American Innovations
285 episodes - English - Latest episode: 28 days ago - ★★★★★ - 4K ratingsDNA science. Artificial intelligence. Smartphones and 3D printers. Science and technology have transformed the world we live in. But how did we get here? It wasn’t by accident. Well, sometimes it was. It was also the result of hard work, teamwork, and competition. And incredibly surprising moments.
Hosted by bestselling author Steven Johnson (“How We Got To Now”), American Innovations uses immersive scenes to tell the stories of the scientists, engineers, and ordinary people behind the greatest discoveries of the past century.
You can binge all episodes of American Innovations exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.
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Episodes
Interview | Stuff You Should Know | 4
November 29, 2018 08:05 - 50 minutes - 46 MBAn interview with Josh Clark, co-host of the “Stuff You Should Know” podcast. Josh has a new show called “The End of the World with Josh Clark” that looks at those big existential questions we humans can’t seem to settle: Are we alone in the universe? Where did we come from? And, what’s next for us? Support this show by supporting our sponsors! The Great Courses - Go to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/AI for a special FREE TRIAL to The Great Courses Plus. The Art of Shaving - The perfect...
Conquering Pain | Ether Dreams | 3
November 22, 2018 08:05 - 42 minutes - 39.3 MBAs Horace Wells’ life went from bad to worse, William Morton was handed a golden opportunity. At stake was scientific pride and a lot of money. But who will triumph? Support this show by supporting our sponsors! Wix - Create your very own professional website today at wix.com The Great Courses - Go to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/AI for a special FREE TRIAL to The Great Courses Plus.
Conquering Pain | The Frolic | 1
November 15, 2018 08:05 - 33 minutes - 30.5 MBFor decades, Americans resigned themselves to gritting their teeth through the agony of surgery. And then along came an eminent surgeon, a charming swindler and his hapless mark and changed everything. You can binge all episodes of American Innovations exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Conquering Pain | The Swindle | 2
November 15, 2018 08:05 - 39 minutes - 36.6 MBAfter experimenting on himself, Horace Wells realized that laughing gas might help make surgeries less painful. But his search for a business partner would lead him to a fateful encounter with a petty crook named William Morton. Support us by supporting our sponsors! The Great Courses - Go to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/AI for a special FREE TRIAL to The Great Courses Plus. Wix - Create your very own professional website today at wix.com
Preventing Paralysis | And Stay Out! | 4
November 01, 2018 07:05 - 46 minutes - 42.4 MBThe polio vaccine may have wiped out the disease in the United States, but the struggle to eradicate it continues around the world. Dr. Rosamund Lewis is an expert in immunization and helps lead the World Health Organization’s initiative for polio eradication. You're supporting this show by supporting our sponsors! The Great Courses - Go to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/AI for a special FREE TRIAL to The Great Courses Plus. Wix - Create your very own professional website today at wix...
Preventing Paralysis | The Fight Goes On | 3
October 25, 2018 07:05 - 40 minutes - 36.9 MBIn 1955, the world received its first viable polio vaccine, courtesy of Jonas Salk. He was hailed as a hero until kids started to fall sick with polio. A bad batch of vaccines was thought to be to blame. But the panic But it was also an opening for a scientist with a competing vision. Albert Sabin warned of the dangers of Salk’s vaccine from the start. The final clash between the two vaccines, and the two scientists, is the true story of how polio was conquered. Support us by suppo...
Preventing Paralysis | Can You Patent The Sun? | 2
October 18, 2018 07:05 - 46 minutes - 42.2 MBPressure mounts and so does the realization that the fight against polio will be a risky one with enormous consequences for failure. Vaccines contain benign samples of the viruses they’re designed to protect against. If a flawed polio vaccine is tested on humans, many could get sick. American Innovations is presented by ZipRecruiter. Try it for free by visitingZipRecruiter.com/AI.
Preventing Paralysis | Marching Towards a Cure | 1
October 18, 2018 07:05 - 34 minutes - 31.8 MBYou can binge all episodes of American Innovations exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts By the middle of the last century Americans lived in fear of one disease: polio. The story of the polio vaccine is not just a scientific story- it’s a political and financial one, too. One that would pave the way for medical research fundraising campaigns that followed. You can binge all episodes of American Innovations exclusively and ad-f...
