Info

Sci on the Fly

Sci on the Fly brings you experts who work at the intersection of science and public policy. Run by AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellows – scientists and engineers passionate about policy – this podcast brings current issues to a general audience through lively and illuminating discussions. Read the companion blog at www.aaaspolicyfellowships.org/blog.
RSS Feed Subscribe in Apple Podcasts
Sci on the Fly
2024
February


2023
December
August
July
May
April
March
February
January


2022
December
November
September
August
June
April
January


2021
December
October
August
July
June
May
April
March


2020
November
October
September
August
May
March


2019
August
July
June
April


2018
October
August
July
June
May
April
March


2017
November
October
August
June
April
February


2016
November
October
August
May


Categories

All Episodes
Archives
Categories
Now displaying: Category: science
Apr 7, 2021

In this two-part episode, Dr. nature McGinn talks about how the AAAS Science & Technology Policy fellowship helped to give her skills and open doors for a permanent job in federal government and the work she does in her current position to help safeguard the environment and species in the world's last true wilderness area - Antarctica.

This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.

Mar 23, 2021

Dr. Nature McGinn is currently the Environmental Policy Program Manager and Antarctic Conservation Act Permit Officer in the Office of Polar Programs at the National Science Foundation. Nature has been at NSF for over eight years, with her first two years as an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow (STPF) in the Office of Polar Programs, before entering a permanent position in the agency as an Environmental Policy Specialist in 2015. Nature earned her Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology from the University of California, Davis. The focus of her research was the impacts of environmental and anthropogenic stressors on reproduction and development in marine invertebrates. She followed her Ph.D. with a postdoc focusing on the reproductive biology of the endangered white abalone.  

In this two-part episode she talks about how the STPF fellowship helped to give her skills and open doors for a permanent job in federal government, and the work she does in her current position to help safeguard the environment and species in the world’s last true wilderness area – Antarctica.  

Mar 16, 2021

With so many children currently attending school virtually on laptops, tablets and other smart devices, there is concern about how the extended use of these devices affects them. While much attention has been given to the cognitive effects of extended device usage, Dr. Regina Pope-Ford has instead investigated the physical effects. In this episode, Dr. Pope-Ford, an expert in human factors and ergonomics, discusses her study of children’s comfort while using smart devices. She also discussed signs of bad posture that could lead to enduring pain, ways to correct the posture, and some things that parents and educators can keep in mind as schools continue to educate virtually. You can read her paper here
 
Host: Philip Ko, Ph.D., 2019-2021 Executive Branch Fellow, National Science Foundation (Twitter: @PhilKo19) 

Guest: Regina Pope-Ford, Ph.D., 2019-2021 Executive Branch Fellow, National Science Foundation 

Producer & Executive Producer:  
Philip Ko, Ph.D., 2019-2021 Executive Branch Fellow, National Science Foundation (Twitter: @PhilKo19) 

This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.

Mar 31, 2020

Hundreds of thousands of people across the world have developed coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19, a respiratory syndrome caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2. In this episode, STPF fellow Dr. Vince Tedjasaputra provides some important facts about the virus and the disease. Much of the information comes from a document called “How to fight the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and its disease COVID-19” by Dr. Michael Z. Lin, a biochemist at Stanford School of Medicine’s Department of Neurobiology. Dr. Lin’s document lists basic facts about the coronavirus, its rate of infection, who is most at risk, and what we can do now to slow the spread of the virus. Dr. Tedjasaputra also provides personal tips on how to manage stress during this time.

 

This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.

Mar 6, 2020

In this episode of the Sci on the Fly podcast, Terrence Mosley, an engineer and AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the Department of Energy, speaks to Sam Rashkin, Chief Architect within the Building Technologies Office at DOE. Mr. Rashkin has been a long-time advocate for energy efficiency, sustainability, and resilience within the housing industry. He created the Zero Energy Ready Home program, received the prestigious Hanley Award for Vision and Leadership, and is the author of “Retooling the U.S. Housing Industry: How It Got Here, Why It’s Broken, and How to Fix It.” In this interview, Mr. Rashkin discusses the DOE Zero Energy Ready Homes program, his strategies for transforming the new homebuyer consumer experience, and the need for ultimately disrupting the housing industry.

This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.

