Teaching AI to Build Stuff in the Physical World
AI works well in the virtual world. That’s partly because the internet provides so much data to train AI models. But there’s no analogous data set for the physical world – and as a result, AI doesn’t ...
30 Jan 202551min
NVIDIA: At the Heart of the AI Boom
In the past few years, NVIDIA has become one of the most valuable and important companies in the world by making GPUs, the chips powering the AI boom. But where did the company come from, and why are...
23 Jan 202544min
What Claude Shannon Figured Out
Claude Shannon is a major figure in the history of technology. Known as the father of information theory, Shannon spent decades at Bell Labs and MIT. But what exactly did Claude Shannon figure out, an...
16 Jan 202542min
Measles: The Cancer Killer?... from Incubation
We thought we knew everything there was to know about measles. But in recent years, new research has revealed that the virus attacks the immune system and creates effects far more dramatic than a rash...
19 Des 202430min
RoboPod and the Perpetual Money Machine – Cautionary Questions 2… from Cautionary Tales
What really drove the 2008 financial crash? What’s a shadow bank? And what’s the connection between NIMBYs and BANANAs? Tim Harford and Jacob Goldstein answer more of your questions. Enjoy this episod...
12 Des 202443min
Turning Solar Energy Into Fuel (The Solar Era, Part 3)
Solar power and batteries are becoming cheap and ubiquitous. Great. But there are problems batteries can’t solve – like fueling ships and planes. One way to solve those problems: Use solar power to cr...
2 Des 202450min
Can Hot Bricks Save the World? (The Solar Era, Part 2)
This is the second of three episodes about the solar-power revolution. Last week, we talked about how solar power got so cheap. This week, we’re talking with someone who is building giant plants aroun...
28 Nov 202431min
How the Sun Won (The Solar Era, Part 1)
In the past 20 years, the price of solar panels has fallen by more than 97 percent. This extraordinary decline is good news for the world – and it’s transforming the way energy is produced and consume...
21 Nov 202444min
