Studying urban wildfires, and the challenges of creating tiny AI robots

First up this week, urban wildfires raged in Los Angeles in January. Contributing Correspondent Warren Cornwall discusses how researchers have come together to study how pollution from buildings at such a large scale impacts the environment and health of the local population.   Next on the show, Mingze Chen, a graduate student in the mechanical engineering department at the University of Michigan, talks with host Sarah Crespi about the challenges of placing artificial intelligence in small robots. As you add more sensors and data, the demand for computing power and energy goes up. To reduce the power demand, Chen’s team tried a different kind of physics for collecting and processing data using a type of resistance switching memory device called a “memristor.”   This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.   About the Science Podcast   Authors: Sarah Crespi; Warren Cornwall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices