Babbage from The Economist
438 episodes - English - Latest episode: 14 days ago - ★★★★★ - 398 ratingsBabbage is our weekly podcast on science and technology, named after Charles Babbage—a 19th-century polymath and grandfather of computing. Host Alok Jha talks to our correspondents about the innovations, discoveries and gadgetry shaping the world. Published every Wednesday.
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Episodes
Babbage: Viruses and Facebook friends
January 20, 2016 18:28 - 13 minutes - 30.6 MBA mosquito-borne virus is linked to a worrying number of birth defects in Brazil and has social media expanded the number of friendships we can maintain? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: The pollution solution
January 13, 2016 17:24 - 12 minutes - 28.6 MBHow big data can help tackle air pollution and a bright idea makes for a better light bulb Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Blackholes and hoverboards
January 06, 2016 18:09 - 10 minutes - 24.1 MBScientists are learning more than ever about black holes as astronomical objects and an American firm brings a real McFly hoverboard to market Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: The ghosts of Babbage future
December 30, 2015 14:44 - 13 minutes - 26.2 MBIn our second holiday special, our hosts look back from 2115. Pluto’s portraits may be humdrum by then, but AI, gene editing and quantum computing may have changed the world Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: The ghost of Babbage past
December 23, 2015 00:33 - 11 minutes - 21.5 MBIn the first of two holiday specials, our hosts look at the stories of a century ago, from X-ray crystallography to sonar, continental drift and the first sighting of Pluto Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Climate of change
December 16, 2015 15:01 - 17 minutes - 16.1 MBA look at last week’s climate talks in Paris: what was agreed on, how realistic the goals are and whether there is reason to be optimistic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: A bit of peace, round the corner
December 09, 2015 16:11 - 11 minutes - 10.8 MBThe end of bitcoin’s civil war and a look at new technology that can be used to see round corners Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Materials for making and cleaning
December 02, 2015 18:31 - 14 minutes - 33.9 MBNew materials are changing the way we make things from light bulbs to cars and aircraft, and there's a better way to capture carbon from fossil fuels before it is burned Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Relativity's revelations
November 25, 2015 19:04 - 13 minutes - 30.6 MBOur correspondents discuss the importance of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity and how it is still revealing the secrets of our cosmos Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: The rise of the drone-selfie
November 18, 2015 19:47 - 11 minutes - 22.5 MBGoogle makes its core machine-learning system, TensorFlow, open-source and the Flying Robot International Film Festival kicks off in San Francisco Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Things visible and invisible
November 11, 2015 19:29 - 13 minutes - 30.2 MBHow satellites can save lives in the aftermath of an earthquake and a tantalising signal looks increasingly like it could be from dark matter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: The big chill
November 04, 2015 20:00 - 11 minutes - 25.6 MBHypersonic air-breathing engines may at least be a reality and the Cassini spacecraft has a close encounter with Saturn's icy moon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Time and energy
October 28, 2015 18:01 - 11 minutes - 27 MBWhy stock traders will soon need atomic clocks and Dupont finally tries to crack cellulosic biofuel Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Fusion and confusion
October 21, 2015 17:52 - 11 minutes - 26.5 MBFusion energy gets a new star player and an unusual find in our galaxy both perplexes astronomers and gives hope to alien hunters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Swine lifelines
October 14, 2015 18:15 - 11 minutes - 9.15 MBDell makes a $67 billion bet in the form of the technology industry's largest ever merger and scientists prepare pig organs for human transplants Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Nobel's neutrinos
October 07, 2015 17:59 - 14 minutes - 32.6 MBA data transfer pact between the EU and America is struck down in Europe and two scientists working on the changing identities of neutrinos receive the Nobel Prize in Physics Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Opportunity and curiosity
September 30, 2015 19:08 - 11 minutes - 27.3 MBCountries pledge to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions ahead of the UN climate summit in Paris and NASA discovers water on Mars reigniting hopes for life on the red planet Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Zoning drones
September 23, 2015 18:50 - 12 minutes - 29.4 MBThe rise in drone hobbyism raises questions about how best to control the skies, and scientists hope to catch sight of Einstein's gravitational wave Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Hybrid fliers
