Caption: Sensor Sensibility, Credit: Seth Shostak
Image by: Seth Shostak 
Sensor Sensibility 

Sensor Sensibility

Series: Big Picture Science
From: Big Picture Science
Length: 00:54:00

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“Ubiquitous sensing” aims to blanket the world in tiny sensors, the out-of-this world detection system that discovered a possibly Earth-like planet, and the case for a smell-o-meter. Read the full description.

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Have you lost your senses? You’ll find them everywhere you look. Sensors respond to external stimuli – light, sound, temperature and much else – to help us make sense (ha!) of our universe. And more are on their way. “Ubiquitous sensing” is the term that describes a world blanketed by tiny sensors: on bridges, in paint and medicine bottles, and even in our brains!

Discover where you’ll find sensors next. And, has the world’s largest detection device found the elusive particle that will help explain the universe? Where are you, Higgsy-wiggsy?

Also, out-of-this world sensors have detected a possibly Earth-like planet. What’s next for the Kepler planet-hunters?

Plus, DIY sensor kits, and, if computers can do all that, why can’t we send the odor of, say, freshly-baked bread over the Internet? The case for a smell-o-meter.

Guests:

   Frank Close – Physicist at Oxford University, author of The Infinity Puzzle: Quantum Field Theory and the Hunt for an Orderly Universe

   Jan Rabaey – Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS), University of California, Berkeley

   Barry Shell – Writer in Vancouver, Canada

   Andy Huntington – Interaction designer, based in London

   Sara Seager – Professor of planetary science and physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Planet hunters – Daryll LaCourse and Tom Jacobs, citizen scientists with Planet Hunters

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Piece Description

Have you lost your senses? You’ll find them everywhere you look. Sensors respond to external stimuli – light, sound, temperature and much else – to help us make sense (ha!) of our universe. And more are on their way. “Ubiquitous sensing” is the term that describes a world blanketed by tiny sensors: on bridges, in paint and medicine bottles, and even in our brains!

Discover where you’ll find sensors next. And, has the world’s largest detection device found the elusive particle that will help explain the universe? Where are you, Higgsy-wiggsy?

Also, out-of-this world sensors have detected a possibly Earth-like planet. What’s next for the Kepler planet-hunters?

Plus, DIY sensor kits, and, if computers can do all that, why can’t we send the odor of, say, freshly-baked bread over the Internet? The case for a smell-o-meter.

Guests:

   Frank Close – Physicist at Oxford University, author of The Infinity Puzzle: Quantum Field Theory and the Hunt for an Orderly Universe

   Jan Rabaey – Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS), University of California, Berkeley

   Barry Shell – Writer in Vancouver, Canada

   Andy Huntington – Interaction designer, based in London

   Sara Seager – Professor of planetary science and physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Planet hunters – Daryll LaCourse and Tom Jacobs, citizen scientists with Planet Hunters

Broadcast History

new episode

Additional Files

Additional Credits

Seth Shostak - Host and Producer
Molly Bentley - Co-Host and Executive Producer
Gary Niederhoff - Producer
Barbara Vance - Production Assistant
Jay Weiler - Volunteer

Related Website

http://radio.seti.org