Shows
HardwareX PodcastsTagging 6000 Bees: An Open-source System for Species MonitoringDid you know that honey bees dance?When honey bees return to the colony from foraging, they share info about their journey with their fellow honey bees by dancing. Besides getting the boogie on, however, little is known about how far honey bees go foraging and what ecological factors impact their journey, e.g. pesticide exposure.In this episode of HardwareX, Entomologist Margarita López-Uribe, Ph.D., specialised in bee species, together with Doctoral Student of Electrical Engineering, Diego Penaloza Aponte, of Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, explain how open-source technologies and
2025-02-0532 minHardwareX PodcastsDemocratising Air Quality: An Open-source Solution to Filling Data Gaps in the Global SouthThe advancement of low-cost sensors has sparked a boom in air quality monitoring devices. From backpack add-ons to citizen bicycles, air quality devices are enabling citizens to get involved in monitoring local air quality.When looking at global air quality maps, however, the data for South America and Africa remain scarce. As primarily consumer-based products, these devices remain subject to demand and supply, limiting access to local air quality and air pollution for those who need them the most. Though the number of open-source designs is growing, incomplete and non-standardised documentation renders many viable designs unusable.
2025-01-1524 minHardwareX PodcastsBuilding A Better Mousetrap: Scaling animal wellbeing with open-source hardwareWhat if research labs didn't have to reinvent the wheel all the time?Rodents like mice and rats play a pivotal role in neuroscientific research. Through a process known as 'head fixation', scientists surgically implant cannulas and electrodes to measure neurophysiological activity. As mice share roughly 95% of our DNA, head fixation experiments greatly contribute to advancing our understanding of the human brain and diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.While head-fixation is common in many labs, proprietary systems are often expensive and inconsistent. This leads many labs to create ad hoc DIY systems at the risk...
2024-12-0923 minHardwareX PodcastsA Co-benefits Approach: Preserving more than one species with open-source hardwareDid you know that our understanding of basic functions such as memory, learning and sleep is largely thanks to a giant sea slug? For more than 50 years, Aplysia Californica, a type of slug also known as the California Sea Hare, has been important for understanding how the nervous system works and for investigating the cellular and molecular basis of behaviour. As an essential resource for neurological disease research across the globe, there are large incentives to preserve the species, including sampling and storing its genetic material.This is easier said than done, as the Sea...
2024-11-1227 minHardwareX PodcastsMicrowaves Against Malaria: Life-saving technologies and the question of patenting.Urgent needs require urgent solutions, but is open-source always the answer?The UN aims to eradicate malaria in all countries by 2030. However, in some parts of the world, incidents are increasing as the parasites transmitting the disease grow increasingly tolerant to treatment drugs. A novel treatment method using microwaves to kill the parasite shows promising results. One that could save both lives and economies in Africa, where a majority of malaria incidents and deaths are registered each year. With the release of an open-source portable device for studying the malaria parasite’s growth inhibition via mi...
2024-09-2931 minHardwareX PodcastsHigh-tech Prosthetics: Granting locomotion to all with open-source robotics.How inclusive are advanced prosthetics technologies?The global demand for prosthetics and orthotics is only expected to rise. Yet, access to affordable and innovative solutions varies greatly at local, national and international levels. And while 3D printing has greatly contributed to making prosthetics available in low-income and developing regions, the benefits that robotics and technological innovation bring users remain highly exclusive. This may be about to change. In an attempt to make high-tech prosthetics solutions more accessible, Professor in Biomechatronics at the University of Agder in Norway, Filippo Sanfilippo, along with his colleagues (Martin Økter, Jør...
2024-09-1028 minHardwareX PodcastsDrones for Data Gathering: How open-source hardware is making environmental research more viableWhat does it take to make research catch up with climate change? The Arctic regions hold crucial information about the environmental impact of rising temperatures. Calving glaciers and treacherous territories make it a life-threatening mission to collect it though.As autonomous technologies improve, drones, boats and rovers are increasingly being deployed in place of humans to sample, monitor and manage marine and aquatic systems. However, as costs can range in the millions, the value these technologies can provide researchers is relevant to their cost. That is why Daniel F. Carlson and Claus Melvad put it...
2024-06-0623 minHardwareX PodcastsThe Future of Food: (Re)growing vertical farming with open-source automationWhy did high-tech farming go bust?Vertical Farming was one of the big new technologies of the early 2010s. By growing crops vertically with less water and no pesticides, big vertical farms promised to revolutionise food production. So why are the same vertical farms going bust across Europe and the US just ten years after they boomed?In this episode, we journey to Cambridge University in England to meet Vijja "Pat" Wichitwechkarn. An AI researcher working on agricultural robotics, he has developed a fully automated and scalable indoor farming system - MACARONS...
2024-05-2833 minHardwareX PodcastsOpen Hardware Talks: Validating openness (with OSHWA and Open Source Ecology Germany)Welcome to a new HardwareX podcast series: Open Hardware Talks.In addition to our regular episodes exploring open-source hardware projects, we're launching a new deep-dive series. Open Hardware Talks explores key concepts of open-source hardware in casual conversations with experts and practitioners from across the ecosystem.For the first episode in this new series, we ask: How do you validate the openness of a given hardware? To explore this, we're joined by Sid Drmay and Lee Wilkins from the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) which maintains the open-source hardware certification recognised by practitioners globally, including...
2024-04-2935 minHardwareX PodcastsFrom Gaza to Ukraine: Exploring the Glia open-source tourniquet and scaling decentralised manufacturing during conflictHow can we make life-saving medical equipment more accessible in areas under blockade, with low infrastructure, or with limited resources?In a time where almost every region in the world is seeing a rise in conflict, tourniquets have become increasingly necessary for avoiding excessive civilian casualties. Yet, proprietary tourniquets remain largely geared toward male military personnel, not women and children. Even if this changes, proprietary tourniquets remain expensive and largely inaccessible in regions where they are needed most.In this episode, Dr Tarek Loubani of Glia and Victoria Jaqua of Open Source Medical Supplies (OSMS...
2024-03-1832 min
My Kids Think I'm Cool, BUT...Day 21: Christmas in Denmark with Miriam GradelToday, I will be talking with Miriam Gradel who grew up in Denmark with her multi-cultureal parents. Her dad being Jewish and her mum being dane. Miriam talks about how she grew up with both culture. If you want to learn more, you will have to hit the listen button.
2020-12-2113 min
Med eller utan is?#146 - Denmark In Lockdown#146 - Denmark In LockdownWe had the opportunity to have an interesting talk to Miriam Gradel and Fanny Wandel about the bar situation in Denmark during these hard times.Miriam and Fanny work as bartenders at Paloma Vermuteria and Barking Dog in Copenhagen.For more information:https://www.skrivunder.net/krav_til_regeringen_udvid_lukketiden_for_restaurationsbranchen_i_danmark_english_translation_in_copy?fbclid=IwAR0XxNTZGUXSx0A6BF3wrEzzt1UzPk54JPX6vq2_y4khgaZeHpRoBFpjfwchttps://medium.com/@CocktailsofCopenhagen/cancel-the-curfew-92c0f727d7d2Med Jonatan Östblom SmedjeKlipp: Erik ”Wenkan” WennerqvistGrafik: Carl Lauren
2020-12-0439 min