Deadly Asteroids, End of Life Care, Teaching Robots

NASA Practicing Techniques for Countering Deadly Asteroids (0:40) Guest: Richard Binzel, PhD, Professor of Planetary Science, MIT In early August, NASA put out a startling press release announcing that an asteroid the size of a football field had just barely missed colliding with Earth. All of NASA’s monitoring systems had failed to notice the asteroid was coming. If it had hit us, it would have obliterated everything within 50 miles of the impact, says NASA. Coincidentally, NASA held a Planetary Defense Conference a few months earlier to plan for just that kind of scenario. They ran a simulation in which scientists launched six imaginary spacecraft at the imaginary asteroid, hoping to knock it off course. But instead, a chunk split off the asteroid and ended up destroying half of Manhattan. MIT planetary scientist Richard Binzel participated in the practice run of NASA’s plan to protect us from an asteroid strike. (Originally aired June 18, 2019) Dealing with Dementia (16:19) Guest: Anne Kenny, MD, Professor Emerita, University of Connecticut Health Center. Author of “Making Tough Decisions about End-of-Life Care in Dementia” Dementia diagnoses hit 500,000 Americans a year –but that number is only the beginning. There are usually several family members who suffer alongside the dementia patient, and it is no easy task for them to get through the experience with their sanity and relationships intact. Anyone embarking on that journey could use a guide. (Originally aired November 21, 2018) Training Robots Just Like We Train (39:29) Guest: Matthew E. Taylor, assistant professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Washington State University In the not-too-distant future, when robots are cooking our meals and cleaning our houses, how do you suppose we’ll train them to do things the way we like them? To add that extra dash of spices right at the end? Or tuck the bed sheet corners in the way we like them? Goodness knows I’ve struggled to get my smart phone set up just the way I like it. . . I can onl