Podcasts about Engineering

For 72 seconds, the universe seemed to answer SETI. The Wow! Signal was strong, narrowband, and strangely convincing... but it never came back. So what actually happened in 1977?Get Nebula using my link for 50% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthurCheckout Alien Data Arks, Outsider Aliens, and our Alien Life Collection: https://nebula.tv/isaacarthur/alien-life-collection

For 72 seconds, the universe seemed to answer SETI. The Wow! Signal was strong, narrowband, and strangely convincing... but it never came back. So what actually happened in 1977?Get Nebula using my link for 50% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthurCheckout Alien Data Arks, Outsider Aliens, and our Alien Life Collection: https://nebula.tv/isaacarthur/alien-life-collection

Retrieval has become one of the central problems in building useful AI systems. The standard approach to grounding a model in one’s own data has been retrieval augmented generation, or RAG, where an agent searches a vector database for relevant information at query time. That pattern works, but it has limitations, such as retrieving information that’s not truly relevant, repeating the same lookup work on every query, and producing inconsistent answers to the same question. Pinecone is a vector database that’s widely used to power semantic search and RAG at scale. The team recently developed Nexus, which is a knowledge engine that reframes context as a first-class, precomputed asset rather than something reassembled on the fly. The approach borrows the database concept of a materialized view, and curates context once into a versioned artifact that carries its own schema, metadata, permissions, and lineage. Jörg Schad is the VP of Engineering at Pinecone. In this episode, he joins Kevin Ball for an in-depth conversation about the frontier of retrieval technology. They discuss precompiled context, how context artifacts are curated and versioned much like code, how metadata and semantic layers help agents choose the right information, and much more.Sponsorship inquiries:sponsor@softwareengineeringdaily.com The post Moving Beyond RAG with Precomputed Context appeared first on Software Engineering Daily.