September 16, 2015 18:11 - 13 minutes - 30.7 MBThe hybrid and electric plane industry takes off and advanced artificial intelligence is used to diagnose disease Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: What lies beneath
September 09, 2015 18:26 - 10 minutes - 25.1 MBRadar scans reveal an enormous site of underground stone monoliths near Stonehenge and subterranean plant seed banks could save harvests and lives in the face of climate change Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Inspectors' gadgets
September 02, 2015 18:36 - 11 minutes - 26.8 MBNew technology used by nuclear weapons inspectors and 3D printing buildings on Earth and in outer space Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: The microbes in our midst
August 26, 2015 17:35 - 10 minutes - 25 MBScientists say a universal flu vaccine is on the horizon and a new study unearths the thousands of bacteria and fungi in our homes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Climate's wild child
August 19, 2015 19:54 - 13 minutes - 31.4 MBA new technique makes editing the human genome much easier and this year's El Niño, a disrupting climate phenomenon, could be the strongest ever Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Thinking with your tentacles
August 12, 2015 17:47 - 11 minutes - 25.6 MBThe secret to the intelligence of the octopus lies in its genome and scientists explore how big data disrupts the principle of anonymity Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Notes from the oeno files
August 05, 2015 18:39 - 10 minutes - 24.6 MBFine wine is priced by using artificial intelligence and President Obama announces new rules to reduce carbon emissions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Sunset and sunrise in the Kuiper belt
July 29, 2015 18:18 - 11 minutes - 26.5 MBScientists fit living cells with lasers to track what they get up to and New Horizons gets a stunning final look back at Pluto Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: The Jodie Foster moment
July 22, 2015 18:01 - 13 minutes - 30.2 MBClinical trials for drugs are not as closely scrutinised as they should be and a Russian billionaire is on the hunt for extraterrestrials Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Atomic vision
July 15, 2015 19:06 - 11 minutes - 25.4 MBHackers threaten the "internet of things", and scientists use atomic microscopes to observe and control chemical reactions in real time Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Hacking the hackers
July 08, 2015 13:32 - 9 minutes - 8.28 MBThe Hacking Team gets hacked, exposing alleged illegal activities, and NASA's New Horizons probe flickers back to life as it approaches the planetoid Pluto Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Break-ups
July 01, 2015 16:42 - 11 minutes - 10.6 MBEmbryos frozen during relationships lead to legal troubles down the road, and SpaceX loses a cargo carrier in the risky business ofrocketry Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Mapping crises with mobiles
June 24, 2015 16:32 - 10 minutes - 24 MBHow mobile phone data can help aid workers duringhumanitarian crises and start-ups which tweak your phone’s connectivity take onthe big mobile network companies Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Quantum leaps and bee-conomics
June 17, 2015 17:40 - 9 minutes - 21 MBComputer companies are harnessing the power of quantum mechanics and why the majority of bees have no economic value Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Up in e-smoke
June 10, 2015 19:03 - 7 minutes - 6.65 MBOrgans on chips allow researchers to mimic complicated human systems and Wales plans to ban e-cigarettes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: AI and IA
June 03, 2015 18:01 - 9 minutes - 8.67 MBAd-blocking software has reached the mainstream and is going mobile, and handheld robots begin to marry what both man and machine do well Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Thin-skinned
May 27, 2015 15:38 - 7 minutes - 6.92 MBNokia attracts bids for its HERE mapping service and tests of a few brave mice suggest space travel could be terrible for the skin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Home-brewed heroin
May 20, 2015 13:48 - 8 minutes - 7.51 MBHow lab experiments got a step closer to yeast that can make morphine, and how app experiments by developers such as Facebook happen in New Zealand Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: LEDtime
May 13, 2015 16:56 - 6 minutes - 6 MBThis week our correspondents discuss the effects gadget-use can have on teenagers’ sleep, and Silicon Valley's billion-dollar "unicorns". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babbage: Trailer
May 06, 2015 18:30 - 2 minutes - 2.75 MBBabbage is our weekly podcast on science and technology, named after Charles Babbage—a 19th-century polymath and grandfather of computing. Host Alok Jha talks to our correspondents about the innovations, discoveries and gadgetry shaping the world. Published every Wednesday.