them to collect data on their internal workings or the external environment and make that data available online to human users. Over the past few years, sensors have become very small and very cheap. Lately, we’ve been putting sensors in everything. Researchers in Saudi Arabia are looking at dropping smart tags from drones onto plants below to monitor crops and report on plant conditions. “Researchers created a plant-wearable sensor—made from polymer and thin gold metal film—that has the flexibility to attach in any position on a plant. They tested this stretchable strain sensor on both barley and lucky bamboo plants during trial periods of several hours or days to show that they could detect even the most minute growth changes. “Second, the team created a 3D-printed temperature and humidity sensor that can be dropped from drones in large numbers.” This is part of a trend in agriculture in which technology is providing farmers with more information on the status of their crops. Farmers are also increasingly using drones to monitor their crops. DJI, a Chinese drone manufacturing currently controls about 70% of the off-the-shelf drone market. These drones collect data, but are also updated by DJI through various patches. Does DJI collect the data from these drones? How could agricultural data be potentially used against us? In wartime, to take out our nation’s crops. Just some “food” for thought. We are entering an era where everything generates digital information and everything is connected to the Internet. Who has access to this data? What can they do with it? Are we thinking through the implications of data generation? My next headline is related “Big Data And us: Are we All Being Given a Reputation Score?”published on August 25. The Chinese government is currently mulling a social credit system for their entire population. The score would be based on “every action that you do on a daily basis, such as what you buy, how timely you are repaying your loans, where you travel, where you work, who you are friends with, where and how much your socialize etc., will add up to your rating. If you are found guilty of not paying off debt, not paying bills on time, have a complaint filed against you, are found guilty of even a petty crime or other such offenses or maybe having friends who have low credit ratings, will have a negative impact on your rating.” Perhaps all of us who don’t live in China can breathe easily for a moment. Or perhaps not. Every day from the time we get up, we are creating a digital trail. This data can be used to generate a reputation score or online profile that has real effects. It probably doesn’t surprise you that Facebook assigns a reputation score to its users.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 20. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on September 9, 2018. No personal updates today since I just recorded an episode yesterday. Let’s jump right in to the tech news. My first headline is “Researchers to Release Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes in Africa for First Time” published in Scientific American on September 5. Up to 10,000 bugs could be deployed. Okay, you all know how I feel about bugs, right? Let’s delve into the article. What’s happening here? "The government of Burkina Faso granted scientists permission to release genetically engineered mosquitoes. This is part of broad efforts to use bioengineering to eliminate malaria in the region." "This will be the first time that any genetically engineered animal is released into the wild in Africa." "Genetically engineered mosquitoes have already been released in places like Brazil and the Cayman Islands, though animals with gene drives have never been released in the wild." "Teams in three African countries—Burkina Faso, Mali, and Uganda—are building the groundwork to eventually let loose “gene drive” mosquitoes, which would contain a mutation that would significantly and quickly reduce the mosquito population." What are gene drives? We’ve been tinkering with genetics for thousands of years. Think about the examples of livestock breeding or dog breeding. A gene drive is a technique that promotes the inheritance of a particular gene to increase its prevalence in the population. During normal reproduction, two versions of a gene has a 50 percent chance of being inherited by a particular offspring Gene drives circumvent these traditional rules and greatly increase the odds that the desired gene will be passed on to offspring In other words, gene drives could alter the traits of entire populations of organisms. My first thought was “what could possibly go wrong?” Mosquitoes are bad. And malaria is a leading killer of human populations in developing countries. Then I thought about what Michael Crichton’s Dr. Ian Malcolm would say. A few quotes come to mind: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.” “If there's one thing the history of evolution has taught us, it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories, and crashes through barriers painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, uh, well, there it is.” “Gene Editing: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)” John Oliver did a stint about gene editing on July 1, which is hilarious and offers some good info about CRISPR and gene drives. It also features (makes fun of) my recent podcast guest, Dr. Josiah Zayner, who has expressed his amusement at making it onto John Oliver’s show. My favorite part is when Dr. George Church, a famous geneticist, is asked if it would be possible to create a unicorn. I think I nearly fell of my chair, laughing at the look on his face and his answer. It’s definitely worth a watch. My second headline is “Russia, US Are In a Military Exoskeleton Race” published on August 30 by Patrick Tucker at Defense One. This caught my attention primarily because the plot in Project Gecko revolves around a military battle suit race between the U.S. and China. For years, the U.S. SOCOM has been developing TALOS, the next generation battle suit. The suit will integrate many emerging technologies, but also include an exoskeleton which will improve soldiers’ strength, agility and endurance. Russia is developing its own suit called the Ratnik-3 and has already tested a prototype. The limiting factor in the advancement of both suits appears to be current battery technologies. Let’s turn to Bionic Bug. Last week, Lara had a strange meeting with John Fiddler,

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 19. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on September 8, 2018. First off, thank you so much for your patience while I was on vacation for the past week and a half. As a gesture of my gratitude, I’m releasing two episodes this weekend. Yes, TWO episodes. I took my dogs on a road trip. We spent two nights in a cabin at a state park in Western Maryland where there is no Internet and zero cell coverage. In case of an emergency, there’s an actual phone booth on the park grounds for coin-operated calls. #blastfromthepast. We enjoyed the quiet, did some hiking, played in streams, and looked for bears. I also finished the edits on my second novel, Project Gecko. From there, I went on to Michigan where I’m originally from to visit friends and family. I had a great time moving my friend’s kid into the dorms of my alma mater, Calvin College. On the fiction front, I’ve decided to release Bionic Bug, the first book in my series as a paperback on Amazon sometime in October. It’s already available as an ebook on https://www.kobo.com/ebook/bionic-bug. I’ll release Project Gecko as an ebook on Kobo in October as well. If you’re enjoying the show, please leave a review on iTunes. You can also support my time and costs of producing in show for only a few dollars a month, please go to www.patreon.com/natashabajema. Let’s talk tech: My first headline for this week is an overlap between fiction and technology. “Why Science Fiction is the Most Important Genre” published in Wired today. Yuval Noah Harari, author of the best-selling books Sapiens and Homo Dues believes that science fiction is the most important fiction genre because “it shapes the understanding of the public on things like artificial intelligence and biotechnology, which are likely to change our lives and society more than anything else in the coming decades.” He thinks that too much of science fiction focuses on outlandish scenarios and authors should grapple with realistic issues to raise public awareness. I read this article with great interest, in part, because this summer I underwent a personal revelation about my fiction. I’ve talked about attending the ThrillerFest in July and about pitching my mystery series to agents. My biggest takeaway from my pitches is that the agents viewed me as a science fiction author. It caught me off-guard. I thought Star Wars and Star Trek were science fiction. I began digging and bought a course on science fiction from the Great Course series. I’m halfway through and my mind is already blown. I didn’t realize that George Orwell, Ray Bradbury and Margaret Atwood are considered science fiction authors. My mystery series takes place ten years in the future. I’ve called it speculative because I’m describing a world that currently does not yet exist. This summer, I realized that the driving force behind my series is about public awareness. We’re currently facing an unprecedented number of technological changes on the near-term horizon. Things are changing at exponential speed. It fascinates me, but also terrifies me. I’m writing the Lara Kingsley Series to help readers start thinking about the changes on the horizon and their societal implications. The revelation that I am a science fiction writer has led me to lean further into what it means to write in this genre. It has also to the birth of a new idea, which I refer to as my super-secret project for now. I’m currently developing plans for a sci-fi dystopian trilogy. If you check out my show notes, you’ll see a collage image I created to capture my initial thinking. My second headline for today is “Defense Department pledges billions toward artificial intelligence research” published in the Washington Post on September 7. This is great news.