lctg_in_the_works
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In the Works – Potential Topics
Topic Possibilities
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We'd like your thoughts on these and other topics you are interested in seeing or maybe presenting. Send your thoughts via email to info@LCTG.toku.us or contact John Rudy, Peter Albin, Bob Primak, or Steve Isenberg directly – Thank you.
This list last changed 2025.03.28 11:09
Note – numbering is for reference only and it has no other meaning. Numbers were assigned generally in the order topics were added to the list. Numbers start with 'T' to differentiate from video numbers, below
“fup” is short for “follow-up”
| # | Description | Follow-ups |
|---|---|---|
| T1 | Anti-drone technology: Drones, missiles and guidance systems, electronic warfare, etc | JohnR pursue w/Brenda Ortiz (8/6 maybe) |
| T2 | The Rubin Observatory (a remarkable ground-based optical observatory, scheduled to see first-light in two years (maybe mid-to-late 2025) (Marc Gorenstein) | Ted K |
| T3 | Further consideration: Can we do anything more about climate change? Do we want to get into data collection and looking at whether the data we use now are applicable to the long-range questions about climate change? Are data sets really applicable to the problem we are studying? Ted Kochanski and Jerry Harris have proposed doing more about this topic. Still following up with the group about the nature of our interests on this topic. | Keep on list? Push to future. |
| T4 | The art of Space-Time (Anna Barnackna/CEO Mind Mix) Gravitational Lens Effect. (Since the discovery of the first lensed quasars in 1979, this quirky phenomenon has become central to cosmology, as light rays from distant galaxies are deflected (a bit) by gravitational effects of both dark matter and dark energy. DM and DE are the two big mysteries of cosmology – and in physics for that matter.) | TedK to contact Barnackna |
| T5 | Development of car navigation devices starting in ~1910 and evolving to the present day using digital computers, map database, and GPX. (Donald Cooke) | [4/27/24] Cooke not sure when he can present |
| T6 | The development of photogrammetry from ~1930 to the current state of the art using a $500 “toy” drone and free software to produce orthophotography 50 or more times as detailed as the imagery in Google Maps and Google Earth. (Donald Cooke) | [4/27/24] Cooke not sure when he can present |
| T7 | Altruism and Science (DanK) | Peter |
| T8 | Current state of autonomous driving. Justin Tse can talk about automatic driving capabilities in Tesla cars. | steve |
| T9 | Robots in use nowadays and in the future (being researched) | JohnR, Peter |
| T10 | Optical AI | Ted |
| T11 | Water Junk and How To Remove It | |
| T12 | Micro-plastics - whatsit, wheresit, and what to do about it | |
| T13 | Current Directions in Science and Technology Under the New Administration | GeorgeG |
| T14 | Asteroid Colliding with Earth? (Maybe tie-in with Space Junk) | (JohnR) |
| T15 | Museum in Lexington focusing on the Apollo program. 1/2/2025 article Maybe invite the several Lex residents who were members of the MIT Draper Lab to talk to our group. | Harry |
| T16 | Professor Eleta Exline, UNH Scholarly Communication Librarian:“Trends in Scholarly Communication” | TedK |
Video Possibilities
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- (14m) Why Craters are Round (Neil deGrasse Tyson explains; need to skip the “comedian”)
- Other Mark Rober youtube videos (he did Squirrel vid) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY1kMZp36IQSyNx_9h4mpCg
- (60m) Beyond Earth: 50 Years since Apollo 11 from October 2019
- (15m) How James Webb Telescope Orbits Nothing(LarryW recommended)
- (6m) 5 Fun Physics Phenomena Explained (John Rudy)
. - (31m) Solving Wordle using information theory (John Rudy)
- (8m) Diary for a Pandemic Year (Dick Wagner)
A composition prepared for the MIT commencement of 2021 using layering of tracks. The visuals may bring back memories. - Secret Windows Features, Wifi passwords, HDMI Cables & Ports, and more, part of Tech for Seniors (from 3/21/2022, episode 104) (1h11m) - new results from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), from the team that brought us the first-ever image of a black hole, from 5/16/2022 1h38m but last 30m is Q&A (Ted Kochanski)
- Black Holes: Seeing the Unseeable (60min; World Science Festival) (John Rudy)
Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is observing black holes; latest achievement is first image of supermassive black hole in the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Video explores the breakthroughs.(this video dated around June 2022) - Physics of the Future (39m) Dr. Michio Kaku (John Rudy)
John R. to f/u. Technical topics brought down to a layman's perspective. Sabine Hassenfelder – Dan K. could give refs. Would need someone to look into these videos and choose some examples. MIT Frank Milchuk(sp?). More advanced topics. See next item. - (5m) 2020 Fusion progress at Tokamak Energy (1/4/2021) (Larry Wittig)
. - (1h39) Breakthrough in nuclear fusion? (2/24/2016 by Prof. Dennis Whyte of MIT) (Larry Wittig)
- Quantum Entanglement and Action at a Distance on Video. Suggested by Ted. K. Dick W. could give his follow-up impressions after the videos.