Howard Penrose of MotorDoc joins to discuss the circulating currents killing main bearings and drivetrain checks without a climb. Reach out at info@motordoc.com or on LinkedIn. The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast is brought to you by Weather Guard Lightning Tech, creators of the StrikeTape Ultra LPS retrofit. Subscribe to Uptime’s Substack newsletter. And check out Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” Youtube channel. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! Welcome to Uptime Spotlight, shining light on wind energy’s brightest innovators. This is the progress powering tomorrow. Allen Hall: Howard, welcome back to the program.  Howard Penrose: Hey, thanks for having me.  Allen Hall: It’s about time everybody realizes what motorDoc can do. There’s so much technology, and I’ve been watching- Yeah … your Chaos and Caffeine podcast on Saturday morning, which are full of really, really good information about the motorDoc as a company, all the things you’re doing out in the field, and how you’re solving real-world problems, not imaginary ones- Yeah real-world problems. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and  Howard Penrose: whatever annoys me that week. Exactly. And, and whatever great coffee I’m trying out. Yes. Except for a few. We’ve had the ReliaSquatch down our- Yes … um, a couple of times. Uh, yeah, no, I, I enjoy it, and we gotta get you on there sometime. I don’t do- I, it- … a lot of interviews other than an AI character we put in. Allen Hall: It’s a very interesting show because you’re [00:01:00] getting a little bit of comedy and humor and s- Yeah … and a, and a coffee review, which is very helpful because I’ve tried some of the coffees that you have reviewed, that you’ve given the thumbs up to. But if you’re operating wind turbines and you’re trying to understand what’s happening on the drivetrain side, on the generator, everything out to the blades even, main bearings, gearboxes- Yeah all those rotating heavy, expensive parts, there’s a lot of ways to diagnose them-  Howard Penrose: Yes …  Allen Hall: that are sort of like we can look at a gear, we can look at a joint, we can look at roller bearings, whatever, but motorDoc has a way to quickly diagnose all of that chain in about- Yeah … 15 seconds.  Howard Penrose: Well, a little longer than 15 sec- more like a minute. A minute, okay. It feels like paint drying. But- Uh, in any case, yeah. Uh, uh, and, and what’s kind of funny is, um, back in the ’90s, uh, EPRI actually accidentally steered the technology away from its [00:02:00] core purpose, which was in 1985, um, NAVSEA, the US Navy, had done research on using current signature analysis for looking at pumps, fans, and compressors, the bearings, the belts, the components, all the rotating components using the motor as the sensor. Not too much different than we are now. I mean, mind you, we got better resolution now, we’ve got, uh, more powerful– I mean, I look at my data from the ’90s, and now it’s completely different. Um, and then Oak Ridge National Lab, same thing, bearings and gears in motor-operated valves. So in 2003, we were the first ones to apply electrical and current signature analysis to some wind turbines in the Mojave Desert. Wow. Yeah. So, um, nobody had tried it before. Everybody said it couldn’t be done. And, uh, that was a bad thing to say to me because- … it meant I was gonna get it [00:03:00] done. Right. At that time, um, we were looking at bearing issues and some blatant conditions with the, um, with the, uh, generator using a technology called Altest, ’cause I was with Altest at the time. And, uh, I had taken an EMPath software and blended it with a, a power analyzer, and they still have that tool to this day. I was using that technology all the way through 2015. 2016, I should say. And then- And then switched over to the pure EMPath, which was more of an engineering tool. And then more recently, in 2022, uh, made the decision to ha- to take all the work we’d done on over 6,000 turbines, uh, looking at how we were looking at the data and what we were doing on the industrial side, and took a, uh, created a current signature analyzer that would do one phase of current to analyze the entire powertrain. Allen Hall: So when you tell [00:04:00] operators you can do this magic, I think a lotta times they gotta go, “ Howard Penrose: What?” Oh, yeah, yeah. They don’t understand it because they’re used to vibration- Right … which is a point analysis system. Right.  Allen Hall: Vibration at this- Yeah … particular location. Yeah. One spot- Even if it’s- … or a couple  Howard Penrose: spots triax, they’re reading through material, up through a transducer. Hopefully, they put it above the bearing and not in the middle of the machine like everybody is now, because everybody’s trying to sell a sensor. Right. True. They’re not selling a- they’re not selling accuracy. They’re just selling sensors. Right. So, um- Yeah … you know, uh, I, I’ll, I’ll even talk about one of the companies here. We’ve got Onyx here, and they do it right. I mean, they’ve been doing it right pretty well because we’ve been doing some of the same towers they’re on, and we can match the data they’re getting. Oh, good. Right? Yeah. Uh, so but they get it in multiple spots, and there’s areas they can’t quite reach, so we’ll detect those areas as well. So it’s a good melding of two technologies.  Allen Hall: Oh, sure. Sure,  Howard Penrose: sure. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So when you have electrical signature and you have vibration, but in [00:05:00] cases if you don’t have vibration, we’re a direct replacement.  Allen Hall: Because the generator- I  Howard Penrose: dare say that.  Allen Hall: Yeah. Whichever–  Howard Penrose: I dare say that, um, with- Well, the  Allen Hall: generator is acting as the sensor. Howard Penrose: The air gap. The air gap in the generator s- specifically, yes. Yeah. Generator, motor, transformer. Right.  Allen Hall: Yeah. So any of those- Mm-hmm … you can clamp onto, look at the current that’s on there. Everything that’s happening on the drivetrain, in the gearbox, out on the rotor- Yep … main bearings, all of that creates vibration. Creates a torque. T- a, a torque. Yeah. Yes, more exactly a torque. Yeah. And that’s seen in the generator, in the current coming out of the generator. Yes. So those signals, although minute, are still there. Yes. So if you clamp onto that current coming out of the generator, you’ll see the typical AC sine wave sitting there. But on top of that- Is all the information about how that drivetrain is doing  Howard Penrose: Absolutely, and everything else. Anything electrical comes through [00:06:00] that. So what you do is just like vibration, you do a spectral analysis. So every component has a frequency associated with it, just like vibration. It’s, as a matter of fact, I, I keep having to try to explain to people electrical and current signature analysis is no different than vibration analysis. It’s the same concept. We use the same tools. The signature looks just a little different. It’s a little noisier, um, but you need that noise in order to see everything. But we have a time waveform, and instead of, um, inches per second or millimeters per second, whatever, you know, uh, velocity, acceleration, and displacement, uh, what we end up with is decibels is the optimal method. You can look at straight voltage signatures at those points or, or current signatures, but the values are so small that you have to look at it from a logarithmic standpoint. Right. There are some benefits to it versus vibration, and there’s some things that aren’t as good as vibration. [00:07:00] So, you know, we, we do… You have to… Any technology is gonna have their strengths and weaknesses. Sure. So we will see everything all at once. Load doesn’t matter. Right. Speed doesn’t matter. It’s… Only reason speed matters is the location of the frequencies. Uh, so the higher the resolution, meaning the longer you take data, the less chance you have on a lightly lo- loaded machine of blending the peaks together. Right. Um, on the flip side, if I have two bearings turning at the exact same speed, I couldn’t tell you which one it is. Because they’re the same. Right.  Allen Hall: And the mechanical features of that bearing is w- what creates the signal that you’re measuring. Exactly. So if a bearing has five rollers versus 10, just imaginary thing. Yeah, yeah. Five rollers versus 10 has a different electrical signature, so you can determine, like, that bearing, that 10 roller bearing- Yes … has the problem, the five is fine. Yes. Yeah. That’s the magic, and I think people don’t translate the mechanical world into the electrical world. That that’s what’s [00:08:00]happening. They,  Howard Penrose: they don’t because, because what’s happening is they named it wrong.  Allen Hall: Yes.  Howard Penrose: A majority of our users are mechanical folks. Sure. Our vibration analysts and stuff like, ’cause they know how to look at the signatures. Right. Everybody tries to force it on their electrical people, and electrical people go, “We don’t know what this is.” Yeah. And it’s, it’s, it’s a matter of that training and, and, you know, in the electrical world, you’re not taught to look at that. Right. Yeah. It doesn’t matter. Mechanical world, you’re taught to look at that. So our intern, we were trying to bring in electrical engineering interns and found out that just wasn’t working. So last year, I brought in my first, uh, intern that’s, you know, he’s been with us now since I brought him in. Okay. Uh, and, uh, Amar, and, uh, you know, he’s helped us develop our vi- uh, vibration software to go along with it. Guess what? It’s the same thing. It’s the exact same sy- system Um, but we just take in a vibration signal instead. But he picked up on it immediately as a [00:09:00] third-year college student. I can take somebody with a decade as an electrical engineer with a PhD and they can’t figure it out.  Allen Hall: Well, because you’re, you’re taking real- Because it’s different. Yeah. It’s r- well, it’s real-world components-  Howard Penrose: Yeah …  Allen Hall: creating electrical signals. That’s hard- Well, you have- … to process for a lot of people. Yeah,  Howard Penrose: yeah. It’s  Allen Hall: just not  Howard Penrose: something that we do every day. But that’s… If they, i- if we sa- i- i- if you’re looking at vibration and you start looking at the sensor, it gets complicated too, ’cause guess what? It’s an electrical signal. Right. It’s, it is technically electrical signature now. It’s converting a  Allen Hall: mechanical signal- Right … into an electrical signal, which is what’s happening in the generator anyway. Yeah.  Howard Penrose: Whether it’s a piezoelectric cell that’s generating a small signal- Yeah … on top of a small waveform that you then take out, you demodulate, uh, or it’s, uh… So you take that carrier frequency out, or it’s a MEMS sensor, which is the same thing. You know, the, it just sees some slower s- It, it does more of a digital output. So you, you, you know, you have those, or you [00:10:00] have this, which just basically uses a component of the machine to, to, as its own sensor. There is one other difference between them, too, and, uh, I find this very useful when I’m going out troubleshooting something that other people can’t figure out, uh, ’cause we use all the technologies. So in this case, it would be, uh, the structural movement. Okay? So, so say I have a generator and there’s something wrong with the structure, and the whole machine is vibrating. So y- well, if I put a transducer on it, they might think that’s vibration or something else. We don’t see it. Right. We only see directly exactly what’s happening with the machine. Sure. So a lot of times when we go in to troubleshoot something that people have done vibration on and everything else, it’s been pro- a, a problem for them for years. We walk in, and all of a sudden we’re identifying whether it’s the machine or it’s something else right off the bat. Then we can take a look at the vibration data and [00:11:00] say, “Okay, it wasn’t the bearing or the bearing, um, structure. It was, you know, the mounting.” Right. It wasn’t  Allen Hall: fastened  Howard Penrose: down properly. Yeah,  Allen Hall: yeah. Right.  Howard Penrose: Go tighten that bolt. Right, exactly.  Allen Hall: Well, I mean, that’s the cheap answer. Yeah. I’d rather tighten a bolt than rip apart a motor or a generator- And, and- … every day …  Howard Penrose: and that’s the whole point. Now, there are other strengths that go with it. So for instance, on the powertrain of a wind turbine, I can tell you if you’ve lubricated the bearings correctly. Wow. Because part of what we do is we do take those electrical signatures, and we convert those over to watts. Watts is an energy conversion. Sure. So you see that as heat or some type of loss. So whatever, whatever’s being lost there is not being sent to the customer. To the outside. Right. Making money. So, um, if I’m taking a look at, say, a main bearing, I might see watts or kilowatts of losses. So you’re gonna have some ’cause you have friction, right? But when we see it increase on, say, a roller, [00:12:00] or the rollers, or, or the cage, that’s usually an indicator that I have a lubrication issue. Or if we only see it on the outer race, that means that they didn’t clear out all the old grease when they were lubricating it, ’cause the rollers then have to ride across it- Right … ’cause it dries up.  Allen Hall: Sure.  Howard Penrose: Uh, and will carry contaminants. So if you see that, you go up, clean it up, you’ll extend the life of the bearing. Absolutely you will. Without having to do a lot of work. So, uh, we, we look at our technology as more so early in the, in the stage of a condition. I don’t wanna call it failure, ’cause it’s not a failure. It’s something that’s mitigable. And I made that word up. You can mitigate it. Meaning you can go up and correct it and extend the life of that component. Sure. Uh, in gearboxes we’ll see problems with, um… Well, the, the one we’re talking about here a fair amount is all the circulating currents going on uptower. We did that research. The current signature analyzer we have is a direct result of doing wind turbine [00:13:00] research just on circulating currents uptower, ’cause we conferred everything over to, to sound at 48 kilohertz. And so that gives me a 24-kilohertz signal. That high-frequency stuff, which we’re researching in CGRE, and IEEE, and IEC, is called supra harmonics, which I– we talked about that before. Yes, we have. Yeah. And, uh, so when you start seeing that in the, in, in the current that’s circulating uptower because the ground that goes from the top of the tower down is for- DC lightning protection. And lightning protection, yeah. It’s not meant for, um- Not for  Allen Hall: high frequency- Yeah …  Howard Penrose: currents. Yeah. Uh, we, when we measured it, when we mapped out dozens of towers of all different manufacturers, we found that the impedance about halfway down the tower is where it ends. Sure. The, the resistance. And then the increased, uh, the high-frequency noise turns any of your shaft brushes into resistors. And at about 15 kilohertz, no current is [00:14:00]passing through them. It’s all passing the bearing, which becomes more conductive the higher the frequency. So with 60% of main bearings failing due to electrical currents, it’s actually currents that are circulating uptower. It’s not static. There is some static up there, but it’s not static. It’s coming from the controls, the, the generator, and everything else. Inverters,  Allen Hall: converters.  Howard Penrose: And we’ve seen up to 150 amps passing through a, through a bearing.  Allen Hall: So I– We run across a lot of operators who have been replacing main bearings, and they don’t know the reason why. Yeah. And I always say, “Well, call Howard at MotorDoc because I would almost bet you you have the f- high frequency running around uptower in the nacelle- And the next main bearing you put in there is gonna go the same way as the- Yeah … first one you put in there. Until you cut off that circulating current and then the cell, you’re just gonna continue with the problem. Then you haven’t eliminated the problem, you’re just fixing the result of that problem. Yes. But it takes- Yeah, you’re, you’re- How, [00:15:00] how, well, how long- You’re replacing  Howard Penrose: a fuse.  Allen Hall: Right, you’re replacing a fuse. Yeah. How long does it take you to s- to determine- An expensive fuse. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah, ’cause you’re taking the rotor down. Yeah. Well, how, how fast can you determine if you have harmonics uptower that are gonna be causing you problems? 120 seconds.  Howard Penrose: Okay.  Allen Hall: So that’s the thing. I think a lot of- I mean,  Howard Penrose: that’s of the actual data collection time. So you clamp on uptower, uh, and then you can… Well, the way we have it set up now, you just tell it you wanna collect data every five s- uh, five minutes, and then you go downtower, let it collect its data, go back up, grab it. Um, it’s like… It’s huge. It’s this size. So, um, and then you connect- It plugs into a laptop. Yeah. Plug it into a laptop or any type of tablet. Um, it, it’s Windows now. I’m trying to get away from Windows. We’re gonna have Linux systems, uh, as well. Uh, and then you use that to, um, just collect that data, and then you press another button. Now it pops up, and it tells you if you’re in danger or not, [00:16:00] the amount of current passing through the bearing, and the frequencies all the way out.  Allen Hall: So the ideal is you’re gonna have this kit with you in the truck. Yeah. And as you see these problems pop up, you’re gonna clamp on uptower. Yep. You’re gonna measure these circulating currents, and you’re gonna know immediately if you have another mechanical issue, a, a lubrication issue- Oh, yeah. It’ll look at- … some kind of alignment issue, or- You’ll get all  Howard Penrose: of this information at once. So you- Right … if you go on the power side. So certain turbines, like anything that has the transformer downtower, you don’t have to climb. Right. GE. I mean, I don’t climb. So, uh, uh, you know, th- and that was part of the, the concept behind when we started down this path because I’ve been in the wind industry since 1997. So one of the things I always saw was, and, and we talked about even, you know, here when it was called AWEA, and we were talking always on the health and safety side about wearing out the technicians. Um, so we discovered that, you know, what was it? Almost 60% of the [00:17:00] turbines you didn’t have to climb. Right. Oh, yeah. And even the ones you do, you go up, you set it up, and it’ll tell you where you need to focus. The other thing in the powertrain, let alone the generator, when we do a sweep of a site– Now, if we do a straight electrical signature analysis, I’d term that one as a technician’s tool. Sure. That’s more of an engineer’s tool. Uh, a lot more data, a lot harder to set up. But even though I’m saying harder to set up, it’s still pretty easy. It’s still minutes. Right. Yeah. Most technicians will collect data with, like, a couple hours worth of training. Yeah. You g- You basically gather that data, and if you’re getting a site, so we’ll go out– I love going out in the field. So we’ll go out in the field, especially if it’s a tower we don’t have to climb I’ll knock out, uh, well, let’s just say I’ll, I’ll, I’ll name one. Say a GE 1.6. I’ll knock out one of those every eight to 11 minutes, depending on how you get to the tower.  Allen Hall: So that’s a full diagnosis of drivetrain- Yeah … plus anything odd happening- Yep with circulating currents and all that [00:18:00] can- Oh, no, no. Circulating- Or just- … current, that’s a- That’s a separate thing at tower … separate study that- Okay … you have to do that uptower. But anything, anything drivetrain-wise, you can be in and out- Yeah … in a couple of minutes. Yep. Okay. So there’s a lot of operators that have end-of-warranties coming up, right? Yes. There’s been a lot of developments, so they’re kind of running into the end-of-warranty, and they don’t know the health status of their drivetrain. Same thing for a lot of operators that are in- Yep … full service agreements, and they’re questioning whether they’re getting their money’s worth or not. Yes. I always say, “Call Howard at Motordoc. You guys can have a whole site survey done maybe in a couple of days, and you will know all the problems that are on site for the lowest price ever”. Yeah. It’s crazy how fast you can do it and how accurate it is. I talk to operators that use your system, so I hear you. Yeah. Your podcast, listen to your podcast, I’m calling your customers to find out what they say, and they love it. Oh, yeah. They can’t believe how accurate it is. Yeah. Well, the thing about that is we as an industry need to make sure that our turbines are operating at [00:19:00] maximum efficiency. Yep. And if a simple tool like the Motordoc EMPath system exists, we need to get customers, operators in line to start doing it worldwide. Australia- Oh … Europe-  Howard Penrose: Yeah. We- … Canada. Australia, we’re trying to get into, but right now we even have OEMs using it through North- That’s good … and South America, Asia. Good. Uh, Middle East, um, and, uh, and some of Europe. Good. So it’s, it’s, it’s really taking off. Uh, I’d say probably our biggest market right now is Brazil. Sure. They’re going crazy. Well, the, the turbines are- They’re having a lot of problems. Yeah.  Allen Hall: Right. And the, well, those turbines have a h- high usage, right? So because- Oh, yeah … the winds are so good, they’re operating at, like, capacity factor is above 50%. Yes. It’s insane. Yeah. So there’s a lot of wear and tear. There’s no downtime for those turbines.  Howard Penrose: Yeah. Well, and, and people think it’s all the starting and stopping. It’s not. No. It’s a grid-related issue. So we have- Sure … we have a low frequency. And you know some of the stuff I volun- I, I’m, I’ve been volunteered for- [00:20:00] Yeah … uh, including the CIGRE thing. Um, so I get to sit in the grid code committees for IEEE and put my, and our input into that, uh, and kind of watch the back of the IBR industry, right? Mm-hmm. ‘Cause there’s a definitely bias against our industry. Um, and I also, uh, get to hear what’s going on in the grid side of things from CIGRE worldwide, and it’s all very similar, and it has to do with low-frequency oscillating currents- Yes … called subsynchronous currents- Yes … which are low enough not to damage large synchronous machines. And they thought, and there’s books written on this, by the way, multiple books written on wind turbine impact- Uh, and they’re seeing now, um… Well, we detected it first, along with Timken. Hank, uh, and, and I went out to a site, and we detected for the first time, because of how they wanna do the testing and where the site was located, we saw the oscillating torque [00:21:00] in the air gap, ’cause that’s one of the things the technology does. It actually measures the torque, air gap torque. Sure. So we were watching the oscillating torque as a tower started up. And so we did, we went through the rest of that site looking at the same stuff in the same way. It increased our time and data collection, and time on site. But then we started looking for it at other sites, and going to pass data because I don’t have to go back and retake data. Right. And we’re like, “Oh my God. It’s everywhere.” 16 hertz, 21 hertz, and 50 hertz. And we found a paper that specifically identified that as the sub synchronous frequencies for 60 hertz. So we know what they are also for 50 hertz. Once we identified that and we saw how much the torsi- torque was oscillating, we worked with Shermco, who got us some information on Y-rings that were failing. Yeah. And they were all failing… When the metallurgy was done, they were all failing from fatigue. And you’re like, fatigue how? What’s fatiguing these connections? [00:22:00] Well, the fatigue is that air gap torque- Exactly … because you’re basically causing the, the, everything to oscillate a little bit, and that causes the windings to move slightly. It’s a living,  Allen Hall: breathing machine-  Howard Penrose: Exactly … this generator  Allen Hall: is.  Howard Penrose: Yeah.  Allen Hall: It’s not  Howard Penrose: static. It’s definitely not sta- no electric machine is static. No. Even a transformer’s not static. Right.  Allen Hall: So- There’s a little  Howard Penrose: bit of wiggle going on there all the time All the time. And it’s minute, so it takes a long time. Right. And what, uh, uh, everybody… Well, first people thought it was a particular manufacturer, which it wasn’t. Turned out every defig’s failing the same way. Sure. You’re fatiguing it. Yeah. Every bearing is failing the same way, even in the gearbox, main bearings, and everything else. Right. All of these conditions are happening across all the OEMs, but they’re not allowed to talk. Well, this is, this is the thing that  Allen Hall: I like watching your podcast.  Howard Penrose: Yeah.  Allen Hall: The Chaos and Caffeine. It comes out Saturday mornings. It’s on YouTube. If you haven’t- Yeah … clicked into it, you should click into it  Howard Penrose: because a lot of these issues are discussed there. It’s definitely, um… [00:23:00] Let’s just say I’ll speak Navy quite a bit. Allen Hall: It’s a great podcast, and I think what you’re doing with the EMPath system- Yes … at motor dock is really a game changer. Yeah. I’m talking to everybody, all the operators I know. I keep telling them to call you and to try the system out because it’s so inexpensive and it does the work quickly and efficiently, and it’s been proven. There’s no messing- Oh, yeah … around when you’re talking to MotorDoc. I…  Howard Penrose: Somebody dared tell me that there’s no standard for it. There’s ISO standards for it. Yes. There’s IEEE 1415- Yes … which I chair. Uh, and there’s other standards coming out- This is- … associated with it. And there’s a document that I also chair for Sea Gray- Called A178, which is the practical application of the technology. So it’s well-documented. There are traceable standards for it. I need more  Allen Hall: operators to call you- Yeah … and to talk to you and get systems in the back of the trucks that they can use to check out the health of their gear boxes and their drive trains and their generators. How [00:24:00] do they do that? Where do they go? Where, where’s, what’s- Well- … the first place they should look for?  Howard Penrose: Uh, info@motordoc.com. Okay. I get all, I get all of those as well, so do my people. Um, or, uh, LinkedIn. LinkedIn’s really good.  Allen Hall: Look up anything. Yeah.  Howard Penrose: Yeah, yeah. So, so either the company at Motordoc, or, uh, I’m, I sh- I’ll show up either searching for my name or, uh, linkedin.com/in/motordoc. Come straight to me ’cause I’ve been in, on LinkedIn forever, so- Right, just- … I got to do that … look up  Allen Hall: Howard Penrose, P-E-N-R-O-S-E. Yep. Or go to motordoc.com is- Yep, motordoc.com … the website address.  Howard Penrose: Yep. There’s a lot of great information there. And we have partners, and we have people. We’re growing the company. You know, talk to me. I, I’ll- Yes … I like answering the phone and talking. It’s, it’s a thing. My people go, “Can we answer the phone one?” No. Um, but, but yeah, we, we, y- when you call us, you’re not just dealing with a single person. Right. The Motordoc is far more expansive. Right now, we [00:25:00] just got our partnership with, uh, Hitachi and, and Juliet- Yeah, that’s great and stuff like that. Uh, we’re helping them with certain things. Uh, we’re partnered with some of the big OEMs, almost all of them, um, you know, helping identify the issues, you know. And, and when users contact us, often they’ll tell us what’s going on, and we’ll, we can, uh, sometimes say, “Yeah, it’s this, and here’s how we prove it.” Allen Hall: Yeah. That’s the, that’s the beauty- Yeah … of calling Motordoc. So I need my operators that, that watch the show- Yeah … worldwide, go online, go on LinkedIn, get ahold of Howard, get ahold of Motordoc, and get started. Yep. Howard, thank you- And- … so much for being on the podcast. Yeah. This is fantastic. I love talking to you because- it’s, it’s like talking to, you know… Uh, no, really, it’s talking like someone who’s a real good industry expert, who’s been there a long time, and understands- Yeah … how this  [00:26:00] works.

Dennis Stone, president and co-founder of the World Space Week Association, takes us behind the scenes of the largest annual space event on Earth. From its origins as a volunteer effort in Houston to a UN-declared celebration reaching 50,000 events in over 100 countries, Dennis shares how World Space Week inspires the next generation, and how you can get involved this Oct. 4 through 10. Then, Science Editor Asa Stahl breaks down the end of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, the 21-year-old space telescope that's falling out of orbit after a bold rescue mission fell short. Plus, Chief Scientist Bruce Betts looks back at a milestone centennial in this week's What's Up, 100 years since Robert Goddard launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-world-space-week-and-swiftSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

✅ The Green Impact Report Quick take: David Gottfried co-founded USGBC, wrote the first white paper proposing a US rating system, and lit the fuse on what became LEED. Now, 30+ years and 30 billion square feet later, he's back with a bigger question: if we can green every building on Earth and still miss the climate targets, what have we forgotten?

Are your teams quietly cheating your software controls to get their actual job done? In this episode of Troubleshooting Agile, Jeffrey and Squirrel tackle the "normalization of deviance," rogue AI agents sharing cheat sheets, and why human (and bot) workarounds reveal your real systemic problems. Links: - Dianne Vaughn: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalization_of_deviance - Open AI / HuggingFace incident: https://thezvi.substack.com/p/huggingface-attack-postmortem-fleshing -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/

Rising grain markets and key technology partnerships are generating renewed optimism among producers at this year's Farm Progress Show happening this week at Boone, Iowa. On full display are equipment innovations focused heavily on maximizing field capacity while addressing input energy requirements, offering a practical response to ongoing cost pressures across North American agriculture. RealAgriculture... Read More

Thanks to some clever engineering, NASA's Voyager 2 has enough power to continue doing science in interstellar space.