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 18. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on August 19, 2018. First off, I have a brief personal update. I got my manuscript back from my editor for Project Gecko and am working through edits. I expect it will be available as an ebook on Kobo in September. Stay tuned. Let’s talk tech: One emerging technology topic that fascinates me is the use of nanotechnology and synthetic biology to create new materials that do amazing things. In many ways, the science fiction of D.C. Comics superheros and Marvel’s Avengers is becoming science reality. This is a theme that I address in Project Gecko where the Pentagon is seeking to leverage the capabilities offered by these new materials for its Next Generation Battle Suit. The first two headlines for this week are about spider silk. Yes, the same stuff Spiderman uses to swing from building to building. “Move over, Spider-Man! Spider silk can be used to build armor and repair nerves” on July 28 at digital trends.com “Scientists Just Created Silkworms That Spin Super-Strong Spider Silk” on August 8 at sciencealert.com What is spider silk? It is a protein produced by spiders to create their webs and draglines. Textiles made from spider silk are lighter and tougher than Kevlar, also extremely flexible but do not melt like nylon. Spider silk an be used for body armor, sutures, skin grafts. Scientists think spider silk could even be used to battle cancer and other amazing medical purposes. Scientists have been interested in producing spider silk since the 1700s. Researchers first cloned a spider silk gene in 1990 How to make it? Spiders produce a tiny amount of silk for their own needs and production is difficult to scale up both due to volume and unique characteristics of spiders. They are territorial and don’t get along well with other spiders and eat each other if they get really pissed off. For this reason, scientists have been looking for other organisms to produce the silk. They’ve tried bacteria, yeast, plants, silk worms and even goats. How does that work? The U.S. Army funded research at Utah State University to produce spider silk in goat’s milk. This addresses the problem that spiders produce tiny amounts and are difficult to scale up. By splicing genes from orb-weaving spiders and inserting them into goats, the goats produce the protein in their milk A single goat produces about an ounce of protein per milking session, yielding several thousand yards of spider silk thread The milk proteins are separated, purified, freeze-dried and converted into powder form. The powder is then spun into a fiber to make textiles. Unfortunately, the proteins are often shorter and simpler than the spiders' own The goal is to synthesize the toughest of spiders' seven types of silks: the dragline that spiders hang from, which incorporates several kinds of silk proteins Scientists have recently produced a super strong spider silk using silkworms What are silkworms? A silkworm is a caterpillar of the silkworm moth that produces silk when they spin their cocoons to transition from a caterpillar to moth. This is the same silk used to make textiles. A team of scientists edited the silkworm genes so that it produces the silk of the golden orb weaver spider instead. The great thing about silkworms is that they’re peaceful unlike spiders. Another benefit is that the silk produced does not require further processing. There are already a few commercial products available made from spider silk, but they’re expensive. Spider silk shoe by Adidas North Face Moon Parka costs $1,000 “Salt-infused graphene creates an infrared cloaking device” on August 3 at arstechnica.com When scientists were finally able to see at the nanoscale in...

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 17. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on August 18, 2018. Last weekend, I attended the Writer’s Policy Academy in Green Bay Wisconsin. I experienced two days of interactive and educational hands-on experience led by police detectives and officers. It was amazing. There were so many cool courses, I didn’t know what to choose from. We got to see several demonstrations including the Green Bay firefighters putting out a real fire in the burn house and a dive team searching for a baby dummy in the river. I’ll include pictures in the show notes. I kicked things off on Day 1 with a three-hour course called Murder, Death and Mayhem. In this class, I learned about homicide in the U.S. Did you know that the U.S. has a very low homicide rate per capita compared to other countries? Death by firearms accounts for about 72% of all homicides in the U.S. In the afternoon of Day 1, I participated in the Pursuit Immobilization Technique, a high intensity class where we got to pursue a suspect in a vehicle chase and immobilize the suspect’s car. Turns out after 10 years of driving in D.C., I was a natural. I was able to make contact with the other car without flinching and pulled off one of the best maneuvers of the day. You can see the video in my show notes. My final class of Day 1 was called Shoot, Don’t Shoot Firearms Simulator, another high intensity class. This was an eye-opening session where we played the role of police officers and had to decide within the fraction of second whether or not to use deadly force. Again, I was a natural. My scenario involved taking a pit stop at a liquor store and coming face to face with a man wearing a ski mask and holding a paper bag and a gun. He was just coming out of the store and a bit stunned to run into me and my partner. I yelled at him to drop his gun and put his hands in the air several times. He didn’t respond. As soon as his gun hand twitched, I took him out with three rounds to the chest. All those hours of playing Call of Duty really paid off. On Day 2, I took a class on K9 dogs and their handlers and got to meet a retired handler and his German Shepherd. It was fascinating to hear his stories. The biggest takeaway is how effective dogs are compared to guns in getting suspects to surrender. But because they cost so much money to train, it’s difficult to convince the public they’re worth it. In the afternoon, on Day 2, I took a SWAT: Dynamic Door Entry/Breaching class where we learned the various methods of gaining entry and searching the premises for bad guys. I had the opportunity to try on a SWAT vest. It weighed 50 pounds without the pistol and ammo. There’s a picture in the show note. I’m posting it hoping not to hear any more wise-ass comments about my trigger finger. The fake gun is heavy and it was easier to hold that way. I also attempted to breach a door with a ram. Much harder than you think. My first day back at work after returning, my arms and hands were sore from the experience. Now that was a first. I closed out my experience with class on Behavioral Clues at Crime Scenes taught by a Forensics Psychologist. Wow, that was fascinating. We learned how to stage crime scenes. My biggest takeaway was that most criminals are pretty dumb. I’m recording another episode tomorrow to cover tech headlines. I won’t be recording again until September since I’m going on my last vacation of the summer. Let’s turn to Bionic Bug. Last week, Lara moved in with Maggie while she waited for repairs to her townhouse from the fire. She learns about the plague and watches the video footage captured from the beetle on the night of Sully’s death. She gets another message from her stalker. Let’s find out what happens next. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not refl...

