Economist Podcasts

Game on: the Tokyo Olympics

May 20, 2021

Noah Snyder, The Economist's Tokyo bureau chief, dives into the mounting public opposition against the Tokyo Olympics amid rising COVID-19 cases. Concerns over safety have many in Japan advocating for cancellation. Benjamin Sutherland discusses the vulnerabilities of satellite navigation systems like GPS and the implications of jamming or spoofing these signals. The intriguing emergence of cicadas after 17 years provides a quirky contrast, revealing how climate change affects their cycles and inspiring citizen science through the Cicada Safari app.

19:04

Creator website

Episode guests

Benjamin Sutherland

Noah Snyder

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Intro

2min

Olympic Challenges Amidst COVID-19

7min

Harnessing AI: The Future of Business Competitiveness

2min

Navigating Vulnerabilities: Satellites and Cicadas

9min

The Emergence of Cicadas and Citizen Science

3min

The Tokyo Olympics are due to begin in just over two months. But with coronavirus cases climbing in recent months, 80% of Japanese people want the games to be cancelled. The navigation signals sent by satellites like America’s GPS constellation are surprisingly weak. What happens when they’re jammed—or tricked? And in America cicadas have emerged from their underground redoubts for the first time in 17 years, for a frenzied few weeks of mating. How do you study a species that emerges fewer than six times in a century? For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer

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