Advanced technologies, a return to domestic manufacturing, and the race to control energy production while also confronting surging demand for electricity. All of these factors mean that for the US, energy security and national security are increasingly centered on critical minerals.  But the processing and refining of vital materials like copper, lithium, and graphite is largely done overseas, heavily concentrated in the hands of global competitors like China. This has sparked an urgent, bipartisan push to re-industrialize America and secure the supply chains necessary for everything from military defense to the AI revolution. So can public sector funding catalyze sustainable private enterprise without over-regulating the market? How much domestic mining, processing, and recycling can the US unlock quickly and safely? And what role can emerging baseload power technologies like advanced geothermal and small modular nuclear reactors play in meeting our soaring energy needs? Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks with the Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson, about her office's mission to restructure and secure America's energy supply chains, from mining to recycling. Audrey leads the US Department of Energy's Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation, where she oversees one of the nation's largest energy R&D portfolios. Previously, she co-founded Franklin Mountain Energy, a private oil and gas company in the Permian Basin, where she served as CFO and executive vice president. Before that Audrey was a managing partner at Copper Trail Partners, an energy private equity platform.  Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.

What does engineering have in common with opera? What brought a Tulsa boy to New York City before he even finished high school? And what it is about the music that makes "Carmen" one of the most performed operas of all time? Uncover all of this and more when Gail Eichenthal interviews director and scenic designer Thaddeus Strassberger on this episode of "Behind the Curtain." Thaddeus helms the LA Opera season opener, "Carmen," running October 17 through November 7 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Tickets are on sale now at LAOpera.org.

Check out Gartner Symposium: https://cxo.news/KGg8XY========More than 90% of the code at Snap is now written by AI agents, and a code review agent checks most of it within ten minutes. Saral Jain, SVP, Head of Engineering and CIO at Snap Inc., built the system that makes that safe for nearly a billion monthly users. He explains the golden path of 14 managed agents, the guardrails that account for more than half of the investment, and why accountability still rests with a named human for every change that ships.YOU'LL DISCOVER✅ Why Snap funds 14 blessed agents on a golden path instead of letting every team build its own✅ How Casper turns a Slack conversation into a sandboxed pull request that CodePal reviews before a human sees it✅ Why more than half of Snap's agent investment goes into evals, code review and rollback rather than into building✅ The risk-tiering test that separates an internal dashboard from a privacy-sensitive change✅ Why Saral says the risk is not AI-generated code, it is unowned code✅ How Snap measures value on outputs, with commits up 75% year over year and severe outages down 57%✅ Why context beats model 100 out of 100 times, and what context actually means inside a 15-year-old codebase✅ Four pieces of advice for CIOs, ending with why adoption has to start at the top⏱️ TIMESTAMPS0:00 Agents write the code, engineers own it7:17 Agents as teammates with defined personas12:52 Systems for agents, features for humans16:09 How Snap governs thousands of agents22:39 Invest in guardrails before building agents29:46 Output metrics and the coordination tax33:08 Context you can give, judgment you cannot38:14 The risk is unowned code44:58 Working with unpredictable AI systems47:13 Agents beyond engineering, and human skills50:24 Token spend and model routing52:35 Advice for leaders and the risks aheadSubscribe for weekly conversations with leading business and technology leaders.Get the CXOTalk newsletter: https://newsletter.cxotalk.comShow notes, transcript, and summary: https://www.cxotalk.com/episode/snap-agentic-ai-software-development-at-scaleEpisode 929 | Recorded August 21, 2026#CXOTalk #AgenticAI #SoftwareDevelopment #EngineeringLeadership #AICodeReview #Snap #CIO #AIGovernance #DeveloperProductivity #snapchat

A robot in China recently ran the 100-meter dash in 8.86 seconds, breaking Usain Bolt’s 9.58-second world record. The race was part of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, where robots compete in everything from running and soccer to household and industrial tasks. To learn more about the future of humanoid robots in our society, Dan talked with Dr. Kenechukwu Mbanisi, Assistant Professor of Robotics Engineering at Olin College of Engineering.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How can engineers create spaces where people feel comfortable bringing their whole selves to class and work? In this episode, Emma Craig, FY27 lead of the SWE LGBTQ+ and Allies Affinity Group, and Mikayla Moody, FY27 lead-elect of the SWE LGBTQ+ and Allies Affinity Group, share how their experiences as engineers in the LGBTQ+ community have shaped their paths through academia and industry. Mikayla explains how feeling like an outsider in STEM shapes their teaching style now as a professor — including the simple steps they take at the start of each semester to help students feel a sense of belonging. Emma reflects on how finding supportive communities in college and graduate school, including in Greek Life, gave her the confidence to grow as an engineer, advocate, and leader. In conversation with Karen Horting, executive director and CEO of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), they share practical advice for becoming a better ally to the LGBTQ+ community, including why asking questions, listening carefully, and being willing to learn from mistakes can matter more than getting everything right. Get involved with the SWE LGBTQ+ and Allies Affinity Group at https://affinitygroups.swe.org/lgbtq-and-allies/ — The award-winning Diverse podcast from the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is now Global Voices in Engineering! With nearly 45,000 members in 90+ countries around the world (and growing), we wanted a new name that perfectly captures what both SWE and the podcast are all about: bringing together engineering stories from around the world, because every engineer has a story. SWE is the world's largest advocate and catalyst for change for women and allies in engineering and technology. To join and access all the exclusive benefits to elevate your professional journey, visit https://membership.swe.org

In this episode, Giovanni Triana shares how Stephen Gould helps manufacturers navigate every stage of the product journey—from initial concept and package design to sourcing, fulfillment, and final delivery. He explains why successful supply chain management goes far beyond purchasing materials, requiring trusted partnerships, engineering expertise, and end-to-end solutions that help companies reduce complexity, improve efficiency, and bring products to market faster. With a global network of manufacturing partners, Stephen Gould supports businesses of every size, from startups launching their first product to global brands seeking innovative packaging and supply chain solutions. The conversation also explores the future of packaging, including the growing demand for sustainable materials such as molded fiber, FSC-certified paper products, and biodegradable alternatives to plastics. Giovanni discusses the challenges manufacturers face in balancing sustainability goals with cost and performance, why the Carolinas have become a thriving hub for manufacturing and supply chain innovation, and how emerging technologies—including AI—are helping companies stay competitive. He also offers valuable career advice for the next generation of manufacturing and supply chain professionals. Whether you're a manufacturer, product developer, supply chain professional, or simply curious about what it takes to get products safely and sustainably into consumers' hands, this episode offers valuable insights into one of manufacturing's most essential—and often overlooked—industries. LINKS NCMEP | IES | Stephen Gould About the Guest Giovanni Triana is an Account Executive at Stephen Gould, one of the nation's largest independent supply chain and packaging solutions providers. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, he partners with manufacturers across a wide range of industries to develop end-to-end supply chain solutions, helping companies move products from concept and design to sourcing, packaging, fulfillment, and retail distribution. His expertise includes sustainable packaging, supply chain optimization, strategic sourcing, and helping businesses improve efficiency while bringing innovative products to market. Recognized as one of Charlotte's 30 Under 30 Future Leaders, Giovanni is passionate about advancing manufacturing through collaboration, innovation, and customer-focused problem-solving. He works closely with organizations of all sizes—from startups launching new products to global brands seeking to streamline complex supply chains. An advocate for sustainability and emerging technologies, Giovanni enjoys helping manufacturers navigate evolving consumer demands while building resilient, future-ready supply chains. About the Host Dr. Phil Mintz is the Director of NC State University Industry Extension Services (IES). Through his leadership, IES supports manufacturers across the state with resources in innovation, process improvement, workforce development, and business growth. About NC State University Industry Extension Services NC State University Industry Extension Services (IES), established in 1955 as the outreach team for the NC State University College of Engineering, provides resources, tools, and customized training programs to help businesses survive, thrive, and grow. IES delivers comprehensive training and development programs tailored for a diverse range of sectors, including manufacturing, educational and research institutions, healthcare, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, defense contractors, aerospace, automotive, energy, and government agencies. Your IES-dedicated Regional Manager is available to assist in identifying and implementing customized solutions, tools, and resources to optimize your organization's productivity, efficiency, quality, and profitability.  ncstateies.com/RM

