Back in the 1990s, the Digital Libraries Initiative from the National Science Project supported a small project out of Stanford University. It sounded obscure, and a lot of people thought it wasn’t exciting, and would have little real-world application. But on that team were two graduate students – Larry Page and Sergey Brin – the founders of Google. The modest grant ended up paying off very well, according to Robbert Dijkgraaf, a physics professor and the director of the Institute for Advanced ...
Feb 23, 2018•16 min
Behind movies like “Sunset Boulevard” and “Singin’ In The Rain,” there’s a real story about how Hollywood adapted to a groundbreaking innovation: sound.* * A smart watch might make sense… but a smart toilet? We talk with David Rose about the future of the connected home. Turns out, some members of the Amish community are using 3D printers. Find out how their community has thrived without - and with - technology.
Feb 16, 2018•50 min
IMAX, 3D glasses, VHS, technicolor… technology has continually reshaped Hollywood. But perhaps the biggest, most important change happened early in the industry’s history: the transition from silent films to talkies. Marc Wanamaker, a longtime Hollywood historian and consultant on films like “La La Land,” walks us through what happened, and how it forever transformed the silver screen.
Feb 16, 2018•21 min
David Rose has spent much of his career designing products that try to make the ordinary devices we use every day more magical: an umbrella that can tell you whether you actually need an umbrella that day, a pill bottle that alerts someone if you haven’t opened it in a while. We ask him how our products are learning more and more about us… and why that’s both good and bad.
Feb 16, 2018•14 min
How have the Amish thrived in a world without technology? They’ve hacked and innovated, says Elizabethtown College professor Donald Kraybill. Entrepreneurs can still succeed within the confines of their culture. It just takes a little imagination.
Feb 16, 2018•14 min
Turns out, the Russian Revolution can teach us a lot about the power of Twitter. Niall Ferguson walks us through the history of networks. Olympic athletes aren’t born with a tolerance for pain. They’ve just learned how to suffer. A tree a day keeps the doctor away. Florence Williams explains why going outside can make you feel better.
Feb 09, 2018•50 min
It’s easy to look at our social networks and think that they’re completely unprecedented. After all, it wasn’t like Abraham Lincoln could see how many likes he was getting on Facebook. But according to Niall Ferguson, that’s a narrow view of history. Ferguson, author of the new book, The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook, explores how networks have altered the course of human events, and tells us what we can learn about our own social networks by examining...
Feb 09, 2018•19 min
As you watch Shaun White execute a trick on the halfpipe, or Ashley Wagner land a triple axel, or Lindsey Vonn race down the slope… you might ask yourself a question. What exactly separates me from these Olympic athletes? Obviously, there’s the years of training and the fact that they’re extraordinarily fit, but there’s also something else. Something mental. Something that lets them push their limits. To find out exactly what this is, we talked with Alex Hutchinson, author of Endure: Mind, Body,...
Feb 09, 2018•16 min
The sound of waves on a rocky beach. The smell of soil after the rain. The warmth of the sun on your skin. Nature just feels good. But a growing body of research suggests that it might be good for you, too. Florence Williams, author of The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative, explains why going outside can make you feel better.
Feb 09, 2018•14 min
Corporations and brands are weighing in on hot-button issues. Aaron Chatterji explains why that might be good for business. More than 10,000 women worked as codebreakers during World War II, but their contributions have largely been ignored. Liza Mundy tells their story. The jobs that went to China? Well, a lot of them are moving to Africa.
Feb 02, 2018•50 min
"The President Stole Your Land." These words stood front and center on the website of outdoor gear company Patagonia last year. The message followed President Trump's announcement that he would severely reduce the size of several national monuments in Utah. Patagonia is one of many companies that have started taking public stances on social and political issues. We speak with Duke University associate professor Aaron Chatterji about what's motivating big business to get more political.
Feb 02, 2018•16 min
During World War II, a flurry of coded messages were sent by the Axis powers. Data on troop movements, supplies, ship locations... all transmitted via code. But these messages didn't necessarily stay coded for long. The Allies were able to intercept, decode, and learn the vital wartime secrets contained within many of these transmissions. These codebreaking efforts were vital in ending the war. And the people who actually did a lot of this work were women - over ten thousand of them. Liza Mundy ...
Feb 02, 2018•18 min
If you listen to politicians, it may seem like America is losing its manufacturing jobs to China. If you’ve listened to our show before, you know that’s not the whole picture. Automation has taken many jobs, China isn’t the only manufacturing powerhouse, and even when jobs do move to China... they don’t necessarily stay there. In fact, some Chinese manufacturing is moving to an area of the world you might not expect: Africa. Irene Yuan Sun, author of the forthcoming book The Next Factory of the ...
Feb 02, 2018•14 min
What do Russian hackers want in the 2018 elections? P. W. Singer says they're not engaged in a charm offensive. Instead, they're trying to divide Americans and sow distrust of the media. Then, from your romantic partner to your boss, there's no way of escaping criticism. But Paul Green says that negative feedback is actually changing the way we create social circles. Finally, media outlets are catering their content to your clicks. But what does that do to the news? Franklin Foer talks about how...
Jan 26, 2018•49 min
At this point, it's obvious that Russia attempted to influence the outcome of the 2016 Presidential election. But on the brink of another season of primaries and elections, the question becomes: what happens now? Is Russia going to get involved in the 2018 elections? And what, if anything, can America do about it? To answer these questions, we talked to Peter Singer, a senior fellow at the New America think tank, and author of Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know.
