(Intro)

Hank: Hello and welcome to another episode of the the Sci-Show Talk Show, you may notice that I'm drinking from this [a mug], which is available at dftba.com.

Sci-Show Talk Show, it's the Sci-Show where we talk, and today joining us we have Louey Winkler who helps out with graphics and animation at Sci-Show. Thank you for doing that and also thank you for joining us.

L: It's a pleasure.

H: What are we gonna do today?

L: Well, today, I'm really into cyborgs and the use of technology and the human body so I started looking into new LED contacts. It's utilized, instead of glasses (like Google glasses) that are projecting images into the eye, it's a small little piece of plastic that you put-

H: It sits on there?

L: It sits on your eye. I really like it because it's not only helping the blind but you can also play video games when you're walking down the street.

H: That seems dangerous to me.

L: uh.. It could be natural selection, maybe?

H: Mmm, yes, for those of us who are quickly adopting new technology.

L: Exactly.

H: So, are you afraid of death?

L: Uh hmm. That's a very good question.

H: It's a very weird question.

L: No, but I'm trying to intellectualize this. Am I afraid of the personification of death, or dying?

H: No, I - what like death with the scythe?

L: Yeah, yeah

H: No. I wasn't thinking about him. I was thinking about the institution of no longer being alive. I feel like that's what this all boils down to sometimes, when we start talking about the interface between man and machine, and how long is it going to be before we are not all human, and we're a little bit of both and if that transition occurs fully then when is it that we no longer - like we can just get repairs instead of dying? I guess we already get repairs to an extent.

L: Yeah, so we're going down the path of Kurtzweilian sort of?

H: Yes, we are, but that is obviously not where we're going to end up, we are also going to talk about the contact lenses, because I'm curious about them. But I just wanted to introduce this, because I'm curious about - that - yes, Kurtzweilian I'd never heard that term.

L: I talk to him all the time so he loves it when I call him Kurzweil (I don't know him).

L: No, Ray Kurzweil, if you don't know who he is, a fascinating character.

H: Yes, the singularity is near, but not near enough, he's trying to live forever, that's his goal.

L: Ultimate goal, yeah.

H: I would not mind having the option of not dying when it comes right down to it, but living forever seems like a scary goal.

L: It's a bit Dr Manhattan, I think you would lose your humanity after so long.

H: It's a bit Dr Manhattan, I like you Louey.

L: Well-

H: That's Ray Kurzweil, Dr Manhattan, we're having a good name drop session here.

L: Yeah, we'll just keep rolling with it.

H: Yeah, so back to the contacts - what can you see through them?

L: Right now not much. It's a very small matrix. That technology is quickly increasing so, again getting back to the disabled and the blind, they're able to see light so that's a huge step for someone who's completely blind. I could imagine in the next two years it would be pretty widely available, just considering that you can actually put it in your eye and it projects light already, is fascinating.

H: That is. How - okay, so you're putting this thing in your eye, it's powered, it has some kind of power source, I imagine it doesn't have a wire running off of your eyeball!

L: No, it's-

H: Powered by your eye? By an electro-chemical gradient of eye syrup? No, I imagine that's, that can't be right.

L: It's, well, in some circles I'm sure they have that. This current technology utilizes frequency, so anything that has a wireless signal actually is powering it. So that's Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, even radio signals. The problem with that is that since it's not grounded it has a high risk of interference, so anything that goes through it could short circuit it or give you a different signal.

H: It could be powered by the radio wave that also sends the information.

L: Exactly.

H: That's pretty cool. Obviously it's projecting light but is it transparent when it's not on?

L: Yes. So, the current technology that they're trying to play with now (I refer to it as amoled, or amo-LED).

H: Right, yes.

L: Otherwise, Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode.

H: Okay, so it's an organic LED?

L: Yes.

H: So this is based on - what does that mean?

L: So, it's basically a piece of carbon with two electrodes and it's so tiny that it doesn't need virtually any power at all, micro-watts we're talking about. It is transparent, it is flexible-

H: And very thin.

L: Very very thin. The use of the matter itself is easy for the body to accept because it's using the same carbon network that we're made of.

H: And they have people wearing these already?