India now requires turbine data, control centers, and R&D to sit inside its borders. Plus a study on reverse flow loads in parked blades, Envision’s spare parts push across Southeast Asia, and Danish wind employment falling to 32,700. The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast is brought to you by Weather Guard Lightning Tech, creators of the StrikeTape Ultra LPS retrofit. Subscribe to Uptime’s Substack newsletter. And check out Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” Youtube channel. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! The Uptime Wind Energy podcast, brought to you by StrikeTape. Protecting thousands of wind turbines from lightning damage worldwide. Visit striketape.com. And now, your hosts Rosemary Barnes: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy podcast. I’m your host, Rosemary Barnes, and I’m filling in for Allen today here with Jolanda Pedron. All right, onto our first story. India is drawing a line around its wind data. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has ordered every turbine maker on the approved list of models and manufacturers to report where its data actually lives. Data centers inside India, servers inside India, research centers inside India, and no real-time data leaving the country. The order went out last week with status reports due by month-end. And while the government tightens the rules on data, the hardware keeps moving in. Flender has just opened another generator plant in Chennai [00:01:00] Yolanda, I think this is gonna have a large impact on the number of companies who are, you know, there’s a lot of companies around today developing, like, smarts for wind turbines. There’s a lot of scope to operate turbines better, to improve power output, reduce maintenance costs, et cetera, and y- a lot of companies are taking advantage of that. Even Patlow has some projects going on in that sort of area. What do you think about the impact this will be? Is India planning to develop their entire own ecosystem for that aspect of the industry? I  Yolanda Padron: mean, it looks like it, right? Which is really, I mean, kind of groundbreaking. I know that we talked a couple weeks ago about Europe sort of being a little bit scared of bringing in, um, different manufacturers from Asia, um, and just the, the idea of cybersecurity being something really prevalent and really important to all of these people. So just if India starts siloing everything and that works, maybe that’ll translate to Europe.  Rosemary Barnes: Do you think that it, it can work? Has India [00:02:00] got the expertise in place already to, to make this work, or is this gonna be a real, like, handbrake on their, their wind industry continuing to develop as fast as it has been? Yolanda Padron: I mean, I’m really curious to see it because I don’t know if they’ll bring in a lot more experts to be able to, to do that.  Rosemary Barnes: I know the Indian, um, operating environment is quite different to other locations. I mean, it’s, it’s similar in a way to Australia in its dissimilarity, if that makes sense. I, I think there’s a lot of really India-specific problems, so of course Indian companies are gonna be best placed to take advantage of that. But what we’ve seen so far is a lot of, uh, companies from Europe or America coming in to y- you know, like tweak the way that they attack similar problems in other markets. They’re, you know, moving in to understand India better and take advantage of that. Now, of course, like not every smart operating method or aerodynamic improvement, they don’t all need [00:03:00] real-time data, and probably most of them don’t actually. So I think it’s not gonna like s- snip off this entire kind of improvement. But it is really interesting. It’s quite, like it is quite severe, the restrictions, and I haven’t heard of any other market, um, that is doing that. I, I don’t know, do you think it’s warranted or is it maybe like overly paranoid? I know when I heard that in, um, in Europe they’re not allowing Chinese manufacturers of inverters, for example, and I just felt like, “Ugh, is that a bit over the top?” I’m not sure. Um, yeah, what’s your opinion, Yolanda?  Yolanda Padron: I think it, it might be a little bit over the top. We live in such a globalized world that the idea of one country just siloing completely is, is a little bit strange to me. But- I guess if, if that’s, they have a, a reason for concern, then I guess it might make sense. But to your earlier point, like, I don’t know if the cost of doing this [00:04:00]would also come into play  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, I think that there’s always a, a, a trade-off. It’s like when you have any kind of l- local content rule, which is similar in a way because it forces, um, yeah, it, it forces your own ecosystem to develop, and that’s, that’s great. Like, it is a missed opportunity if you just have, you know, like a huge new industry and you just import it all, then that i- is a lost opportunity for your own economy. But I mean, in the past, India has had pretty strong local content rules, and they do have a bunch of wind energy manufacturing, um, within the country. They are a country known for really great engineering, so it’s for sure not beyond them to, you know, step up. So yeah, I guess time will tell if this is a smart move from that point of view. I don’t think it’s actually the motivation behind this rule. I think it’s more of a, like, a cybersecurity, um, kind of perspective where you don’t want, you know, overseas companies having the ability to shut down your energy system, for example. Um, [00:05:00] so yeah, but it, it has the potential to have that other effect of, you know, like boosting the local industry or alternatively just slowing down the whole industry because they can’t get anything done. I guess that’s always that balance that you need to, need to look at when you’re looking at local content. So India is deciding who gets to control the data inside a turbine. Our next story is about something inside that same turbine nobody controls yet, the air moving across a blade that isn’t turning. A parked turbine might look like the safest thing on the site. Blades are locked, the rotor’s still, nothing turning, nothing generating. But a new study says that stillness is not safety. When the rotor is locked and the wind shifts, air can strike the trailing edge first and travel backwards across the blade. That is reverse flow, and in reverse flow, the models this industry uses to predict blade loads start to fall apart. Field data cited in the study suggests blades on turbines above 15 megawatts can go aerodynamically [00:06:00]unstable at winds as low as eight meters per second. That is nowhere near a storm. So this is actually already definitely a known issue, and I know that modern wind turbines don’t usually park with locked rotors, right, Yolanda?  Yolanda Padron: Yeah.  Rosemary Barnes: We, we saw that a locked rotor during installation was one of the causes of the Vineyard Wind fiasco, right? Where broken blade pieces washed up on the beach. So definitely something that’s known about.  Yolanda Padron: And it’s something that even onshore you have a, you have your system so that it tracks sort of where the wind is coming from. So even if it’s stopped, it won’t just be stopped at a specific angle, particularly in case the, the winds shift.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, and I’ve seen examples of blades failing when, um, there was a storm and there was power lost, so they weren’t able to yaw or pitch a turbine, and that also can cause… Like, any time that- Wind is going in a different direction than what the turbine desi- was designed for, you’ll get unpredictable stuff happening and often, [00:07:00] like, really bad loads. Like the harshest, um, conditions, loading conditions that a wind turbine blade has to withstand is not in operation. It’s if you’ve got just wind hitting like a bluff body, they call it, where a gust of wind just hits flat on the blade and tries to bend it. Like that is way, way stronger loading than, um, than anything it would see operationally. If you’re looking at, you know, like a really severe storm, like a one in 50 year kind of, um, wind speeds, and then if you have flow going on weird angles where it’s creating lift, then you can ratchet up those loads even more. So for sure a known issue. This study, it, it singled out turbines above 15 megawatts, which are huge. That’s a, you know, like a big offshore wind turbine. But I don’t think it’s limited to that. Like what would you think, Yolanda? Is this, is this like purely a big blades thing, or is this something that actually all wind turbines need to take into account? Yolanda Padron: Oh, this is definitely something that all wind turbines need to take into account. It’s something that we’ve seen a lot in the [00:08:00] US as well, um, onshore and s- wind f- uh, smaller wind farms and wind farms that have, you know, 200 plus, um, wind turbines on them, uh, the, the 1X or 2X turbines. Uh, this is also ver- a, a reason that it’s really important, right, to check your systems constantly, and I know that a lot of the, the owner/operators do that, um, in their regular maintenance checks. Um, but it’s, it’s, it’s an issue that, uh, if you don’t have the correct systems in place or if you just remotely reset things, uh, because you see an error that maybe you thought, “Oh, that, that must be just a glitch,” uh, then you start having issues like this that can cause catastrophic failures, not just on the blade but on the turbine itself if, if the blade ends up hitting the turbine, um, it, it ends up hitting the, the tower itself. Uh, and then [00:09:00] a similar issue, um, that can happen too is when you don’t have the correct systems in place for, for an emergency, and so the turbine can just overspin, and that also causes a lot of blade failures, uh, both onshore and, and offshore as well. But I think onshore it’s, it’s just the, the wind farms are so big that it’s It’s easy or, or easier to miss, like, one or two turbines, um, when you’re doing those checks. Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. And I think another issue with keeping the rotors locked out, and one of the big reasons why they moved to pinwheeling as the, you know, um, turbine off kind of configuration, was with the, the bearings, right? Like, it’s not good for the bearings to be totally stationary. Um, so I think that it’s better to, yeah, pinwheel. It’s lower loads on the bearings.  Yolanda Padron: Something, um, similar to this as well, right, and, and I think Wind Power posted about it the [00:10:00] other day, um, about just, oh, it’s really common for, for sites to, to think of, of a financial solution to, to negative pricing being just fully stopping turbines that might not be producing at positive pricing. Um, and then, uh, that can also cause a lot of loading issues because you’re, you’re having a, a turbine at, at full capacity, and then it just stops.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, that’s true. The braking loads are, are one of the more extreme loads that turbines have to withstand also. I mean, hopefully if they’re curtailing, um, voluntarily, uh, they’re not doing an emergency brake kind of level. I hope that they’re being a bit more gentle on their turbines, but yeah, for sure, like, the easiest thing for a turbine to do is just operate normally its whole lifetime. That’s exactly what it was designed to do, and anything that deviates from that can reduce the t- life of the turbine, complicate things. So machines keep getting bigger, and the physics keep [00:11:00] getting harder. Meanwhile, the map keeps getting wider. Next, a Chinese manufacturer planting both turbines and spare parts across Southeast Asia. Stay with us Speaker: Are you overspending on lightning repairs? Most operators are because solving lightning damage is complicated. Weather Guard Lightning Tech helps operators reduce lightning damage. Our innovative StrikeTape lightning diverter protects over twenty thousand blades worldwide. Now, StrikeTape Ultra installs faster than ever. StrikeTape Ultra cures uptower in just fifteen minutes, even in cold weather. Visit weatherguardwind.com to schedule a call. Rosemary Barnes: China’s turbine makers are no longer just shipping machines. They are building the network that keeps those machines running. Envision Energy has secured its largest wind project in Vietnam, 200 megawatts with REE Energy, 25 [00:12:00] turbines, grid connection targeted for October 2027. It is also the company’s largest overseas nearshore project to date. And Batangas, Philippines, Envision has opened a distribution center holding major components and spare parts close to the projects that need them. Turbines first, then the parts network. Yelena, I’m just wondering if spare parts was a big headache for you when you worked in asset management, and do you think that this plan of, that Envision has is gonna be a successful one for Vietnam? Yolanda Padron: I think spare parts, having spare parts on site or near a site is always a good strategy. I know that sometimes it can get the, the accounting itself can get a little bit difficult because for at least, you know, in the US for tax purposes, you can’t really sell something from one project to another, so you, you have to be a little bit careful, um, as far as when you hold a part or you’re sending one part that might fit in multiple sites and where you’re technically buying that [00:13:00] from. Uh, but I think the spare parts that they’re having here I, I think it’s a, it’s a really good idea, right? Because oftentimes you might have a, a big, um, there might be a big queue for a particular component that fails years after, uh, it was produced, and then you– I mean, if you need it now and there’s a big queue now, then you need to wait until it can get to site, until it can be produced, until it’s your turn in line. Uh, and so just having those components on site or really close to the site I think is a really good idea.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, it’s really challenging. Like it’s, it, it’s easy to imagine how you could organize a spare parts network or, you know, just l- literally a bunch of warehouses holding spare parts for the kind of, you know, like one-off failures that happen routinely throughout a wind turbine’s life. But when you start to see a serial issue or if there’s just, you know, like statistically every now and then [00:14:00] you’ll get clusters of failures even if it’s not a serial issue, that’s when it starts to get really hard. So I know in Australia, and I’m sure it’s the case elsewhere, you kind of got to pair your spare parts inventory with the capability to repair and refurbish as well. Because sometimes it’s like, you know, you might do, like speaking of blades, which is my specialty, you might have a bill of, you know, maybe even a million dollars to do a really big repair on a blade, but that’s better than spending probably, honestly, the similar amount of money on a brand-new blade, but then that comes with a six-month or a 12-month, um, wait time. You know, like obviously you’re gonna save overall if you can get that turbine up faster. And we also see a lot of, um, in-country capabilities to refurbish, you know, all of the drivetrain components and, and everything like that, and I think that that is such an important complement. Like your spare parts strategy should never just be about having them physically sitting there, ’cause if you were [00:15:00] to have enough to cover any situation, then, you know, most of your components would go unused over the, the lifetime of the wind farm. And it’s not like they’re just swap in, swap out for any different wind turbine, right? Like they are usually quite turbine specific.  Yolanda Padron: I completely agree with the idea, especially with blades and how trif- tricky some of the new blades and their, their repair processes can be. It’s really important to have a plan and not necessarily just, “Okay, now I’m gonna throw this one out and bring in a new one, and always hold a new one,” because that’s really expensive. Um, and it’s also really, really important to, uh, that doesn’t matter what particular part it is, that whatever storage facility you’re using, that you’re, you make sure that the environmental factors impacting the spare parts are taken care of, right? So, um, I know I’ve seen spare parts for a battery site or spare parts for a solar site, uh, that just kind of end up degrading even more than the parts that were in [00:16:00] operations because no one was really looking at them. They were just outside in the elements, and then you just wasted millions and millions of dollars for really nothing. Um, something that you need to take to the landfill eventually or report.  Rosemary Barnes: Hopefully recycle it if it’s electronic waste.  Yolanda Padron: I completely agree that to, to be able to, to have any sort of replacement strategy, you, or any sort of spare parts strategy, you need to make sure that, that the replacement strategy is there and that the refurbishment strategy is there. If there’s anything that you can recycle in-house and use in-house, that’s a lot better than just landfilling anything or sending anything to be recycled elsewhere where it just piles and piles and piles up.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. I think also it’s reassuring if you’re buying wind turbines from maybe a, a less well-known manufacturer or less well-known in your country, I think it is reassuring to have a, like just a stack of spare parts on site, because that will give you the confidence that if [00:17:00] and when things start to go wrong, you know, a few years into the wind farm’s operation, you are gonna have that capability. ‘Cause I think it is, like it’s a big leap to move away from the really, really well-known, uh, manufacturers into some of the less well-known ones and have the confidence that y- you know, you wouldn’t have any- anyone to ask what they’re like for service, uh, for example, and you might also not have confidence that they’re even gonna exist in, you know, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years’ time. So having the parts on site can give you that confidence. Although, as you say, if those parts aren’t actually functional when you go to use them, that can be worse than not having them in the first place because you thought that you were okay and then you find yourself scrambling. That’s not ideal at all. Yolanda Padron: Yeah, I completely agree. I did hear about someone who, um, had a, a blade that they They thought they, they didn’t really have the capabilities in-house to, to restore it, and so they sent it to be recycled, [00:18:00] and then later it was sold to them by their OEM, um, on site. And so I think that also speaks to the… And, and it was just because someone noticed the serial number was exactly the same and kind of noticed. It was, it was really honestly kind of a funny, funny thing in retrospect. But, uh, and it, it just speaks to the idea of you really need to understand if you’re holding spare parts and, and just in general, even if you don’t wanna hold spare parts. Um, the idea of being able to refurbish or have a plan to be able to refurbish the, the materials that you have on site is really, really, really important because it can save you so much money. I mean, the, I mean, the, for that case, just the, the transportation costs of hauling the blade off, of paying someone to recycle it, of paying for a new blade, um, and everything just to kind of be bamboozled in that way where you could’ve just repaired it on site is, is It’s almost a no-brainer, yeah. Rosemary Barnes: I gotta say, that’s like a real recycling win, right? Like, you can’t get [00:19:00] better than, than that. Uh, you know, you had a blade, you recycle it into a blade. It’s, you know, performing exactly the same function, better than shredding it and hiding it in a, you know, a footpath, a sidewalk, or something like that. Stay with China a moment longer, because the product strategy tells you as much as the project map. Mingyang Smart Energy has unveiled the Tianchi MCD 5 MW turbine at its factory in Guizhou. It’s the first machine in the company’s new medium-speed compact drive platform, a semi-direct drive that Mingyang says cuts component count by 60%. And it is built for sites nobody used to bother with: mountains, plateaus, places where the wind averages four and a half meters per second. Now, Yolanda, 5 MW is pretty big for an onshore turbine in locations. It sounds like, you know, these locations, aside from the, like, less than ideal wind resource, also sounds like places where it’s actually, you know, transport might be a bit of a constraint. I wonder what their strategy [00:20:00] is gonna be to get those large components and installation equipment in.  Yolanda Padron: Yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s not gonna be the first site, I think, that we’ve seen that where they have to develop some sort of game-changing vessel or crane or something to be able to, to get things, uh, to the site. Uh, my, my first thought honestly was just kind of like, “Oh goodness, that might be a lightning nightmare depending on, on where they’re located.”  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, that’s true. Like we’ve seen in Japan, they have all their turbines on the ridges where the wind speeds are great, at least. Um, but they have been just absolutely destroyed by lightning, like really, really dealing with extreme situations. I think also, like these are low wind speed sites. Like what, what did they say? Four and a half meters per second average wind speeds? I mean, that’s like half what you would consider a good, a good site, right? And we know that the power in wind, it goes, like it increases with the cube of wind [00:21:00] speed. So, um, you know, like if you double the wind speed, you get eight times as much power. So it’s like all of the challenges associated with a high wind speed site in the mountains or, you know, somewhere tricky to get to you know, at least you’ve got eight times the power to make up for the effort of maintaining it. Uh, just it seems like, like a lot of effort to get to a low wind speed site, right? I think these turbines, the cut-in wind speed is gonna be two and a half meters per second, so you know, again, like you can reduce your, yeah, like the, the wind speed a- again by another factor of eight. It’s almost nothing at that wind speed. It really, yeah, I don’t know that you can make up for a low wind speed site by having a really low cut-in wind speed, right? Like, you’re still gonna end up with low power across the board.  Yolanda Padron: Yeah, and it’s, it’s strange too, I mean, we said it’s, it’s a mountainous region, right? And so, and the transportation [00:22:00] in itself, I mean, we talked about the idea of bringing them in is gonna be difficult. But I know that a lot of times we see a lot of blades that have issues down the line because of the transportation issues and because of the way that maybe they, they didn’t use the lifting points right, and there might be a lot more transportation issues or damages from transportation on the site if they come in and it’s a completely different terrain that they’re used to. Uh, and teams have to build in a completely different terrain to- that- than they’re used to, then that might also cause problems down the line. Not to mention the idea that I know sometimes in sites where there’s already roads, uh, it, it, because of the position of the turbines, because of the, the way that things are, are mapped out in development and construction, sometimes it’s a, a hassle for operations to, to get the correct cranes or trucks or everything in there to do any sort of maintenance. Uh, so [00:23:00] I can’t imagine in a place where it’s just really, really difficult to get to in general.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, and especially over the lifetime, you know, maintenance i- is gonna be such a challenge. So I think that it sounds like they’re aware of that because their emphasis with this new platform, dropping the component count by 60%, that’s a claim from Ming Yang that I haven’t seen the details of. It seems highly implausible but, um, yeah, I would wanna look into that a bit more to believe it. But they also say that their new bearings and gearbox features lift reliability by 10%, so yeah, I think that that is going to make their job a little bit easier, but yeah, I don’t know if it’s enough that would make me wanna invest in a wind farm with a, what was the number? Four and a half meters per second average wind speed. Seems marginal at best. So new machines for marginal sites built in China and priced to compete. Now let’s move [00:24:00] to Denmark, where the employment numbers show what that competition feels like from the other side. Back in a moment. Speaker 4: Delamination and bondline failures in blades are difficult problems to detect early. These hidden issues can cost you millions in repairs and lost energy production. CIC NDT are specialists to detect these critical flaws before they become expensive burdens. Their nondestructive test technology penetrates deep into blade materials to find voids and cracks traditional inspections completely miss. CIC NDT maps every critical defect, delivers actionable reports, and provides support to get your blades back in service. So visit cicndt.com because catching blade problems early will save you millions Rosemary Barnes: Numbers out of Denmark tell two stories at once. Green Power Denmark counted [00:25:00] just under 110,000 full-time jobs across the Danish energy sector in 2025. That is up 1,526 positions or 1.4%, slightly ahead of Danish employment overall. That is the good news. Inside the wind sector, employment fell to 32,700, a drop of roughly 500. Green Power Denmark blames international competition and unfavorable market conditions. Its chief economist calls the dip normal You know what, Yolanda? I think that if Denmark’s labor market is weak in the wind industry, there are many countries outside of Denmark that would wanna snap up that talent. I know that my own company, Pardalote, is included in those numbers of people that would really like to have Danish talent. I’m trying to s- hire someone currently that’s got wind turbine blade expertise, and I tell you what, that is not easy to do in Australia. So I would say if there are any Danes listening or watching who fancy a move to Australia, then please do get in touch [00:26:00]if you have some excellent wind turbine blade experience. Yolanda Padron: You guys would have a lovely, lovely boss. I’ve- I just gotta say that. The learnings that you have in Denmark and just the, the, the school- not just from the schooling, the, the onsite, I mean, it- it’s just historically Denmark’s been really, really great in, in wind. And there’s just so many bright minds, um, that d- I mean, if, if they can’t find a j- a job in Denmark, then I, I agree that there’s a lot of places in wind that if they’re, they’re okay with moving, they’ll, they’ll find a, a good spot that’ll receive them really happily. Rosemary Barnes: I know it is a bit of a, like, a cultural blocker. Danes more than other nationalities that I know are, are really, um, I don’t wanna say attached, it makes it sound like not quite the word I’m looking for, but they, they do really appreciate the region that they’re from and, you know, family is so important to Danes, so not the easiest thing [00:27:00] to just say, “Just move to the other side of the world.” But you know, I did it. It, it can be done and, uh, yeah, Australia is, has got very nice weather, especially at the moment. It’s, um, it’s gonna be… It’s been, like, in the high teens Celsius all this week, and this is, I’m in Canberra in still winter and, uh, yeah, like, on the weekend it’s gonna be 20 degrees. It’s, you know, normally 15 degrees is a really great one-off day in winter. It was my birthday this week and in Denmark there is a, a saying or a, you know, a belief that if you have good weather on your birthday, then that means that you must have been really good all year. And the weather was just, like, unprecedentedly good for my birthday, um, yeah, for a winter day. So obviously I was very, very good this year. Yolanda Padron: You’re a great person, and happy belated birthday.  Rosemary Barnes: Thank you. But it is something that I say every time we get another story about another Danish wind energy company that’s, you know, doing layoffs and, you know, I’m honestly surprised that it’s [00:28:00] only 500 fallen in wind energy. If you look at, like, even just the job losses at LM Wind Power alone, um, I think that it would be about that many, right? And so there are obviously some other companies um, growing to absorb some of the job losses, ’cause for sure we’ve covered more than 500 job losses just on the show. But I know I always feel really sad, um, not just for the people involved who y- you know, probably love wind energy and wanted to work in that field, but I feel sad that, you know, this was such a strength for Denmark, their, their wind industry, that they had been, you know, developing this expertise since the ’70s, honestly. Uh, really, really world leading and, uh, of course, like, globalization means that you can’t, like, stay siloed forever, and Denmark obviously also took advantage of that globalization to, you know, export. Wind industry was a huge export market for Denmark, and still is. Um, but I do, I, I just feel really bad at the companies that are losing, um, all of that, you know, institutional [00:29:00]knowledge and the really, really deep specialist knowledge. It’s, um, yeah. Uh, and they’ll go on to, you know, bring new skills to other industries, but it just makes me sad. As a wind energy lover and, um, you know, somebody who has a lot of friends that work in wind industry in Denmark, I do feel, feel sad. And there are some of my old colleagues who are amazing, like, literally the best engineer that I ever worked with, an electrical engineer, it, it was not easy for him to find a new job in wind. I’m actually not sure if he’s working in that industry now. And plenty of other, like, really, really talented engineers that have gone on to other, um, yeah, other different kinds of industries, and it just makes me a little bit sad.  Yolanda Padron: Yeah. I mean, there are a lot of people too that are com- And I agree, it’s sad. It’s really sad. But I, there are a lot of people too, some friends that, uh, just, you know, started doing consulting on their own, and it’s, it’s good to see that they’re still in wind, you know? Because they’re, they, they’re so smart and they have so much knowledge of so many years in the industry that they bring to the table, um, [00:30:00] that, I mean, it, it might even work out better for them, right? Because maybe now they’re not just wor- focusing on Denmark itself, and now they get to, to expand and do what they evidently love to do, uh, the, for clients around the world, which is really exciting.  Rosemary Barnes: Well, that wraps up another episode of the Uptime Wind Energy podcast, and my first as the primary host of the show, so let me know if you think I did a terrible job in the comments. Comments boost engagement, make me look better. So if today’s discussion sparked any questions or ideas, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us on LinkedIn, and if you found value in today’s conversation, please leave us a review. It really helps other wind energy professionals discover the show. And don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. For Yolanda, and Matthew and Allen Hall in their absence, I’m Rosemary Barnes, and we’ll see you here next week on the Uptime Wind Energy [00:31:00] podcast.

