Wood Science Talks podcast

#Science #Environment #Careers #Business #Natural Sciences #Rupert Wimmer #Wood Science #Renewable Material #Sustainability #Bioeconomy #Innovation #Society #Woodscience #Biomaterial

1:14:43

Artificial intelligence is evolving at an unprecedented pace—what does that mean for the future of technology, venture capital, business, and even our understanding of ourselves? Award-winning journalist and writer Anil Ananthaswamy joins us for our latest episode to discuss his latest book Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI . Anil helps us explore the journey and many breakthroughs that have propelled machine learning from simple perceptrons to the sophisticated algorithms shaping today’s AI revolution, powering GPT and other models. The discussion aims to demystify some of the underlying mathematical concepts that power modern machine learning, to help everyone grasp this technology impacting our lives–even if your last math class was in high school. Anil walks us through the power of scaling laws, the shift from training to inference optimization, and the debate among AI’s pioneers about the road to AGI—should we be concerned, or are we still missing key pieces of the puzzle? The conversation also delves into AI’s philosophical implications—could understanding how machines learn help us better understand ourselves? And what challenges remain before AI systems can truly operate with agency? If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Sign up for our newsletter at techsurgepodcast.com for exclusive insights and updates on upcoming TechSurge Live Summits. Links: Read Why Machines Learn, Anil’s latest book on the math behind AI https://www.amazon.com/Why-Machines-Learn-Elegant-Behind/dp/0593185749 Learn more about Anil Ananthaswamy’s work and writing https://anilananthaswamy.com/ Watch Anil Ananthaswamy’s TED Talk on AI and intelligence https://www.ted.com/speakers/anil_ananthaswamy Discover the MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellowship that shaped Anil’s AI research https://ksj.mit.edu/ Understand the Perceptron, the foundation of neural networks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceptron Read about the Perceptron Convergence Theorem and its significance https://www.nature.com/articles/323533a0…

Wood Science Talks

系列首页•Feed

Welcome to the Wood Science Talks ! We will talk about developments in the field of wood science, research and education, careers, all rooted around the fascinating world of wood (Music: Peter Ratzenbeck)

11集单集

Wood Science Talks

updated 2年之前

系列首页•Feed

11集单集

#Science #Environment #Careers #Business #Natural Sciences #Rupert Wimmer #Wood Science #Renewable Material #Sustainability #Bioeconomy #Innovation #Society #Woodscience #Biomaterial

Toate episoadele

1
Susan Anagnost: "Wood anatomy is a puzzle, and it is fun to solve the puzzle !" 20:54

2 years之前20:54

20:54

Sue Anagnost is Professor Emeritus at the State University of New York (SUNY), College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, USA, where she continues to serve as the Director of the Tropical Timber Information Center. Sue always liked biology and studying plants, which brought her to wood anatomy, as it had an application to wood products. Beside wood anatomy Sue has also worked on topics such as wood ultrastructure, wood decay, and mycology, with light microscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy being always heavily utilized techniques in her work and in teaching. Sue explains the importance of wood identification of tropical species to help preventing illegal timber trading. As wood anatomy for the identification of wood species is an "imperfect science", Sue also talks about using DNA and chemical fingerprint information to better identify commercially traded timber. With the todays developments in wood science, especially with the increasing mass timber constructions, she is convinced that wood anatomy will continue to be an attractive and important study method.…

1
Alfred Teischinger: "Frankly spoken, I didn't have a very clear and strict career plan!" 34:57

2 years之前34:57

34:57

Alfred Teischinger is internationally one of the most prominent wood technologists. Before retiring he was Full Professor at BOKU Vienna, Austria, and he is talking about what brought him into wood, and shares his philosophy about technology, science, also with respect to society. The major focus of this talk is on the now published Springer Handbook of Wood Science and Technology, which he co-edited, an over 2000 pages strong volume covering wood biology, chemistry and physics, structure-property relations, wood-based materials, and much more. Professor Teischinger talks about fundamental technological perspectives and industrial processes beyond sawmilling, the manufacturing of wood products, leading to wood applications. With great appreciation of wood as a resource, he is a person who has the unique gift of thinking ahead of time.…

1
Wayan Darmawan: "In Indonesia, we need more wood in the building sector!" 28:54

2 years之前28:54

28:54

Wayan Darmawan is a Full Professor at the Department of Forest Product, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB University), Indonesia, where he is with the Wood Quality Improvement Technology Division. His interests are around machining of wood, and how to improve lower quality plantation wood though modification trials. Prof. Darmawan is talking about his research, about the offered wood program, the many students they are getting each year, about the wood industry in Indonesia, and how important it is to use more wood in civil engineering. Prof. Daramawan also tells about the value of having their wood program accredited by SWST, which helped to raise the standards and the international visibility.…

