Podcast Episodes

1371: Creating 'world models' for robots + An AI math shakeup

Episode 1371

When you ask an LLM like ChatGPT or Claude a question, the model goes through its massive amount of training data and guesses the answer by mathemati…

1 month, 3 weeks ago

1370: What can moments of lucidity teach us about Alzheimer’s?

Episode 1370

Watching a loved one with Alzheimer's or dementia slowly lose their cognitive abilities can be heartbreaking. While the person you once knew seems to…

1 month, 3 weeks ago

1369: Colorado’s snow drought deals a major blow to recreation

Episode 1369

Winter in Colorado looked very different this year. Many parts of the state experienced record-high temperatures and record-low snowpack, which had d…

1 month, 3 weeks ago

1368: How do you find a ‘lost’ species?

Episode 1368

The earth is facing a biodiversity crisis, and there’s a lot of attention on species that are threatened, or at risk of dying out completely. But, th…

1 month, 3 weeks ago

1367: What we get wrong about vaccine hesitancy

Episode 1367

Over 2,400 people have contracted measles in the United States so far this year, topping the total number of cases for 2025 in just seven months. At …

1 month, 3 weeks ago

1366: Why this lab studies the speed of bug pee and other curiosities

Episode 1366

In a lab in the Rocky Mountains, a group of scientists is hard at work trying to find answers across biology, physics, and engineering: They’re looki…

1 month, 4 weeks ago

1365: Some primates undergo even more extreme childbirth than humans

Episode 1365

Human childbirth is often difficult and incredibly painful—just ask anyone who’s been through it. And for a long time, childbirth seemed to be unique…

1 month, 4 weeks ago

Deb Haaland is a politician, and proud of it

Former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, was the first Native person to hold a cabinet position. Now she’s running…

2 months ago

1363: Sitting all day is terrible for us. Moving a little can help

Episode 1363

Keeping your butt in a seat for hours a day increases the risk of heart attacks, diabetes, psychiatric conditions, and more. But in our tech-filled w…

2 months ago

1362: A Nagasaki survivor and physician recounts his life's work

Episode 1362

Dr. Masao Tomonaga was only 2 years old when the United States bombed his home city of Nagasaki. He survived, and grew up to become a physician for o…

2 months ago