“Spark: The Life of Electricity and the Electricity of Life” with Professor Timothy Jorgensen

Spark Book Review at Bridging the Gaps

When we think about electricity, we most often think of the energy that powers various devices and appliances around us, or perhaps we visualise the lightning-streaked clouds of a stormy sky. But there is more to electricity and “life at its essence is nothing if not electrical”. In this episode of Bridging the Gaps, I speak with Professor Timothy Jorgensen and we discuss his recent book “Spark: The Life of Electricity and the Electricity of Life ”. The book explains the science of electricity through the lenses of biology, medicine and history. It illustrates how our understanding of electricity and the neurological system evolved in parallel, using fascinating stories of scientists and personalities ranging from Benjamin Franklin to Elon Musk. It provides a fascinating look at electricity, how it works, and how it animates our lives from within and without.

We start by discussing the earliest known experiences that humans had with electricity using amber. Amber was most likely the first material with which humans attempted to harness electricity, mostly for medical purposes. Romans used non-static electricity from specific types of fish. Moving on to Benjamin Franklin, we discuss how he attempted to harner the power of electricity and we discuss the earliest forms of devices to store electric charge. We then discuss experiments conducted by Luigi Galvani on dead frogs and by his nephew on dead humans using electricity. As interest in electricity grew, many so-called treatemnts for ailments such as headaches, for bad thoughts and even for sexual difficulties also emerged that were based on the use of electricity; we discuss few interesting examples of such treatments. We then move on to reviewing the cutting edge use of electricity in medical science and discussed medial implants, artificial limbs and deep stimulation technologies and proposed machine-brain interfaces. This has been a fascinating discussion.

Complement this discussion by listening to he Spike: Journey of Electric Signals in Brain from Perception to Action with Professor Mark Humphries and then listen to On Public Communication of Science and Technology with Professor Bruce Lewenstein

By |March 17th, 2022|Artificial Intelligence, Biology, Future, Podcasts, Research|
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Asking Better Questions for Creative Problem Solving, Innovation and Effective Leadership with Hal Gregersen

Questions are the Answers discussed at Bridging the Gaps

Every problem or issue raises new questions, which must be correctly answered in order to address the problem or resolve the issue. What if we could get a better answer to our most troublesome problem—at work or at home—just by altering the question? If asking right questions is essential for creative problem solving and innovation, and for effective leadership, shouldn’t we know more about how to arrive at right questions? In his book “Questions Are the Answer: A Breakthrough Approach to Your Most Vexing Problems at Work and in Life” Hal Gregersen gives many examples of people who had used questions in specific ways to solve problems. He gives many examples of how managers have used questioning in a variety of ways to obtain better results and provides additional information sources on key topics for those who want to dig deeper. In this episode of Bridging the Gaps I speak with Hal Gregersen.

Hal Gregersen is a senior lecturer in leadership and innovation at MIT Sloan School of Management. He is a former executive director of the MIT Leadership Center and a cofounder of the Innovator’s DNA consulting group. He is a prolific author and a motivational speaker, and has helped leaders around the world to create cultures of fearless inquiry and to transform their organizations into innovative powerhouses. He is one of the authors of “The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators” a book cited by managers, creative problem-solvers and leaders around the world as a highly recommended read for anyone interested in innovation.

I open the discussion by asking Hal Gregersen about the evolving and ever changing landscape of leadership. We then discuss catalytic and recursive questions. How to learn to ask the right questions is essential for creative problem solving; we discuss this.

Innovator's DNA discussed at Bridging the Gaps

Although the primary focus of this discussion is on Gregersen’s book “Questions are Answer: A Breakthrough Approach to Your Most Vexing Problems at Work and in Life”, we do touch upon the book that he co-authored “The innovator’s DNA: Mastering the five skills of disruptive innovators”. I ask him to outline, compare and rate these five skills of disruptive innovators. We then discuss how leadership should evolve in this age of “working from home”. Finally I ask him for tips and suggestions for our young listeners and for future leaders; what skills they should acquire so that they are ready to meet future challenges. This has been a fascinating and highly informative discussion.

Complement this discussion with Growth Mindset: A Must Have Tool for Success with Professor Carol Dweck and then listen to Multiple Intelligences, Future Minds and Educating The App Generation: A discussion with Dr Howard Gardner

By |February 27th, 2022|Future, Knowledge, Podcasts|
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On Public Communication of Science and Technology with Professor Bruce Lewenstein

From the museums of the fifteenth century, to the public lectures of Michael Faraday in the nineteenth century, and to various science fairs & festivals of the twenty-first century, public engagement of science has evolved immensely. Public engagement of science in this age of hyper connectivity is “a multidimensional and multi-directional activity”. In this episode of Bridging the Gaps I speak with professor Bruce Lewenstien, a widely-known authority on public communication of science and technology.

Bruce Lewenstein is a professor of science communication at Cornell University. He has done extensive work on how science and technology are reported to the public and how the public understands complex and sometimes contested scientific issues. He studies and documents the ways that public communication of science is fundamental to the process of producing reliable knowledge about the natural world.

We begin by discussing the “multidimensional” and “multidirectional” nature of science communication. We then focus on the evolution of science communication from the early days of science to present time. We touch upon the huge impact on the public understanding of science that few books published in the mid-twentieth century had. We discuss in detail documentaries such as “The Ascent of Man” and “Cosmos” and the emergence of the phenomenon of “celebrity scientists”. The effectiveness of science communication in the age of information overload and in the age of misinformation and disinformation is an important topic that we discuss. We then discuss the challenges faced by the process of science communication and the societal challenges that effective science communication can help us to deal with.

Complement this discussion with A Passion for Ignorance” and for Denials and Negations with Professor Renata Salecl and then listen to “Philosophy of Information” and “Ethics of Information”.

By |February 12th, 2022|History, Information, Knowledge, Podcasts, Research, Technology|
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