Jan 26, 2018•19 min
Whether it's at home or at the office, we're always facing criticism. And while feedback isn't always a bad thing, it can affect your relationships. We talk with Paul Green, a doctoral candidate at Harvard Business School, about his research on criticism and why it's important to build connections with people before doling out feedback.
Jan 26, 2018•15 min
For the last decade, newspaper circulation has seen a staggering drop. Meanwhile, more than 90 percent of today's adults get their news online. So how are journalism outlets adjusting to a digital world? We talk with Franklin Foer, author of the book, "World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech," about how social media and CEOs like Jeff Bezos have changed the journalism game.
Jan 26, 2018•13 min
We’re always so concerned about how to do something, but we don't always consider when we should do it. When should we start a new project? When should we take a nap? We talk to author Daniel Pink about why timing is everything. Even though beards are currently in style, there was a time when being clean shaven was the way to go. We take a look at the man who revolutionized the shaving industry. Plus, if it seems like food allergies are on the rise, they are. One in every 13 children in America ...
Jan 19, 2018•49 min
Rats: The bane of any city-dweller’s existence. We spend millions of dollars each year trying to kill these pests, putting out poison and traps. But new research poses the question: Should we be killing rats at all? Innovation Hub producer Marc Filippino reports on what could be a surprising new solution to rat control.
Jan 19, 2018•6 min
Did you ever trade lunches at school when you were a kid? Maybe you gave away your peanut butter sandwich in exchange for some chocolate pudding. With rampant food allergies, a trade like that probably wouldn't happen today. And while schools and other organizations are very aware of the increased number of people who have allergies, we know little about what causes them. Innovation Hub spoke with Dr. Wayne Shreffler, the director of the Food Allergy Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and ...
Jan 19, 2018•18 min
If you're the type of person who shaves, you've probably used a disposable razor at least once. But where did this seemingly ubiquitous part of American life come from? It all goes back to the late 19th century, and a man with the absolutely incredible name of King Camp Gillette.
Jan 19, 2018•4 min
Does it matter when you go in for an operation? When a jury hears your case? What year you're born in? The answer in all three of these cases: yes. Dan Pink took a deep dive into the science behind how timing affects our lives. He's author of the new book, "When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing."
Jan 19, 2018•20 min
First up, we examine a question that most kids ask at some point: “Where do babies come from?” Science writer Edward Dolnick walks us through how humanity discovered the answer to that question. And the story involves Leonardo Da Vinci, sea urchins, and staring at sperm under a primitive microscope. After that: What can scientists learn from the natural world? We visit the lab of Jeff Karp, a biomedical engineer who seeks inspiration from porcupines and geckos. Take a listen to find out how inve...
Jan 12, 2018•49 min
For most of human history, we didn’t know where babies come from. Sure, we knew it involved sex, but beyond that, things got a little fuzzy. The story of how we got clarity on the birds and the bees is as circuitous as it is strange. Its cast of characters includes kings, philosophers, sea urchins, and the father of microbiology. Science writer Edward Dolnick, author of the new book “The Seeds of Life,” tells the tale.
Jan 12, 2018•21 min
Who would’ve thought that geckos could revolutionize medical technology? Jeff Karp, an associate professor at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, was inspired research in nature, most specifically by the gecko’s incredible ability to stick to vertical walls. And he realized that that ability - sticking and unsticking easily, without leaving a residue behind, like a band-aid does - could be useful in the hospital. And this nature-inspired realization was just the beg...
Jan 12, 2018•12 min
Hopefully, you’re going to die a very long time from now, surrounded by friends and family, having lived a meaningful life. But exactly how far away is death going to be? When you look at the broad sweep of human history, life expectancy has pushed upwards (albeit not always in a straight line), almost doubling over the last century. And, it may well keep rising. Andrew Scott, co-author of The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity, believes that longer lifespans are about to a...
Jan 12, 2018•16 min
First, The lives – and regrets – behind the scientists who created our weapons of war. Then, Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov tells us what he learned from losing to a very smart computer. And finally, writer and blogger Cory Doctorow explains how science-fiction can help us imagine the future, and prepare for it.
Jan 05, 2018•49 min
Growing up, Thanksgivings in Jennet Conant’s house were contentious. The Vietnam War was raging, and in Cambridge, Massachusetts, student protests were ubiquitous. But Conant’s family was especially combative. Her grandfather, James B. Conant, a former president of Harvard University, had both supervised the production of poison gas during World War I, and oversaw the development of the atomic bomb during World War II. Conant’s father argued her grandfather wasn’t a scientist who had served his ...
Jan 05, 2018•22 min
For more than a 30-year span, chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov was nearly unbeatable. But, in 1997, he faced an unlikely competitor: the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue. Kasparov lost the final match, which ended up being a turning point both for him and for our understanding of artificial intelligence. We talk with Kasparov about his new book, “Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins.”
Jan 05, 2018•13 min
Science-fiction is a genre that imagines the future. It doesn’t necessarily predict the future (after all, where are flying cars?), but it grapples with the technological and societal changes happening today to better understand our world and where it’s heading. So, what does it mean when so much of our most popular science-fiction - The Handmaid’s Tale, The Walking Dead, and The Hunger Games - present bleak, depressing futures? Cory Doctorow might just have an answer. He’s a blogger, writer, ac...
Jan 05, 2018•13 min