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 16. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on August 5, 2018. First off, I have a personal update. Next weekend, I’m headed to the Writer’s Policy Academy in Green Bay Wisconsin. I’ll be participating in two days of an interactive and educational hands-on experience led by police detectives and officers and designed for writers to enhance their understanding of all aspects of law enforcement, firefighting, EMS, and forensics. I’m currently signed up for hands-on sessions on high-speed pursuits, a car set ablaze and door entry/breaching among other things. Stay tuned for my read out in a few weeks. Let’s talk tech news. It’s been an “exciting” week for emerging technologies and their potential risks. 3D printing made the headlines across the country this week, even making it onto the daily show with Trevor Noah. In truth, this is a threat that has been building for more than six years that has largely remained off the public’s radar. This week, a legal battle broke out with 19 states pitted against the State Department and Defense Distributed. In 2012, Cody Wilson, a second year law student at the University of Texas, and his friends got together and named themselves “Defense Distributed” and launched the “Wiki Weapon Project.” The idea was to create a gun that anyone could easily make at home. They used a crowdfunding website to raise funds to develop a 3D printed plastic gun that can be printed by a low-cost, open source 3D printer known as the RepRap. The group successfully produced a plastic gun capable of firing a .22 caliber bullet in 2013. The gun is called “The Liberator”. Cody Wilson and his friends uploaded the blueprint online. The design has two metal components the firing pin and a small piece of steel. The steel part is designed to make the gun detectable with a metal detector. The U.S. Undetectable Firearms Act prohibits weapons that don't set off a metal detector. The design was downloaded 100,000 times in just two days before the State Department stepped in, demanding the removal of the blueprint from the website under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which governs the export of munitions. Wilson took down the blueprint, but it soon became available on disreputable file-sharing websites such as The Pirates Bay and on the Dark Web. Since this development, many more gun designs have been made available online. So why now? In 2015, Cody Wilson and Defense Distributed filed a law suit against the State Department, claiming his First Amendment rights were being infringed. The State Department settled with Wilson last month, allowing Defense Distributed to release the designs online for downloading. On Tuesday, a federal judge in Seattle granted a temporary restraining order to stop the posting of blueprints that would have legally allowed Americans to make 3D-printed guns in their own homes. Let’s unpack the issues. These guns are called “ghost guns” because they have no serial numbers, untraceable, undetectable They are homemade. Anyone with access to the Internet can download the blueprint and then print the parts using a cheap 3D printer. These guns are not entirely undetectable. “The TSA Has Found 3D-Printed Guns at Airport Checkpoints 4 Times Since 2016” The designs include a small metal part that can be detected by metal detectors. It remains illegal to develop guns that cannot be detected. I’m not sure if I understand why everyone is freaking out about this new development. We already have a gun accessibility problem in this country. Practically anyone can get access to weapons in the U.S., even semi-automatic weapons, including criminals. Plastic guns are not nearly as effective and run the risk of exploding after multiple shots.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 15. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on July 29, 2018. This week, I’m going to skip straight to reading from Bionic Bug since chapter 15 is a long one. Last week, Lara and Vik found Sully’s journal on the burner cell phone. They were going through the different entries when a fire broke out. Let’s find out what happens next. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 14. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on July 22, 2018. First off, an update on my fiction. On this podcast, you’re listening to Bionic Book, which is Book One of the Lara Kingsley Series. As you know, Book Two Project Gecko is currently with my editor. But you don’t know that I’ve started the outline for Book Three Genomic Data, which will carry on a theme in the series about DNA and genomic data. Even more exciting, I came up with the title and draft cover for Book Four this week. It will be called Black Box and will involve artificial intelligence and machine learning. I’ll provide a sneak preview of the cover in the show notes, so make sure you check it out! “Potential DNA damage from CRISPR has been ‘seriously underestimated,’ study finds” on July 16, 2018 at statnews.com A sobering article about a new gene editing technique that promises to transform the field of synthetic biology, cure diseases, correct genetic errors and produce new products that improve human life. CRISPR is an acronym for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat. It refers to a gene editing technique that emerged in 2012 that allows researchers to quickly and cheaply change the DNA of nearly any organism. The technique uses the Cas9 enzyme and an RNA molecule matching the target DNA sequence identified for editing. The RNA guides Cas9 to the correct target sequence in the genome where it cuts the DNA. After the cut, the DNA is repaired, causing the gene sequence to be disrupted or modified. A recent study suggests that making such cuts in DNA could cause more havoc than previously thought. The study identified DNA damage including deletions of thousands of DNA bases, including at spots far from the edit. Some of the deletions can silence genes that should be active and activate genes that should be silent, including cancer-causing genes. Geneticist Allan Bradley of England’s Wellcome Sanger Institute, who led the study, warns of DNA chaos as a result of using CRISPR. This reminds me of Michael Crichton’s Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park warning us about playing god with nature. Since I just revealed the title of my fourth novel in the Lara Kingsley series, it’s only fitting that I shift gears to look at Artificial Intelligence. “Microsoft calls for regulation of facial recognition, saying it’s too risky to leave to tech industry alone” on July 13 in the Washington Post Think about this for a second. A major corporation is calling for government regulation on the use of artificial intelligence for facial recognition. I think we should pay attention. China has been using facial recognition technology to crack down on crime where there is an estimated 170 million CCTV cameras. In April 2018, a man was arrested for economic crimes while attending a concert.He was identified by cameras equipped with facial recognition technology at the venue’s entrance and arrested while in the crowd. In February 2018, the Chinese police introduced new sunglasses equipped with facial recognition technology to identify criminals. Sound like big brother in George Orwell’s 1984? In Project Gecko, I introduce this type of glasses. Detective Sanchez participates in a pilot program to see how they might be used at the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. Microsoft thinks this type of technology should have the technology to greater public scrutiny and oversight. Amazon is selling its facial recognition technology to law enforcement. This is happening under our noses. I think it’s time to take a look at these technologies. This leads to my final headline. “How Artificial Intelligence Will Reshape the Global Order” on July 10 in Foreign Affairs After the Cold War, scholars pronounced the end of history with the triumph of the liberal de...

