Season 1 | Episode 9Simon Johnson: Jump-Starting America
Description
Former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, now an MIT professor, Simon Johnson urges increased investment in basic research as a way “to convert knowledge into jobs into a way to share prosperity.” And he argues that this increased investment should be focused on the middle of the country, “in places where it makes sense to build a lab and build a cluster of expertise.”
Published Wednesday, December 09, 2020 7:35 PM
42:06
A scientist fluent in the atomic properties of materials like glass and steel and wood, Anna Ploszajski wanted the hands-on experience of how craftspeople use them. The result is her book, Handmade: A Scientist’s Search for Meaning Through Making.Published Wednesday, September 01, 2021 7:07 PM
39:20
You may not realize it, but you are subtly revising and updating your memories all the time – to keep them, as Daphna Shohamy puts it, “nimble,” and so better able to help you chart both the present and the future.Published Wednesday, August 25, 2021 5:17 PM
35:49
As a young Italian physics student, Caterina Vernieri was lucky enough to join the team hunting for the most elusive and highly-prized fundamental particle of all – the Higgs boson – just as it was found. She is now leading a team building the detector that may reveal the Higgs’ secrets.Published Thursday, August 19, 2021 7:06 PM
40:45
Having helped develop and install a camera to gaze the heavens with unprecedented resolution, Marcelle Soares Santos was part of the team that used the camera to capture an unprecedented record of a massive cosmic explosion.Published Wednesday, August 11, 2021 7:05 PM
42:38
An unknown but very clever cockatoo in Sydney Australia invented a novel way of raiding trash bins. Teaming with citizen scientists, Lucy Aplin and her team tracked how cockatoos throughout the city soon picked up the same trick.Published Wednesday, August 04, 2021 7:04 PM
40:44
Tiny satellites, catching a ride to space, can improve weather forecasting and even help spot planets outside the solar system.Published Wednesday, July 28, 2021 7:03 PM
41:17
With ultra-thin fibers and minute magnetic particles, Polina Anikeeva and her team are developing new ways to tap into the brain. Her ultimate goal is to understand and treat brain diseases like Parkinson’s.Published Wednesday, July 21, 2021 7:02 PM
41:42
Dangling from a balloon the size of a football stadium miles above the South Pole, a payload built by astrophysicist Abby Vieregg peers down at the ice looking for messenger particles from the most energetic places in the universe.Published Wednesday, July 14, 2021 7:01 PM
40:18
The mightiest events in the entire universe – when black holes collide – create ripples in space-time now being detected by the most sensitive instruments ever built – and are opening up a new era in astronomy.Published Wednesday, June 30, 2021 7:00 PM