STEM-Talk: Ask Me Anything with Dr. Ken Ford

It’s time for another episode of Ask Me Anything on STEM-Talk, available now on your favorite podcast platform.

Dawn and Ken answer listener questions that range from generative AI to whether grip strength is a biomarker for longevity and the potential of ketamine as a treatment for depression. If you have a question you’d like to submit for a future Ask Me Anything, email STEM-Talk producer Randy Hammer  at  rhammer@ihmc.org.

This episode includes:

•  Whether Ken and Dawn prefer to read books in print or digitally.
  Ken’s thoughts on a recent paper claiming that a decline in grip strength is associated with adverse health consequences.
• The FDA-approved use of esketamine, a derivative of ketamine, as a therapy for depression.
• Ken’s thoughts on how tools such as OpenAI’s “Whisper” transcription tool ought to be integrated into the marketplace — and how their risk of error ought to be navigated.
• Whether there is ever such a thing as “settled science.”
• An overview of Dawn’s work with the deep-sea technology company DEEP.
• Ken’s recent commencement address to 2025 graduates at the University of West Florida. It includes why he believes we are all inventors — and that our greatest inventive work is rejoicing in the extreme unlikelihood and fragility of our own existence.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.