When humans finally land on Mars, what should they do? A report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine lays out the science objectives for a crewed Mars mission. In January, planetary scientist Lindy Elkins-Tanton, who co-chaired the report committee, joined Host Flora Lichtman to talk about the plans to send people to Mars. We also get an update on the mission to survey the asteroid Psyche. Elkins-Tanton tells us how she managed the team that made the Psyche mission possible, and what she learned from her mistakes. Guest: Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton is a planetary scientist. She's the head of NASA's Psyche mission and director of UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory. Transcript will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that's keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

After six years of legal fights, we finally have a federal court ruling in Chuck's dispute with Minnesota's engineering licensing board. Chuck and Strong Towns executive director John Reuter go back to the complaint that started the case, why Chuck's temporarily lapsed license became the opening for the board's action, and how a dispute over his public advocacy turned into years of hearings and litigation. Chuck also reflects on reaching the end of a fight that has followed him for years and what the decision could mean for other engineers who have held back from speaking publicly about their profession. Additional Show Notes Confessions of a Recovering Engineer (Site) Can an Engineer Speak Out for Reform? (Article) Chuck Marohn (Substack)   This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Thank you! Join fellow members discussing this episode in The Commons.

The Fauxpublican wing of the GOP is refusing to spend money on conservative candidates even if that means Democrats win control of the US Senate. Are they trying to lose? Is this a deliberate strategy? (Please subscribe & share.) Sources: https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/senate/general/2026/north-carolina/cooper-vs-whatley https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/25/trump-attention-battleground-republicans-darline-graham-01050345 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/21/trump-maga-pac-spending-texas-01045426

Self-promotion makes most engineers cringe. You don't need a personality transplant — you need fifteen minutes and a better question.   The three-step script, including the exact questions to use → https://toolkit.oasisofcourage.com/ninja   Built on a whiteboard. Watch it → https://youtu.be/3vzy_sBler4   A project I was on went sideways, and we pulled it back. After it landed I booked fifteen minutes with a cross-functional director and asked how I could have made the impact bigger. A few weeks later he offered me a senior manager role in another factory he ran.   I never bragged. I asked. That's the whole move, and I call it the Ninja Brag.   Book a 15-minute one-on-one with someone who influences your next move. Present the win in the context of the bigger objective. Ask for advice on how you could have multiplied the impact.   The fix isn't to get louder. It's to change what the conversation is for. No victory lap, just visibility that arrived honestly.   In this episode: the three-step sequence, why asking for feedback is the least awkward way to create visibility, the exact questions to use, who to run this with, why fifteen minutes and not sixty, and the one version of this conversation you should never run.   Go ninja brag on your wins.   New here? Follow the show. Ready to build the whole plan → https://calendly.com/oaco-client-success-team/career-clarity-call   Zach White is the founder of Oasis of Courage. Engineering degrees from Purdue and Michigan, former engineering leader at Whirlpool, 300+ engineering leaders coached since 2019. You shouldn't have to sacrifice your life to reach your potential at work.   Also in Season 2: Why Great Engineers Get Passed Over for Promotion · How to Get Promoted from Engineering Manager to Director  

It's almost never the work. Great engineers get passed over for promotion because they're all results and no reputation.   Steal 200 ways to get known for the work you're already doing → https://toolkit.oasisofcourage.com/reach   Built on a whiteboard. Watch it → https://youtu.be/pqVQgAwoz1k   Your work does not speak for itself. It never has, and it never will.   Reputation = Results × Reach. Results are the impact you create. Reach is the number of people who can explain your value when you're not in the room.   It multiplies, which is what makes it brutal. Nine parts results and one part reach gives you nine. Five and five gives you twenty-five. And world-class results times no reach still equals nothing.   Curtis was a senior software engineer at NASA Ames, already performing at a high level and afraid of another PIP. He didn't get better at his job. He got better at giving his managers clear information about what he was contributing. Best review of his career, new machine learning work, an award for a proposal. The results were already there.   In this episode: why my work speaks for itself is the most expensive belief in engineering, the equation and why it multiplies instead of adds, more vs better vs different, what reach actually means, which handful of people matter more than everyone else combined, and how to talk about your contribution without it feeling like self-promotion.   You built the results. Now go build the reach.   New here? Follow the show. Ready to build the whole plan → https://calendly.com/oaco-client-success-team/career-clarity-call   Zach White is the founder of Oasis of Courage. Engineering degrees from Purdue and Michigan, former engineering leader at Whirlpool, 300+ engineering leaders coached since 2019. You shouldn't have to sacrifice your life to reach your potential at work.   Also in Season 2: How Engineering Managers Get Promoted Without Bragging · How to Get Promoted from Engineering Manager to Director  

Most engineering managers waiting on a director promotion aren't underperforming. They're in the wrong conversation — one of three.   Find out which one your boss thinks you're in → https://toolkit.oasisofcourage.com/climb   Built on a whiteboard. Watch it → https://youtu.be/SLxrWes0bWE   Strong performance is not what moves you to director. It's what keeps you exactly where you are. Promotion starts the moment you and your boss are looking at the same rung, and most engineering managers have no idea their boss is looking at a different one.   Three phases, and only one of them is a promotion conversation:   New to role — reach break-even. Stable and growing — close the gap to the next level. Promotion ready — turn the conversation from effort to evidence.   Chris wasn't underperforming. He was trapped in phase 2, running phase 2 conversations. He changed the question, and went from manager to director in a couple of months.   In this episode: the three phases and how to tell which one you're in, why an exceeds rating can quietly trap you, what break-even actually means, how to find out where your boss has you without making it awkward, and the question that keeps capable engineering managers stuck for years.   Calibrate before you climb.   New here? Follow the show. Ready to build the whole plan → https://calendly.com/oaco-client-success-team/career-clarity-call   Zach White is the founder of Oasis of Courage. Engineering degrees from Purdue and Michigan, former engineering leader at Whirlpool, 300+ engineering leaders coached since 2019. You shouldn't have to sacrifice your life to reach your potential at work.   Also in Season 2: Why Great Engineers Get Passed Over for Promotion · How Engineering Managers Get Promoted Without Bragging  

One year after the publication of Gastronomica's special feature on food and philosophy, Robert T. Valgenti of the Editorial Collective revisits the question of what a philosophical perspective could bring to addressing food-related issues. In this episode, he talks with Gastronomica author and philosopher Sascha Benjamin Fink about human perception and how people experience the world, taking up questions at the cutting edge of science, art, and gastronomy. Sascha discusses the role of the senses and sensory manipulation in gastronomy and explains how common experiences of eating can lend real-world insights into sensory engineering. Over the course of their conversation Bob and Sascha consider different examples – such as the setting of the table, spatial design, experimental cuisine, and the use of AI in recipe development – and weigh in on what sensory engineering can also reveal about gastronomy. The article Gastronomy as Sensory Engineering, co-authored by Sascha Benjamin Fink and Brandon Ashby, appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of Gastronomica. “Gastronomy as Sensory Engineering” was one of fifteen short papers in a special section dedicated to philosophical perspectives on food issues. Access the articles in volume 25.3 of the journal here and learn more about the special section in Episode 53: Mapping Food and Philosophy of the Gastronomica podcast. Sascha Benjamin Fink works on the philosophy of mind with research interests in consciousness, sensory engineering, and new technologies, and most recently has been Director of Research at the Centre for Philosophy and AI Research (PAIR) at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. As of August 2026, he works at the University of Cologne on sensory engineering in the DFG-AHRC Project SENSOR (DFG 527947799). Robert T. Valgenti is a professor of liberal arts and food studies at The Culinary Institute of America. A philosopher and translator, he works on the philosophy of food, Italian philosophy, and hermeneutics and is a member of the Editorial Collective at Gastronomica. Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies is published by the University of California Press. Quarterly issues are available in print and online. Listeners can now find the Gastronomica podcast on the New Books Network here. Subscribe to Gastronomica's podcast feed to stay updated on the newest episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

One year after the publication of Gastronomica's special feature on food and philosophy, Robert T. Valgenti of the Editorial Collective revisits the question of what a philosophical perspective could bring to addressing food-related issues. In this episode, he talks with Gastronomica author and philosopher Sascha Benjamin Fink about human perception and how people experience the world, taking up questions at the cutting edge of science, art, and gastronomy. Sascha discusses the role of the senses and sensory manipulation in gastronomy and explains how common experiences of eating can lend real-world insights into sensory engineering. Over the course of their conversation Bob and Sascha consider different examples – such as the setting of the table, spatial design, experimental cuisine, and the use of AI in recipe development – and weigh in on what sensory engineering can also reveal about gastronomy. The article Gastronomy as Sensory Engineering, co-authored by Sascha Benjamin Fink and Brandon Ashby, appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of Gastronomica. “Gastronomy as Sensory Engineering” was one of fifteen short papers in a special section dedicated to philosophical perspectives on food issues. Access the articles in volume 25.3 of the journal here and learn more about the special section in Episode 53: Mapping Food and Philosophy of the Gastronomica podcast. Sascha Benjamin Fink works on the philosophy of mind with research interests in consciousness, sensory engineering, and new technologies, and most recently has been Director of Research at the Centre for Philosophy and AI Research (PAIR) at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. As of August 2026, he works at the University of Cologne on sensory engineering in the DFG-AHRC Project SENSOR (DFG 527947799). Robert T. Valgenti is a professor of liberal arts and food studies at The Culinary Institute of America. A philosopher and translator, he works on the philosophy of food, Italian philosophy, and hermeneutics and is a member of the Editorial Collective at Gastronomica. Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies is published by the University of California Press. Quarterly issues are available in print and online. Listeners can now find the Gastronomica podcast on the New Books Network here. Subscribe to Gastronomica's podcast feed to stay updated on the newest episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

In this episode of the Engineering Influence podcast, Sharon Jean-Baptiste, President of Ardmore Roderick, shares her leadership journey in the engineering industry and the lessons that have shaped her career. She discusses the lasting impact engineering work can have on communities, offers advice for young professionals just starting out in the field, and speaks to why mentorship remains one of the most powerful tools for building the next generation of engineering leaders.

