Malcolm Maclver's formative years were as a grade four dropout living with his off-the-grid parents in a remote part of northern Ontario, Canada. He’s since overcompensated by getting training in a host of disciplines including computer science, philosophy, neuroscience, and engineering, and is now a professor of engineering and neurobiology at Northwestern University. He works on the relationship between how animals move and how they sense their environment. He also develops technology based on exotic movement and sensing capabilities of animals. He pioneered the development of a new sensor inspired by the ability of certain fish to sense using a self-generated electric field. This new technology holds great promise for enabling work around oil spills or in submerged vessels where ordinary vision is useless. He has served as science advisor for several sci-fi TV series and movies, blogs about science for Discover magazine, and develops science-inspired interactive art installations that have exhibited internationally.