The Edge

It’s the age of AI. Robots are getting smarter and learning to do our jobs at an alarming rate. And the question no one seems to be able to answer is: Will robots replace us all and rule the world? Or will we find a way to work in harmonious productivity? That question might be missing the point, says Berkeley grad Annalee Newitz. An award-winning science journalist, fiction writer, and podcast ho...

When you send a message to a friend—whether by text, email, or social media—you probably don’t think much about where it’s actually going. We’ve grown so accustomed to our free-floating devices and digital clouds and seemingly wireless connectivity that we might not realize just how wired our digital world truly is. The reality is, every message we send travels through a vast physical system: rout...

For decades, researchers believed that whales communicated using a sort of underwater Morse code—simple, repeated patterns of clicks. But recent advances in technology have revealed a much more complex, even human-like language. Now, with artificial intelligence, scientists are getting closer than ever to translating their vocalizations. UC Berkeley’s Gašper Beguš is one such researcher building a...

Wild Wild Country. Escaping NXIVM. The Path. Holy Hell. That’s just a few of the vast and growing collection of documentaries, podcasts, docuseries exploring the history and legacy of cults. What explains this explosion of interest? Associate professor of English and resident cult expert Poulomi Saha joins Editor-in-Chief Pat Joseph live onstage to discuss America’s long enthrallment with—and part...

No doubt you’ve heard a thing or two about Bad Bunny recently. He’s a rapper, singer, and producer, also known as the “King of Latin Trap”—and reggaeton, of course—who’s soon to become the first solo Latino to headline the Super Bowl. But he’s also Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, a 31-year-old from Puerto Rico and an outspokenly political artist, using his platform and music to address humanitaria...

Some Catholics no doubt took offense, but no one was seriously harmed by the Pope-in-a-puffer-jacket meme. Far more sinister deepfakes are on the rise, however, with scammers now frequently using widely available technology to bilk the unwary, and political campaigns marshaling AI to sow lies about their opponents. Perhaps the greatest threat is not the deepfakes themselves but that their mere exi...

Just over a decade ago, Berkeley computer science professor Stuart Russell, recently named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI, warned a lecture audience that achieving artificial general intelligence “would be the biggest event in human history . . . and perhaps the last event in human history.” Since then, the development of superintelligent AI has only accelerated—infiltrating nearl...

There’s a paradox in robotics that says: what’s easy for humans is hard for robots, and vice versa. Complex calculations, for instance, are the domain of machines. Simple motor tasks like picking up an object, on the other hand, can stump a robot. That’s where our guest comes in. Jeff Mahler has spent his career working on improving the capabilities of robotic object manipulation. After completing...

Can we look into the past? Does the universe have an edge? What’s so great about a total solar eclipse? Have we been visited by aliens? Astrophysicist Alex Filippenko joins Editor-in-Chief Pat Joseph live onstage to discuss eclipse chasing, dark energy, and the abiding mysteries of the universe.  Further reading:  Watch the full live conversation with Alex Filippenko on YouTube Check out more Cali...

Octopuses and humans have very little in common. It’s not just a matter of their eight limbs and cool camouflage—we haven’t had a shared ancestor for more than half a billion years, before dinosaurs walked the earth. But there’s one surprising thing we do seem to share: MDMA makes us both a lot cuddlier. For neuroscientist Gül Dölen, this was a huge insight into the powerful role psychoactive drug...

Don’t let the term “climate change” mislead you. It’s true that our environment is changing in all sorts of ways as we continue to pollute and exploit and manipulate our planet. But even as we brace for more historic typhoons and biblical floods, there's an invisible and pervasive force that is wreaking havoc on us all: heat. In this episode, we speak with environmental journalist and Berkele...

Nearly four years have passed since COVID swept the globe, infecting millions and bringing society to a grinding halt. The ensuing months saw strict mask mandates, revolutionary vaccines, new viral strains, and—finally—a return to some sort of normal. With the end of the public health emergency and a sudden disappearance of the once-ubiquitous masks, it’s easy to feel like the pandemic is, well, o...

