Best MIT Technology Review Podcasts (2025)

1
Quantum computing is taking on its biggest challenge: noise 22:22

3d ago22:22

22:22

For a while researchers thought they’d have to make do with noisy, error-prone systems, at least in the near term. That’s starting to change. This story was written by Michael Brooks and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.By MIT Technology Review

1
Will we ever trust robots? 22:42

12d ago22:42

22:42

If most robots still need remote human operators to be safe and effective, why should we welcome them into our homes? This story was written by James O'Donnell and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.By MIT Technology Review

1
Exosomes are touted as a trendy cure-all. We don’t know if they work. 24:41

19d ago24:41

24:41

People are spending thousands of dollars on unproven exosome therapies for hair loss, skin aging, and acne, as well as more serious conditions like long covid and Alzheimer’s. This story was written by Jessica Hamzelou and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.By MIT Technology Review

1
The quest to figure out farming on Mars 27:16

26d ago27:16

27:16

If we’re going to live on Mars we’ll need a way to grow food in its arid dirt. Researchers think they know a way. This story was written by David W. Brown and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.By MIT Technology Review

1
How tracking animal movement may save the planet 28:00

1M ago28:00

28:00

Researchers have been dreaming of an Internet of Animals. They’re getting closer to monitoring 100,000 creatures—and revealing hidden facets of our shared world. This story was written by Matthew Ponsford and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.By MIT Technology Review

1
Happy birthday, baby! What the future holds for those born today 28:18

1M ago28:18

28:18

An intelligent digital agent could be a companion for life—and other predictions for the next 125 years. This story was written by Kara Platoni and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.By MIT Technology Review

1
How the Ukraine-Russia war is reshaping the tech sector in Eastern Europe 30:58

2M ago30:58

30:58

Startups in Latvia and other nearby countries see the mobilization of Ukraine as a warning and as inspiration. They are now changing consumer products—from scooters to recreational drones—for use on the battlefield. This story was written by Peter Guest and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.By MIT Technology Review

1
AI search could break the web 11:22

2M ago11:22

11:22

At its best, AI search can better infer a user’s intent, amplify quality content, and synthesize information from diverse sources. But if AI search becomes our primary portal to the web, it threatens to disrupt an already precarious digital economy. Today, the production of content online depends on a fragile set of incentives tied to virtual foot …

1
The messy quest to replace drugs with electricity 39:06

2M ago39:06

39:06

“Electroceuticals” promised the post-pharma future for medicine. But the exclusive focus on the nervous system is seeming less and less warranted. This story was written by Sally Adee and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.By MIT Technology Review

1
The weeds are winning 18:52

2M ago18:52

18:52

As the climate changes, genetic engineering will be essential for growing food. But is it creating a race of superweeds? This story was written by Douglas Main and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.By MIT Technology Review

1
Why AI could eat quantum computing’s lunch 17:38

2M ago17:38

17:38

Tech companies have been funneling billions of dollars into quantum computers for years. The hope is that they’ll be a game changer for fields as diverse as finance, drug discovery, and logistics. Those expectations have been especially high in physics and chemistry, where the weird effects of quantum mechanics come into play. In theory, this is wh…

1
The race to save our online lives from a digital dark age 25:55

3M ago25:55

25:55

We’re making more data than ever. What can—and should—we save for future generations? And will they be able to understand it? This story was written by Niall Firth and narrated by Noa.By MIT Technology Review

1
Is this the end of animal testing? 20:57

3M ago20:57

20:57

More than 60 companies now produce organs on chips commercially, focusing on five major organs: liver, kidney, lung, intestines, and brain. They’re already being used to understand diseases, discover and test new drugs, and explore personalized approaches to treatment. Could this be the end of animal testing? This story was written by Harriet Brown…

1
Looking Ahead to What’s in Store for Tech in 2025 With Futurist Mark Esposito 37:42

3M ago37:42

37:42

Few could predict the speed with which generative AI evolved in 2024, surprising even top global experts. Could we see similar explosive capability growth in 2025? On this bonus New Year episode of Minds Worth Meeting, Justin Louis sits down with Mark Esposito, a faculty associate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society and direc…

1
Meet the divers trying to figure out how deep humans can go 24:36

3M ago24:36

24:36

Figuring out how the human body can withstand underwater pressure has been a problem for over a century, but a ragtag band of divers is experimenting with hydrogen to find out. This story was written by Samantha Schuyler and narrated by Noa.By MIT Technology Review