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 13. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on July 21, 2018. You might have noticed that I didn’t record a podcast episode last weekend. That’s because I was in New York City for ThrillerFest, which is the premiere conference for thriller enthusiasts, bringing together famous authors and new ones along with industry professionals, agents, and fans. This year, George R.R. Martin, author of Song of Ice and Fire, more popularly known as the HBO drama Game of Thrones, was the ThrillerMaster. I was lucky enough to meet him, get him to sign one of his books, but most importantly, I made him laugh. Something about D.C. being a lot like Kings Landing.   I also attended PitchFest, which is an event for authors to pitch their books to agents and editors. I’m excited to report that I met with nine agents about my first novel Bionic Bug. Six of them liked my pitch and asked me to send them chapters. In some ways, this is huge. Authors can spend several years trying to get the attention of agents by sending query letters. However, it is only the first of many obstacles to overcome to get a deal from a publishing house. Earlier this week, I spent time putting together my materials and sent them out. Now, it’s the waiting game. It could take up to 12 weeks. If I hear nothing, they’ve passed on my work this time around. Let’s talk tech. “How to Build Synthetic DNA and Send it Across the Internet” This is a Ted Talk from Bioengineer Dan Gibson that was given in April 2018. In the talk, he talks about how scientists can now edit and program DNA, just like coders program a computer. This code gives scientists the power to convert digital information into biological material like proteins and vaccines. I’ve talked about this issue before. Today, we can send the genomes of living organisms by email. A DNA sequence is made up of four letters (G’s, C’s, T’s and A’s). A genome costs of a certain number of base pairs that form two long DNA strands, a spiral structure called a double helix. When a genome is sequenced, the DNA code is read and then converted to ones and zeros, digital binary code that can be processed by computers. We are also seeing dramatic decreases in the synthesis of gene sequences, which is the primary focus of synthetic biology. Gene synthesis translates the genes from digital code to DNA sequence to physical DNA material. This means that scientists can build living organisms from a data file stored on a computer. There’s a growing catalog of genetic information on the Internet including information on gene sequences, gene functions, and full genomes of organisms. Researchers no longer need a physical source of DNA to manipulate it or study it. They can find a sequence online and have it chemically synthesized by a growing number of companies. My colleagues at National Defense University and I have recently published a paper discussing the new risks emanating from the digitization of biology. If you’re interested, you can download it from NDU’s website. Natasha E. Bajema, Diane DiEuliis, Charles Lutes, and Yong-Bee Lim,The Digitization of Biology: Understanding the New Risks and Implications for Governance, Research Paper Series No. 3, Washington D.C.: National Defense University, July 2018. If you’re enjoying the show, you can support my time and costs of producing in show for only a few dollars a month, please go to www.patreon.com- p a t r e o n / natashabajema Let’s turn to Bionic Bug. Last week, Lara found out that Sully died as a result of a botulinum injection. The medical examiner also found indicators of the plague. When Lara mentions that her ex-boyfriend and FBI special agent found antibiotics in Sully’s trash, Detective Sanchez flies off the handle and stomps out of the morgue.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 12. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on July 8, 2018. First off, I have a personal update. Next week, I’m headed to New York City for ThrillerFest, which is the premiere conference for thriller enthusiasts, bringing together famous authors and new ones along with industry professionals, agents, and fans. This year, George R.R. Martin, author of Song of Ice and Fire, more popularly known as the HBO drama Game of Thrones will serve as the ThrillerMaster. I’m a huge fan of the books and the series and look forward to meeting him. I’ll also be meeting with agents to pitch the Lara Kingsley series in the hopes that I’m offered a publishing deal. More likely, my soul will be crushed and I’ll have to drink away my sorrows. Stay tuned for more information. If you’re enjoying the show, please leave a review on iTunes. You can also support my time and costs of producing in show for only a few dollars a month, please go to www.patreon.com- p a t r e o n / natashabajema Let’s talk tech. This week, I have two headlines for you, both are more funny than serious. “German Police Raid Augsburg Fablab, Confiscate 3D Printed “Atom Bomb” July 5 on all3DP.com On June 20, German Police raided a Fablab in Augsburg, Germany, where they confiscated a 3-inch tall 3D printed "Atom Bomb". Let me be clear this is a plastic model of the Fat Man implosion bomb from 1945. It is made of thermoplastic. It is the equivalent of a plastic toy. FabLabs are DIY lab spaces open to the local community. Anyone can join in and learn how to use 3D printers. FabLabs have sprung up around the world to encourage people to experiment with this new technology. This particular lab is located in Augsburg, Germany. The founder of the open lab and all individuals present during the raid were arrested for setting off explosive materials. They were later released. In a YouTube video, you can see some dudes launching the plastic model from a spring launcher, somewhat like a nerf launcher. They’re trying to launch it into an open vent. This incident demonstrates the difficulty of mitigating the risks of technology with broad accessibility. 3D printers can be used to make harmless, plastic toys, but they can also be used to make nefarious items such as guns, IEDs and more. Governments will face enormous challenges trying to police what individuals are now capable of doing within the privacy of their own homes. This story resonates with me because I bought a 3D printer about a year ago. And one of my first projects was an attempt to design a 3D model of the Fat Man bomb as a gimmick to promote a series of fiction books I was working on. I gave up trying to design a model myself because the available 3D modeling software was too difficult to use in just a few hours. Perhaps, I can just download their model and customize it.   “Gene Editing: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)” John Oliver did a stint about gene editing on July 1, which is hilarious and offers some good info about CRISPR and gene drives. It also features (makes fun of) my recent podcast guest, Dr. Josiah Zayner, who has expressed his amusement at making it onto John Oliver’s show. My favorite part is when Dr. George Church, a famous geneticist, is asked if it would be possible to create a unicorn. I think I nearly fell of my chair, laughing at the look on his face and his answer. It’s definitely worth a watch. Let’s turn to Bionic Bug. Last week, Lara visited the National Cryptologic Museum to meet with her mysterious stalker. Unfortunately, he was a no-show, but left a note and cut the fuel line on Lara’s motorcycle. In Chapter 12, Lara is with Detective Sanchez at the police station to meet with the medical examiner. Let’s find out what happens next.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 11. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on July 1, 2018. I have a quick personal update. Today, I will be finishing the third draft of Project Gecko, Book Two in the Lara Kingsley Series. Next week, I’ll read through it a few times and then send it off to my line editor. That means we’re getting closer to its release in September. If you’re enjoying the show, please leave a review on iTunes. You can also support my time and costs of producing in show for only a few dollars a month, please go to www.patreon.com- p a t r e o n / natashabajema Let’s talk tech. “FLIR set to develop small surveillance drones for the US Army” Published on June 27 at dronedj.com A company called FLIR is developing the Black Hornet 3 nano-drone for use by the U.S. Army. These tiny drones will provide real-time intelligence of their surroundings on the ground. This is especially important for units which don’t have aerial support and/or a satellite connection It’s so small it can fit in the palm of your hand Weight: 32 grams Range: 1.25 miles (2km) Speed: 13 mph (21 km/h) Onboard GPS Onboard navigation system FLIR thermal microcamera built-in This kind of development is what inspired Bionic Bug. And this is only the beginning. We’re entering an era of miniature robotics, not just flight-controlled insects as in Bionic Bug, but also tiny drones, capable of surveillance and much more. Advancements in materials, sensors, microelectronics and batteries will allow engineers to pack more capabilities onto smaller platforms. “Power-multiplying exoskeletons are slimming down for use on the battlefield” Published on June 28 in Popular Science Ever dreamed of having the strength of Iron Man? Your dreams may come true soon for soldiers on the battlefield Or maybe you just wish you had a third arm to carry stuff Exoskeletons are becoming less bulky and more powerful. The S. Army Research Laboratory is working on developing a third arm for soldiers to carry and support their weapons. It stabilizes rifles, improving shooting accuracy and minimizing fatigue. Lockheed Martin has recently unveiled an exoskeleton which is a form-fitting suit that looks like a series of athletic braces, designed to reduce the effort soldier’s need for walking, running, and climbing over varied terrain while carrying a heavy loads of up to 100 pounds. I’m fascinated by these developments and they have inspired much of the storyline in Project Gecko.   