Topic: Health and Medicine

Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with Dr. Gary Small, the director of the UCLA Memory & Aging Research Center, about gaining understanding of the technological alteration of the modern mind through FMRI.

Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with Dr. Lyle Armstrong, a stem cell researcher and senior lecturer at Newcastle University, who reminds us what stem cell scientists actually do.

Viruses are everywhere, so how do we identify the ones that are problematic? Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with Dr. Joseph DeRisi, professor in biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, about the promise of an innovative new technology: the virus chip.

The abuse of the synthetic drug known as methamphetamine has become a top crime problem in the United States, and now a global epidemic. In this talk, part of the Stanford Social Innovation Review's conference on evaluation, IT leader and philanthropist Thomas Siebel discusses the nature of meth addiction as well as the efforts of the Meth Project, a large-scale prevention program aimed at reducing first-time meth use through public service messaging, public policy, and community outreach.

Compounding the health care crisis is a huge wave of aging populations. Health care needs tech-based solutions based in communities and homes, focused on empowering patients to manage their own health and change their behavior as necessary. Eric Dishman of Intel describes the new technology and platforms being built to improve this health care. Dishman also discusses longer-term efforts including regulatory approvals and reimbursement reform.

Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with Dr. Robert Martensen, author of "A Life Worth Living," about the good and bad of technology in healthcare in general and as we approach the end of life.

Dr. Moira Gunn talks cellulose with Tjerk de Ruiter on a "trade-up" kit for Iowa farmers to cellulosic ethanol, and Thomas Videbaek on a surprising cellulosic ethanol plant in China.

When President Bush set limits on stem cell research in 2001, millions of families who were hopeful that such research could help alleviate the diseases of their loved ones were devastated. In this Stanford Center for Social Innovation talk, attorney Robert Klein discusses his efforts to author and push through legislation in California which, so far, has succeeded in advancing such research. Sharing personal and political struggles, Klein movingly underscores the urgency behind his quest.

Gaining weight leads to increased risk of becoming a diabetic. Dr. Moira Gunn asks Dr. Christian Weyer, of Amylin Pharmaceuticals, to explain their new combined treatment for diabetes and obesity.

Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with Mari Baker, CEO of Navigenics, about their latest service: they take your DNA, examine it with current and future science, and inform you about any possible health risks for the rest of your life.