One year after the publication of Gastronomica's special feature on food and philosophy, Robert T. Valgenti of the Editorial Collective revisits the question of what a philosophical perspective could bring to addressing food-related issues. In this episode, he talks with Gastronomica author and philosopher Sascha Benjamin Fink about human perception and how people experience the world, taking up questions at the cutting edge of science, art, and gastronomy. Sascha discusses the role of the senses and sensory manipulation in gastronomy and explains how common experiences of eating can lend real-world insights into sensory engineering. Over the course of their conversation Bob and Sascha consider different examples – such as the setting of the table, spatial design, experimental cuisine, and the use of AI in recipe development – and weigh in on what sensory engineering can also reveal about gastronomy. The article Gastronomy as Sensory Engineering, co-authored by Sascha Benjamin Fink and Brandon Ashby, appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of Gastronomica. “Gastronomy as Sensory Engineering” was one of fifteen short papers in a special section dedicated to philosophical perspectives on food issues. Access the articles in volume 25.3 of the journal here and learn more about the special section in Episode 53: Mapping Food and Philosophy of the Gastronomica podcast. Sascha Benjamin Fink works on the philosophy of mind with research interests in consciousness, sensory engineering, and new technologies, and most recently has been Director of Research at the Centre for Philosophy and AI Research (PAIR) at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. As of August 2026, he works at the University of Cologne on sensory engineering in the DFG-AHRC Project SENSOR (DFG 527947799). Robert T. Valgenti is a professor of liberal arts and food studies at The Culinary Institute of America. A philosopher and translator, he works on the philosophy of food, Italian philosophy, and hermeneutics and is a member of the Editorial Collective at Gastronomica. Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies is published by the University of California Press. Quarterly issues are available in print and online. Listeners can now find the Gastronomica podcast on the New Books Network here. Subscribe to Gastronomica's podcast feed to stay updated on the newest episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/food

Allen covers Clearway’s 800 MW wind farm in Maine, the state’s largest ever, along with Suzlon’s $1.2 billion project in India and Masdar’s growing battery pipeline in the UK. Then Mingyang lobbies the UK’s new Prime Minister to reverse its ban from British waters. The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast is brought to you by Weather Guard Lightning Tech, creators of the StrikeTape Ultra LPS retrofit. Subscribe to Uptime’s Substack newsletter. And check out Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” Youtube channel. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! Up in Maine this week… they picked a spot for a wind farm. Eight hundred megawatts. The biggest the state has ever seen. Hold that thought. Halfway around the world… India broke ground on something even bigger. And in between… a Chinese company knocked on Britain’s door. Again. Start in Aroostook County, Maine. The woods up there grow timber… and wind. The Maine Public Utilities Commission chose Clearway Energy to build eight hundred megawatts of turbines on commercial timberland in the rural north. Avangrid will string the power line to connect those turbines to the New England grid. Commission Chair Phil Bartlett says the project will save Maine ratepayers at least three hundred and eighty-seven million dollars. Two-point-four billion in economic output. Thousands of construction jobs. Six hundred megawatts stay in Maine. The rest goes to Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont. Five states… one wind farm… one forest. Now fly east across the Atlantic. In Rochdale, England… Abu Dhabi’s Masdar just flipped the switch on its second battery storage plant in Britain. Thirty-five megawatts. Seventy megawatt-hours. Enough to power thirty-five thousand homes a day. And it responds to grid swings in milliseconds. This is part of Masdar’s one-billion-pound pipeline of battery projects across the UK. Three gigawatt-hours planned. One of the largest storage buildouts in the country. Wind needs a partner. Batteries are volunteering. Now south… to India. Suzlon just broke ground on thirteen hundred and twenty-five megawatts of wind in Ananthapuramu, Andhra Pradesh. The investment… about one-point-two billion dollars. Sixteen hundred new jobs. Suzlon already has a blade factory in the region. Capacity… twelve hundred and sixty megawatts a year. And the company is training twelve thousand young people, including three thousand women, in green energy skills. India’s wind sector just crossed fifty-eight gigawatts. It was twenty-one gigawatts in twenty fourteen. And staying in India… Saudi Arabia’s Alfanar Group just put one hundred million dollars into its Indian turbine subsidiary Senvion. Thirty-four million released this month. The rest in weeks. Senvion builds one-point-five gigawatts of turbines a year. Saudi money. Indian manufacturing. Global ambition. Now… one more item. And this one has an edge. Ming Yang… the Chinese turbine maker banned from British waters on national security grounds… wants back in. The company had plans for a one-point-five-billion-pound factory in Inverness, Scotland. Fifteen hundred direct jobs. Eight thousand in the supply chain. Labour ministers shut it down in March. The Ministry of Defence worried about spying. European rivals complained about Chinese state subsidies. Now Ming Yang is lobbying the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, to reverse the ban. The company says it can deliver “growth in every postcode.” That phrase… is Burnham’s own. A government spokesman says there are no plans to review the decision. So what does this week tell us? Supply chains are going local. Saudi capital into Indian turbine factories. Maine insisting on new transmission before new generation. Britain locking the door on Chinese hardware while Abu Dhabi builds its battery network. The message is clear. Countries want wind power. But they want to own the pieces. Watch for this. Permitting… not technology… is the bottleneck now. Maine’s project was authorized in twenty twenty-one. It is twenty twenty-six and they are still years from turning a blade. And storage is no longer a side conversation. Masdar’s billion-pound UK commitment says batteries are becoming infrastructure… not experiments. For professionals in this industry… the work ahead is not just building turbines. It is building trust with governments who are choosing energy security over speed. And that is the state of the wind industry for the 31st of August 2026. Join us for the Uptime Wind Energy podcast tomorrow.

Have you ever wondered what a semester is really like for engineering students? In this episode, Paul begins a semester-long journey where he follows two engineering students (Michael Frial and Michael Espinoza) throughout the Fall 2026 semester at Cal Poly Pomona. During the interview, both students share their workload and state of mind in Week 1 of the semester. Paul will check back with them in Week 3. Have comments about this episode? Send your feedback to TESEpodcast@gmail.com and Paul will personally read your email. Episode produced and edited by Paul Nissenson.  Recorded on August 24, 2026 at Cal Poly Pomona. 

Could life thrive without sunlight? Explore dark biospheres on rogue planets, icy moons, and buried oceans, where chemistry, tidal heating, and geothermal energy may sustain alien ecosystems in eternal night.Get Nebula using my link for 50% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthurCheckout Otusider Aliens and our Alien Life Collection: https://nebula.tv/isaacarthur/alien-life-collectionVisit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.netJoin Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthurSupport us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IsaacArthurSupport us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-arthurFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1583992725237264/Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/IsaacArthur/Twitter: https://twitter.com/Isaac_A_Arthur on Twitter and RT our future content.SFIA Discord Server: https://discord.gg/53GAShECredits:Dark Biospheres - Life on Worlds Without Sunlight [Extended Edition]Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac ArthurSelect imagery/video supplied by Getty Images Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creatorSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Could life thrive without sunlight? Explore dark biospheres on rogue planets, icy moons, and buried oceans, where chemistry, tidal heating, and geothermal energy may sustain alien ecosystems in eternal night.Get Nebula using my link for 50% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthurCheckout Otusider Aliens and our Alien Life Collection: https://nebula.tv/isaacarthur/alien-life-collectionVisit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.netJoin Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthurSupport us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IsaacArthurSupport us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-arthurFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1583992725237264/Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/IsaacArthur/Twitter: https://twitter.com/Isaac_A_Arthur on Twitter and RT our future content.SFIA Discord Server: https://discord.gg/53GAShECredits:Dark Biospheres - Life on Worlds Without Sunlight [Extended Edition]Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac ArthurSelect imagery/video supplied by Getty Images Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creatorSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our speaker is Yossi Sheffi who is a Professor of Engineering at MIT and is a leading scholar in supply chain management. He is the author of a new book entitled Unsafe at MIT: A Chronicle of a Campus War on the Jews.I want to hear from Yossi about MIT's failure to protect its Jewish and Israeli students from violence. I want to learn why MIT's Administration managed the situation so poorly, and why MIT's disregard for its own rules and regulations resulted in chaos. Get full access to What Happens Next in 6 Minutes with Larry Bernstein at www.whathappensnextin6minutes.com/subscribe

Should you still study engineering when AI can already write code, analyse data and automate parts of an engineer's job?In this solo episode, Neil Ashton gives his view on engineering education and careers in the age of AI. His answer is yes—but the skill set is changing. Neil explains why engineering fundamentals still matter, where AI can act as an enabler, what students and early-career engineers should learn now, and why soft skills, projects and internships may become even more important.Topics include:- Why demand for engineers is likely to remain strong- The engineering tasks most likely to change- AI as an enabler for coding, CAD, CAE and automation- Why domain knowledge is still essential for checking AI's work- What practical AI fluency means beyond using a chat interface- Advice for undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD students- How projects, internships and soft skills can help you stand outPodcast archive: https://neilashton.co.uk/podcasts/Chapters:00:00 Podcast intro00:39 The career question in the age of AI03:20 Why engineering demand is still growing04:43 Which engineering tasks AI will change05:21 AI as an engineering enabler09:18 Why fundamentals and domain expertise still matter11:59 AI fluency and the hiring market16:41 Advice for students and researchers20:05 What engineers should study now22:11 Standing out: soft skills, projects and internships25:41 Is engineering still worth it?Resource mentioned:- World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025 — Skills outlook: https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2025/in-full/3-skills-outlook/Please note that this episode expresses my personal opinion and does not represent the views of NVIDIA.

Send us Fan MailRobert States is Vice President of Technical Services at Cormica Medical Device & Pharmaceutical Testing, where he supports clients across medical device, pharmaceutical, and combination product testing. His work spans development strategy, risk management, testing strategy, process development, supply chain optimization, and regulatory-minded technical problem solving. Cormica's announcement of his appointment highlighted his role in strengthening global technical services across UK, US, and EU laboratories.  Before joining Cormica, Rob spent more than 20 years at Stress Engineering Services, where he held leadership roles across medical device and pharma, consumer products, strategic client engagement, and consulting. Stress Engineering's medical and pharmaceutical practice focuses on product design, analysis, testing, failure analysis, material science, packaging, manufacturing support, reliability, and regulatory-grade engineering solutions—areas that align closely with Rob's career-long focus on helping organizations solve difficult technical and business problems.  Rob's technical foundation is in plastics engineering, supported by an MBA from Ashland University and a BS in Plastics Engineering from Penn State. Over his career, he has worked across companies including Procter & Gamble, Newell Brands, Stress Engineering Services, Accelitek, and now Cormica. His experience gives him a rare perspective that bridges hands-on engineering, product development, failure remediation, consulting, business strategy, and executive-level technical leadership. A central theme of this conversation is how engineers can thrive in corporate R&D environments. Rob wants to explore the intersection of budgeting, project success, layoffs, and business performance—and how engineers can use that understanding to make better decisions, protect their careers, and create more value for their organizations. Rather than treating corporate realities as distractions from engineering, Rob sees them as forces engineers can learn to understand and navigate.  LINKS: Robert States LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/plasticpro/ Cormica Website: https://www.cormica.com/Aaron Moncur, host PDX 2026 is October 20-21 in Phoenix, AZ.  Learn more and register at https://pdexpo.engineer/  Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment like cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us at www.teampipeline.usWatch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus 

This week on bigcitysmalltown, we look at how UT San Antonio's Klesse College of Engineering is driving new ambition among San Antonio students—and earning global attention in the process. As UT San Antonio continues its evolution into a Tier 1 research institution, the experience of freshman-led Team 210 Robotics provides a window into both the campus culture and the resources shaping today's engineering talent.Host Bob Rivard is joined by Israel Elizondo and Dyshana Torres, two undergraduates whose team won the 2026 Siemens Immersive Design Competition, an international challenge with 1,900 entries from 350 universities worldwide. Their winning project—RoboRowdy—automates 3D print farms, showcasing both technical skill and initiative.They discuss:• How a student-driven idea grew inside a UT San Antonio dorm and became a winning global engineering project• The processes, faculty support, and university investment behind Team 210's success• What it means for San Antonio—and for UT San Antonio—to compete on a world stage alongside Princeton, Georgia Tech, and international universities• What's changing for local students as programs, internships, and research expand at UTSA• Personal stories from Israel and Dyshana about college access, scholarships, and navigating first-generation experiences• The role of immersive engineering, virtual reality, and AI in shaping education and careers for San Antonio's next generationTune in for a candid conversation about opportunity, preparation, and change at one of the city's fastest-evolving institutions.-- --GET THE NEWSLETTER

Today our hosts are joined once again by Shelby Pollard of Black Bobbin. He and Dan had some good conversations at Fretboard Summit in Chicago this past weekend, which meant it was high time for round two of Object Worship! They talk about the history of guitar manufacturing in Chicago, revisit the conversation of what makes a tele, discuss the symbiotic relationship between player and engineer, and Shelby encourages any and all of us to use these tools to make art in whatever form that takes. It's another good one full of facts Andy and Dan had never heard - hop on in! Check out the Black Bobbin Flat Iron: https://blackbobbin.com/collections/black-bobbin-flat-iron Buy some Old Blood: https://oldbloodnoise.com/ Join the conversation in Discord: https://discord.com/invite/PhpA5MbN5u Follow us all on the socials: @blackbobbinchicago, @danfromdsf, @andyothling, @oldbloodnoise Leave us a voicemail at 505-633-4647!

The Rude Crew (minus Shady) is back from our sabattical, and we're joined by friend of the show MrDumbFresh (Fresh). "While Mom's away, the boys will play" LOL.