Let’s turn to Bionic Bug. Last week, Lara learned more about KillerBot and received another strange note demanding that she meet someone at the National Cryptologic Museum. Will she check it out? Let’s find out. Okay, let’s go behind the scenes. In my real job, I often get to visit places that most people don’t have access to. And that includes the National Security Agency. I’ve visited the NSA twice and learned about the work they do there, most of which I can’t tell you or I’d have to kill you. Womp, womp. I’ve also visited the National Cryptologic Museum, which is open to the public. And I recommend a visit if you have time. They have one of the Enigma machines on display. As authors, sometimes we incorporate stories from our personal lives into our books. In Chapter 11, I mention Lara accidentally bringing a USB into the NSA and having security discover it in her bag. Welp, that was me. I had forgotten all about a tiny USB drive in a pocket in my purse. To my embarrassment, security personnel detected it upon screening, and I got some uncomfortable stares. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 10. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on June 24, 2018. I’m going to keep this episode short today since I’ve run out of hosting space for the month due to my special interview earlier in June. However, I do have a few interesting headlines for you this week. If you’re enjoying the show, please leave a review on iTunes. You can also support my time and costs of producing in show for only a few dollars a month, please go to www.patreon.com- p a t r e o n / natashabajema Let’s talk tech. “3D Printing and 3D Scanning Experts Crack the Ocean’s 8 Diamond Necklace Heist” Published on June 20, 2018 at 3Dprintingindustry.com I haven't seen the movie Ocean’s 8 yet, but after finding out that the thieves use 3D printers and scanners to support their con, I’m even more interested. In this article, experts talk about what aspects of the ploy were realistic and what could actually be done using a 3D scanner and printer “Experts Bet on First Deepfakes Political Scandal” Published on June 22, 2018 at IEEE Spectrum Magazine I talked a bit about the issue of my concern about deepfakes last week. Deepfakes refer to videos of real people saying or doing things that appear 100% authentic, but the video is faked using deep learning technology, which is a type of Artificial Intelligence In this article, experts are betting on some sort of deep fake political during the 2018 elections. The bet is that a Deepfake video about a political candidate will receive more than 2 million views before it gets debunked. They predict this will happen by the end of 2018. To help counter the threat, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has funded a Media Forensics project aimed at finding ways to automatically screen for Deepfake videos and similarly deceptive examples of digital media. Let’s turn to Bionic Bug. Last time, Lara met up with her ex-boyfriend and FBI Special Agent, Rob Martin. She asked him about removing the illegal bugs from Sully’s townhouse and peppered him with questions about KillerBot. When she leaves the coffee shop, a bionic bug lands on her shoulder to deliver an ominous message: “Meet me at the National Cryptologic Museum. Let’s find out what happens next. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 9. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on June 17, 2018. I hope you didn’t miss my special episode on June 7 where I interviewed biohacker Josiah Zayner about genetic engineering, CRISPR, frogs and much more. You can see the episode as recorded LIVE on YouTube as well. Today, I’m going to discuss a few headlines and then get right into chapter 9 of Bionic Bug. If you’re enjoying the show, please leave a review on iTunes. You can also support my time and costs of producing in show for only a few dollars a month, please go to patreon.com- p a t r e o n / natashabajema Let’s talk tech. I have a few interesting headlines for you this week. “Artificial Intelligence to Weaponize Fake Video” The headline is from May 23 and comes from freebeacon.com. We live in an era of fake news. The line between fact and fiction has blurred, and political spin has taken over our discourse in the United States. We’ve already seen some of the consequences of this, and I’m afraid there’s much more are to come. I think by now most of us are familiar with images being photoshopped. There’s a new trend on the rise that is far more troubling called deep fakes. Today’s technology allows for the production of high-quality fake videos. And increasingly, these could be made by machine learning tools. Think about it. We can now put words into people’s mouths and show them on video. Soon we won’t be able to tell a real video from a fake one. This is extremely worrisome for the future of our country and democracy in general. In Project Gecko, I touch upon some of the consequences of this trend. Stay tuned for more information on its release. “An Icelandic Inventor Has Achieved the Holy Grail of Airborne Technology with a Drone that Looks and Flies like a Bird” This headline is from May 29 and comes from Nordic.businessinsider.com An inventor has developed an AI-powered drone that flies like a bird. Let’s unpack that. First, the drone is so similar to a bird that radars can’t tell the difference. This is problematic for detection of drones. Second, drones are pretty noisy. This drone has the ability to fly without the rotors and flaps its wings like a bird. That limits acoustic detection. Third, it’s powered by AI, giving it an impressive level of autonomy The company expects to have a fully developed product by 2020. The price tag will be about $80-92K per drone. Okay, so none of us are going out and buying one of these. But they could come into use by law enforcement and military – a similar military drone, the Raven, costs twice as much. Let’s turn to Bionic Bug. Last time, we left off with Lara’s visit to DARPA. There she learns more details about the drones used in the drone show at Nationals Park and meets two new characters, Dr. Anton Stepanov and Justyne Marsh. Let’s find out what happens next. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Welcome to a special episode of the Bionic Bug Podcast. You’re listening to a special episode LIVE on YouTube. I’m Natasha Bajema, your host, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. For those of you who haven’t listened to my show before, today’s episode is a bit of a departure from the usual program. Every week, I discuss technology news headlines that caught my attention. Then I’ll read a chapter from my book, a mystery novel set ten years into the future titled Bionic Bug. I conclude each episode with behind-the-scenes technical information. Today, I’m here with a special guest and biohacker, Dr. Josiah Zayner CEO and Founder of The Odin, a startup company aiming to make science and genetic engineering accessible and affordable. You can read more about The Odin on its website and Dr. Zayner on his blog. You can meet him in person at Biohack the Planet, which takes place from August 31 to September 1 in Oakland, California. Get your tickets here. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 8. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. I’m recording this episode on May 26, 2018. This Memorial Day weekend, we remember everyone who died serving in the armed forces. Today, I’m going to cut to the chase and just read you chapter 8 from my book. That means no tech news or behind-the-scenes information. I have two reasons for this. First, it’s a holiday weekend and I want to get back to my holiday. Second, my rant last week went on for so long, I don’t have any space left. I promise I’ll be back next week with the usual program. But for now, let’s turn to Bionic Bug. Last week, we left off with Lara’s visit to the police station in a heated argument with DC police detective Mario Sanchez. In the end, he asks her to work with him and they decide to divide and conquer. Sanchez will handle the basic crime elements, and Lara will investigate the technology aspects of the case. For this reason, she makes a visit to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to ask questions about the drone show at Nationals Park. Let’s find out what happens next… The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 7. