Babbage from The Economist

At the turn of the 20th century, physicists realised their understanding of the subatomic world was wrong. A new theory was born: quantum mechanics. Despite defying everyday notions of the nature of reality, quantum physics has had a profound impact on both basic science and modern technology. In the first of two episodes to mark the centenary of the birth of quantum physics, our guest this week explains what this science has done for humanity already and what it will do next. Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Guest: Paul Davies of Arizona State University and the author of “Quantum 2.0”. Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Whether or not AI models really are “intelligent” is a philosophical and scientific question with profound consequences for how people use and develop the technology. But what does “intelligence” really mean? Blaise Agüera y Arcas has a provocative answer: what if intelligence—and all of life—is just a product of computation?Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Guest: Blaise Agüera y Arcas, CTO of technology & society at Google and the author of “What is Intelligence?”If you enjoyed this episode, scroll back to our two-part series, which asked: what is artificial general intelligence? Or, to learn how biology inspired the AI systems of today, find our series on the science that built the AI revolution. Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Geothermal energy has long been neglected—it currently provides less than 1% of the world’s electricity. That’s because very few places on Earth have the right conditions to enable geothermal plants to work. But that’s changing, thanks to a new suite of technologies. Could geothermal soon rival nuclear power?Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Guests: The Economist’s Vijay Vaitheeswaran; Jack Norbeck of Fervo Energy; James Benetatos of Quaise Energy; and Cindy Taff of Sage Geosystems. Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

For decades, futurists have promised that robots will transform society, yet that still feels like a distant prospect. In this episode, recorded live at the “Web Summit” technology conference in Lisbon, our guests explain why a robotic revolution is closer than you think—and what they’re doing to make it a reality.Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Guests: Robert Playter, the boss of Boston Dynamics; and Tye Brady, the chief technologist at Amazon Robotics. Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Only 10% of people around the world who need organ transplants actually end up receiving them, due to a shortage of suitable donors and extremely complicated logistics. Some scientists have therefore been looking for more radical solutions: transplanting genetically-modified pig organs into humans. The field has seen rapid progress in recent years—will such procedures become mainstream?Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Guests: The Economist’s Emilie Steinmark; Leonardo Riella of Massachusetts General Hospital; and Tim Andrews, one of Dr Riella’s patients. Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Between 2001 and 2024, a quarter of Madagascar’s native rainforest has vanished. At this rate of destruction, those ecosystems will be entirely wiped out by the end of the century. Could collecting and preserving the seeds of the endangered plants help repair the country’s ancient forests?Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Guests: The Economist’s Ainslie Johnstone; Henintsoa Razanajatovo and Nomentsoa Randriamamonj of Kew Madagascar; Sharon Balding and Charlotte Lusty of Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Two decades ago, Neil Shubin discovered a fish-like fossil which transformed scientists’ understanding of how animals transitioned out of the sea. In this episode, Prof Shubin tells us about hunting for fossils at Earth’s extremes and how he is gearing up for another big challenge: taking the reins of America’s National Academy of Sciences. In his telling, American science is in a “dark age”. Why, then, is he so optimistic?Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Guest: Professor Neil Shubin of the University of Chicago and the author of “Ends of the Earth”.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

A new class of synthetic opioids is sweeping through illicit drug markets all over the world. Nitazenes can be up to 25 times more potent than fentanyl—and hundreds of times stronger than heroin. How could restrictions on other drugs have fuelled the spread of these dangerous new opioids, and what should governments do about it?Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Guests: The Economist’s Emilie Steinmark; Phoenix Kellye of Rebel Harm Reduction; George Eze of the University of Sierra Leone Teaching Hospitals Complex. Thanks also to The Economist’s Ore Ogunbiyi. Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Since 1901, the Nobel prizes have been the pinnacle of scientific achievement. This week, nine more scientists joined the ranks of Albert Einstein and Marie Curie, as they were recognised for their work in immunology, quantum computing and inventing a new class of materials. Who are the scientists who earned those coveted phone calls from Stockholm?Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Guests: The Economist’s Natasha Loder, Geoff Carr and Tim Cross.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.