Roughly every second, a star explodes. Beyond treating astronomers to a radiant light display, these dramatic supernova events contain vast amounts of information about the origin, behavior, and ultimate demise of our universe. UC Berkeley astrophysicist Sarafina El-Badry Nance, has dedicated her life to studying really big exploding stars and what they tell us about our ever-expanding universe. S...

We’re back with something a little different this month. In the wake of this year’s historic floods, wildfires, and hurricanes, we asked ourselves: What would it look like to take a more optimistic attitude towards slowing climate change? In that spirit, we’re sharing an episode of The Science of Happiness , a podcast co-produced by UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center and PRX. The first...

For centuries, doctors have medically treated people differently according to their race because they believed that race was biological. But in recent years, medical professionals and activists have argued that this is both wrongheaded and can be dangerous to people’s health. In this episode, we talk to UC Berkeley grad Stephen Richmond, a primary care physician and assistant professor at Stanford...

Car-free streets are no longer just an urban fantasy. In cities across the nation, a movement is growing to return the streets to the people. In this episode, we talk to two advocates from UC Berkeley about their quest to ‘pedestrianize’ Telegraph Avenue and their grand vision for a more walkable, bikeable future. Support the show

The teens are not alright! In fact, they’re experiencing a sleep crisis. In this episode, we talk to journalist and UC Berkeley grad Lisa Lewis about why teens have different sleep needs than the rest of us and how she worked to get more sleep for all Californian teens. We explore sleep hygiene and what it means to restructure society around a vital health need.  Support the show

Today, we’re featuring the audio version of California magazine’s recent cover story, “Into the Ishi Wilderness.” In 1911, a Yahi Native American man walked out of the wilderness near Oroville, California. The famed anthropologist Alfred Kroeber brought him to UC Berkeley’s campus. What happened next is still being hotly debated almost 100 years later.   For audio text, please see the feature arti...

These days, kids want to be social media influencers when they grow up. But is it a viable career? And what does our ever-growing social media obsession mean for society? In this episode, we talk to TikTok star and UC Berkeley grad Talia Lichtstein about her day-to-day routine, how she makes money, and the future of work in the era of social media.  Support the show

How is it possible to be blind and able to see at the same time? In this episode, we explore a bizarre, paradoxical neurological condition called blindsight, which challenges everything we think we know about vision—and offers insight into the nature of human consciousness. Leah is joined by a UC Berkeley researcher and Simon Lewis (JD ‘80), a film producer and survivor of a traumatic brain injury...

It’s not easy coming up with the perfect opening line on Tinder. Should you play it cute? Ask a thought-provoking question? Woo them with a witty remark? One entrepreneur thinks he has the answer: robot-generated text. Artificial intelligence is already helping us compose emails and complete sentences, so why stop there? Laura and Leah talk to UC Berkeley grad and the founder of Keys about the pos...

You hear about blockchain everywhere: social media, the news, the guy next door. Some say that in a few years, everyone will use it for everything, much like the internet. But right now we’re in the early days, and it’s pretty Wild West. (Think: early ’90s internet.) Laura and Leah talk to Medha Kothari, a UC Berkeley alum and founder of she256, a non-profit promoting diversity in blockchain, abou...

Passenger pigeons. Woolly mammoths. Neanderthals. They’re all extinct. But what if we could bring them back? And if we could, should we? Geneticists are exploring de-extincting extinct and near-extinct species, but ethical and logistical problems abound. Laura and Leah sit down with a genetic engineer and an ecologist from UC Berkeley to understand how de-extinction works and the unintended conseq...

Since the first human left Earth’s atmosphere in 1961, few earthlings—and even fewer private citizens—have had the opportunity to “boldly go” there. But, with new advancements from SpaceX, Blue Origin, and other spaceflight companies, wealthy tourists could soon be booking rooms in hotels in outer space. As with any new industry, the rise of space tourism raises some new, sometimes uncomfortable,...

Five years after 29-year-old, terminally ill Brittany Maynard makes national news by choosing to end her life early, medically assisted death continues to face enormous legal and social barriers. And yet public support of the practice is high. As life-expectancy and palliative care improve, we face new questions: Under what circumstances are people allowed to choose when and how they die? And how...