Nick Jacobson and his team at Dartmouth medical school spent over 100,000 hours trying to build an AI chatbot that can serve as a safe, effective therapist. After a few false starts, they seem to be on to something.
Note: This episode contains references to self harm.
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Drugs in Space
Paul Reichert is a research scientist at Merck, working on improvements to how we administer drugs to patients. Paul’s problem is this: How can you run experiments in space to learn how to make better…
The World Is Getting Better (Really)
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Rabies: When Monsters are Real…from Incubation
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Using Gene Therapy to Help the Blind See
After decades of research, gene therapy is starting to work. Shannon Boye is a professor of cellular and molecular therapeutics at the University of Florida. She is also the co-founder and chief scientific officer of…
Using Gene Therapy to Help the Blind See
After decades of research, gene therapy is starting to work. Shannon Boye is a professor of cellular and molecular therapeutics at the University of Florida. She is also the co-founder and chief scientific officer of…
Bringing Back Mammoths and Dodos*
*Or at least, sort of bringing back mammoths and dodos. Beth Shapiro is the chief scientific officer at Colossal Biosciences and the author of How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction. Beth’s problem…
What Elevators Teach Us About Technology, Design, and Human Behavior
The elevator made the modern city possible: No elevators, no skyscrapers. Today, people are working on entirely new kinds of elevators that can go higher and faster than ever. On today’s show, we talk about…
Can the Plant Microbiome Revolutionize Farming?
The invention of synthetic fertilizer was one of the key breakthroughs of the 20th century. It’s the reason we can grow enough food to feed billions of people. It’s also super energy intensive. Karsten Temme…
Turning Pollution into Jet Fuel
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Reinventing Mining to Power the World
Moving from fossil fuels to renewable energy will require huge amounts of copper, lithium, and other metals. Kurt House is the co-founder and CEO of KoBold Metals. The company recently made a huge copper discovery…