1
Fueling the future of digital transformation 38:07

3M ago38:07

38:07

Our topic today is digital transformation, from back office operations to infrastructure in the field like oil rigs, companies continue to look for ways to increase profit, meet sustainability goals, and invest in the latest and greatest technology. Two words for you: enabling innovation. My guest is Luis Niño, who is the digital manager of technol…

1
Palmer Luckey on the Pentagon’s future of mixed reality 17:31

3M ago17:31

17:31

Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR, has set his sights on a new mixed-reality headset customer: the Pentagon. His company Anduril Industries, which focuses on drones, cruise missiles, and other AI-enhanced technologies for the US Department of Defense, announced it would partner with Microsoft on the US Army’s Integrated Visual Augmentation Sy…

1
How covid conspiracy theories led to an alarming resurgence in AIDS denialism 34:26

4M ago34:26

34:26

Podcaster Joe Rogan, former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and football quarterback Aaron Rodgers are all helping revive AIDS denialism—a false collection of theories arguing either that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS or that there’s no such thing as HIV at all. These ideas were initially promoted back in the 1980s and ’90s by a cadre of sc…

1
How to fine-tune AI for prosperity 33:01

4M ago33:01

33:01

The newest versions of generative AI are bedazzling, with lifelike videos, seemingly expert-sounding prose, and other all too humanlike behaviors. Business leaders are fretting over how to reinvent their companies as billions flow into startups, and the big AI companies are creating ever more powerful models. Predictions abound on how ChatGPT and t…

1
Meet the radio-obsessed civilian shaping Ukraine’s drone defense 23:46

4M ago23:46

23:46

Despite it being over 100 years old, radio technology is still critical in almost all aspects of modern warfare—including in the drones that have come to dominate the Russia-Ukraine war. But before the war, there was a frightening vacuum of expertise. Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, who has been obsessed with radios since childhood, stepped in to fill …

1
ChatGPT is about to revolutionize the economy. We need to decide what that looks like. 27:54

5M ago27:54

27:54

You can practically hear the shrieks from corner offices around the world: “What is our ChatGPT play? How do we make money off this?” Whether it’s based on hallucinatory beliefs or not, an AI gold rush has started to mine the anticipated business opportunities from generative AI models like ChatGPT. But while companies and executives see a clear ch…

1
Beyond gene-edited babies: the possible paths for tinkering with human evolution 30:43

5M ago30:43

30:43

In the future, CRISPR will get easier and easier to administer, potentially opening up paths for tinkering with human evolution. What will that mean for our species? This story was written by senior biomedicine editor Antonio Regalado and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.comBy MIT Technology Review

1
The great commercial takeover of low Earth orbit 41:45

5M ago41:45

41:45

Did you know that NASA intends to destroy the International Space Station by around 2030? Once it's gone, private companies will likely swoop in with their own replacements. Get ready for the great commercial takeover of low Earth orbit. This story was written by David W. Brown and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com…

1
The world’s on the verge of a carbon storage boom 26:02

5M ago26:02

26:02

Pump jacks and pipelines clutter the Elk Hills oil field of California, a scrubby stretch of land in the southern Central Valley that rests above one of the nation’s richest deposits of fossil fuels. Oil production has been steadily declining in the state for decades, as tech jobs have boomed and legislators have enacted rigorous environmental and …

1
Revisit the Best Moments from Minds Worth Meeting Season 4 20:00

6M ago20:00

20:00

This season on Minds Worth Meeting, we talked to global experts including renowned thought leaders from Stern Strategy Group’s exclusive roster of speakers and advisors about everything from leading with purpose to digital exhaustion, protecting reputation and more. Now, we’re taking a look back at our favorite moments to share the best of Minds Wo…

1
Is robotics about to have its own ChatGPT moment? 26:17

6M ago26:17

26:17

Robots that can do many of the things humans do in the home—folding laundry, cooking meals, cleaning—have been a dream of robotics research since the inception of the field in the 1950s. While engineers have made great progress in getting robots to work in tightly controlled environments like labs and factories, the home has proved difficult to des…

