Machine learning, self driving cars, smart robotics. These are some of the concepts that are powering our vision of the future. If they sound expensive, it’s because usually they are. But engineer, tinkerer and creator of the Power Racing Series Jim Burke has found ways to drive toward the future on a tight budget. On this episode of The Current, host Michael Copeland sits down with Burke to discuss the next steps in self-driving vehicles and how autonomous technology could change our lives in the future.

How can science change the way we cook a steak? Food Lab author and Serious Eats Managing Culinary Director J. Kenji Lopez-Alt has spent the better part of his career applying the scientific method to rigorously test and sometimes upend conventional thinking in cooking. In this episode of The Current podcast, Michael Copeland speaks with Lopez-Alt to find out how science and technology can make us better cooks.

In December 1972, the last humans left the moon, ending the famed Apollo missions and human exploration of the lunar surface. Now one private space company dreams of not only returning humans to the moon, but of building a more permanent residence there by 2021. In this episode of The Current podcast, Michael Copeland speaks with Randa Milliron, co-founder and CEO of Interorbital Systems, about the progression of private space exploration and her company's plans to start a lunar colony in the near future.

What will the cities of the future look like? Autonomous cars, interactive walls, and sustainable infrastructure are just a few of the ideas being looked at by city planners around the world. In this episode of The Current podcast, Michael Copeland speaks with Nataly Gattegno, co-founder of the Future Cities Lab to find out how cities will evolve.

Ready for one of your doctors to be a machine? Doctors are turning to machine learning and artificial intelligence technology to improve their diagnoses. In this episode, Michael Copeland interviews Dr. Mark Michalski, a top radiologist with a foot in the world of cybernetics.