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Sciencetown

Sciencetown

36 episodes

3 months ago

A podcast about the people, ideas and innovations that make KAUST the most unique research community on the planet. Each episode is a deep dive into cutting-edge tech, science and startup culture through the eyes of pioneering men and women. For more information visit sciencetown.kaust.edu.sa

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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All content for Sciencetown is the property of Sciencetown and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

A podcast about the people, ideas and innovations that make KAUST the most unique research community on the planet. Each episode is a deep dive into cutting-edge tech, science and startup culture through the eyes of pioneering men and women. For more information visit sciencetown.kaust.edu.sa

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Show more...

Episodes (20/36)

Sciencetown

25. Wastewater Solutions

In this final episode of the three-part Sciencetown series on innovative portable technologies, Julie West chats with Dr. Pascal Saikaly, a professor of environmental science and engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) with expertise in wastewater treatment and water reuse. Pascal discusses innovative wastewater treatment approaches being used to produce clean water for non-potable applications such as irrigation and horticulture, including a recently installed portable pilot plant designed to provide reliable access to sanitation for rural and remote areas of Saudi Arabia at significantly reduced energy and operational costs.

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2 years ago

22 minutes 21 seconds

Sciencetown

24. Cryogenic carbon capture

In this second episode of the three-part Sciencetown series on innovative portable technologies, Julie West chats with William Roberts, a professor of mechanical engineering at KAUST, and the director of the Clean Combustion Research Center. Bill discusses his work developing and deploying cryogenic carbon capture technologies to mitigate pollutants, including portable units designed to capture emissions from ships. He explains why carbon capture and storage are not only viable, efficient and economical climate solutions, but also essential to the energy transition.

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2 years ago

22 minutes 2 seconds

Sciencetown

23. Portable biosensing technologies

Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology are developing innovative portable technologies across scales and disciplines with applications in fields such as healthcare, carbon capture, water treatment, environmental monitoring and reef restoration. Sciencetown delves into examples of some these technologies and their benefits in a three-part podcast series. In this first interview, Episode 23, Dana Al-Sulaiman, an assistant professor of material science and engineering, introduces us to portable biosensing devices, and explains why they are a novel way to detect cancer, and help physicians and clinicians choose the most effective treatments for patients.

PDF English translation

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2 years ago

18 minutes 31 seconds

Sciencetown

22. Algae — a metabolic treasure trove

Algae are a metabolic treasure trove. The ancient hybrid organisms, which come in various forms of seaweed and microalgae, bring incredible potential to source different products for high-value applications across multiple technology realms, including animal feed, crop fertilizers, carbon reuse, waste remediation, packaging plastics and medicines. This episode features two algal experts at KAUST in conversation about their projects. Claudio Grunewald directs the Development of Algal Biotechnology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Project, a pilot infrastructure for benchmarking and producing high-protein algae for agriculture at scales to feed animals such as fish and poultry. Dr. Kyle Lauersen is an assistant professor in the Biological and Science Engineering Division, bringing expertise in algal synthetic biology and metabolic engineering.

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3 years ago

40 minutes 8 seconds

Sciencetown

21. Edama & Natufia — agritech solutions

Two KAUST agritech startups are bringing innovative food production technologies to communities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other global locations. Edama is an organic waste recycling facility that provides desert agriculture solutions. Natufia has developed the world's first smart indoor kitchen garden.

In episode 21 of Sciencetown, Mitchell Morton of Edama and Gregory Lu of Natufia talk about sustainable food solutions for communities and homes, and also space (@21:31). The startups joined forces to compete in the first phase of NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge in 2021, and were among 10 international winners recognized for their low-maintenance, closed-loop food production ecosystem.

Enjoy the conversation.

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3 years ago

38 minutes 27 seconds

Sciencetown

20. Jack Dongarra on supercomputing, connections with KAUST

Each year computer scientists at KAUST engage with peers at the annual SC conference, the largest supercomputing event of its kind in the world. Long-time friend to KAUST Jack Dongarra is a familiar face there. The veteran computer scientist and Top500 list producer was recently awarded the 2022 Turing Award, considered to be “the Noble Prize of Computing,” for contributions that have significantly shaped the field.

Jack has also influenced HPC developments at KAUST. In this profile, recorded at SC21 in St. Louis, he talks about connections made here and throughout his career in conversation with KAUST computer scientists Hatem Ltaief and Bilel Hadri, his former postdoctoral students, and David Keyes, KAUST founding faculty member and Director of the Extreme Computing Research Center.

Jack retires this summer after 32-years of service as a professor at the University of Tennessee.

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3 years ago

35 minutes 14 seconds

Sciencetown

19. Probiotics for corals

Episode 19 explores the promising health benefits of probiotics — not for humans, but for corals. As more coral reefs around the world suffer from bleaching and mass mortality due to warming ocean temperatures and related climate change conditions, good news about reefs is welcome news. A new study led by marine biologists at KAUST shows probiotics to be helpful protagonists in boosting coral health and preventing mortality in the face of environmental stressors.

