The Year's Biggest Breakthroughs in Science and Tech (Feat.: OK, But Seriously, What Is Quantum Computing?)

The Year's Biggest Breakthroughs in Science and Tech (Feat.: OK, But Seriously, What Is Quantum Computing?)

Our final episode of the year is also my favorite annual tradition: conversations with scientists about the most important and, often, just plain mind-blowing breakthroughs of the previous 12 months. Today we’re talking about "organ clocks" (we'll explain) and other key biotech advances of 2024 with Eric Topol, an American cardiologist and author who is also the founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. But first, Derek attempts a 'Plain English'-y summary of the most confusing thing he's ever covered—QUANTUM COMPUTING—with a major assist from theoretical computer scientist Scott Aaronson from the University of Texas at Austin. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek Thompson Guests: Scott Aaronson and Eric Topol Producer: Devon Baroldi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episoder(348)

Plain History: The Smoot-Hawley Tariff and the Great Depression

Plain History: The Smoot-Hawley Tariff and the Great Depression

The 1920s and the 2020s share a special kinship. One hundred years ago, the U.S. was grappling with a mix of growth, technological splendor, and generational anxiety—a familiar cocktail (albeit, from ...

11 Apr 202550min

Trump’s Trade War Is Like Nothing America’s Ever Seen

Trump’s Trade War Is Like Nothing America’s Ever Seen

Donald Trump's tariff plan has set global markets on fire. What are they for? What are they trying to accomplish? Fresh off his black-out-rage session on CNBC, Derek talks to Matthew Klein, the autho...

8 Apr 202557min

Trump’s Plan to Smash the Global Economic Order

Trump’s Plan to Smash the Global Economic Order

Donald Trump's second term has been a breakneck whirlwind: tariffs announced, tariffs unannounced, tariffs reannounced, allies threatened, and global coalitions ripped apart. What sort of a world are ...

31 Mar 202554min

Plain History: The Gilded Age

Plain History: The Gilded Age

Corruption. Class wars. Technological splendor. The dawn of a new age of business and government. Rockefeller and Carnegie. The Gilded Age in America—roughly the 1870s through the early 1900s—was one ...

24 Mar 202559min

ABUNDANCE! With Ezra Klein

ABUNDANCE! With Ezra Klein

Donald Trump is serving up a scarcity agenda to America. He and the White House say we don’t have an economy that works, so we might just need to accept a period of economic hardship. They say America...

17 Mar 20251h 19min

How Gen Z Sees the World

How Gen Z Sees the World

Generation Z, which was born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s, has a unique economic, political, and cultural identity. In the 2024 election, Gen Z shifted strongly to the right. They are le...

12 Mar 202557min

Can a Vaccine Cure the World’s Deadliest Cancer?

Can a Vaccine Cure the World’s Deadliest Cancer?

Cancer is not a singular disease but a category of hundreds, even thousands, of rare diseases with different molecular signatures and genetic roots. Cancer scientists are looking for a thousand perfec...

7 Mar 202547min

How AI Could Change the Future of Music

How AI Could Change the Future of Music

Artificial intelligence tools for musicians are getting eerily good, very fast. Their work can be maddening, funny, ethically dubious, and downright fascinating all at the same time. TV and podcast co...

4 Mar 202557min

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