Category Archives: Health

Learning to Chat Again, and Psychedelics for Mental Health

Posted on May 7, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Hello! Hope you are safe and healthy. Cathi Bond and Nora Young connect over video chat for another ep.

Nora talks about this great Guardian article by Rhik Samadder on how we've lost the art of small talk in our socially isolated pods, and why the pandemic-imposed isolation has just sped up our tech-driven communication problems.

Cathi talks about this article on the therapeutic uses for psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, in treating depression. 

Thanks for listening, and be well!

 

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Trends in Quieter Cities and Pro Sports

Posted on September 13, 2020 by | Leave a comment
Cathi Bond and Nora Young are back in Nora's COVID-compliant backyard with looonnng mic cables! This time, Nora talks about this Scientific American article on research into noise cancelling tech for bigger spaces, so you can open the windows (amen!) in urban environments and still have peace and quiet. Meanwhile, Cathi talks about speculation that Major League Baseball will use drones to police mask wearing in the stands, if/when fans are allowed in the stands again (via Gizmodo).   [iframe style="border:none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/15990068/height/100/width/480/thumbnail/no/render-playlist/no/theme/standard/tdest_id/237069" height="100" width="480" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen] Download MP3

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Robotic Health Care and AI Musicians

Posted on June 15, 2020 by | Leave a comment
This time on our remote podcast, Cathi Bond talks about Boston Dynamics' work to bring robotics into front line health care. Nora Young talks about Jukebox, Open AI's neural net that aims to create pop songs in the style of popular artists. She also mentions Spark's coverage of the impact of Spotify on music. [iframe style="border:none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/14816423/height/100/width/480/thumbnail/no/render-playlist/no/theme/standard/tdest_id/237069" height="100" width="480" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen] Download MP3

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Posted in Artificial Intelligence, Health, Robotics

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Innovation in a Pandemic

Posted on May 24, 2020 by | Leave a comment
Hi all, Nora here. Hope you're faring as well as possible in the circumstances. Cathi and I have been missing our Sniffer sessions, so we decided to record remotely, with Cathi recording herself in the country, and me recording myself at home in Toronto. This time, we look at some examples of the amazing speed of innovation in the midst of the pandemic, and how some people are re-imagining innovations to respond to the crisis we find ourselves in. We look at research into a washable fabric that repels liquid, for potential use in PPE, and an idea for an antimicrobial coating for high touch surfaces.  Cathi talks about innovation from a friend's company, Signifi, which is launching a plan to make disinfectant lockers for workplaces. How are you faring through all this? Are there aspects you're finding particularly tough, or maybe things you're learning that you want to take into your future life? Let us know in the comments. [iframe style="border:none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/14546885/height/100/width/480/thumbnail/no/render-playlist/no/theme/standard/tdest_id/237069" height="100" width="480" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen] Download MP3

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Stress-Busting 2020 and Smart Glasses

Posted on January 20, 2020 by | Leave a comment
This time, Nora Young continues the conversation about living smarter in 2020 with this Fast Company article on handling stress better as a key to resiliency. She also refers to Kelly McGonigal's book The Upside of Stress. Meanwhile, Cathi Bond talks about Bosch's upcoming smart glasses, which offer an augmented reality display that aims to be non-intrusive. Use cases include cooking with recipe instructions in front of you, instead of referring to a book, or driving directions. Cathi points out how distracting today's car dashboards are. [iframe style="border:none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/12809258/height/100/width/480/thumbnail/no/render-playlist/no/theme/standard/tdest_id/237069" height="100" width="480" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen] Download MP3

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Posted in Health, Personal Devices, Uncategorized

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Netflix Experiments with Badges; Deluxe At-Home Spin Classes

Posted on April 8, 2018 by | 3 comments
On this podcast, Nora Young talks about a text Netflix has been conducting: offering kids virtual badges for watching certain episodes of kids' programming (via Engadget). Cathi mentions her latest DVD purchase, Sabrina. Cathi Bond talks about Peloton (via PSFK), which is basically gym spin class as a service. You buy the bike for your home, and a membership, and you participate virtually in a class, alongside other spinners. Nora mentions this review of Peloton at the excellent review site, The Wirecutter. [iframe style="border:none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/6457406/height/100/width/480/thumbnail/no/render-playlist/no/theme/standard/tdest_id/237069" height="100" width="480" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen] Download MP3

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Health Trends: Apps for Recovery and Tech for Mobility

Posted on June 19, 2017 by | Leave a comment
In this podcast, Nora Young talks about Triggr Health, an app designed to support people in recovery from substance abuse (via Technology Review). It reminds her of Onward, an app to help people manage 'overuse' that her show Spark covered recently. Nora also mentions Cathi's fabulous story in the new collection, Any Other Way Cathi Bond talks about a fascinating Manual Standing Wheelchair that users can manipulate to raise themselves to a standing position (via MedGadget) Here it is in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I_OTUS9heQ [iframe style="border:none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/5460807/height/100/width/480/thumbnail/no/render-playlist/no/theme/standard/tdest_id/237069" height="100" width="480" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen] Download MP3

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