This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro

Jeanne Destro

WAKR's Jeanne Destro discusses a new tech topic each week!

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155 episodes
Updated Friday

Episodes155

Newest first

Jul 28, 2023 · 35 min
State Helps Cities Fight Cybercrime
The State of Ohio is stepping up to help local government guard against, and recover from cyber attacks. The new Ohio Persistent Cyber Improvement (O-PCI) program will guide local agencies through three cybersecurity preparedness levels. Each level will consist of a five-step process for cybersecurity advancement: education, training, exercising, mentoring, and improvement. We talked about how that will work, and why it is so so important, with the Ohio National Guard's Cyber Security Outreac
Jul 21, 2023 · 14 min
Tech Ohio-7-21-23
We've got big news about big tech projects in Ohio, including the Intel Semiconductor plant, Amazon's planned data center expansion, new highway EV charging stations, a high school tech internship program, and a new center for Advanced Air Mobility, at Kent State University. Listen now, for more.
Jul 14, 2023 · 12 min
A New Renewable: Sustainable Silicone
Wouldn't it be great if you could endlessly recycle an enormously useful resource, do it for less money than it takes to make it brand new, keep tons of waste out of landfills, and reduce air pollution all at the same time? Well, yes. Yes it would be. That's why we're talking to a Chemistry Professor at Bowling Green State University, who is pretty sure he's got that all figured out, with a new, patent-pending, room temperature recycling process. From medical implants, to the clear stuff we
Jun 30, 2023 · 11 min
Green Fields & Green Energy
What if farmers could produce more food, generate clean energy, and make more money all at the same time? Well, it turns out that they can, through a process called "Agrivoltaics". It involves "planting" solar panels in fields, and both sheltering animals from the sun, and cultivating crops underneath them. Those who have tried it are calling it a win-win, for farmers who are increasingly stretched thin by market pressures, the high cost of fuel and farm equipment, and an increasingly hot and
Jun 23, 2023 · 10 min
This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro-6-23-23: Gene Editing To Fight Sickle Cell Disease
Imagine some teeny-tiny little scissors. Now, imagine them snipping out "bad" genes that cause disease, and leaving only the good ones behind. Sound farfetched? Well, actually, it is not. In fact, that's exactly what they're doing at Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital, where a Sickle Cell Disease clinical trial involving gene editing and stem cells is now underway. We talked about it, with Dr. Rabi Hanna, who is the Chairman of their Department of Pediatric Hematology, and Principal Investi
Jun 16, 2023 · 24 min
Cool Buildings, Hot Planet
Everybody knows that insualting your home is a good way to cut down on heating and cooling costs, but what if you could turn your entire home into a giant insulated cooler? Well, it turns out you can, and some people in Europe are doing just that; building new walls several feet outside their existing homes, cladding them with a layer of insulated foam, and then extending their roof out over the new, expanded, and much more energy efficient structure. Now that's what you call an extreme home r
Jun 9, 2023 · 13 min
This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro-6-9-23: Disorder In The Court: Legal Controversy Over AI
A federal judge in New York is considering sanctions against an attorney who used the ChatGPT artificial intelligence tool to draft a legal brief that was presented as evidence, but contained case citations that were completely untrue; fabricated by the AI tool. In a court hearing yesterday, the New York Times reports, Judge P. Kevin Castel, grilled attorney Steven A. Schwartz, about why he used results produced by the chatbot without first personally checking that they were accurate. Accord
Jun 1, 2023 · 19 min
This Week in Tech With Jeanne Destro-6-2-23: Advanced New Cyber Threats: Who Can Protect Us?
This week, we're talking about newly discovered, extremely sophisticated cyber threats that pose real dangers to consumers, and to our national security. Although we've tackled some of these issues before; it seemed like it was worth a closer look at some new threats that came to light just this week. They include a pre-installed Android exploit that consumers can't detect, and is nearly impossible to delete, Russian-linked malware that can attack and do physical harm to power grids, and compl
May 26, 2023 · 13 min
This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro-5-26-23: More Eyes In The Sky
You see them on TV all the time; images of dramatic car crashes, fires, and disasters, beamed down to viewers from helicopters. So, one would just kind of naturally kind of assume police have all that same kind of technology at their fingertips all the time, and that they can use it to fight crime whenever they want. But they can’t —at least not yet—here in Ohio. However, thanks to a $6 million dollar state grant, some new technology that has been tested so far in Columbus and Akron, will be
May 19, 2023 · 24 min
This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro-5-19-23: Boom! The Return of Supersonic Commercial Flight
Imagine being able to fly to LA for lunch, have a business meeting, and then be back home in time for dinner. It could happen, if a research project currently underway at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland is successful in demonstrating that a new, high tech airplane can break the sound barrier without causing the noisy and destructive sonic booms that helped end commercial supersonic air travel in 2003. Listen now to our conversation with the Deputy Project Manager for the commercial sup
May 12, 2023 · 40 min
This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro-5-12-23-Amazing New Medical Technology
Cutting edge, life saving technology that could one day revolutionize healthcare worldwide, is in the spotlight today, and it's being used and tested right here in Northeast Ohio. Our featured guests today are Pediatric Surgeon, Dr. Lorena Floccari, who directs the Akron Children's Hospital Spine Center, and Dr. George Muschler, who directs the Cleveland Clinic's Orthopaedic and Rheumatologic Research Center, Clinical Tissue Engineering Center, and Joint Preservation Center. As you will hear,
May 5, 2023 · 19 min
This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro-5-5-23: Batteries and Bolt
EV batteries, and the demise of the Chevy Bolt. That's what we're focusing on this week, as we discuss how companies making electric batteries for carmakers including Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota, and BMW are increasingly building plants in Southern states. We wanted to know what that might mean for traditional auto industry strongholds like Ohio and Michigan, where EV battery plants are also being built. Are jobs here threatened by the proliferation of plants in other states, like Georgia, S
May 2, 2023 · 32 min
Global Fallout From Tech Bank Collapse
The ripple effects from the recent Silicon Valley Bank collapse continue to be felt worldwide. Listen now as we talk about it with Kent State University Political Science Professor, Dr. Mark Cassell, who wrote two books on the banking industry. You can find "Banking on the State: the Political Economy of Public Savings Banks", and "How Governments Privatize: The Politics of Divestment in the United States and Germany", on Amazon.com.
May 2, 2023 · 9 min
This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro-4-14-23: New Summer Robotics Program At KSU
Thanks to a $450 thousand dollar grant from the National Science Foundation, Kent State University will offer a new summer robotics program open to undergraduate students from all over the country. We talked about it with Assistant Professor, Dr. Ye Lu, and Associate Dean Joycelyn Harrison, from the KSU College of Aeronautics and Engineering. Listen now.
May 2, 2023 · 25 min
This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro-4-28-23: Cold Case DNA Technology
What if your insurance company could use your DNA to raise your rates if they think you might get cancer someday? Or, what if a foreign adversary, like China, for example; could use DNA to reveal the true identity of all of our spies? Think that's farfetched? Well, Akron-based journalist, author, and cold-case DNA expert, James Renner doesn't think so. Find out why, as I explore advances in cold case DNA technology, and talk about the how the science we use to catch killers, could one day