Understanding the long term trajectory of disruption: how it's changed—and continues to change— society and the way we interact with technology. (This episode first aired in January 2021, and has been updated to reflect that.)

Spark from CBC Radio

Repeat: Disruption

In recent weeks, there have been several cyber attacks on Canadian healthcare institutions. What makes them such a target and what can we do to better protect vital health data?

524: Healthcare's Cyber Hygiene Problem

A look at the boom in mental health tech and the limits to fixing mental health gaps. And, how we can design mental health tech tools that work for underserved and marginalized populations?

523: Mental Health Tech

How will we experience music in the year 2050? Will we have speakers permanently implanted in our ears? Will we even need ears? Three experts—a musician, an engineer and a historian—offer their thoughts.

522: The Next Big Thing - Music

A look at the impact of noise on our mental and physical well-being, and how to tackle it. And, how our brains create meaning from the sounds we hear.

521: Our Sonic World

If the internet is where much of our common culture is stored these days, how do we make sure there's a record of our collective online lives? (This episode first aired in June 2021, and has been updated to reflect that.)

Repeat: The Disappearing Web

A look at the far future and nitty gritty present of artificial intelligence and what it might mean for how we relate to one another and the non-human entities that will —and increasingly do— surround us.

520: The AI Revolution

From cultural appropriation to algorithmic bias to the commodification of trauma, Black creators and consumers of digital media are forced to confront a variety of challenges on social media platforms. A look at the Black experience online.

519: The Black experience online

A Spark look into the deep future. What will our homes look like, feel like, and where will they be located several decades from now?

518: The Next Big Thing - Home

How countercultures, subcultures and niche communities have shaped, and continue to shape, digital tech.

517: Countercultures and Computing

Our digital tech both facilitates and mitigates waste in the garment industry. But can the technology that ramped up global fashion production also help us build a more sustainable fashion future?

516: Fashion Futures

Sometimes it's all in the details. As a technology, glass lens—first developed around a thousand years ago—has allowed us to correct our vision, see the furthest objects in the sky, and the smallest objects on the Earth. Oh, and there's photography and film as well.

The Spark Guide to Civilization, Ep 10 - The Lens

From the abacus to the explosive growth in computer tech following World War II, to today's research into using the brain as a model for computing.

The Spark Guide to Civilization, Ep 9 - Computing

Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it! Everybody sleeps. But how has the way we sleep evolved with the technology we've developed?

The Spark Guide to Civilization, Ep 8 - Sleep

From hieroglyphs to instant messaging, humans have been attempting to perfect the way we correspond with one another. And still, we love to hate to email.

The Spark Guide to Civilization, Ep 7 - Correspondence

Spark on CBC Radio One Nora Young helps you navigate your digital life by connecting you to fresh ideas in surprising ways.

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Spark from CBC Radio

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