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Brains and Machines

Brains and Machines

By: Dr Sunny Bains
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Curious to explore the technology advancing Artificial Intelligence beyond the usual headlines? Brains and Machines will introduce you to the people and ideas behind neuromorphic engineering, bio-inspired robotics, and other transformative technologies shaping AI’s future. From spiking neural networks and event-cameras to models of attention and mechanisms for prosthetic control, we investigate how machine cognition is moving forward.

Join Dr Sunny Bains, a scientist, journalist, and lecturer at University College London, as she talks to researchers, engineers, and computer scientists from across the field. With co-host, Dr Giulia D’Angelo from the Czech Technical University in Prague, and commentator Prof Ralph Etienne-Cummings from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, the post-interview discussion provides context and insight into the featured innovations.

Produced in conjunction with Electronic Engineering Times. Check out the EETimes Current podcast for more.

Dr D’Angelo gratefully acknowledges the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship.

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Nature & Ecology Physics Science
Episodes
  • Fixing AI’s Bottlenecks: Memory, Scale, and Sparsity
    Jun 12 2026

    This latest episode of Brains and Machines features a panel discussion on neuromorphic engineering and physical computing held at the Atoms to Bits: The AlphaBet of Intelligence v2.0 conference at the University of Manchester, held in February 2026. The panelists were Dr. Damien Querlioz, Dr. Julian Büchel, Professor Tamalika Banerjee, Dr. Maxence Ernoult, and Professor Steve Furber, and the session was chaired by Dr. Sunny Bains of University College London. Discussion follows with Dr. Giulia D’Angelo from the Czech Technical University in Prague and Professor Ralph Etienne-Cummings of Johns Hopkins University.

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    58 mins
  • Can the Nvidia Monopoly on AI Chips Be Broken?
    Apr 27 2026

    In this latest episode of Brains and Machines, EE Times Senior Reporter Sally Ward-Foxton talks to Dr. Sunny Bains of the University College London. They discuss the importance of power in all AI systems, the benefit of having dedicated inference chips, and where neuromorphic fits into the market. Discussion follows with Dr. Giulia D’Angelo from the Czech Technical University in Prague and Professor Ralph Etienne-Cummings of Johns Hopkins University.

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    48 mins
  • Neuromorphic Spikes Unify Control and Decision Making
    Apr 27 2026

    In this latest episode of Brains and Machines, Professor Rodolphe Sepulchre, a control theorist from the University of Cambridge, talks to Dr. Sunny Bains of the University College London. They discuss the inspiration he took from studying biological neurons, why both discrete and continuous behaviors are inherent to how they work, and why building neurons is often easier than simulating them. Discussion follows with Dr. Giulia D’Angelo from the Czech Technical University in Prague and Professor Ralph Etienne-Cummings of Johns Hopkins University.

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    56 mins
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