This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro

While the US Government mends fences with Anthropic, which recently introduced an AI tool known as "Mythos", which they claim is so powerful it can punch holes in even the most powerful cybersecurity safeguards today; we're heading down an entirely new path with even faster, stronger, and better technology.

That's because it is based on quantum physics, and as such;  is capable of computational speed and complex operations that can run circles around every kind of system and program that we have today.

The downside is that it is still in development,  though, as you'll hear today; it is getting closer to becoming the next big thing in more than just theory.

Our special guest is Dr. Ronald M. Reano, who is a Professor at The Ohio State University's Department of Electrical and Computer Science, as well as the Co-Director of their Center for Quantum Science and Engineering.

There, he is working on ways to vastly improve cybersecurity, by sending quantum particles that are immune from eavesdropping,  securely over a wired network.

Listen now to find out how far they've gotten in their quest to reach that goal, and what a future with networked quantum computers could hold.
Biography: Ronald M. Reano received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2004. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The Ohio State University, Columbus, where he leads the Integrated Optics Laboratory. Prof. Reano’s research focuses on chipscale integrated photonics for innovation in sensors, communications systems, and computing. Prof. Reano served as The Optical Society (OSA), Frontiers in Optics, Integrated Photonics Subcommittee Chair in 2013 and 2014. He served as Program CoChair for the 2015 OSA Annual Meeting. Prof. Reano is currently serving as an Associate Editor for Optics Express. He is also the faculty advisor for the OSA Student Chapter at The Ohio State University and is an OSA Traveling Lecturer. Prof. Reano is the recipient of the DARPA Young Faculty Award, the ARO Young Investigator Award, the NSF CAREER Award, and the Ohio State University College of Engineering McCarthy Teaching Award.

Degrees

Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2004
M.S., Electrical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2000
B.S., Electrical Engineering, University of New Mexico, 1996
B.S., Physics, University of California, Los Angeles 1991

Hats off to Todd Rundgren, who inspired today's headline with his ever-popular 1982 classic hit, "Bang The Drum", because that's certainly what I'm doing (at least in my head) today, thinking about a unique fusion of art, music, and technology that's happening right here in Northeast Ohio.

While Akron used to be known as the "Rubber Capital of The World"; it is now considered the nation's premier polymer tech hub, with millions of dollars pouring in from both the federal government and private industry to fund research and development of advanced, sustainable polymers.

But Professor Markus Vogl is doing something different, more colorful, and more creative, with polymers. He's making and selling custom, 3-D printed drums that are not only cool to look at, but also smokin' hot to play!

Listen now to find out how Vogl is using technology to turn art into music, music into money, and business know-how, into practical lessons for the artists and engineering students who take his classes on 3-D printing at the University of Akron Myers School of Art.

In what could be a weeks-long trial; the world's richest man, Elon Musk, is squaring off against Open AI CEO, Sam Altman, over whether or not Musk, who voluntarily walked away from a seat on the Open AI Board in 2018, deserves $134 billion dollars in compensation for alleged harm.

That is a big ask, and according to reports this week, including by NBC News, is also leading to bigger questions such as "Will AI lead to the extinction of the human race?".

But, as you'll hear now in my conversation with former CNET Editor, and current CBS News Tech Contributor, Ian Sherr, it's more about money, power, and control, than it is about any high-minded moral quandaries or existential arguments. 

Find out more. Listen now.

The next time you apply sunscreen to project your skin from potentially cancer-inducing Ultraviolet rays from the sun; consider this: rays of light are actually being used right now to kill skin cancer, and may one day be used on other forms of cancer deep inside the body.

This promising new development is being explored by a research team at the Cleveland Clinic, headed by Dr. Vijay Krishna, who tells us all about their ground-breaking research, in this week's edition of This Week In Tech With Jeanne Destro.

Listen now to find out how this project, which just won a $2 million dollar award through Wellcome Leap’s Quantum for Bio Challenge , is powered by a Quantum computer which can process information in the blink of an eye that would take, in Krishna's words, "trillions" of years for even the most advanced, conventional, binary computer.

Will the new Anthropic "Mythos" AI model be a blessing, or a curse?

Well, that depends on who wields what could be the most powerful cyber weapon ever created, according to a tech expert we talked to on this week's edition of "This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro".

We'll also be talking about an escalating backlash to AI in general, and data centers in particular, why you should always double-check the medical advice you get from AI, violence aimed at those who aim to further AI development., and Anthropic's ongoing dispute with the Pentagon.

Listen now.