The nervous system is fundamentally electric. When we move our arm, it moves because a electric signal has been sent to the muscle that controls it. Now, because the brain is electric, we could also use electricity to record what the brain is doing or bypass it entirely, and control a body. That means that we could restore movement to people who are paralyzed, feel through an artificial hand as if it was our own, and even read people's minds. Michael Stevens explores how electricity can be used to move cockroaches, control other peoples' limbs and even read peoples' thoughts.
We all come from the same place, a moment when a dead rock came to life. Discover the story of how and why life began on Earth, and what makes our planet different from the others.
Foo Fighters prepare to record at the Austin City Limits Studio, with blues guitarist Gary Clark, Jr. In this episode is examined the roots of Austin's music scene, with interviews featuring Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top, and Roky Erickson from 13th Floor Elevators, who is considered one of the American fathers of psychedelic rock. Dave also chats with Terry Lickona, the executive producer of Austin City Limits. The song 'What Did I Do? / God As My Witness' is recorded during this chapter.
Scientists around the world are asking themselves the same questions. Over the decades the focus on dolphin research has changed from asking 'how intelligent are dolphins?' to 'how are dolphins intelligent?' and we look at research from the world's foremost dolphin experts for the answers.
Genetic breakthroughs have shed light on how life evolves in real-time. From filling in the missing links to creating a new species, in the last 50 years scientists have solved some of the biggest mysteries of evolution. In this episode, we look at revolutionary discoveries that shook the world and may shape our future.
More than 90% of all crashes have a human driver as the cause. So if you want to solve traffic fatalities, the best solution is driverless vehicles. It's an ambitious goal, but only possible because of the recent breakthroughs in deep learning. Artificial intelligence is one of those key pieces that has made it possible now to do driverless cars where it wasn't possible ten years ago. For computers, until very, very recently, to do even the most basic visual tasks, like seeing a picture of a person and knowing that it's a person was remarkably hard. That's obviously fundamental to being able to understand the world around you with the sensors that you have. And we've made also gigantic strides in being able to perform complex tasks.
Michael Stevens explores how electricity can be used to move cockroaches, control other peoples' limbs and even read peoples' thoughts.