1
Gorillas, militias, and Bitcoin: Why Congo’s most famous national park is betting big on crypto 34:29

6M ago34:29

34:29

In an attempt to protect its forests and famous wildlife, Virunga has become the first national park to run a Bitcoin mine. But some are wondering what crypto has to do with conservation. This story was written by Adam Popescu and narrated by Noa (newsoveraudio.com)By MIT Technology Review

1
How gamification took over the world 16:19

6M ago16:19

16:19

We live in an undeniably gamified world. We stand up and move around to close colorful rings and earn achievement badges on our smartwatches; we meditate and sleep to recharge our body batteries; we plant virtual trees to be more productive; we chase “likes” and “karma” on social media sites and try to swipe our way toward social connection. But in…

1
Technology that lets us “speak” to our dead relatives has arrived. Are we ready? 27:22

6M ago27:22

27:22

Digital clones of people's dead relatives are far from perfect: they're occasionally impersonal and sometimes downright creepy. But if the technology might help us hang onto the people we love, is it so wrong to try? This story was written by news editor Charlotte Jee and narrated by Noa.By MIT Technology Review

1
Cloud transformation clears businesses for digital takeoff 28:19

6M ago28:19

28:19

In an age where customer experience can make or break a business, Cathay Pacific is embracing cloud transformation to enhance service delivery and revolutionize operations from the inside out. It's not just technology companies that are facing pressure to deliver better customer service, do more with data, and improve agility. An almost 80-year-old…

1
Learn How to Play ‘The Reputation Game’ With Oxford’s Rupert Younger 39:39

6M ago39:39

39:39

It’s always been vital to stay on top of reputation management, both individually and organizationally. Today, though, bad actors can tarnish a reputation in the blink of an eye thanks to social media and artificial intelligence. On this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, we sit down with the founding director of the Oxford University Centre for Corpo…

1
Inside the quest to engineer climate-saving “super trees” 35:35

6M ago35:35

35:35

A Silicon Valley startup wants to supercharge trees to soak up more carbon and cool the climate. Is this the great climate solution or a whole lot of hype? This story was written by Boyce Upholt and narrated by Noa.By MIT Technology Review

1
What is AI? 1:19:04

7M ago1:19:04

1:19:04

Artificial intelligence is the hottest technology of our time. But what is it? It sounds like a stupid question, but it’s one that’s never been more urgent. MIT Technology Review takes a deep dive into the competing answers from titans of industry and helps us understand how we got here—and why you should care, no matter who you are. This story was…

1
Is It Time for Performance Reviews to Be Put Out to Pasture? Leadership Expert and Author Ashley Goodall Explains 30:40

7M ago30:40

30:40

From an employee standpoint, constant upheaval and the specter of having to sit down with the boss multiple times a year to be graded via performance review is a recipe for organizational disaster. In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, former Cisco and Deloitte HR executive and author, Ashley Goodall joins Justin Louis to discuss his latest book,…

1
The cost of building the perfect wave 27:27

7M ago27:27

27:27

The growing business of surf pools wants to bring the ocean experience inland, making surfing more accessible to communities far from the coasts. These pools can use—and lose—millions upon millions of gallons of water every year. With many planned for areas facing water scarcity, who bears the cost of building the perfect wave? This story was writt…

1
How generative AI could reinvent what it means to play 28:47

7M ago28:47

28:47

Open-world video games are inhabited by vast crowds of computer-controlled characters. These animated people—called NPCs, for “nonplayer characters”—populate the bars, city streets, or space ports of games. They make virtual worlds feel lived in and full. Often—but not always—you can talk to them. After a while, however, the repetitive chitchat (or…

1
Megan Reitz on Open Dialogue, Spaciousness and the Conversations We Need to Have 36:47

7M ago36:47

36:47

Speaking up – and empowering your employees to speak up – is a vital prerequisite for a company culture that supports innovation. In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, Justin Louis and Meg Virag sit down with Oxford University Saïd Business School associate fellow, Megan Reitz. We discuss the importance of how leaders “show up” to work, why we al…

1
The entrepreneur dreaming of a factory of unlimited organs 21:55

7M ago21:55

21:55

At any given time, the US organ transplant waiting list is about 100,000 people long. Martine Rothblatt sees a day when an unlimited supply of transplantable organs—and 3D-printed ones—will be readily available, saving countless lives. This story was written by senior biomedicine editor Antonio Regalado and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com…

