The Economist: Babbage
Summary: Named after Charles Babbage a 19th-century polymath and grandfather of computing, Babbage is a weekly podcast on science and technology. Host Kenneth Cukier talks to our correspondents about the innovations, discoveries and gadgetry making the news. Published every Wednesday on Economist Radio.
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- Copyright: Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2016. All rights reserved.
Podcasts:
Bigger trawlers and better mapping allow fishermen to cast their nets where fish were once plentiful. Kenneth Cukier and environment correspondent Miranda Johnson explore the possibilities of monitoring the unregulated frontier of fishing. Also, Trevor Darrell explains how robots can "hallucinate" sensory experiences they lack, and a new approach to reduce the growth of cancerous tumours by starving them shows promise
A fatal accident in a Tesla vehicle on autopilot calls the technology into question. Kenneth Cukier and innovation editor Paul Markillie discuss the use of virtual reality to test driverless safety. Also on the show: Should algorithms be transparent to the public? And a new study suggests that climate-change models need rethinking
Babbage: Autonomous cars put to the test
This week: After five years of travel, the Juno spacecraft finally nears Jupiter. Our science correspondent, Tim Cross speaks to host Jason Palmer about its vital and dangerous mission. And, Matt Kaplan discusses how the shifty eyes of gamblers can explain how our brains process numbers.
Concerns abound about the impact of artificial intelligence, but could history suggest a brighter future? A new algorithm is designed to hunt down hateful videos on the Internet. And we hear from two scientists, Mauro Costa-Mattioli and Shelly Buffington, whose new study links obesity to autism. Hosted by Kenneth Cukier
Green screens could soon be a thing of the past as studios switch to video game technology to build special effects*; and a group of scientists in Syria and Europe find a nifty way to rid of a nasty, organic pollutant ^ See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mkm22yO-bs for The Jungle Book Official Trailer
Would you spend £10,000 on a smartphone? Tom Standage and Anne McElvoy visit the world of luxurious technology. Matthew Kaplan explains how your holiday snaps can have scientific uses, and researcher Lauren Sherman reveals how teenage brains react to social media
Stephen Hawking revises his theory of black holes and argues that everything may not be lost at the "event horizon" after all. And new sensors made by inkjet printers can tell when a new layer of sunscreen is needed to prevent sunburns. Hosted by Kenneth Cukier
New technology combines 3D printing with traditional machining, and a fresh theory on how humans became so smart
We talk to Jim O’Neill about how the overconsumption of antibiotics has eroded their effectiveness and discuss whether Facebook is turning into a news publisher
Kenneth Cukier investigates the burgeoning yellow fever outbreak in Angola. Also, astrobiologist Sanjoy Som fills us in on his research into the Earth's early atmosphere, and there's some eggstatic news for the egg industry
Surgical operations become more akin to driverless cars. And users try out IBM's quantum computer
We discuss the political and scientific impact of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on its 30th anniversary, and a new way to protect cells from many different kinds of virus
This week we discuss how to keep drones away from manned aircraft and talk to Vitalik Buterin, inventor of Ethereum
Researcher Simon Baron-Cohen joins our writers to discuss autism in the workplace. And our innovation editor on mapping technology in driverless cars.