Jackelyn Hwang is an expert on the social dynamics of cities. In one line of research, she combines AI and Google Street View to measure quality-of-life factors – such as trash, blight, new construction, and the pace of recovery from climate disasters – to analyze gentrification, racial equity, and overall resident well-being. Her work has shown, for instance, that predominantly Black neighborhoods are last and slowest to gentrify and that displaced Black residents often end up in worse neighborhoods. She recently worked with policymakers at the housing department of Oakland, California, on anti-displacement and anti-homelessness programs and is now working with policymakers across the Bay Area to strengthen neighborhoods. We are clearing a path to more stable communities for everyone, Hwang tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering's The Future of Everything podcast. Have a question for Russ? Send it our way in writing or via voice memo, and it might be featured on an upcoming episode. Please introduce yourself, let us know where you're listening from, and share your question. You can send questions to thefutureofeverything@stanford.edu. Episode Reference Links: Stanford Profile: Jackelyn Hwang Learn more about Jackie's work on housing instability in Oakland Connect With Us: Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everything Website Connect with Russ >>> Threads / Bluesky / Mastodon Connect with School of Engineering >>> Twitter/X / Instagram / LinkedIn / Facebook Chapters: (00:00:00) Introduction Russ Altman introduces guest Jackie Hwang, a professor of sociology at Stanford University. (00:02:53) Path into Urban Sociology How Hwang's experiences near Philadelphia shaped her interest in cities, inequality, and neighborhood change. (00:04:56) The 21st-Century American City How gentrification, immigration, crime, education, housing, and climate change are reshaping cities. (00:08:03) Defining Gentrification How sociologists understand gentrification as a class-based transformation of neighborhoods. (00:10:02) Studying Gentrification Why race, segregation, and neighborhood inequality complicate simple stories of urban renewal. (00:11:50) Displacement and Instability Why gentrification does not always increase moving rates, but still affects where people end up. (00:14:48) Policy and Anti-Displacement How Hwang's research informs local policy, housing strategy, and homelessness prevention. (00:18:10) Measuring Neighborhood Change How technology can help researchers study changing neighborhoods at scale. (00:18:55) Google Street View and Cities How Street View opened new ways to observe gentrification and neighborhood conditions. (00:20:36) Computer Vision for Urban Research How AI and computer vision are being used to analyze neighborhood conditions. (00:21:53) What Neighborhoods Reveal How visible signs like trash, blight, vacant lots, and construction signal neighborhood change. (00:23:10) Eye Tracking and Perception How researchers study what people notice in neighborhoods and how those cues affect stress. (00:24:09) Climate Change and Recovery How disasters can widen neighborhood inequality through uneven rebuilding and abandonment. (00:26:14) Neighborhoods and Wellbeing How better measurements of neighborhood conditions could guide interventions for safer, more stable communities. (00:28:00) Future In a Minute Rapid-fire Q&A: affordable housing, neighborhood change, and better urban data. (00:29:32) Conclusion Connect With Us:Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everything WebsiteConnect with Russ >>> Threads / Bluesky / MastodonConnect with School of Engineering >>>Twitter/X / Instagram / LinkedIn / Facebook Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Very Important Links!Support the show on Patreon! - Other ways to support the show!Join our Discord! - Buy some merch!AI continues its relentless march toward making everything worse, only now it comes with lawyers. Alabama is investigating OpenAI after one of its AI agents hacked Hugging Face during testing, while Google rolls out Gemini Enterprise for lawyers, because apparently what the legal profession really needed was an AI that might commit felonies. Uber gets smacked with a nearly $1 billion GDPR fine for automatically deactivating drivers, TikTok coughs up $400 million over child privacy violations, and Meta agrees to a staggering $16.68 billion settlement over alleged harms to kids. Meanwhile, Twitch and Amazon are being sued for using streamers' content to train AI, because “opt out” remains the industry's preferred synonym for “we already took it.”Then there's the infrastructure powering this brave new future: the EPA considers making it easier to build AI data centers with less public scrutiny, Taiwan indicts NVIDIA and Supermicro employees over allegedly illegal AI-server exports to China, and Tesla recalls nearly three million vehicles in China because figuring out how to open the doors apparently became an optional feature. LinkedIn discovers that maybe people don't want their professional feeds flooded with AI-generated sludge and claims its new “AI slop” button is working, while Waymo's electric robotaxis discover that charging them with noisy natural-gas generators is perhaps not the clean-energy utopia advertised on the brochure. Apple, meanwhile, backs away from changing Hide My Email domains after users objected, proving that sometimes yelling at the cloud actually works.Plus: Star Trek goes Muppet, books worth reading, nerf guys, AI-generated Hacker News stats, retro gaming, and the sad news of both Dolly Parton and Tim Curry's deaths.Sponsors:DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.StoryBlocks - For a limited time, they're offering 15% off any annual plan at storyblocks.com/gogHIMS - Visit Hims.com/gog to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you.Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/760Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/v_m2XT4_ZCYSHOW NOTESSend us Feedback!NEW! - GOG T-Shirt - You Are Here! - v1NEW! - GOG T-Shirt - Elon Kills Babies - Heavy Duty - FrontAlabama launches probe into OpenAI after Hugging Face breachGoogle expands Gemini Enterprise AI platform for law firms, lawyersUber hit with a nearly $1 billion fine for automatically deactivating drivers in EuropeTikTok will pay $400 million to settle Justice Department lawsuit over child privacyMeta reaches $16.68 billion settlement over social media harms to childrenTwitch and Amazon hit with lawsuit for training AI with streamers' contentThe EPA's Response to AI Data Center Backlash: Keep Building, but Keep It Hush-HushTaiwan reportedly indicted NVIDIA employees for exporting prohibited AI servers to ChinaChina Recalls Nearly Three Million Teslas Over Unsafe Door HandlesLinkedIn says its AI slop button is workingAustin park goers upset by adjacent loud Waymo EV generatorsApple reverses planned Hide My Email domain change after user pushbackStar Trek: Strange New GimmicksTed LassoSiloReacherThe WestiesThe Simpsons: Yellow Mirror | Exclusive Episode on Disney+ | TrailerThe Pitt Season 3 | Official Teaser | HBO MaxAmazon First ReadsI've Got a New Complaint: Essays on Aging Disgracefully and Other Small Disasters by Laurie NotaroThe Theory of Everything Else: A Voyage Into the World of the Weird – A Hilarious Handbook of Mind-Boggling Mysteries by Dan Schreiber (of the No Such Thing as Fish podcast)Welcome to Your Life: Love, Death & Tears For Fears – An Iconic Musician's Journey Through Grief, Addiction, and Recovery by Roland OrzabalPicks and Shovels: A Martin Hench Novel by Cory DoctorowThis Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-MohtarDave BittnerThe CyberWireHacking HumansCaveatOnly Malware in the BuildingLearn Circuits CourseArduino Starter Kit R4Kirby: Art & Style Collection by VIZ MediaStar Wars: The Lightsaber Collection by Daniel WallaceStar Wars: The Secrets of the Sith by Marc SumerakX-Shot Insanity Motorized Rage Fire Gatlin Gun with Tripod - Foam Gun for Maximum FirepowerMaster BlasterHow much of Hacker News is AI?Full Throttle full game playDolly and Miss PiggyDolly Parton, country star, actor and philanthropist, dies aged 80See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What really happens when you fall into a black hole? We explore event horizons, spaghettification, what you'd see inside, possible gateways, and why future civilizations might deliberately build around these cosmic engines.Get Nebula using my link for 50% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthurCheckout Otusider Aliens and our Alien Life Collection: https://nebula.tv/isaacarthur/alien-life-collection

What really happens when you fall into a black hole? We explore event horizons, spaghettification, what you'd see inside, possible gateways, and why future civilizations might deliberately build around these cosmic engines.Get Nebula using my link for 50% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthurCheckout Otusider Aliens and our Alien Life Collection: https://nebula.tv/isaacarthur/alien-life-collection

In this episode of The New CISO, host Steve Moore welcomes Sherri Douville for a conversation that sits outside the show's usual lane — less war story, more blueprint. Sherri works alongside CISOs rather than inside the role, and arrives with a pointed argument about what the job is becoming.She starts with why TTIC exists. IEEE UL 2933 gave healthcare a full-stack standard for clinical IoT device and data interoperability, but a standard on paper does nothing until it is adopted, implemented, and maintained. Getting there in a high-reliability industry means pulling in CIOs, CISOs, physicians, and engineers — and, Sherri admits, negotiating turf wars with bodies who assume you have come for their territory.Then the headline: how to make security cool. Sherri's answer starts with visibility — getting CISOs onto stages, onto podcasts, and into print in front of clinical leadership. Underneath it is a claim about trust. In healthcare, trust is the core of the business rather than an adjacent concern, which makes the CISO its natural steward. With AI pushing trust to the center of every industry, she argues that is the opening to become the rock star of the C-suite.Steve raises a banking CISO's framing of AI as a curious seven-year-old with a gun. Sherri pushes back on the spot: her analogy is the gifted teenager — capable, resource-hungry, and badly in need of direction. That leads to her real thesis. Scarce expertise used to carry economic value, and AI is rapidly compressing the worth of expert analysis. What appreciates instead is judgment, authority, execution, verification, organizational integration, and ownership of the outcome. Executives do not want more reports; they want the security problem to go away without adding coordination burden.The last stretch turns practical. Sherri walks through running Exabeam's open-source Praxen against Medigram's own code — painless to run, with remediation effort scaling to whatever standard you are chasing — and pairs it with Observra for continuous runtime telemetry. She closes on why it matters: when systems go down in a hospital, the real damage is not the outage hour but the fortnight of delays, miscommunications, and pile-up that follows for clinicians and patients.Key TopicsWhy standards bodies stall at adoption, not authorshipMaking security “cool”: visibility, stages, and executive presenceTrust as the core of the business in high-reliability industriesThe gifted teenager vs. the curious seven-year-old with a gunJudgment, authority, execution, verification, integration, ownershipSelective depth and the player-coach executiveRunning Praxen pre-deployment; Observra for runtime telemetryWhat a healthcare outage really costs, 14 to 20 days outGuest BioSherri Douville is CEO and Architect of Medigram and Founder and Chair of the Trustworthy Technology & Innovation Consortium (TTIC). She co-chairs the Trust subgroup of IEEE UL 2933 (TIPPSS), the standard for trust in clinical IoT. Medigram builds and operates Darwin, a governed AI decision platform whose agentic fleet runs in production and writes a sealed governance record at the moment of every agent action — an auditable trail for counsel, courts, insurers, and credit rating agencies. Sherri spent over a decade at Johnson & Johnson across a dozen disease states before physician leaders pulled her into healthcare IT and AI. She calls herself an accidental technologist: a domain expert who got into the code, logging 200 GitHub commits across June and July.GET A DEMO:

What does it take to bring a seabird back from the brink—and can we keep it there? We travel from a rocky island of Maine to a tiny restored island in coastal Louisiana to learn the astonishing comeback stories of two beloved birds, puffins and pelicans. This is a hopeful story about how innovative ideas can save wildlife — and asks whether that's enough in a rapidly changing world.CREDITSThis episode was reported by Katelyn Harrop and Michael McEwan and hosted by Executive Producer Carlyle Calhoun. Eve Abrams edited the pelicans story. The puffins story was edited by Carlyle Calhoun. The episode was fact-checked by Philip Kiefer with help from Shruti Gautam. Sound design by Rebecca Nolan and our theme music is by Jon Batiste. Sea Change is made possible with major support from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. WWNO's Coastal Desk is supported by the Walton Family Foundation, the Meraux Foundation, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation. 

DHH is the creator of Ruby on Rails, Omarchy Linux, CTO of 37signals, and a racecar driver. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep501-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/dhh-2-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback – give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring – join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other – other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: DHH’s X: https://x.com/dhh DHH’s Blog: https://world.hey.com/dhh Omarchy: https://omarchy.org Ruby on Rails: https://rubyonrails.org 37signals: https://37signals.com SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Wispr Flow: AI-powered voice dictation app. Go to https://wisprflow.ai/lex Blitzy: AI agent for large enterprise codebases. Go to https://blitzy.com/lex NetSuite: Business management software. Go to http://netsuite.ai/lex Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex Plaud: AI-powered note-taking devices and software. Go to https://plaud.ai/lex Higgsfield AI: AI-based video generation, filmmaking, and creative studio. Go to https://higgsfield.ai Perplexity: AI-powered answer engine. Go to https://perplexity.ai/ OUTLINE: (00:00) – Introduction (01:14) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (08:56) – Programming with AI agents (24:14) – How software will change (33:30) – AI impact on open source (43:21) – Building Omarchy Linux distro (53:05) – Vibe coding vs agentic engineering (1:06:06) – The end of manual programming (1:16:24) – Advice for programmers (1:28:31) – Surviving Internet Hate (1:37:46) – Programming setup for AI Agents (1:50:11) – Obsessing about speed (2:13:06) – Voice prompting vs typing (2:27:05) – Best AI coding models (2:43:55) – Best AI coding harnesses (2:56:57) – AI video generation and filmmaking (3:16:28) – Fatherhood (3:44:35) – Linux will win the desktop (3:55:51) – PewDiePie (4:05:25) – Future of programming (4:28:18) – Politics and immigration (4:59:55) – Longevity, over-optimization, and fear of death (5:11:38) – Eternal recurrence and future of human civization

