As we complete production on an Over Coffee® special-edition program, please enjoy this reposting of one of our top episodes of 2025!

"We've crossed a dangerous threshold," warns futurist, entrepreneur and Ubertrends CEO Michael Tchong.

He's talking about the ways scammers can use AI.

Michael, whose entrepreneurial background has included creating four successful startups, has based his career on reaching beyond watching trends, to educate others in what he has termed “ubertrends”.

Ubertrends, Michael explains, are trends that change human values.

Michael, who is the author of three books, is also an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco.

In addition, he is the founder of four successful startups, including Ubertrends,

In his most recent book “Ubertrends – How Trends and Innovation Are Transforming Our Future“, he identifies eight "ubertrends"of the twenty-first century.

With the motto, “I help you catch the next wave, before it catches you”, he explores the ways these "ubertrends" can affect future success--as well as pitfalls to be avoided.

And artificial intelligence, he says, comes with "a lot of great benefits", but can also help scammers on an unprecedented scale.

While Michael says senior citizens are a prime target of AI scammers, these scams can affect anyone.

"Scams can take all different forms, but the typical ones are the ones that ask for money," he says.

"Innovation is not about predicting the future. Innovation is preparing for it."

Michael shared some of the ways to be prepared and possibly avoid getting “scammed”, talked about his background and discussed ways artists and “arts people” can stay relevant amid the AI surge.

Cosmic Girls Foundation Founder and CEO Dr. Mindy Howard is fueling some exciting dreams for the future--for girls all over the world.

"I know what it...takes to get to space," she says.

"...I think I can help other people get there faster."

Mindy, who is an astronaut trainer and future astronaut, founded her Netherlands-based nonprofit in 2022.

The goal: to provide girls, ages 14-19, with STEM education and skills training to become astronauts--and more.

And Mindy is drawing on considerable expertise, to do so.

A candidate on NASA's "Highly Qualified" astronaut list, she is Founding Director of Inner Space Training, which prepares commercial astronauts, mentally, for space travel.

In addition, as an author and speaker, she teaches leadership skills, drawing on her training as an astronaut. (Check out her book, Blast Off! Train Like an Astronaut for Success on Earth, as well as her TEDx Talk!)

The mission of Cosmic Girls Foundation

"We empower girls globally to become pioneers in the new space economy leading humanity into the cosmos ," says Cosmic Girls Foundation's vision statement on their website.

Accordingly, Cosmic Girls Foundation offers multiple programs with international partners.

Girls can sign up to work with mentors and learn skills including satellite design, leadership, design thinking and much more.

Several of the programs offer virtual space missions, with participants completing simulated mission tasks, while others include public speaking, creativity and career exploration.

In addition, Cosmic Girls Foundation gives girls the opportunity to learn from, and connect with, science professionals, through their virtual Speaker Series.

There's also a "Cosmic Forum", in which girls with similar STEM interests can connect and offer one another guidance and support.

"...I realized what we needed to do is to build a community,so that girls can see other like-minded girls ...and having girls ...online all over the world share their...dreams, their 'geekiness', ...and they're helping each other, so that's kind of the first...element," Mindy says.

How to get involved

And Mindy says Cosmic Girls Foundation is seeking additional partnerships and mentors for these young women, as well as donations to their program. She welcomes potential partners to reach out through the website.

Mindy talked about her journey as a space professional, shared the story of Cosmic Girls Foundation and outlined her vision for the future.

When Basa Village Foundation President, philanthropist and author Jeff Rasley first began trekking in Nepal, his perspective changed radically.

While climbing the Himalayan mountains as an adventure, he fell in love with the Rai people, in Nepal's remote mountain village of Basa. Their kindness, spirituality and openness were a refreshing change from Western culture. And their way of life was exactly as it had been, for five hundred years.

But then, friends in the area requested help in upgrading Basa village's school.

How, Jeff wondered, could he fulfill the request without obliterating a culture that had existed for centuries?

"What can we give to Basa that it really needs (without destroying the culture by Westernizing it)?" he asks, in his book Bringing Progress to Paradise: How I Changed Nepal, How Nepal Changed Me.

The answer was the catalyst for the creation of nonprofit Basa Village Foundation.

Listening to the village

Since that initial request, Jeff, and the Foundation, have implemented multiple projects geared towards health, education and a better standard of living in Basa village. But, Jeff explains, every project must first be requested by the villagers.

Then, he continues, implementation of the project involves the whole community.

Jeff, who coordinates trekking and mountaineering expeditions through award-winning Nepal travel agency Adventure Geo Treks, explains that he has returned, five times, to Basa. While there, he will inspect the projects and ask the villagers' opinions of the way these projects are affecting their lives.

So far, those projects have included upgrading the school, bringing electricity to the village, and a new agricultural and animal husbandry cooperative.

