Open Transcripts

ASU KEDtalks: Designing Earth’s Future

presented by Ariel Anbar

Geologists are trying to recognize the magnitude of this change by giving our epoch a special name: “the Anthropocene,” the age of humans. Some people find this depressing because they think that the Anthropocene is inevitably a bad thing. But it’s not. Because we aren’t bacteria. Those brains that give us the ability to harness energy also give us the ability to shape the way the planet is transformed. We can design our future.

ASU KEDtalks: What Soap Leaves Behind

presented by Rolf Halden

We have an omnipresence of antimicrobial chemicals. We cannot escape them anymore. They are in our water, in our air, in our soil, in our food. They are in the wildlife and they are in us. But ironically, they are much more effective in killing things other than microorganisms.

ASU KEDtalks: What Your Poop Says About Your Health

presented by Meli'sa Crawford

The gut microbiome is associated with many metabolic and gastrointestinal diseases, like obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and inflammatory bowel disease. 60 to 70 million people are affected by digestive disorders, and over 97 billion prescriptions are written annually to treat these debilitating illnesses. But a poor diet is the most important factor that can determine whether you get metabolic and gastrointestinal diseases.

ASU KEDtalks: Journey to a Metal World

presented by Lindy Elkins-Tanton

We think Psyche is the metal core of a small planet that was destroyed in the high-energy, high-speed first one one-hundredth of the solar system’s time. It is the only way that humankind can ever visit a metal core, because Psyche is the only body like it in the solar system, and we can never go to the Earth’s core.

ASU KEDtalks: Charting a Course for Colorado River Water

presented by Dave White

The story of running Lava Falls is the story of the Colorado River in the American West today. Right now, we are in those relatively calm waters above the rapids, enjoying the beautiful canyon scenery. But, now we begin to hear the ominous roar. In the American West we face challenges managing the Colorado River.

ASU KEDtalks: Hunting for Hydrogen, a Moonshot

presented by Craig Hardgrove

We’re sending LunaH-Map to the moon to sniff out just how much hydrogen is beneath the surface. And we’re looking for hydrogen because it’s a key component of water. Water is geologically interesting on the moon. How did it get there? It’s also important for future human exploration, since it could be used as fuel.

ASU KEDtalks: Water, a Pricing Paradox

presented by Michael Hannemann

Water is a difficult commodity. It is free, and yet costly. It is simultaneously a private good, and a public good. It helps cities flourish financially, but now it is their financial burden. Almost nobody pays for the water per se. The cost of water is the cost of making it available at the right time, in the right place, and with the right quality.

ASU KEDtalks: Unearthing the Secrets of Magma

presented by Christy Till

When you think of magma chambers you probably think of red hot boiling goo. But actually we as scientists have learned that that’s not a very good model.

Humans as Software Extensions

presented by Sebastian Schmieg

What is this condition? I would summarize it as people extending computational systems by offering their bodies, their senses, and their cognition. And specifically, bodies and minds that can be easily plugged in and later easily be discarded. So bodies and minds algorithmically managed and under the permanent pressure of constant availability, efficiency, and perpetual self-optimization.

Liberalism in the Anthropocene

presented by Michael Ignatieff

This emerging narrative of catastrophe is putting enormous pressure on all our political beliefs. Now there’s still some conservative parties, some US Republicans for example, who deny the basic facts, but we can be pretty sure I think that any politics that denies the facts doesn’t have much of a future.