After decades of development, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is preparing to launch. Once in orbit, Roman will conduct the widest surveys of the universe ever attempted, probing the nature of dark energy, discovering thousands of new exoplanets, and capturing images of billions of galaxies. In this episode, we sit down with Julie McEnery, senior project scientist for Roman at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and Jason Rhodes, project scientist for Roman at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to explore what the telescope will reveal and how scientists around the world will be able to access and work with its data. Plus, in What's Up, we look at Roman's coronagraph and what it will take for the Habitable Worlds Observatory to push that technology far enough to image Earth-like worlds around Sun-like stars. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-nancy-grace-romanSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recent research shows that between 40 and 60% of women either change or quit their sport due to bladder leaks. That's 100% too many in our book. So this week we sat down with Dr. Lauren Siff, a double board-certified urogynecologist to demystify one of women's health's most under-discussed issues: urinary leakage. We break down the differences between stress and urge incontinence, why athletes and active women are prone to leaking, and how the menopausal transition can worsen the situation through declining estrogen, shifting vaginal pH, and rising UTI risk. Dr. Siff walks us through the full range of solutions, from pelvic floor exercises and support devices to Botox, bladder stimulators, and the game-changing role of vaginal estrogen, plus how to know when it's time to seek care. Her message is loud and clear in this one: no matter how small or severe the symptoms, there's help available — and you never have to stop doing what you love.Dr. Siff is a double board-certified urogynecologist and Chief of Gynecology and Urogynecology for the Central Virginia VA Health Care System and Associate Professor at VCU School of Medicine and VCU Institute of Engineering. A dedicated innovator and surgical educator — with a Distinguished Educator certificate from the Cleveland Clinic and founder of SurgicalEd VR, which uses VR and haptic technology to improve the quality, safety, cost-effectiveness, and accessibility of surgical training. She also serves board and committee roles with the Society for Gynecologic Surgeons, American Urogynecologic Society, and American Association of GYN Laparoscopists. She is Central Virginia Site Lead for the National VA Women's Health Research Network, and chairman of the U.S. National Surgery Office's Surgical Advisory Board for GYN. Philanthropically, she directs surgeon training for Global Surgical Expedition, driven by a mission to democratize access to surgical training and vital surgical procedures worldwide.FeistyFit Info: https://livefeisty.com/training/running/feistyfitfall/Join us at Feisty Fest September 18-20, 2026: https://livefeisty.com/events/feisty-fest/Women's Mechanic Camp in Tucson: https://livefeisty.com/events/bike-mechanic-school-tucson/Courses and Coaching: https://livefeisty.com/courses/Sign up for our FREE Feisty 40+ newsletter: https://livefeisty.com/newsletters/feisty-40/Follow Us on Instagram:Feisty Menopause: @feistymenopauseHit Play Not Pause Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/807943973376099Support our Partners:Midi Health: You Deserve to Feel Great. Book your virtual visit today at https://www.joinmidi.com/Previnex: Get 15% off your order with code HITPLAY at https://www.previnex.com/ Wahoo: Use the code FEISTY2026 to get a free Headwind Smart Fan (value $300) with the purchase of a Wahoo KICKR RUN at https://shorturl.at/WVhdr

About this episode:   Accumulating research has linked nitrogen dioxide emissions from gas stoves to exacerbated respiratory issues. A recent study from Case Western Reserve University set out to conduct a large analysis of whether switching to electric stoves could improve breathing conditions, but funding was halted just as early results came in showing significantly improved asthma symptoms. In this episode: what this truncated study can tell us about air quality inside our homes and what's lost when public health research is canceled. Guest:  Ana Rule, PhD, MHS, is an associate professor of Environmental Health and Engineering. Host:  Stephanie Desmon, MA, is a former journalist, author, and the director of public relations and communications for the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs. Show links and related content:  Asthma Control Before and After Changing Gas Stoves to Electric Stoves—The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology The EPA halted a study on gas stoves and asthma. But even partial results were striking.—Washington Post Gas stoves might pose risks to both our planet and health—The Hub How States Can Better Regulate Indoor Air Quality—Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Transcript information: Looking for episode transcripts? Open our podcast on the Apple Podcasts app (desktop or mobile) or the Spotify mobile app to access an auto-generated transcript of any episode. Closed captioning is also available for every episode on our YouTube channel. Contact us: Have a question about something you heard? Looking for a transcript? Want to suggest a topic or guest? Contact us via email or visit our website. Follow us: @‌PublicHealthPod on Bluesky @‌PublicHealthPod on Instagram @‌JohnsHopkinsSPH on Facebook @‌PublicHealthOnCall on YouTube Here's our RSS feed Note: These podcasts are a conversation between the participants, and do not represent the position of Johns Hopkins University.

We discussed a few things including: 1. His career journey 2. His research 3. Innovation at Princeton 4. Trends, opps and challenges relating to research/tech transfer in academia 5. Outlook for 2026-2027 As vice dean for innovation, Craig B. Arnold leads the Office of Innovation and oversees the University's efforts to grow Princeton's culture of innovation across disciplines. The role aims to strengthen the University's capacity to engage with entrepreneurs, alumni, industry, technology investors and other potential partners. The vice dean for innovation works closely with offices across campus and within the Office of the Dean for Research, including Technology Licensing and New Ventures, and Strategic Partnerships and Engagement. Arnold is Princeton's Susan Dod Brown Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He leads a vibrant research program that ranges from basic science to applied technology aimed at developing a deeper understanding of materials synthesis and processing in areas including advanced manufacturing, energy storage and conversion, and optics and photonics. He served as the director of the Princeton Materials Institute from 2015 to 2022. In 2017, Arnold received an Edison Patent Award from the Research & Development Council of New Jersey for the creation of an adjustable lens that focuses light in response to sound waves. The tunable acoustic gradient (TAG) lens is now used in many industrial and research applications including robotics, machine vision, industrial metrology and ultra-high precision microscopy. Arnold holds 13 granted patents, and is the co-founder of two companies based on research conducted at Princeton. TAG Optics Inc. developed the TAG lens and was later acquired by a major precision instrument manufacturer. Invictis Technologies is working to create a safer and less painful automated intravenous injection device. Arnold is a preeminent researcher in the field of materials science; he and co-authors have published over 200 scientific papers and book chapters. He serves as a member of the National Research Council's National Materials and Manufacturing Board and is a fellow of the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) and the Optical Society of America. Arnold was named a Knight of Laser Technology (2018) by the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP)-Photonic Technologies. He has received a number of prominent industry awards for his technology including R&D World magazine's R&D 100 award, the SPIE Prism Award for Photonics Innovation, and Vision Systems Design magazine's Innovators Award. Arnold has received prestigious federal awards and grants, including the National Science Foundation CAREER Award and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Award. Recognized widely for his mentorship and teaching, Arnold has advised many undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. He has received the Princeton Undergraduate Engineering Council Teaching Award (2009, 2017 and 2022) and the School of Engineering and Applied Science Excellence in Teaching Award (2019 and 2021). Arnold is a member of the executive committee for Princeton's Entrepreneurship Certificate Program and the executive committee of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Arnold holds a Ph.D. in experimental condensed matter physics from Harvard University and a B.S. from Haverford College. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Naval Research Laboratory prior to joining the Princeton faculty in 2003. #podcast #AFewThingsPodcast

Once upon a time, there was a girl who soared and swooped through the sky. Her name is Thokozile Muwamba. In 2017, at age 24, Thokozile Muwamba broke barriers by becoming Zambia's first female fighter pilot. Today, she continues to soar through the sky and is also an outspoken advocate against cyberbullying. [This episode originally aired September 2021]. About the Narrator Refilwe Ledwaba is a social entrepreneur, an advocate of girl's education especially Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics (STEAM) education. She spent 10 years in the South African Police Services (SAPS) as a Helicopter Pilot, the first black woman to do so. She is also a qualified fixed-wing Pilot and Flight instructor ,a qualified Drone Pilot and currently training as a Drone Pilot instructor. She is passionate about youth development in Africa, particularly the empowerment of girls. She is the founder of Girls fly programme in Africa (GFPA) foundation, an information and educational STEAM programme for primary, high school and Post-school learners with a focus on aviation and space. The programme includes the use of design thinking, technology, and innovation to shape, empower, enable, and support the next generation of makers and problem solvers in the aviation and space industry in Africa while entrenching the spirit of Ubuntu.     Credits This podcast is a production of Rebel Girls and is based on the book series Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls. This episode was produced by Camille Stennis. Sound design and mixing by Mumble Media. This episode was written by Alexis Stratton and fact checked by Joe Rhatigan. Executive Producer was Katie Sprenger. Haley Dapkus was our Production Manager. Original theme music was composed and performed by Elettra Bargiacchi.  A big thanks to the whole Rebel Girls team who makes this show possible! For more, visit rebelgirls.com. And if you like what you heard, don't forget to rate and review this episode, and share it with your friends! Until next time, stay REBEL!

Industrial Talk is onsite at Octave Live and talking to Kristin Coyle, Product Manager, Engineering Analysis at Octave about "Using AI for Prototyping". The conversation promotes the Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress from November 3-5, 2023, emphasizing its importance for cybersecurity professionals. Scott Mackenzie hosts the Industrial Talk podcast, celebrating industry innovators. Kristin, a third-generation engineer, discusses her role at Octave, where she uses AI tools like Claude to prototype and improve software for pressure vessel analysis. She highlights the importance of human interaction in AI development, the need for real-time solvers, and the potential for AI to reduce rework and improve efficiency. Kristin also mentions her involvement in API 579 and ASME, underscoring her extensive industry experience. Outline Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress Announcement Scott introduces the Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress, emphasizing its importance for cybersecurity professionals.The event is scheduled for November 3-5 in Barcelona, with networking opportunities and expert discussions.Scott mentions their own participation and broadcasting at the event.Encourages listeners to mark their calendars and join the conference. Introduction to Industrial Talk Podcast Scott is described as a passionate industry professional focused on innovations and trends.Scott thanks listeners for joining the top industrial-related podcast.Highlights the achievements of industry professionals, calling them heroes for solving daily problems. Live Broadcast from Octave Live Scott announces the live broadcast from Octave Live, an event for a new company.Kristin is introduced as a key figure at Octave, leading innovation.Scott humorously mentions meeting Kristin in a bar, adding a light-hearted tone.Kristin shares her positive experience at the event, comparing it to Hexagon Live. Kristin's Background and Family Legacy Kristin shares her background, mentioning her family's engineering legacy.Her father was a top LNG expert, and her grandfather was a NASA rocket scientist.Kristin trained as a violinist with the Houston Symphony but chose engineering.Discusses her education at Drexel University in Philadelphia for material science. Kristin's Role at Octave and Innovation Kristin explains her role at Octave, focusing on customer needs and prototyping.Uses Claude, a chat-based AI tool, to prototype and demonstrate ideas to customers.Describes the process of creating prototypes and refining them based on customer feedback.Highlights the importance of real-time solvers and dashboards in their software. Challenges and Opportunities in AI Implementation Kristin discusses the challenges of training AI on customer data while protecting intellectual property.Emphasizes the need for continuous interaction with customers to avoid data drift.Mentions the importance of beta testing and gathering customer feedback.Highlights the potential for AI to reduce rework and improve efficiency. Impact of AI on Engineering and Collaboration Kristin talks about the transformative impact of AI on engineering tasks.Describes how AI can free up engineers' time for more creative and strategic work.Discusses the potential for real-time collaboration and better product development.Emphasizes the importance of human interaction in the AI development process. Future of AI and Industry Collaboration Kristin shares her vision for the future of AI in the industry.Highlights the need for continuous training and improvement of AI tools.Discusses the potential for AI to revolutionize various aspects of engineering and analysis.Emphasizes the importance of collaboration and communication in achieving these goals. Kristin's Contact Information and Final Thoughts Kristin provides her contact information for further discussions and collaboration.Scott encourages listeners to reach out to Kristin and engage with the industry.Highlights the importance of storytelling and sharing experiences in the industry.Concludes the podcast with a call to action for listeners to join the conversation and stay updated with industry trends. If interested in being on the Industrial Talk show, simply contact us and let's have a quick conversation. Finally, get your exclusive free access to the Industrial Academy and a series on “Why You Need To Podcast” for Greater Success in 2026. All links designed for keeping you current in this rapidly changing Industrial Market. Learn! Grow! Enjoy! KRISTIN COYLE'S CONTACT INFORMATION: Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristincoyle/ Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/octaveintelligence/ Company Website: https://www.octave.com/ PODCAST VIDEO: https://youtu.be/59Fsnon3V_A THE STRATEGIC REASON "WHY YOU NEED TO PODCAST": OTHER GREAT INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES: NEOM: https://www.neom.com/en-us Hexagon: https://hexagon.com/ Arduino: https://www.arduino.cc/ Fictiv: https://www.fictiv.com/ Hitachi Vantara: https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/home.html Industrial Marketing Solutions:  https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-marketing/ Industrial Academy: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-academy/ Industrial Dojo: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial_dojo/ We the 15: https://www.wethe15.org/ YOUR INDUSTRIAL DIGITAL TOOLBOX: LifterLMS: Get One Month Free for $1 – https://lifterlms.com/ Active Campaign: Active Campaign Link Social Jukebox: https://www.socialjukebox.com/ Business Beatitude the Book Do you desire a more joy-filled, deeply-enduring sense of accomplishment and success? 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How did prompt engineering die so quickly? ☠️And what the heck does context engineering even mean? One of the trickiest things about LLMs is they're changing daily, yet they're the engines that drive business results. But if the engine is constantly changing, then you also have to change how you drive and the roads you take. That's why we're tackling context engineering in this installment of our Start Here Series, the essential beginners guide to understanding AI basics and growing your skills. Context Engineering: How to Get Expert-Level Outputs From AI Chatbots -- An Everyday AI Chat with Jordan WilsonNewsletter: Sign up for our free daily newsletterMore on this Episode: Episode PageJoin the discussion on LinkedIn: Thoughts on this? Join the convo on LinkedIn and connect with other AI leaders.Upcoming Episodes: Check out the upcoming Everyday AI Livestream lineupWebsite: YourEverydayAI.comEmail The Show: info@youreverydayai.comConnect with Jordan on LinkedInTopics Covered in This Episode:Evolution from Prompt to Context EngineeringWhy Prompt Engineering Is Now ObsoleteDefining Context Engineering in AI ChatbotsSix-Part Framework for Context EngineeringFour Layer System for Structuring AI ContextBuilding Reusable Context Vaults and SkillsConnecting Business Data to AI ModelsTechniques to Achieve Expert-Level AI OutputsImportance of Context Windows in Large Language ModelsContext Engineering Best Practices and ScalabilityTimestamps:00:00 "Access AI Community & Tools"03:08 "Mastering Context in AI"07:23 "Smart Models Require Less Precision"12:01 "Context Engineering Beats Prompt Engineering"15:49 "AI Context: Six Key Blocks"16:47 "Building Context for Better Results"19:53 "AI: Training, Not Easy Button"25:17 "Chain of Thought Prompting Decline"29:11 "Show, Don't Tell Techniques"32:13 "Context, Reuse, and Scalable Systems"33:19 "AI Chatbots: Memory and Skills"Keywords: context engineering, AI chatbots, expert level outputs, prompt engineering, large language models, business context, AI models, custom instructions, data access, context window, prime prompt polish, reusable context vaults, context vaults, skills file, memory enabled models, ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, connectors, apps, searchable index, business data, personalized AI, context clues, reference material, examples, procedures, evaluation rubric, chain of thought prompting, generative AI, nondeterministic behavior, show don't tell technique, few shot examples, rubric first technique, grading criteria, output quality, scalable AI systems,Send Everyday AI and Jordan a text message. (We can't reply back unless you leave contact info)