Kathy Kleiman: The six women who programmed the first modern computer
3 January 2023 - 37 minsBuilt during WWII, the world’s first electronic computer, the ENIAC, was an engineering marvel. But at 80 ft long and 6 ft tall it was mute until it was brought to life by six young women mathematicians who figured out how to program it.
Series Episodes
Valerie Fridland: Yes, you have an accent
Whether it’s the accent that hints at your hometown, your group, your social status or your ethnicity, the sounds we say reveal a lot about who we are and where we’ve been – even for those who might think they have no accent at all.
37 mins
21 April Finished
David Haskell: When the world burst into bloom
Flowering plants were late to evolve, but once they did, they took over most of the planet, connecting and communicating with a network of other living things and making possible our own evolution.
37 mins
14 April Finished
Michael Pollan: The mystery and marvel of consciousness
Best known for his writings on food – and for his crisp summation of advice for healthy eating – “Eat food. Not too much. Mainly plants” – he has now taken a deep and very personal dive into the nature of consciousness.
37 mins
7 April Finished
Edda Fields-Black: The Harriet Tubman you didn’t know
The remarkable and little-known story of how Harriet Tubman played a critical role in a daring raid that in 1863 freed some 700 slaves from rice plantations along South Carolina’s Combahee River.
36 mins
31 March Finished
Gary Marcus: Is AI mostly hype?
For over 20 years he has been a relentless critic of the extravagant claims made for the current generation of AI based on Large Language Models, or LLMs. But he is even more concerned about what may come next.
37 mins
24 March Finished
Shermin Kruse: When empathy becomes a strategy
Her mother’s skillful use of empathy to defuse a potentially dangerous encounter on the streets of Tehran when she was nine has stayed with her ever since. It led to her developing the concept of stoic empathy as a way to navigate challenges.
37 mins
17 March Finished