1
Design thinking was supposed to fix the world. Where did it go wrong? 28:45

8M ago28:45

28:45

Design thinking suggests that we are all creatives, and we can solve any problem if we empathize hard enough. The methodology was supposed to democratize design, but it may have done the opposite. Where did it go wrong? This story was written by Rebecca Ackermann and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com…

1
How to Supercharge Strategy While Avoiding Digital Exhaustion with UCSB's Paul Leonardi 35:52

8M ago35:52

35:52

Successfully leading a business in the AI-heavy digital age requires a new mindset. In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, Justin Louis sits down with University of California Santa Barbara professor and Technology Management department chair, Paul Leonardi. We talk about how to cultivate a digital mindset and why it’s so important to do so, he sh…

1
How a tiny Pacific Island became the global capital of cybercrime 25:00

8M ago25:00

25:00

Tokelau is a group of three isolated atolls strung out across the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand (of which it’s an official territory) and Hawaii. Its population hovers around 1,400 people. Reaching it requires a boat ride from Samoa that can take over 24 hours. To say that Tokelau is remote is an understatement: it was the last place on Earth t…

1
An AI startup made a hyperrealistic deepfake of me that’s so good it’s scary 28:00

8M ago28:00

28:00

An AI startup created a hyperrealistic deepfake of MIT Technology Review’s senior AI reporter that was so believable, even she thought it was really her at first. This technology is impressive, to be sure. But it raises big questions about a world where we increasingly can’t tell what’s real and what's fake. This story was written by senior AI repo…

1
Finding the Friction Sweet Spot with MIT's Renée Richardson Gosline 39:41

8M ago39:41

39:41

The conventional wisdom in business is that friction is a bad thing that must be removed for processes to move forward smoothly. In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, Whitney Jennings has a fascinating conversation with MIT researcher and head of the Human-First AI group at the school's Initiative on the Digital Economy, Renée Richardson Gosline.…

1
It’s time to retire the term “user” 13:32

8M ago13:32

13:32

Though “user” seems to describe a relationship that is deeply transactional, many of the technological relationships in which a person would be considered a user are actually quite personal. That being the case, is the term “user” still relevant? This story was written by Taylor Majewski and narrated by Noa.…

1
The search for extraterrestrial life is targeting Jupiter’s icy moon Europa 26:30

9M ago26:30

26:30

We've known of Europa’s existence for more than four centuries, but for most of that time, Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon was just a pinprick of light in our telescopes— a bright and curious companion to the solar system’s resident giant. Over the last few decades, however, as astronomers have scrutinized it through telescopes and six spacecraft hav…

1
Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why. 16:14

9M ago16:14

16:14

Despite all their runaway success, nobody knows exactly how—or why—large language models work. And that’s a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models. This story was written by senior AI editor Will Douglas Heaven and narrated by Noa ((News Over A…

1
Are You a Plumber or a Poet? AI, Purpose and Leadership With Harvard’s Ranjay Gulati 36:05

9M ago36:05

36:05

How can leaders engage people both rationally and emotionally? In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, Whitney Jennings and Justin Louis sit down with Harvard Business School professor Ranjay Gulati. We talk about corporate purpose, artificial intelligence leadership and Ranjay shares the inspiring story of how his mother’s passion became a global …

1
How ASML took over the chipmaking chessboard 18:40

9M ago18:40

18:40

Moore’s Law holds that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit doubles every two years or so. In essence, it means that chipmakers are always trying to shrink the transistors on a microchip in order to pack more of them in. The cadence has been increasingly hard to maintain now that transistor dimensions measure in a few nanometers. In r…

1
Minds of machines: The great AI consciousness conundrum 30:18

9M ago30:18

30:18

AI consciousness isn’t just a devilishly tricky intellectual puzzle; it’s a morally weighty problem with potentially dire consequences. Fail to identify a conscious AI, and you might unintentionally subjugate, or even torture, a being whose interests ought to matter. Mistake an unconscious AI for a conscious one, and you risk compromising human saf…

1
Transforming the energy industry through disruptive innovation 22:46

9M ago22:46

22:46

Our topic today is disruptive innovation in the energy industry and beyond. We use energy every day. It powers our homes, buildings, economies, and lifestyles, but where it came from or how our use affects the global energy ecosystem is changing, and our energy ecosystem needs to change with it. My guest is Nadège Petit, the chief innovation office…

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