1
Doug Gardner: "It is an exciting time for the use of green materials!" 34:59

2 years之前34:59

34:59

Douglas J. Gardner is Professor and Program Leader of Sustainable Materials Technology in the School of Forest Resources at the University of Maine. He is also member of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center and Forest Bioproducts Research Institute. Gardner’s research and teaching focus on polymer and interfacial science aspects of wood-polymer composite materials. He has been involved in research ranging from adhesion, surface science, cellulose nanocomposites, to extruded wood plastic composites, and additive manufacturing. At the Composite Center they have recently presented the world’s first 3D printed fully bio-based home. Prof. Gardner reviews his career path, how much SWST has helped him to build a strong network, and reveals also what he enjoys in addition to being a professor and researcher: singing and playing the guitar.…

1
Mike Wolcott: "I never met a problem I did not love!" 29:14

2 years之前29:14

29:14

Mike Wolcott is a Regents Professor for Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA. Grown up in the mountains he first got into forestry, before entering wood science and engineering. His curiosity and interdisciplinary attitude, which he sees genuine to wood science, brought him to wood quality, adhesives, polymer processing and composites, biomass and biofuels. Learning from students is a great priviledge: "I never had a student that didn't bring in a different viewpoint to a project!", he says. This is the value of research, bringing in different perspectives, also to industry. Mike talks about the todays grant societal challenges, such as climate change, carbon management, or the entire shift of society towards circular economy.…

1
Ulrich Mueller: "To generate something new with wood, we need first understand the cell wall !" 32:16

2 years之前32:16

32:16

Ulrich Müller is Professor at BOKU Vienna, and it would not be incorrect to say that he is currently one of the brightest minds in wood science. As a trained carpenter he has worked in industry for years, before starting an academic career. He has pursued numerous industry- focused developments, and all his projects are strongly rooted in a basic wood science understanding ("we need to start with the cell wall!"). He runs projects with e.g. the major German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen, to develop wooden components for automotives . Beside wood science, Ulrich is a fictional novelist and has written several books (in German), and runs also a Youtube channel that includes wood science teaching videos. His personal philosophy is fostered by two complementary words: curiosity and creativity.…

1
Francesco Negro: "Wood and sports - a sustainable combination !" 28:41

2 years之前28:41

28:41

Francesco Negro is a Professor at the Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Torino, Italy. His main research interests is related to innovative wood-based products, timber grading, regulations and standards, and the effects of wood on the environmental. He recently edited the open access book "Wood in Sport Equipment — Heritage, Present, Perspective", freely available from the SWST Website (https://www.swst.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Wood-in-sport-equipment_Heritage-present-perspective.pdf), which describes the changing uses of wood as a material for sport items such as bats, boats, bows and arrows, etc. but also of wood in sport facilities such as sporting halls, basketball, courts, cycling tracks, and horse stables. The book holds 35 chapters, writtern by 39 authors, coming from Italy, Austria, Chile, Italy, Madagascar, Norway, Poland, and the USA. Prof. Negro is talking about what has brought him into wood, his research interests, carreer paths, and his overall fascination about wood.…

1
Anne Wekesa: “Young people need an awareness about wood !” 32:56

2 years之前32:56

32:56

Anne Wekesa is from Kenya, and she has been selected as one among 16 "Woman Ambassadors of Wood Science", a SWST-sponsored traveling exhibition designed to celebrate women ambassadors over time. In this Wood Science Talk Anne is talking on how she got enrolled into a wood science program in Kenya, how passionate she is about teaching young people, and about the importance of wood in her home country. She is dreaming about having once a wood technology lab at her home university in Kenya, with the hope that she might get help here from the wood science community. She is also explaining her research around bioenergy, carbon and wood products, and the link to climate change. Anne is happy that SWST got her, and she sees SWST as a truly global association.…

1
Wenxuan Wu: "I love timber fire safety issues!" 20:34

3 years之前20:34

20:34

Wenxuan Wu is a PhD student at The University of Queensland, and the winner of the student poster competition at the International SWST Convention that took place July 2022 in Australia. His research is about Smouldering issues of CCA-Treated Timber that can cause collapse of wooden buildings after bushfires. Wenxuan holds two master degrees, one in chemical engineering, and a second one in fire safety engineering. He claims that wood has its own advantages when it comes to fire safety, and he is also convinced that for Australia wood might be the best material for constructions. He sees himself as a research interest driven person, he loves teaching, and his vision is to become an real expert in general timber fire safety.…

1
Victoria Herian: "It was an amazing experience and very fulfilling !" 28:45

3 years之前28:45