Apr 19, 2019

The Department of Defense (DoD) shares a symbiotic relationship with the U.S. research ecosystem -- one that has generated tremendous breakthroughs for national security and economic prosperity. However, many people assume defense research is all tanks, ships and planes. In this episode, David Stout, a 2017-18 AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the National Science Foundation, catches up with speakers at the 2018 DoD Science, Technology, and Innovation Exchange (STIX) to learn more about the surprising breadth and depth of the work supported by the Defense enterprise.

This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.

Oct 5, 2018

Advances in drug development and neurotechnology over the last century have noticeably increased our ability to target cognitive-behavioral networks and help those with physical disabilities. These and future advances could potentially provide a pathway by which to use drugs and/or devices to consistently enhance human cognition and behavior, rather than just treat or manage the symptoms of medical conditions. Currently, several prescription medications are being taken by the general public solely for their cognitive enhancing effects, and do-it-yourselfers are making neurostimulation devices at home in attempts to modulate the functioning of their own brains. In this Sci on the Fly episode we
discuss cognitive enhancement from a neuroethics perspective with Dr. Veljko Dubljevic, from NC State University. Dr. Dubljevic provides some valuable insight regarding the pros and cons of cognitive enhancement and the role of neuroethicists in informing the public debate on this issue.


Participants


Host: Carlos Faraco, Ph.D., Neuroscience
2016-18 Executive Branch Fellow, National Institute of Justice

Guest: Veljko Dubljevic, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, NC State University

Director and Executive Producer: Carlos Faraco, Ph.D., Neuroscience

Aug 15, 2018

Bradley Cooke, a neuroscientist and current AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the National Science Foundation, speaks with Benjamin Munson, professor of speech and hearing science at the University of Minnesota, College of Liberal Arts. They discuss language acquisition and speech patterns in children, and how that may differ based on gender identity, group identity and social cognition. They also discuss variations across children with respect to how their speech adheres to norms for their biological sex. For example, is the extent to which a boy’s speech sounds boy-like related to measures of their gender identity?

 

This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.
Read more at http://aaasstpf.libsyn.com/harnessing-the-data-revolution-for-food-energy-and-water-systems#VLP7eG3ALyHWdxpl.99

Aug 15, 2018

Ryan Locicero, environmental engineer and AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the National Science Foundation, speaks with Ranveer Chandra at the Microsoft Research Lab. As a principal researcher, Chandra leads an Incubation on IoT Applications. His research has shipped as part of multiple Microsoft products, including VirtualWiFi in Windows 7 onwards, low power Wi-Fi in Windows 8, Energy Profiler in Visual Studio, Software Defined Batteries in Windows 10, and the Wireless Controller Protocol in XBOX One. He has published more than 80 papers, and has been granted more than 85 patents by the USPTO. His research has been cited by the media including The Economist, MIT Technology Review, BBC, Scientific American, New York Times, and the WSJ. He also leads the battery research project and the white space networking projects. Here he discusses Microsoft’s FarmBeats project, which is building several unique solutions to enable data-driven farming, including low-cost sensors, drones, machine vision, and machine learning algorithms.

 

This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.

Jul 16, 2018
In this episode Dr. Holly Summers, a plant biologist and current AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the US Department of Agriculture speaks further with Dr. Mónica Feliú-Mójer. Dr. Feliú-Mójer is a neurobiologist by training and Director of Communications and Science Outreach at Ciencia Puerto Rico, and associate director for diversity and communication training at iBiology. Here she will discuss key events in her life that drove her to pursue a career in science and to further seek out an opportunity with Ciencia Puerto Rico. Dr. Feliú-Mójer will also discuss how empowering people through the scientific method and the use of critical thinking skills can help to create agents of change, which can dramatically impact how communities effectively deal with local problems.
 
This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.
Jun 29, 2018

Dr. Zack Valdez, a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow in the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee with a background in engineering and geoscience, interviews Ortwinn Renn. Professor Renn is scientific director at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam (Germany), and serves as the spokesperson for the Kopernikus Project for the Energy Transition Navigation System, also known as ENavi. He discusses how Germany is attempting to reduce dependence on traditional fossil fuels by developing a sustainable and renewable energy infrastructure to account for 80% of Germany’s energy needs. Within this framework, Professor Renn explores social and economic factors relating to energy security, consumer preferences, and the use of digital technologies to more effectively manage energy consumption.

« Previous 1 2 3 Next »