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. First off, I have a quick personal update. Project Gecko, Book Two in the Lara Kingsley Series, came back from my editor last Monday. Good news: He likes it. Expected news: We can make it even better. As many of you know, I’m working with a developmental editor, Clark Chamberlain. He is the kind of editor who helps authors with plot, character arcs and development and any other story elements. It’s expensive, but I find it to be a smart investment in my future as an author. He helps me see my strengths and weaknesses as an author. I’m also revamping my website to prepare for my podcast launch. I bought a new Wordpress theme from Artisan Themes to make my site look more professional. I was so nervous about activating the theme that I waited for a whole week. It was really kind of silly, the amount of anxiety I expended over making the change. Last Sunday, I finally pressed activate, and I’ve been working to leverage the cool features of the new theme. Artisan Themes support has been amazing, so I highly recommend to anyone considering updating their look. Let’s talk tech news. Today, I’m getting up on my soap box and am giving you fair warning. I would remind you that these are solely my own opinions. You’re free to disagree with me, and I’m happy to have a debate. The headline for this week is from the New York Times on May 14 by Emily Baumgaertner: “As D.I.Y. Gene Editing Gains Popularity, ‘Someone Is Going to Get Hurt’”. The article opens by saying, “After a virus was created from mail-order DNA, scientists are sounding the alarm about the genetic tinkering carried out in garages and living rooms. Across the country, biohackers — hobbyists, amateur geneticists, students and enthusiasts — are practicing gene editing, concerning some bioterrorism experts.” Of course, it’s exciting to see the New York Times cover one of the current issues I find important, but this title and the intro are examples of sensationalism at their worst. Even if it raises some valid and important issues, this article was poorly researched and misleading. It appears that the journalist hand-selected a few examples of scientists behaving badly and scary expert quotes to support her bias that DIY Bio is dangerous. And that, is a disservice to humanity. Am I exaggerating? No, actually I’m not. Ms. Baumgaertner states in her article: “Authorities in the United States have been hesitant to undertake actions that could squelch innovation or impinge on intellectual property.” Yes, and there’s good reason for that. The majority of innovation in biotechnology is going to come from these start-up efforts. Breaking news: government and big industry are no longer leaders in developing cutting edge technology. Microsoft and Apple were started in garages and working with technology that would soon change the world. We could also say that the Internet is dangerous and someone is going to get hurt. The Internet was originally created to allow university researchers to communicate and share information. Even though cyberspace has its risks, and the risks are growing, most would argue that our lives have vastly improved as a result of interconnectedness. The United States has become a world leader in technology because of the start-up innovations coming out of Silicon Valley and other technology hubs. Who is to say that the next cure for a disease won’t come from a garage? What if we could finally understand where, when, how and whys of cancer? What if we could solve the diabetes epidemic with gene editing? Yes, we need to ensure adequate safety and security practices across the DIY biology community and inculcate a culture of responsibility. But Ms. Baumgartner draws strong links where there are none, and her article may mislead the general public about DIY Bio leading...

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 6. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. Before we get started, a quick reminder. The views expressed on this podcast are my own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. Professional and personal updates: I just got back from traveling to Destin, Florida for work where I had the opportunity to teach special operators about the national security implications at the U.S. Air Force Special Operations School. I was hoping for once that my presentation about what’s coming in the next ten years might not render the students into a state of shock. Turns out they were as concerned about our ability as a government to manage emerging threats as my other audiences. Unlike our agile adversaries, government institutions are burdened by hierarchy and bureaucracy. This brings me to my next professional update. I just released an article titled “The Future of Defense Innovation: Removing the Silos between the Warfighters and Innovators.” In the article, I explore the challenges of defense innovation under the current defense acquisition system, reviews current transformations underway, and examines the model of SOFWERX as a way to leverage cutting-edge technologies in order to remove the silos between innovators and warfighters. With $2 million in funding to start-up its operations, SOFWERX was created in September 2015 to address this critical gap in U.S. Special Operation Command's (SOCOM) ability to leverage cutting-edge technologies. SOFWERX was founded as a public-private organization, its headquarters originally housed in a red brick building, an old cigar factory located in downtown Tampa in the historic Ybor City neighborhood. Run by the Doolittle Institute, also known as DefenseWerx, SOFWERX was created under a Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) and enjoys status as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.I had to the opportunity to visit SOFWERX last March and one of the issues that came up in discussion was their size. The organization has no plans to grow beyond the size of around 25 people to keep the structure agile and flat. Studies show that once an organization exceeds this number, it become hierarchical and bureaucratic, which is the opposite of what you’re going for when you want to stimulate innovation and creativity. My cover for Genomic Data, Book 3 of the Lara Kingsley Series is finished. As promised, I’m providing a sneak preview here. Let’s talk tech. Before I talk about the news headlines for the week, I should note that you can follow the headlines that catch my attention in real-time on Twitter. My handle is @wmdgirl. My first headline for the week is from Wired Magazine on May 3: “Biology will be the Next Great Computing Platform.” What does this mean? We are in the midst of a technological revolution in the life sciences called “synthetic biology”, which involves applying engineering principles to biology to make new living organisms, leverage living organisms to do new things, or create entirely new living organisms. Essentially, scientists are making life from scratch. Marc Goodman, author of the bestselling nonfiction book Future Crimes, modern biology has become a branch of information technology. Dramatic reductions in the cost of computing power and data storage has enabled this revolution. We are now able to cheaply sequence genomes. Sequencing refers to the reading of the DNA code that makes up the genome, or the instructions for a living organism. A DNA sequence is made up of four letters (G’s, C’s, T’s and A’s). A genome consists of a certain number of base pairs that form two long DNA strands, a spiral structure called a double helix. The cost of sequencing the first full human genome was around $3 billion. Now, it costs about $1,

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast! You’re listening to episode 5. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, futurist, and national security expert. First, I have a personal update. Project Gecko, Book Two of the Lara Kingsley Series is now with my editor. I’m on pins and needles waiting for his initial feedback, which I will get in mid-May. While I have a bit of free time, I’m currently busy outlining Book 3 which is called Genomic Data. I’m also working with a graphic designer on the cover. You should have a sneak preview next week. On May 4, I published my first-ever guest blog post on the Creative Penn. For any of you who are writers, this is Joanna Penn’s blog. She’s a widely acclaimed self-published author and industry guru. My post is titled “How To Build 1,000 Superfans When You’re Starting From Zero” and offers some lessons learned about building a reader audience from my experience as a new author. I learned almost everything I know about self-publishing and running an author business from Joanna’s blog and weekly podcast. Check it out if you’re interested. Three related headlines caught my attention this week. It’s no accident that the story in Bionic Bug kicks off with a drone swarm. This is a topic that fascinates me, terrifies me, and one that I find incredibly concerning given the lack of attention it’s received from the U.S. government until now. The first headline is from Patrick Tucker from Defense One on May 3: “A Criminal Gang Used a Drone Swarm To Obstruct an FBI Hostage Raid.” Bad guys are getting increasingly creative in their use of small drones. In this case, they used a drone swarm to interfere with a FBI operation in a large city in the U.S. The head of the FBI’s operational technology law unit said that the FBI team lost situational awareness as a result of the drone swarm. Also, the criminals were able to gain video footage of the FBI agents, assisting them in their activities. Bad guys are using drones to smuggle drugs across borders, deliver contraband into prisons and assist in burglaries. There is no easy solution to this problem in domestic situations. Jammers interfere with cell phone signals. Shooting them out of the sky could lead to injuries. The new FAA authorization bill contains two small