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3 years ago

38 minutes 5 seconds

Sciencetown

18. The incredible symbiotic kingdom Fungi

Fungal life, while intimately linked to our own, is not well understood. In this episode we speak with Merlin Sheldrake, author of Entangled Life, and two KAUST researchers about the fascinating world of fungi, the role these living networks play in symbiosis with other organisms, and how their properties are being put to some very practical uses in medicine, agriculture, environmental cleanup, and even the rescue of honeybees. Enjoy.

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3 years ago

42 minutes 45 seconds

Sciencetown

17. The Anthropocene soundscape

The global ocean covers over 70% of our blue planet and yet we know vanishingly little about what lies below the surface. This was brought home recently in a paper published in the journal Science about the soundscape of the Anthropocene. Human activity has disrupted the way the ocean normally sounds with both silent and deadly implications. In this episode we talk to the artists, researchers and advocates who are trying to preserve the natural cacophony of our ocean, to protect biodiversity, and ultimately to save humanity from its noisy self.

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4 years ago

56 minutes 42 seconds

Sciencetown

Paula Moraga on modeling epidemics

Paula Moraga talks to us about the use of data analysis and modeling to better understand communicable disease. Moraga is an assistant professor of statistics at KAUST and the principal investigator of the Geospatial Statistics and Health Surveillance Research Group.

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4 years ago

21 minutes 39 seconds

Sciencetown

Mohamed-Slim Alouini on 6G

Mohamed-Slim Alouini is a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering at KAUST. Alouini joined Ben Stevens to talk about how wireless connectivity might well be the way to speed attainment of United Nations sustainable development goals.

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4 years ago

34 minutes 4 seconds

Sciencetown

Exploring the brain with Carl Petersen

How do we know, what we know, about the human brain? We talk to Carl Petersen to find out. He’s the director of the Brain Mind Institute at EPFL. Petersen joined Ben Stevens to talk about how we know, what it is we know, about connections, in the brain.

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4 years ago

29 minutes 24 seconds

Sciencetown

16. Low-carbon transport

Transportation is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, so how do we clean up the way we move people and stuff around the planet? In this episode we dig into some of the science and the solutions that aim to make global transportation far less ecologically damaging.

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5 years ago

36 minutes 7 seconds

Sciencetown

15. BRUVS watching reef sharks

In early 2020, researchers from around the world wrapped up the biggest shark counting exercise ever undertaken. The result: Some reefs continue to sustain large populations of apex predators, while others have lost them entirely. In this episode we speak with the people most in-the-know about global reef shark populations, and what these canaries in the coal mine might be telling us about the state of our global oceans.

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5 years ago

48 minutes 47 seconds

Sciencetown

14. Geothermal energy can power your home and save the planet

Geothermal is a sustainable, abundant, and largely untapped energy resource. Around the world, countries are turning to this fascinating and perhaps less well known form of energy to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. In this episode we sit down with some of the world’s leading experts on geothermal to hear about what solutions it has to offer humanity in the age of global climate change.

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5 years ago

33 minutes 47 seconds

Sciencetown

13. 6G is coming, and here’s how it will change your life

A team of global researchers is working to connect the 4 billion people around the world who remain unconnected. It's a topic that has come into harsh relief with the global COVID-19 pandemic. We discuss the future of connectedness and how it could lead to essential advancements in telemedicine, remote work, autonomous vehicles, the sustainable management of our global resources, and so much more.

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5 years ago

34 minutes 29 seconds

Sciencetown

12. Maiden mission to Red Sea floor reveals surprising findings

Victor Vescovo is famous for traveling the greatest vertical distance possible without leaving earth, having summited Mount Everest and dove to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. In February, his craft, the DSSV Pressure Drop anchored in the Red Sea about 100 Kilometers North of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to commence a series of dives in collaboration with KAUST researchers. We went aboard to hear from Victor and his team about their work and the strangest things they have seen on the ocean floor.

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5 years ago

37 minutes 59 seconds

Sciencetown

11. Collecting coronavirus samples in Saudi Arabia is harder than you think

Scientists are racing to understand the mechanisms of transmission, the most effective testing methods, and how we can all cope with the COVID-19 crisis. In this episode, we talk to a Saudi doctoral student about the highs and lows of sample collection, and we get an insider’s look into the AI that just might give clinicians a leg up in the fight against COVID-19.

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5 years ago

30 minutes 13 seconds

Sciencetown

10. Where will the coronavirus strike next? Ask an ocean wave

The SARS-CoV-2 virus has transited the globe causing both disruption and calls to action for scientists and the institutions they work in. We reached out to some of the mathematicians, geneticists and computer scientists putting their skills to work to help solve the COVID-19 crisis. In this episode, we explore science in quarantine and the things smart people get up to when the lab is closed and global science is called to action.

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5 years ago

21 minutes 13 seconds

Sciencetown

9. How gene editing could save your life—or blow up evolution

Cheap, rapid genetic sequencing, big data, and supercomputing is opening up new possibilities for medicine at the individual level. But rapid advancements in CRISPR, cyborgism, biohacking and more have raised safety concerns and ethical quandaries about who has the right to push the envelope and who does not.

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5 years ago

53 minutes 20 seconds