Thinking Machines | Garry Kasparov | 6
October 04, 2018 07:05 - 47 minutes - 43.3 MBThis episode is available exclusively for Wondery+ subscribers. An interview with the Grandmaster himself: Garry Kasparov. In 1985, he earned international fame when he became the youngest world chess champion at just 22-years-old. He went on to defend his title for more than a decade. But it’s his 6-game match against IBM’s supercomputer “Deep Blue” in 1997 that will be remembered as a defining moment in the history of chess -- and artificial intelligence. American Innovations is...
Thinking Machines | Passing For Human | 5
September 27, 2018 07:05 - 43 minutes - 40.1 MBCan a computer pass for human? And more importantly, can a computer beat a human at Jeopardy? It’s all fun and games until we start putting life-changing decisions in the hands of machines. Written by Steven Johnson American Innovations is presented by ZipRecruiter. Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com/AI Other sponsors include: Wix - Launch a professional-looking website in no time for your innovative ideas with total design freedom, industry-leading SEO, and advanced code capa...
Thinking Machines | I Learn Therefore I Am | 4
September 20, 2018 07:05 - 38 minutes - 35.6 MBA leap in the power of machine learning and artificial intelligence causes concern about the dangers ahead. Written by Tom Simonite American Innovations is presented by ZipRecruiter. Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com/AI Other sponsors include: Wix - Launch a professional-looking website in no time for your innovative ideas with total design freedom, industry-leading SEO, and advanced code capabilities at Wix.com Sunbasket - Get $35 off your first order at sunbasket.com/AI ...
Thinking Machines | Siri-ous Business | 3
September 13, 2018 07:05 - 37 minutes - 34.1 MBThe development of smartphone Artificial Intelligence from early government research funding and the first experimental robot in Silicon Valley to the rise of the personal assistant known as Siri. American Innovations is presented by ZipRecruiter. Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com/AI Other sponsors include: Wix - Launch a professional-looking website in no time for your innovative ideas with total design freedom, industry-leading SEO, and advanced code capabilities at Wix.com ...
Thinking Machines| How Do You Make a Computer Blink | 2
September 06, 2018 07:05 - 38 minutes - 35 MBWith six different kinds of pieces, 64 squares to move in, and billions of possible combinations of moves, chess is a good test for a computer. The number of distinct 40-move games is far greater than the number of electrons in the visible universe. For all intents and purposes: almost infinite. Gary Kasparov is the world’s best chess player. Deep Blue is a computer. It’s humanity v machine. There’s a lot at stake and things turn controversial fast with accusations of cheating, a v...
Thinking Machines | Artificial Intelligence | 1
August 30, 2018 07:05 - 39 minutes - 36.5 MBArtificial Intelligence is no longer the stuff of science fiction. And it’s about to get much more powerful: machines that can reason, create, predict the future, even dream. AI is likely to be one of the most transformative technologies of the 21st-century. This is the first in our four-episode series about the rise of artificial intelligence and humanity's quest to breathe intellectual life into computers. In this episode, we're going to meet the mavericks who first dreamed of a ...
Thinking Machines| Artificial Intelligence | 1
August 30, 2018 07:05 - 39 minutes - 36.5 MBArtificial Intelligence is no longer the stuff of science fiction. And it’s about to get much more powerful: machines that can reason, create, predict the future, even dream. AI is likely to be one of the most transformative technologies of the 21st-century. This is the first in our four-episode series about the rise of artificial intelligence and humanity's quest to breathe intellectual life into computers. In this episode, we're going to meet the mavericks who first dreamed of a ...
Nuclear Energy | Interview with James Mahaffee | 7
July 26, 2018 07:05 - 40 minutes - 37.2 MBNuclear Energy is a story that’s included a cursed plutonium core, runaway reactors, a magic neutron wand and Charlie Chaplin. We've also heard about the missteps. Fake nuclear fusion plants and some overoptimistic claims about cold fusion. In this episode, we're talking to someone who actually helped investigate that last claim. James Mahaffee, an author, nuclear science historian, and a senior research scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. American Innovations is p...
Nuclear Energy | A Glowing Future | 6
July 19, 2018 07:05 - 41 minutes - 38.3 MBThis series has taken us from Albert Einstein in the Swiss Patent office to the bombing of Japan, from the monster movies of the 1960s to nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island. Nuclear energy fell rapidly out of fashion, and to many it seemed like the atomic age is coming to a close. Except maybe it’s not. Because right now there are multi-billion dollar projects underway to turn atoms into energy again - this time through the power of nuclear fusion. Welcome to your future. Ame...