L: Yes, so right now since they're just using a single color, or single lumen, I should say, to project that color, you might see people wearing these in Japan even, to simulate that they're looking like a wolf or cat in the dark.

H: So now it's just fashion right now.

L: Exactly.

H: You're just in the dark and you have these your little two points of light.

L: And the way they're able to power it so easily is they wear glasses which have the battery in it, and since it's that close it acts like a Tesla coil basically.

H: And it's transmitting power to your little eyeball glow lights.

L: Exactly, yep.

H: That's weird.

L: Little bit.

H: So eventually the idea is that they would receive information from probably a computer that you'd be wearing somewhere on your body.

L: Yes.

H: And that would be powering them, and that would also be giving you a connection to the Internet.

L: Not to mention status updates not only translating but actually seeing who you're talking to; so name, age...

H: Fascinating, with deep implications, thank you for bringing that to us here at the Sci-Show Talk Show. and now are you going to stump me?

L: I can try and stump you, yeah.

H: Okay, who's going to try to stump me?

L: Alright, here is a physics riddle for you.

H: Physics riddle?

L: If you were to lay a broom horizontally on your finger and perfectly balance it

H: Okay, like this?

L: Yep, just like that. And you were to cut it exactly at that point, which side would weigh more?

H: They would weigh the same because it was balancing.

L: So the bristle side and the handle side, you're saying would weigh the same?

H: I'm obviously wrong.

L: Well, yes. Yes, you are.

H: I didn't think about it for very long. Now that I know I'm wrong... the shorter - it's not the same length of stuff on each side.

L: Right.

H: So one of them would weigh more. Which one? I'm confused now, I've confused myself.

L: The bristle side would weigh heavier because-

H: Levers.

L: Right.

H: Explain. Continue.

L: So, basically if you were to consider a teeter-totter or a see-saw -

H: 'Cause it's not this, if it were the just a pole, they would be the equal.

L: You're right.

H: But it's not

L: It's not. So, you'd need to have equal distribution of weight for it to work out on that teeter-totter, but in fact the longer side being heavier, lifting the shorter side comes down to torque basically.

H: Right.

L: So let's consider a larger person and smaller person.

H: Not with a teeter-totter, not in the middle.

L: Right.

H: But the teeter - the fulcrum.

L: Exactly, you would have to put -

H: I don't know what they call that on a teeter-totter. I guess it's the fulcrum.

L: Yes. So if you put the bigger person closer to that center point and the less weight person on the longer end, the equal distribution of that entire teeter-totter is able to lift him because of that torque.

H: That was good because it was -

L: Makes you think!

H: It was totally confusing, and also a really good 'Stump Hank' because ah, physics, something you can figure out with math not just trivia.

L: Right.

H: Yeah. It was great. Are we going to see an animal now?

L: I hope so?

H: We are. Do you know who you're going to see?

L: I don't.

H: Well you're going to be surprised. Another surprise animal on Sci-Show Talk Show, and here we are with Jessi from Animal Wonders and what appears to be a frog. Of some kind.

J: It is a frog of some kind. This is Stumpy and -

H: Why Stumpy?

J: Stumpy's name rhymes with the kind of frog she is. She's a Dumpy Tree Frog.

H: That's a funny name for a frog.

J: It is, it is. She's also can be called a White's Tree Frog, from the scientist Mr White or Dr White who discovered them, or just called an Australian Tree Frog.

H: So you're from Australia, Stumpy?

J: Yeah, she is. Would you like to hold her?

H: Sure, hi. Wow, sticky!

J: Feel those sticky pads!

H: Those are so sticky.

J: Yeah, she uses those sticky toes, those pads on the ends of her toes to help her cling to leaves in Australian rain forests.

H: Whaa- you can control them?

J: Can you see what she's doing?

H:Aww she's tucked up like a kitty.

L: She's perfectly perched.

J: So she is crossing her legs, folding her little arms in and tucking her feet in so she's going to try and make herself into a specific shape. Can you guess what shape she's trying to be?

H: Is she making herself a leaf?

J: Yes, she is.

H: A very moist leaf.

