The Quantum Shift in Biomedical Discovery from Smart Talks with IBM

When Dr. Lara Jehi began treating epilepsy patients in the 2000s, critical surgical decisions were driven more by clinician intuition and expertise than data. Today, she is a leader of IBM and Cleveland Clinic’s Discovery Accelerator, using advanced AI and quantum computing to transform how researc…

Can We Slow Down Aging?

Nir Barzilai is a physician and a researcher at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, where he runs the Institute for Geroscience. Nir’s problem is this: How can we use lifestyle changes and drugs to slow the process of aging? In this episode, Nir explains:  The search for biologica…

Why Doctors Use Evidence but Managers (Mostly) Don’t

Helen Pearson is the author of the book “Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works.” Helen's problem is this: How do you get people to make important decisions based on high-quality evidence, instead of on hunches or habits? In this episode, Helen explains:  How a doctor's fatal mistake …

The Job AI Was Supposed to Kill

In 2016, Geoffrey Hinton, one of the inventors of modern AI, predicted that AI would replace radiologists within years. Ten years later, we have a shortage of radiologists. AI has yet to revolutionize the field. What happened, and what does the story of AI and radiology tell us about AI and the fut…

How China Won the Car Industry

After spending decades as marginal players in the global auto industry, Chinese carmakers have become the world’s biggest exporters of cars. Chinese cars are some of the best cars on the planet, and they’re available almost everywhere – except in the US. Michael Dunne is the CEO of Dunne Insights,…

Using Viruses to Fight Disease

Phages are viruses that attack bacteria. People have been using phages to treat infections for over a hundred years, but in most cases they just don't work as well as antibiotics.  Paul Garofolo is the co-founder and CEO of Locus Biosciences. His problem is this: How do you genetically engineer ph…

How AI Could Reduce Inequality

David Autor is a labor economist at MIT. He has written about how the arrival of personal computers increased inequality among American workers. But when it comes to AI, David thinks there could be a different outcome.  Read David’s article about AI in Noema Magazine.  In this episode, David expl…

Racing Wildfires to Warn the Public

John Mills is the CEO and co-founder of a nonprofit called Watch Duty. His problem is this: How do you build an app to warn people when they are in immediate danger from a natural disaster? Watch Duty has millions of users and played a key role in the Los Angeles fires of 2025. In the show, John ta…

How AI Could Actually Make the World Better

Josh Tyrangiel is the author of “AI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That Matter.” On today’s show, Josh talks about some of these real people and the problems they’re working on: a professor trying to understand her nonverbal son, a general who delivered mi…

Finding Meaning (and Money) in the AI Age

Betsey Stevenson is a labor economist at the University of Michigan, and she was an economic adviser to President Obama. Betsey’s problem is this: How can we create a world where the benefits of AI are broadly shared? Betsey draws on history – including how the invention of household appliances cr…