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Science Friday > Archives > 2001 > July > July 13, 2001:

Hour One: Artificial Heart Engineering / Insect Locomotion

A normal human heart beats about two and a half billion times during its lifetime. But what happens when that heart isn't normal? In this hour of Science Friday, guest host David Kestenbaum takes a look at the challenges of engineering an artificial heart. Then we'll turn our attention to insects. Insects can do many things better than any machine, but scientists are trying to find out their secrets. Coming up in this hour, we'll talk with two researchers studying how insects sense the world and move around in it, and who are trying to apply what they learn to build robots that use some of the same tricks.

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Guests:
Fred Zarinetchi
Principal Scientist
Abiomed
Danvers, Massachusetts

Michael Dickinson
Williams Professor
Integrative Biology
University of California at Berkeley
Berkeley, California

Fred Delcomyn
Professor, Department of Entomology
Director, School of Integrative Biology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Urbana, Illinois

Books/Articles Discussed:

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Related Links:

Scientific American: Feature Article: Solving the Mystery of Insect Flight: June 2001
Biomimetic Robotics
About Robert C. Michelson's Micro Air Vehicle "Entomopter" Project
Cornell News: Fly Ear
CWRU Biorobotics lab
PBS - Scientific American Frontiers:Previous Shows:Transcripts
Neurotechnology for Biomimetic Robots
Cognitive, Neural & Biomolecular S&T - Biomimetic Robotics
Robots and Biology Symposium
Biologically-based Robots
Biology-based Technology to Enhance Human Well-being and Function in Extended
Space Exploration (Ch. 1)

This segment produced by: Charles Bergquist