improvements: 1) the legislation would make it illegal to weaponize drones; 2) the bill would require drone operators who fly their drones beyond line-of-sight to broadcast a signal allowing law enforcement to identify the drone and its operator. The second headline is also from Defense One on May 3: “Terrorists Are Going to Use Artificial Intelligence.” Machine learning tools are going to bring drones to the next level of swarming capability. Terrorists have already adopted small off-the-shelf and home-made drones to enhance their operations. These consumer drones provide operational intelligence, but can also be outfitted with small grenades or explosives. The author of the article suggests that terrorists such as ISIS in Syria and Iraq may start leveraging social networks to take towns by force. Two recent incidents highly the potential power of drones for both state and non-state actors. In March 2017, the Russian military allegedly used a drone to deliver a one-pound thermite grenade on an ammo demo in the Ukraine, detonating more than a billion dollars worth of munitions. In January 2018, a swarm of armed-drones attacked two military bases in the Russian military headquarters in Syria. About 12 makeshift drones carried small rockets. The Russian military shot down seven drones, and captured six of them. The third headline is a Tweet from AI and China expert Elsa Kania: “The China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) has established a new record for a swarm of 200 drones, breaking their previous record of 119.” The article is in Chinese, but suffice it to say, it offers further evidence for the rise of drone swarms.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast, episode 4. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, national security expert and "insecto-phobe". First off, a personal update. I just finished my second draft of Project Gecko, Book Two of the Lara Kingsley Series. I’ll be sending it to my editor on May 1. I’m thrilled to finally reach this next step in my writer journey. If you’re a writer, you know the constant struggle against the voices in your head. Even though I’ve successfully published Bionic Bug, sometimes I worry about whether that was just a fluke. Well, I’ve about to prove to myself and you all that I can do it again. I’m really excited about the story in Project Gecko which delves deeper into Lara’s backstory and follows her journey through her grief over the loss of her best friend Sully. Over the next few months, I’ll be rewriting the book several times to finalize the manuscript in August. I expect to release it on Kobo in September so stay tuned for further updates. Let’s talk tech. The headline that caught my attention this week is a doozy. It’s from April 27 on CNN online: "Police used free genealogy database to track Golden State Killer suspect, investigator says.” Before I talk about this, I need to make a few points for context. For the past decade, most of us have signed up for free gmail from Google (or other services) and interacted with Facebook and other social media for free. It’s important to understand that these services are not really “free” in practice. Yes, you don’t have to pay for them, but there are hidden costs. I can’t count the number of times I’ve downloaded an app or signed up for an online service where I simply clicked that little box, agreeing to accept the terms and conditions without even reading them. I’ve peeked at the terms and conditions a few times and then quickly moved on. Let’s be honest… even if we read those agreements, they’re full of lawyer-speak, wordy, extremely long, and difficult to understand. That’s why we just click yes and move on. The terms are conditions are designed with that intention. Because if you did read through the terms and conditions and understand their meaning, you probably wouldn’t like everything you just signed up for and you might not sign up in the first place. It’s important to understand that for many of these online services, YOU are the product. The company offers you free services because they are getting something from you. Something that is extremely valuable. That something is data about YOU. It’s time for us to become more cognizant of the data that we’re offering. At least when you’re aware of the costs and benefits, you can make the best decisions for yourself. Every time I talk about emerging technologies, I poll the audience for the number of people who have sent their DNA samples to companies like 23&Me or AncestryDNA to find out more about their genetic background. Every time, there are at least a few hands. Then I ask them if they’ve read the terms and conditions. No one raises their hand. When you submit your DNA sample to these companies, you give them ownership of that sample. They can sell it to other companies. That’s your genome. You don’t have another genome. You can’t change your genome. It’s not like a credit card. Let’s go back to the headline for today. Police think they have caught the Golden State killer, believed to be responsible for killing 12 people and raping more than 50 women in the 1970s and 1980s. Police used the GEDmatch database to match DNA found at the crime scene. GEDmatch database is free to use and publicly accessible. In that sense, it’s not a paid service like 23andMe or AncestryDNA. People enter their own DNA profile they receive from these paid services to find other possible family members. Police entered DNA thought to be from the killer into the database to locate potential matches and were able to identify relatives of the suspected killer.

Welcome to episode number 3 of the Bionic Bug podcast. Before we get started, a quick reminder. The views expressed on this podcast are my own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. First off, I have a personal update. This past week, I hosted my first-ever book launch party and book signing for Bionic Bug at Wicked Bloom, a cool bar in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington D.C. Thanks so much to everyone who made it out on a weekday evening. I also want to say a special thanks to Amber, the owner of Wicked Bloom, John, the manager, Chris, one of Wicked Bloom’s fabulous bartenders and everyone else who helped make it such a special event. There were awesome drink specials and cool drink names—the Buzz Kill, Beetle Juice and Black Death. You might also note that the first episode of this podcast was called Wicked Bloom. That’s because the first chapter of Bionic Bug takes place at the Wicked Bloom, which is Lara and her fellow PI and best friend Sully’s favorite local bar. Okay, let’s talk tech. Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing as it’s more commonly known, is a digital manufacturing process that uses 3D digital files to produce parts. Unlike traditional manufacturing processes such as CNC machining or milling, which begin with a block of material and remove material to form parts, additive manufacturing builds 3D parts layer by layer. It’s often called "manufacturing for the masses” because all you need to get in the business is  a computer, an Internet connection, a digital file, a 3D printer, and materials. As a digital technology, it will get easier to use over time. With 3D printing, all you need is you can make and share physical objects over the Internet. This will change the world as we know it. The variety of available materials is expanding like gangbusters. In the 1980s and 1990s, the first materials included thermoplastic, resins, and metals. Now, you can print with ceramics, gold and silver, cement, bioink, nanocomposites, glass, and even food. Someday scientists believe we’ll be able build structures on the moon from the material that is already there. I promised to give you the headlines that MOST caught my attention so don’t hate me with this one. I couldn’t help but read this headline from April 9, 2018, “Engineers Want to 3D Print Stuff in Space using Recycled Astronaut Poop.” Yes, this is an actual headline and not from the Onion. I read the article and thought it was gross so I’m not going to talk about it. But if you want to read more, you can see the article for yourself on digitaltrends.com. While we’re on the topic of 3D printing, there’s a new trend called 4D printing, which is applying the principles of additive manufacturing but using dynamic materials rather than inert material. Dynamic materials are those materials that change or evolve after printing such as bioinks to print living tissue and organs and conductive inks to print electronics. The fourth dimension is time. On April 5, 2018, 3dprint.com reported that a “Professor Uses 4D Printing to Manufacture Curved Components without Moulds.” Researchers at Dartmouth College developed a “smart 3D printable ink” that can change shape and color. This process allows for the production of curved shapes more quickly and economically. A potential application of this new material would be satellites which are subjected to extreme temperature changes. A structure built from such materials would open up during the day and collect solar energy and close up at night to protect the internal electronics from extreme cold. My final headline for the week is from April 9, 2018, “Descent of the Machines: Aussie Firm Boasts of Underwater Drone Swarms.” If I could, I’d cue some scary music here. An Australian company claims it has developed a fleet of underwater drones capable of swarming the seas. The drone weighs 1.