A full creative schedule

Meanwhile, as covered in our previous interview, when Jeff is in his home state of Indiana, he serves as President of nonprofit Scientech Foundation of Indiana, which supports STEM and STEAM education through grants.

A prolific author, Jeff has written 18 books so far. His extensive travels, his experience as a legal professional and his perspectives on history and spirituality are all reflected in his books.

Jeff talked about the creation of the Basa Village Foundation, offered a closer look at the projects they've implemented in the village, and discussed some of the activities of the Scientech Foundation of Indiana.

"...The growth of technology is, by definition, accessibility," says AbleGamers Executive Director Jordan Kough.

And for 21 years, nonprofit AbleGamers has been working towards making video gaming accessible to all.

Their objectives stretch far beyond making sure everyone has fun. Although that's a valid consideration!

On their website, AbleGamers' stated mission is to "enable play in order to combat social isolation, foster inclusive communities, and improve the quality of life for people with disabilities."

Their programs are achieving these objectives in some exciting ways.

Multifaceted innovation

Among their initiatives is the Able Player One program, where adaptive gaming specialists meet with players with disabilities, determine their accessibility needs and deliver--free of charge--gear that allows them to start, and continue, gaming. (And the specialists will stay in contact with the gamer, to be sure the items they supply are working for that person's specific needs.)

In addition, AbleGamers have, so far, trained more than 1,000 video game developers in accessibility. Their APX program offers 22 different patterns for accessible experiences.

"The coolest parts about this is that we see all different types of people in our space, that want to get trained on this to use it in different parts and ways," Jordan says.

Also, through their Player Panel program, AbleGamers have assembled the world's largest panel of gamers with disabilities, to advise the gaming industry.

They even have an in-house Engineering Research Team, which prototypes and creates new devices when current technology fails to meet an individual's accessibility needs.

But perhaps one of their most exciting recent initiatives is their first international Esports Tournament for players with disabilities!

Scheduled for March 7, 2026, in Milan, this hybrid competition will welcome players to compete both in-person and remotely. (Registrations are currently open, with more information available through their socials, @ablegamers.)

Jordan shared the story of AbleGamers, offered a closer look at their programs and talked about his vision for the future.

"Letters like these make my day," says Abeye Co-Founder and CEO Michael Kodochian.

He's describing some of the responses he's received from users of Lexilens, the patented smart glasses he invented to help users with dyslexia read more smoothly.

In one case, a grandmother wrote to him to say that her dyslexic granddaughter's difficulties had previously led her to abandon her dream of becoming a nurse. But now, Lexilens was allowing the young woman to resume her studies.

And for Michael, results like this are the reason behind his work.

"I want somehow to contribute to a better world," he says.

The workings of innovation

So, how does Lexilens work? In effect, it's a neurovisual-enhancement filter.

"Lexilens corrects...the visual processing in the brain," Michael explains.

"...It cleans the input (of information you're reading)."

And the clarity it provides allows dyslexics to build their "dictionaries" of reading compehension, due to being able to process the words on the printed page--or computer monitor--more easily.

Michael points out that these smart glasses do not distinguish letters, nor increase reading speed.

"It's not magic," he says, explaining that reading ability is built over time and that the person using it, not the device itself, will distinguish words.

However, it IS revolutionary.

What Lexilens does, is remove the visual "noise" of dyslexia, so that a user can develop these skills.

While Lexilens, which has garnered numerous awards including a 2020 CES® Innovation Award, is currently available for sale, Michael and his team also have a new innovation: a smart monitor screen, which should be available in the U.S. in March!

Michael shared the story of his smart-eyewear startup Abeye and Lexilens, explained how the smart glasses work, and offered a closer look at some of the ways his technology is creating a better future.

For Prothea Kenya Co-Founder and Managing Director Dr. Nick Were, emerging technology equals a pathway to better medical care--and better lives for his patients.

But the innovation doesn't stop there.

Next, he and his colleagues add imagination, creativity and a sense of community.

Dr. Were, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Nairobi College of Health Sciences, uses 3D printing to create prosthetic devices for amputees. The result: lighter, more durable devices, with a more comfortable fit--at about half the normal cost.

In Kenya, he explains, after an amputation, prosthetics can cost as much as $1,000--and national health insurance doesn't cover the cost.

"Many people can't (afford) that."

But, he continues, lack of a prosthetic device can doom that patient to a life of poverty.

"If you can't move, than you really can't do much.

("Our devices cost about half the cost of a traditional prosthetic.")

Community, creativity and fun

Once a patient receives one of Prothea Kenya's 3D printed prosthetic devices, Dr. Were and his colleagues begin gait training. As patients learn to navigate with their new prosthetic limbs, their sessions take place where new patients can see how the 3D printed devices work for their recipients.

