All Episodes
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 in total
Hacking proteins with AI
Nature didn’t evolve all the proteins we need, but maybe artificial intelligence can help. Jacob and Saloni explore how tools like AlphaFold and ProteinMPNN are helpin...
How traffic modernism ruined cities with Nicholas Boys Smith
Nicholas Boys Smith joins Ben and Sam to explain how to plan spaces that people like; dense, sociable and, above all else, beautiful. He says people don't like new bui...
100 years of insulin in 15 minutes
A hundred years ago, insulin was scraped from pig pancreases. Today, it’s made by bacteria in giant tanks. In the second part of a mini series on proteins, drug develo...
Why feminism worked best in the West with Alice Evans
Social scientist Alice Evans talks about why, despite a superficially similar feminist movement in East Asia, Western feminism has been much successful. Alice, Sam and...
Proteins: Weird blobs that do important things
This episode kicks off a mini-series on proteins, drug development and AI. Saloni and Jacob explore the world of proteins, including how proteins fold into complex sha...
How to become President of China with Dan Wang
Is it better to be run by engineers, lawyers or regulators? Can you build an economy on luxury handbags or do you need advanced manufacturing? Dan Wang, author of Brea...
The underrated economics of land with Mike Bird
Why is Chinese housing so expensive despite being oversupplied? How did land reforms in Russia lead to the Bolshevik revolution? What killed Georgism? The Economist’s ...
How Henry VIII accidentally started the Industrial Revolution, with Anton Howes
Historian Anton Howes discusses how Henry VIII turned Britain into an economic backwater – making it the unlikeliest place for the Industrial Revolution to happen. But...
Stian Westlake on the intangible economy and paying for social science
Why does London dominate Britain's economy, whereas Germany's is spread out across the whole country? Why don't restaurants scale well? What kind of social science res...
Samuel Hughes on The Great Downzoning
Before the twentieth century, most cities were highly permissive about what people were allowed to build on their land. Nearly all Western householders lost these libe...
Lenacapavir: The miracle drug that could end AIDS
Lenacapavir is a new HIV drug that blocks infections with an efficacy rate of nearly 100%, and it could completely change the fight against HIV worldwide. Saloni and J...
Coming soon: The Works in Progress Podcast
Coming soon: the Works in Progress Podcast. Featuring underrated ideas to improve the world – for bigger, more beautiful cities; clean energy that's too cheap to meter...