Welcome back to the Bionic Bug podcast. This is episode number 2. My name is Natasha Bajema. I’m a fiction author, national security expert and your host for this podcast. First off, I want to share a personal reflection. Last week, after I proudly posted my first-ever podcast, I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts and realized that I made an amateur mistake in the closing segment. FYI, the slashes in website addresses are not back slashes, they are actually called forward slashes. #facepalm I re-recorded the closing segment this week with the correction. I had a good laugh about it. The truth is that I’ve been making a lot of amateur mistakes lately… and I realized it’s because I’m doing many things for the very first time. Again. Since I’m in my forties and have built up a nearly two-decade career in national security, it’s been a long time since I’ve been new at anything. It feels so exciting and adventurous. In some ways, I feel like I’m 20 again. If you take anything away from this at all, you should know that not only is it never too late to start a new career, but in fact, it’s highly recommended. Being an amateur again is incredibly freeing. It’s given me a fresh outlook on a lot of things. Okay, let’s talk tech. There were a couple of headlines that caught my attention recently. An editorial on April 4, 2018 in the Richmond Times Dispatch entitled “Cybersecurity is Far More Critical than Border Security." The Internet was originally created as a network for labs and universities to communicate and share information. The main strength of the Internet is its openness, but this is also its primary weakness. There’s currently much debate against building a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. I’m worried that we’ll spend billions and it will become obsolete even before it’s finished being built. For example, organized crime, drug dealers and friends of cellmates in prisons are increasingly using drones to deliver packages across otherwise impenetrable physical barriers. Moreover, cybercrime is on the rise. Criminals are turning to the Internet and the Dark Web, both of which are borderless, to conduct their activities. The U.S. is more invested in cyberspace than any other nation. Our society is addicted to the Internet. We can’t even imagine life without it. Our military has grown extremely dependent on the proper functioning of the Internet. And this is a major threat to our national security. Every semester, I recommend a few books to my students for reading. The one on the top of my list is called Ghost Fleet by August Cole and P.W. Singer, a particularly troubling vision for how WWIII might go done. If you want to know what keeps me up at night, this is it. Many of you may not be aware of a recent ransomware attack against the city of Atlanta. On March 22, a cyberattack shut down the city of Atlanta's online systems—affecting the computer systems of 8,000 municipal employees. As long as a week after the attack, officials were struggling to keep the government running without digital processes and services. Residents couldn't pay their water bill or their parking tickets. Police officers were forced to write out their reports by hand. Court proceedings were canceled until computer systems would function  properly. How well prepared are we for such attacks on a larger scale? I fear the answer is we’re not well-prepared or even aware of the potential threat. Another article written on April 1, 2018 entitled “Cybersecurity Faces Challenges in Congress” notes that Congress is primarily focused on immigration, health care and budget legislation. “Cybersecurity is not necessarily one of the highest policy-making priorities.” Changing the subject a bit, a headline on April 2, 2018 on Fox News caught my attention: “Company Plans Drones to Carry 400 Pound Payloads.” A Canadian company wants to develop a drone that can deliver packages up to 400 pounds. Well,

Welcome to the first episode of the Bionic Bug podcast! My name is Natasha Bajema. I’m a fiction author, national security expert and your host for this podcast. I’m so thrilled that you’re tuning in. I started this podcast in part to get my first novel into audio format, but I also wanted to share some of my insights behind the book as well as my perspective on where we’re headed in the future. Each week, I’ll kick the episode off with a technology news headline or two that has caught my attention that week. Then I’ll read a chapter from my book. Each episode will conclude with behind-the-scenes technical information. So, if you’re interested in technology, in reading fiction or want to write fiction based on future technology, you’re in the right place. Before we get started, I need to offer two caveats: The views expressed on this podcast are my own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. I am not a professional narrator. Please note that I will not attempt to read in an Australian or Indian accent because I’ll be terrible and you’ll hate it. In this episode, I kick things off with a technology news headline: AI Cardiologist Aces its First Medical Exam. During the last week of March, I attended Synapse: Innovation Summit 2018 in Tampa, Florida. Dr. Bernard Meyerson, IBM’s Chief Innovation Officer took the stage to talk about IBM Watson machine learning tools being used across the country in the field of medicine to assist doctors with complex diagnoses. A machine learning tool is a series of algorithms programmed to analyze input data and predict specific outcomes. Today’s machine learning tools are designed to mimic the way the brain works called deep neural network. As a result, computers can often do specific tasks better than humans. Computers are better at digesting vast amounts of data and discovering complex correlations among them. In a matter of minutes, a machine learning tool can analyze hundreds of thousands of medical research articles to provide doctors with a possible diagnosis and treatment plans. Machine learning tools are especially effective for complex or rare cases. Whereas a machine learning tool can instantly peruse everything that exists on a topic, doctors may only be able to read several new journal articles per month. In this episode, I read “Wicked Bloom” chapter 1 of Bionic Bug which takes place in Washington D.C. in 2027. To conclude the episode, I discuss behind-the-scenes information about the book. In Chapter 1, Sully mentions that the kidnapper in his case threatened to kill his hostage with ricin, a toxin produced from the pulp of castor beans. Ricin is a biological agent and a weapon of mass destruction (WMD). In the U.S., the FBI is the lead agency for dealing with WMD. If you’re writing a novel with a domestic WMD incident, you should definitely bring in the FBI. In 2006, the FBI stood up the WMD Directorate, which works to prevent and prepare for WMD attacks. Prevention is carried out at each of the FBI’s 56 field offices through special agents who serve as WMD Coordinators. These WMD Coordinators conduct outreach with the local community and law enforcement and are on the frontlines of any case related to WMD. In Bionic Bug, Special Agent Robert Martin, Lara’s ex-boyfriend, is a WMD Coordinator at the Washington Field Office. In Chapter 1, I introduce the concept of driverless cabs and self-driving cars. In Bionic Bug, the D.C. Council has passed an autonomy mandate requiring all drivers to operate their vehicles in autonomous mode. Motorcycles are exempt because of severe objections by the motorcyclist lobby, which claimed it would be the end of the biking industry. Recently, I’ve had several discussions about the dawn of self-driving vehicles and have several thoughts. First, the technology is not there yet as evidenced by recen...