- Lisa Randall at Harvard – particle physics. (Dan Kleppner)
- (59m) A Hackers Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society's Rules and How to Bend Them Back (Bruce Schneier) a Harvard Science Book Talk Series Lecture
- (18.5m) uniform circular motion suggested by our own Charles Holbrow.
- Quantum Fields the Real Building Blocks of the Universe TedK
- (1h44m) CEO Boston Dynamics and the Future of Robotics (video of a podcast?)
- (37m) Something Strange Happens When You Follow Einstein's Math - Veritasium posted 4/30/2024 – Warning - one comment reads “Now I know what my dog feels like when I talk to him”
- Dr Robert Langer talk at Cary Liby on smi's M
- (7m) Monte Hall Problem last minute is advert (Rudy)
- Mitch found a one hour youtube presentation by the first author (Weinstein) on estimation. BTW he has a Ph.D. in physics from MIT 1988.
. - (18.5m) Strange Items (John Rudy) Vertasium
- (11m) Is the Universe really a hologram? by the scientific skeptic, Sabine Hossenfelder
- (37m) Amelia Earhart (Rudy) Vertasium
- (5m) Can we tell if there's a wormhole in the Milky Way? Sabine Hossenfelder
. - (42m) Coding Consciousness: A. Algorithm for Awareness? WSF/Brian Greene-
- (46m) What Creates Consciousness? WSF/Brian Greene
Rich Ralston suggested topics
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Website for MIT Lincoln Lab: http://www.ll.mit.edu Surf this yourselves to see if areas of R&D or system development would be of interest to you and the LCTG. LL develops technology which, as it matures, is incorporated into a prototype subsystem or system to demonstrate new capabilities for transfer to industry for government use. Intellectual property can be licensed by MIT for commercial applications
Some topics I (Rich Ralston) propose within the next year, including the August 21 meeting.
- (Low noise moved to 6/29/2022)
- Flash LIDAR (LADAR) with single-photon sensitivity for rapid 3-D imaging with applications from look-through-foliage military surveillance to self-driving vehicles. (~90 minutes) – not to be recorded for later viewing
Dr. Simon Verghese, head of Waymo’s (Google) sensor development for self-driving cars. In their 5th generation, the sensors are designed to meet the challenging requirements of moving people and goods safely and efficiently in dense cities and on highways. The goal is to make them affordable while meeting the performance needed for driverless operation in various applications and weather conditions. The talk will review some history of the project and describe a few use-cases for sensors and machine learning on Waymo vehicles. - High-sensitivity passive IR focal planes for wide-area surveillance. (Copious Imaging, a spin off in Lexington from LL). (~45 minutes)
- Bio-agent warning sensor with single aerosol particle sensitivity. (~45 minutes)
- Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond for quantum sensing. (~45 minutes)
Topic ideas needing speakers
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- home theater, camera monitor, media player
- Headsets and cameras for Zoom; auxiliary microphones?
- Your experience with Raspberry or other tiny computer
- Troubleshoot your Internet connectivity
- Utilities, for a utilities meeting
- Construction of the new Suez Canal
- Railway Car identification (George Burnell; Greg Sheehan)
- “Book Review” of Walter Isaacson’s book Code Breaker about the competing CRISPR teams. Maybe we can bring back Allan Kleinman
- Backup Strategies, ranging from the kinds of backup we use (Data, System Image, Cloud, other) to how to make and maintain (and test) our backups, and what the various hardware and software options are for making and maintaining a reliable backup.
Orphaned (scheduled, but couldn't be presented then)
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- Computational Photography - changing what's used as a camera. link e.g., replacing DSLR with cellphones; more (Jonathan Goode?, Harry Forsdick?) (needs a lead)
- How one builds a web application (e.g., using spreadsheets) (Harry Forsdick)
- (Harry) Getting Streaming Programming Into Your TV (what to do when your TV just isn't smart enough)
- [orig sched 7/28/2021] CERN and the Hadron Collider. History, Why It Was Built, Hoped Outcomes, Discovery of Bison, What is Next (Harvey Newman, professor Cal Tech). Harvey will introduce the status and outlook for the LHC, its past and present and near term outlook, and provide a panorama of the future including some of the leading programs. (John Rudy)
- [orig sched 8/25/2021] Archeology presented by Jeffrey Rose (archeologist) in Israel (Stan Rose)
Stan R to fup
lctg_in_the_works.txt · Last modified: 2025.03.28 11:09 by Steve Isenberg