J: Yeah, well it's going to be very moist where she is, she has to stay very humid and moist herself, she's an amphibian, so she's going to breathe through her skin there. If she gets dried out she will no longer be able to breathe and she will probably not make it.

H: Are you saying that she breathes through her skin like she actually takes oxygen in from her skin?

J: She does. She breathes through her nose as well as her skin, she needs to have moist skin, she needs to have that oxygen coming in and out of her skin as well to be able to survive.

H: How sticky are you?

J: She can hang on, she can hang on upside down.

H: (to Stumpy) Where're you going?

J: Please guys take a look at her eyes, now a lot of frogs have big eyes but hers are extra large because she's awake at night. So she's nocturnal, and what she's going to do is she's going to hang out on her leaves.

L: I don't wanna.

J: She doesn't- she's sticking on. This is a better leaf than that leaf.

H: Wow, look at those legs from the back. Do it, come here.

L: It's okay.

H: Whoa! Here you go.

J: She's like nope.

H: She hates you!

L: Yeah, well.

J: Come here Stumpy, share the love.

H: There you go.

L: Ooh! Hey there.

H: So nocturnal tree frog...

J: Nocturnal tree frog, she's gonna hunt with those big eyes. Do you wanna hear something really kind of gross but cool?

H: Yeah! That's my favorite kind of thing.

J: The way she eats is very bizarre; she will launch herself towards a bug, say it's a little cricket or something hanging out on a leaf, she'll launch herself towards it, grab hold of it with her mouth - she has a sticky tongue - she's gonna get it inside her mouth and then she's gonna do something really weird. She's gonna swallow with her eyeballs.

H: I don't understand what you're saying.

J: So, what she does is; she has her food inside her mouth (see how big those eyes are?), so she's going to blink her eyes, and they're actually - the eyeballs are going to push the food down her throat. So every single time she swallows, she uses her eyes to push that food down her throat.

H: You don't swallow like that?

J: Do you?

H; Yeah, my whole life - I thought that was normal.

J: Swallowing with your eyeballs.

H: Yeah. Now I wanna see that, but we don't have anything to feed you.

J: She eats at night, because she's nocturnal. They're called Dumpy Tree Frogs because they get a dumpy appearance sometimes.

H: You don't look dumpy to me.

J: They're common pets, and people like to overfeed them so they get these big deposits on the back of their head, you know, and they get short, little, stubby arms - chunky little guys.

H: But you're svelte. You look very healthy.

J: Another really neat thing about her is that she can change color. To camouflage with her background. She's not like a chameleon, she can't turn multiple colors. She can turn two, she can turn green or brown - so if she's in a sunny area, sunny leaf, the temperature's gonna be a little bit warmer - she's gonna be bright green to blend in with those bright green leaves. Say the sun moves and now it's shady, it's gonna get cooler, that cool air is gonna tell her body to become brown and blend in with the darker leaves.

H: So it's temperature sensitive, not a conscious decision.

J: Exactly.

L: So if I put her on the cooler table she'll probably turn brown?

J: Maybe.

H: Is it a darker color?

J: It is, it's like a darker brown, and she's kinda dark on her head right now. She just went from a cool dark area into the bright lights.

H: I saw her blink

J: Did you see her blink?

H: It was like [weird noise].

J: Yeah, her heads going all the way back, yeah. It's really neat. 

H: Yeah, trucking.

L: Shh

J: I like shoulders.

L: Does she really?

J: She likes the highest perch. Here you go, you can see her translucent skin underneath.

H: Ooh yeah, that's kinda creepy looking. Hi, hi, no, no thanks.

J: Backtrack! Backtrack!

H: Well, thank you so much for bringing in Stumpy the Dumpy Tree Frog today.

J: You're welcome, thanks for having us.

H: Did I say that right?

J: Stumpy the Dumpy Tree Frog, good job.

H: Okay, good. Thank you for joining us during this episode of the Sci-Show Talk Show and thank you to Jessi from Animal Wonders and of course to Louey Winkler for bringing in some news and stumping me with a thing about a broom.

L: It was a pleasure. Let's awkwardly shake. Yeah, it's like- there we go.

H: Yeah! That's how we shake hands at Sci Show.