Data Nation

It’s a killer that’s been swept under the rug. The leading cause of death for 18–45-year-olds in America is opioid overdose, and deaths are only increasing. Liberty and Scott want to know, why is this decades-old epidemic still taking so many lives? They’re getting the facts on the opioid crisis, looking at the local community and financial perspectives to get the truth. They go to the experts to explore the local community perspective and the financial aspect to discover the solutions that can stop more Americans from dying of opioid overdoses. They speak with Andrew Lo, professor of finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management; and with Chief Tom Synan, chief of police in Ohio.  Data Nation is a production of the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society and Voxtopica. 

You apply for an apartment, and they ask for your credit score. You shudder. Perhaps for a good reason, it’s possible that credit scores are more sinister than we realized. Liberty and Scott are getting to the bottom of credit scores to find just how antagonistic credit scores are to people from underserved communities seeking quality housing. They look for answers from Prof. Munther Dahleh, Director of MIT IDSS, and Yuri Beckelman, staff director at the US House of Representatives to find out who credit scores hurt the most and what alternative solutions can work for everyone–lenders, landlords, and borrowers included.   Data Nation is a production of the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society and Voxtopica. 

2016 and 2020 ー not exactly our smoothest years in American election history. Mention them to anyone and you’ll likely enter an intense conversation about which side spewed misinformation to unfairly win each election. Misinformation was certainly out there, but did it actually sway these elections? Liberty and Scott investigate if misinformation is a weapon we need to be worried about, or if it’s the new norm of political tools. They’re getting answers from the director of the MIT Political Experiments Research Lab Adam Berinsky, and former director of public policy at Facebook Katie Harbath, to find out how much misinformation in politics influences our democracy and if anything can be done to prevent widespread damage.   Data Nation is a production of the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society and Voxtopica. 

Fans argue that analytics are ruining sports. Professional teams say they aren’t. And sports bettors are finding that data may be their new secret weapon. Liberty and Scott investigate if tracking data in sports will eventually ruin the game. They’re going to the co-founder of the MIT Sports Lab  Anette “Peko” Hosoi, and president of the New England Revolution Brian Bilello to find out what the future of sports analytics is and how anyone can use the data to get the upperhand in betting.   Data Nation is a production of the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society and Voxtopica. 

We face a lot of overwhelming challenges today in America–systemic racism, data privacy, misinformation. These are big problems, and there are a lot of opinions and ideas on how to fix them. Scholars and industry experts often disagree on how to find solutions. So, how can we find the right way to move forward? We let the data speak for itself. Join hosts Liberty Vittert and Scott Tranter as they gather data and get the facts about today’s most pressing problems to find out, are solutions even possible? They’ll investigate with MIT professors dedicated to researching these issues, and talk with the people on the ground encountering these problems every day so that we can find the best solutions that triumph over these challenges and solve America’s biggest problems.  Data Nation is a production of the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society and Voxtopica.