Nuclear Energy | Backlash | 5
July 12, 2018 07:05 - 40 minutes - 36.7 MBNuclear energy was once a promising endless, clean, safe energy source. By the late 1950s, that optimism was fading. That was partially over fear of nuclear weapons, but then there was the fallout. Radioactive fallout, dust snowing from the sky after massive desert nuclear tests. Once the public found out, there was no saving it. "Nuclear power is not only dirty and undependable, it’s about as safe as a closetful of cobras.” American Innovations is presented by ZipRecruiter. Try Z...
Nuclear Energy | Meltdown | 4
July 05, 2018 07:05 - 41 minutes - 37.9 MBThe first serious accident from a nuclear reactor happened in the United States in 1960. It wouldn't be the last. And in the coming decades, a new word will be used to talk about accidents of these kind, a word that will strike fear into the hearts of people living near nuclear power plants from Russia to Japan to the United States: meltdown. American Innovations is presented by ZipRecruiter. Try ZipRecruiter for free by visiting ZipRecruiter.com/AI. Other sponsors include: Wix...
Nuclear Energy | Atoms For Peace | 3
June 28, 2018 07:05 - 41 minutes - 37.6 MBAfter the war, scientists who’d come to work at Los Alamos went their separate ways. They’d figured out how to destroy cities, but now they wanted to control atoms. The Atomic Energy Commission was created to support nuclear energy experiments, and Eisenhower himself created a catchy slogan to go with the new direction: Atoms for Peace. American Innovations is presented by ZipRecruiter. Try ZipRecruiter for free by visiting ZipRecruiter.com/AI. Other sponsors include: Wix - Laun...
Nuclear Energy | Bombs Come First | 2
June 21, 2018 07:05 - 37 minutes - 34.7 MBThe Second World War energized research on atomic science and the United States was at the forefront. For one, it had the scientists. Second, the US government was willing to back the research. Third, we wanted the bombs. However darkly depressing this seems it’s true. Our history of nuclear power is intertwined with the history of nuclear weapons. American Innovations is presented by ZipRecruiter. You can try it for FREE at ZipRecruiter.com/AI. Other sponsors include Wix - Laun...
Nuclear Energy | E = MC Squared | 1
June 14, 2018 07:05 - 46 minutes - 42.9 MBYou can binge all episodes of American Innovations exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts In 1958, President Dwight Eisenhower went on national television introducing a new kind of power plant, one that will transform the world. Nuclear energy and the Atomic Age took America by storm, but this misunderstood technology’s potential has always been in question. Last series we looked at the building blocks of life, DNA. This time we’...
Life’s Building Blocks | Interview with Britt Wray | 7
June 07, 2018 07:05 - 42 minutes - 39.3 MBTo wrap up The Dynamo of DNA, we're talking to Britt Wray. You can follow her on Twitter, and visit her website for more. You can also pick up her book, Necrofauna: The Science, Ethics, and Risks of De-Extinction to learn more about De-Extinction. We’ll be back next week with an all new arc on nuclear energy. Support this show by supporting our sponsors! American Innovations is pleased to have ZipRecruiter as its presenting sponsor. ZipRecruiter strives to lead the way in inno...
Life’s Building Blocks | Return of the Mammoths | 6
May 31, 2018 07:05 - 46 minutes - 42.5 MBThe human genome project finally allowed us to read the “Book of Life,” the genetic code of living things. But now there’s a tool - CRISPR - that will allow us to rewrite it. With CRISPR, we can change the color of flowers, eliminate diseases, and even… bring back Wooly Mammoths. We hope you enjoyed our first series, The Dynamo of DNA. Join us next week for a conversation with scientist, broadcaster and author Britt Wray. Support us by supporting our sponsors! American Innovation...
Life’s Building Blocks | Testing Times | 5
May 24, 2018 07:05 - 38 minutes - 35.4 MBOver the past 50 years, our understanding of DNA has grown exponentially. It took supercomputers working overtime to produce a single genomic map… and now all it takes is a spit sample that you drop in the mail. For about a hundred bucks, you can have your own personal genome mapped. One thing we still haven’t figured out is what to DO with all of that information. It’s been used to map family trees, trace diseases, exonerate innocents and catch serial killers - and that’s only the ...
