Engineering Innovation Podcast and Radio Series

Heart With No Beat
Listen	*A hundred thousand Americans die prematurely each year from heart failure. An experimental device may one day offer new — non-beating—hearts.* 08/17/2008
	Randy Atkins: Today’s artificial hearts are generally bigger, wear out faster, and have more trouble adjusting to changing blood flow needs than their natural counterparts. Bud Frazier, a prominent heart surgeon, is working on a simple alternative. O.H. “Bud” Frazier: A continuous flow pump pumps according to the inlet pressure, which is like the natural heart. So the more blood that comes to it, the more blood it will pump. Randy Atkins: Frazier says with just one continuously spinning part, the pumps are more durable and can be made to size. O.H. “Bud” Frazier: They can be as small as your thumb. Randy Atkins: He says such hearts are working fine in cows. Weird thing is, though…the animals have no pulse. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, 103 point 5 F-M, WTOP Radio.
	View a map of the heart Read a discussion about artificial hearts, including the continuous flow heart Find out about the AbioCor artificial heart
Air Energy
Listen	*With today's fuel prices, the airlines will be interested in this. Local engineers are working on a remotely-controlled aircraft that may fly for weeks, even years, without fuel.* 08/10/2008
	Randy Atkins: The unmanned plane would take advantage of rising warm air to get lift. Just like birds which… James Hubbard: …turn in the direction where they experience that lift and actually center themselves in the heat plume and then just float. Minimum energy flying. Randy Atkins: James Hubbard, a University of Maryland aerospace engineer, says laser radar could find such updrafts. The sky-surfing plane would maneuver using wings made with smart materials that feel the motion in waves of air. James Hubbard: You want something that stays up like satellites do and doesn’t really need to be attended to or require much maintenance. Randy Atkins: Uses range from surveillance to atmospheric monitoring. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, 103.5 FM, WTOP Radio.
	Visit Hubbard's lab on smart materials and structures More on Sky Walker, the unmanned aircraft About albatross flight, a model for the Sky Walker
Driver Distraction
Listen	*Driver distraction and inattention account for the vast majority of accidents. Cell phones, I-pods, TV, GPS, and even the Internet are on the road…and legislation can’t keep up.* 08/03/2008
	Randy Atkins: As laws restrict cell phone use in cars, newer technologies like text messaging move in. John Lee: Looking off the road for just a few seconds can dramatically increase your crash risk. Randy Atkins: John Lee, an engineer at the University of Iowa, says people are generally overconfident about the multi-tasking they can do while driving. But, soon, you may get a reality check through such technologies as eye-tracking that… John Lee: …allow the car to know what the driver’s looking at or not looking at and maybe even get a sense of whether driver’s lost in thought. Randy Atkins: Your car could then warn you…or even take its own defensive actions. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, 103.5 FM, WTOP Radio.
	Cognitive Systems Laboratory Eye tracking Seeing Machines The National Advanced Driving Simulator at the University of Iowa