Babbage from The Economist

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The Economist Visit website › Science · EN · 11 episodes · latest 2026-06-23

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What it is about

Babbage is The Economist’s weekly podcast on science and technology—named after Charles Babbage, the grandfather of computing. Explore the science changing the way we live from AI to genetics, particle physics and space travel with Alok Jha. This award-winning podcast features in-depth interviews with top scientists and special episodes investigating wellness trends. Published every Wednesday.If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription.For more information about Economist Podcasts+, including how to get access, please visit our FAQs page here https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Publisher’s own description, taken unchanged from the podcast feed.
Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2023. All rights reserved.

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Latest episodes

Trailer: Tocqueville Road Trip

2026-06-23 · 3 min

When Alexis de Tocqueville visited America from France in 1831 he saw a new kind of society. Not just a country, but an idea that would change the world. His book “Democracy in America” was a big influence on later…
The bomb (part 1): were nuclear weapons inevitable?

2025-07-16 · 44 min

Where did the world’s most devastating weapon come from? In a four-part series, we go behind the scenes at America's nuclear laboratories to understand how a scientific-mystery story about the ingredients of matter led…
AI and health part one: DrGPT will see you now

2024-05-22 · 46 min

Artificial intelligence is already making its mark in health care—but new, bigger, models promise to improve how patients access services, help doctors spot diseases faster and transform how medical research is done. In…
Babbage: Teens and their screens

2024-05-01 · 42 min

Ever since there have been smartphones and social media, there have been concerns about how they might be affecting children. Over the past decade, doctors have seen a decline in mental health in the young in much of…
Babbage: The science that built the AI revolution—part one

2024-03-06 · 43 min

What is intelligence? In the middle of the 20th century, the inner workings of the human brain inspired computer scientists to build the first “thinking machines”. But how does human intelligence actually relate to the…
Babbage: The hunt for dark matter

2024-02-21 · 44 min

Dark matter is thought to make up around a quarter of the universe, but so far it has eluded detection by all scientific instruments. Scientists know it must exist because of the ways galaxies move and it also explains…
Babbage: Sam Altman and Satya Nadella on their vision for AI

2024-01-24 · 45 min

OpenAI and Microsoft are leaders in generative artificial intelligence (AI). OpenAI has built GPT-4, one of the world’s most sophisticated large language models (LLMs) and Microsoft is injecting those algorithms into…
Babbage: Science book club

2023-12-20 · 42 min

Books are the original medium for communicating science to the masses. In a holiday special, producer Kunal Patel asks Babbage’s family of correspondents about the books that have inspired them in their careers as…
Babbage: Fei-Fei Li on how to really think about the future of AI

2023-11-22 · 39 min

A year ago, the public launch of ChatGPT took the world by storm and it was followed by many more generative artificial intelligence tools, all with remarkable, human-like abilities. Fears over the existential risks…
Babbage: How to avoid a battery shortage

2023-10-25 · 45 min

In the coming decades, electric vehicles will dominate the roads and renewables will provide energy to homes. But for the green transition to be successful, unprecedented amounts of energy storage is needed. Batteries…

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Publisher details

Oldest episode in feed: 05/2015 · over 11 years
Typical length: 36 min
Format: Episodic Newest first, episodes stand alone
Keywords: Science & technology, Artificial intelligence

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