Often, a second look is necessary to even determine that anyone is using a prosthesis!

That statement is especially true of the event which Dr. Were implemented in 2025: Kenya's first "Mr. and Miss Amputee Kenya Fashion Show"!

Dr. Were's vision for this special event extends beyond Kenya; he'd like to make the fashion show an annual, and global, event. Plans are already in progress for a second show, in the final quarter of 2026.

Extending excellence through technology

And Dr. Were, who is passionate about technology in medicine, continues to explore the ways technological advances can benefit his patients--and his colleagues.

As Chief Medical Officer at digital healthcare platform Docthus Healthtech, he updates healthcare professionals on current trends in medicine, through the use of mixed reality. He also uses virtual reality for patient pain management, as well as medical education.

"Combining...the virtual reality, the 3D printing and my orthopedic surgery practice, really is my life's goal, my dream," Dr. Were says.

"And I'm really happy to be living my dream."

Dr. Were talked about his background, shared the story of creating Prothea Kenya and offered a preview of what's next!

"When I first started teaching fifth grade in Vermont, I quickly found that my students didn't know their math facts," says MathFactLab creator and company owner Mike Kenny.

That discovery would ultimately lead him to designing his online strategy-based math fact fluency application.

Mike, who teaches fifth grade at Thomas Fleming Elementary School in Essex Junction, Vermont, first responded to the challenge by researching ways to help his students learn math more easily.

Designing a revolutionary system

But everything he found was based on memorization--which wasn't working.

Instead, Mike began creating a system that would help students understand multiplication, division, addition and subtraction. Initially, that system was flash card-based, but eventually, Mike found a developer and evolved it into an online program.

MathFactLab is highly visual: math facts are displayed through multiple models, including beads, dice, clock faces and bar graphs.

For students using the program, learning math become a discovery process, that's all about reasoning and thinking with numbers, and identifying patterns.

"It's much easier to apply patterns, than it is to rely on memory,"," Mike says.

Starting with certainty

Also, he explains, students explore what they already know, to learn new math facts.

For example, with a student who says they can't do division, Mike will ask if they can multiple a simple number, such as three times eight. Then, he has that student consider that they already understand how to divide, if they can multiply!

"Division is simply 'unmultiplication',"he says.

And the approach of discovering new facts, and learning visually, is highly effective, as students learn, rather than simply recite, facts.

"If they can get there themselves, then they own (that knowledge), and they appreciate it all the more, and remember it," Mike says.

Mike shared the story of creating MathFactLab, offered a closer look at some of the principles teachers can use in their classroom, and discussed what's next with the program.

"...Sixty-five percent of kids...entering school today will end up (in) jobs that currently do not exist," explained Nanit Robotics Founder Vlad Konov, during our 2023 conversation.

Since then, that statement has only become more relevant.

Vlad, who introduced his Nanit ed-tech to the U.S. in the Eureka Park® startup area of CES®2023, has a long track record of innovation.

An engineer, entrepreneur and educator, he is also the founder and CEO of RoboHouse, Ukraine’s international laboratory of robotics, electronics and programming.

In addition, he is the creator of a first-of-its-kind robotics school in Ukraine.

Our discussion, following CES®2023, explored the ways his user-friendly kit, for all ages, made robotics accessible to all.

Vlad's innovation sprang from his discoveries of the limited learning resources for adults, as he began his journey, in adulthood, as a self-taught roboticist.

While STEM opportunities for children are abundant, he says, he found very few learning possibilities for beginning adult learners.

However, he did see a real need for upskilling.

"...Now, market need is to change your professional orientation. It's OK to change your professional orientation at least three times in your lifetime," Vlad says.

And as he became proficient in robotics, he began thinking of ways to fill that gap.

"We don't have enough STEM education for adults, and I want to solve this problem," he says.

"I have a lot of success right now (with robotics). Can you imagine if (I'd started) at 12 or 13?"

His experience would ultimately lead him to create the Nanit Robotics kit--from which users of all ages can build, literally, 100 robots!

But he didn't stop there.

Growing the inspiration

Today, according to Nanit Robotics' website, that innovation has grown into an online engineering course: "Nanit Master", which is getting A pluses, in feedback, from previous students!

"Our mission of the project is to create engineers," explains the website.

"The company's products are not used as weapons, they have only an educational STEM character."

Another exciting note? Since our conversation, Nanit has also begun offering smart home products on Amazon!

A quick check of their listings reveals several different types of baby monitors, including a wearable which tracks breathing motion, and a wi-fi camera with sleep tracking and two-way audio.

"This is the future," Vlad says.

Vlad shared the story of Nanit Robotics, explained some of the ways the kit can be used and offered a closer look at a future in which robotics can facilitate bringing ideas to life.