Life’s Building Blocks | The Race for the Genome | 4
May 17, 2018 07:05 - 45 minutes - 41.6 MBThe path to understand genetics was rife squabbles and competition among scientists vying to discover genes, chromosomes, and the structure of DNA. The tussles had been going on for a century. But the 1980s introduced an even bigger grudge match: who’d be the first to map the entire human genetic code? This race would get downright nasty before it was done. Along the way there would be a lot of good science. But the science often took a back seat, as politics, money, and egos all ...
Life’s Building Blocks | Double Helix | 3
May 10, 2018 07:25 - 43 minutes - 39.7 MBFrom your high school science classes you may know the names Watson and Crick. If you took any more biology classes you may have heard of Wilkins, but a third name is often overlooked: Rosalind Franklin. Together, they took blurry photographs of DNA goo and discovered “the secret to life.” Support us by supporting our sponsors! American Innovations is pleased to have ZipRecruiter as its presenting sponsor. ZipRecruiter strives to lead the way in innovating talent recruitment fo...
Life’s Building Blocks| Civil War | 2
May 10, 2018 07:15 - 45 minutes - 41.4 MBWhen Gregor Mendel discovered genes, he had no idea that his discoveries with pea plants would outlive him. He was just an isolated monk playing in his garden. And his ideas collected dust in university libraries for 40 years until a biologist named William Bateson discovered his work. And by the end of the first page, Bateson knew Mendel’s ideas would change the world. He said, “An exact determination of the laws of heredity will probably work more change in man’s outlook of the wo...
Life’s Building Blocks | Lost Pioneers | 1
May 10, 2018 07:05 - 42 minutes - 39.3 MBIn 2000, President Bill Clinton held a press conference to share a milestone for humanity. He said, “we will all see the unbelievable capacity to be noble.” Science and technology embrace this idea, leading to the incredible innovations that change the world, and yes, even humanity. This is American Innovations, a series that will look at the most important innovations of the last century, and go into the lives of the people behind those innovations. That great milestone Clinton wa...
Where Are Past Seasons? | 1
May 10, 2018 07:05 - 28 seconds - 439 KBHey American Innovations listeners! You might be wondering what happened to some of our older seasons. We’ve moved them to our new premium service, Wondery+, where you can listen ad-free and get access to more Wondery shows. For a limited time, we’re offering listeners of American Innovations a free week of Wondery+. Just go to wonderyplus.com/AI.
Where Are Past Seasons?
May 10, 2018 07:05 - 28 seconds - 439 KBHey American Innovations listeners! You might be wondering what happened to some of our older seasons. We’ve moved them to our new premium service, Wondery+, where you can listen ad-free and get access to more Wondery shows. For a limited time, we’re offering listeners of American Innovations a free week of Wondery+. Just go to wonderyplus.com/AI. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Life's Building Blocks | Lost Pioneers | 1
May 10, 2018 07:00 - 42 minutes - 38.9 MBIn 2000, President Bill Clinton held a press conference to share a milestone for humanity. He said, “we will all see the unbelievable capacity to be noble.” Science and technology embrace this idea, leading to the incredible innovations that change the world, and yes, even humanity. This is American Innovations, a series that will look at the most important innovations of the last century, and go into the lives of the people behind those innovations. That great milestone Clinton wa...
Introducing: American Innovations
April 26, 2018 20:35 - 2 minutes - 1.97 MBDNA science. Artificial intelligence. Smartphones and 3D printers. Science and technology have transformed the world we live in. But how did we get here? It wasn’t by accident. Well, sometimes it was. It was also the result of hard work, teamwork, and competition. And incredibly surprising moments. Hosted by bestselling author Steven Johnson (“How We Got To Now”), American Innovations uses immersive scenes to tell the stories of the scientists, engineers, and ordinary people behind...
Introducing American Innovations | 1
April 26, 2018 20:35 - 2 minutes - 1.97 MBThe leaps of mankind, as they happened. Premieres May 10.
Introducing American Innovations
April 26, 2018 20:35 - 2 minutes - 1.97 MBDNA science. Artificial intelligence. Smartphones and 3D printers. Science and technology have transformed the world we live in. But how did we get here? It wasn’t by accident. Well, sometimes it was. It was also the result of hard work, teamwork, and competition. And incredibly surprising moments. Hosted by bestselling author Steven Johnson (“How We Got To Now”), American Innovations uses immersive scenes to tell the stories of the scientists, engineers, and ordinary people behind...