Babbage from The Economist (subscriber edition)

The Vera Rubin Observatory is about to start a decade-long survey of the night sky. In the process, it will generate hundreds of petabytes of astronomical data. Hidden within that firehose of information will be clues about some of the universe’s deepest mysteries—from dark matter and dark energy to the evolution of galaxies. To help scientists unlock those new celestial tales, the Rubin Observatory's team had to invent a bespoke way to organise, analyse and share the data. That technology, which will usher in a new, automated era for astronomy, may be one of the observatory’s most important and enduring legacies. In the second of two episodes, we visit the Rubin Observatory, 2,700m high in the Chilean Andes, to uncover how the telescope’s data travel from the summit to astronomers’ desks around the world. Listen to the first episode here. Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Contributors: William O’Mullane, Yusra AlSayyad and Leanne Guy. Thanks to everyone we spoke to at the Vera Rubin Observatory, including Alysha Shugart, Guillem Megias, Marina Pavlovic and Kevin Fanning.You can see and explore the first images taken by the Vera Rubin Observatory on the SkyViewer platform.For more on the scientific questions that the Vera Rubin Observatory is seeking to answer, listen to our “cosmology in crisis” series. Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

This week, the first images were released from the world’s most powerful digital camera, nestled in the heart of a brand new telescope at the Vera Rubin Observatory. From October, the 3,200 megapixel camera will begin to create a decade-long film of the entire night sky, and promise to unlock some of the deepest mysteries of our universe—from how galaxies form and evolve to the nature of dark matter and dark energy. In the first of two episodes, we visit the Rubin Observatory, 2,700m high in the Chilean Andes to hear what this new facility can do and learn about the monumental engineering required to build it.Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Contributors: Victor Krabbendam, Stephanie Deppe and Leanne Guy of the Vera Rubin Observatory. Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

The evolution of drone technology in warzones, such as Ukraine, is showing no signs of slowing. But as drones have become more capable, the traditional ways to bring them down—such as electronic jamming or physically firing shots at them—are becoming less effective. Engineers have therefore had to get creative. Several companies are dreaming up devices that emit microwave radiation with the aim of disabling the electronics of drones. Could they really protect people from the threats swarming in the skies above?Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Contributors: Thomas Withington of RUSI; Andy Lowery of Epirus; The Economist’s Benjamin Sutherland. For more on Ukraine’s drone war, listen to “The Weekend Intelligence: Inside Operation Spider Web”.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Supermarkets and social-media feeds are bursting with “immune-boosting” products that promise to make you better able to fend off infections. But can orange juice really fight a cold? And will a fancy yoghurt help your microbiome prevent illness? Enter a myth-busting immunologist who helps you to ignore the noise and to think critically about your immune health. Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor, speaks with Daniel Davis, a professor at Imperial College London and the author of a new guide to immune health, “Self Defence”.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

The large language models underpinning generative AI have tremendous potential to wrangle messy medical data, chat with patients about their personal health, make diagnoses, and even suggest medications and make appointments. But how to ensure that data are kept private and the advice is trustworthy? We meet some of the researchers trying to develop the long-touted doctor in your pocket.Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor, with Natasha Loder, our health editor. Contributors: Claire Novorol of ADA Health; Adam Rodman and Jason Gusdorf of Harvard Medical School and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre.For more on this topic, listen to our two-part series on AI in health care, published in May 2024. Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Across America scientists are reeling as they are hit with wave after wave of grant terminations and funding freezes. Federal science agencies have fired thousands of staff. And President Trump has declared war on the country’s leading universities. The administration says it seeks to usher in a “Golden Age” of science and innovation. Our reporting suggests that it will do the opposite.Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor, with science correspondent Emilie Steinmark. Contributors: Don Ingber of Harvard University; Amy Nunn of Brown University; Hannah Cooper of Emory University; Brigitte Seim of the University of Minnesota; Jane Carlton of Johns Hopkins University.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

The Metre Convention is a treaty that codified the measurement of the metre and the kilogram. Signed on May 20th 1875 in Paris, it facilitated trade and underpinned the development of new technology. Accurate measurements are essential for innovation, but the way scientists perform those measurements has changed over time. Now, 150 years since the treaty was first signed, how are scientists improving measurement standards?Hosts: The Economist’s Alok Jha and Gilead Amit. Contributors: JT Janssen, Andrew Lewis and Anne Curtis at Britain’s National Physical Laboratory. Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Richard Cytowic, a neurologist and author of "Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age," dives into the clash between our evolving brains and the digital age. He explores how constant notifications disrupt attention and learning, and how excessive screen time can mirror autism-like symptoms. Cytowic discusses the deterioration of genuine interactions and emphasizes the need for personal responsibility with technology, while advocating for silence as a crucial mental reset in our fast-paced world.

Join Ann Young, a physician who faced breast cancer in her 30s, as she shares her poignant journey through early-onset cancer. Slavea Chankova, health-care correspondent for The Economist, dives into the alarming rise in cancer diagnoses among younger individuals, exploring possible environmental links. Geneticist Mike Stratton discusses innovative genome sequencing research to identify mutational signatures related to this worrying trend. Discover the emotional challenges young patients face and the urgent need for further investigation into the causes of early-onset cancer.

Do you run, cycle or swim to lose weight? Herman Pontzer, an evolutionary anthropologist who specialises in understanding how humans use energy, thinks you’re probably wasting your time. His idea of the “exercise paradox” suggests that the amount of energy people use in a day is constrained (by evolution) and that exercising more doesn’t end up burning more calories. Figuring out why our bodies work like this is part of Prof Pontzer’s bigger project to map out and better understand how evolution has shaped variations in human biology. Hosts: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Contributor: Herman Pontzer, professor of evolutionary anthropology and global health at Duke University and the author of “Burn” and “Adaptable”.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.