Particles of Thought

Dennis Whyte has designed a fusion reactor for Mars, and it turns out the red planet has plenty of fusion fuel. The MIT nuclear scientist joins Hakeem to explore fusion's wildest a…

Dennis Whyte helped spark a multi-billion-dollar industry from a spool of tape. The nuclear scientist and entrepreneur explains the nitty gritty of nuclear fusion through the multi…

Dennis Whyte studies the physics that powers every star in the universe, and he says it can power your house, too. Now the CEO of the UK’s Atomic Energy Authority and nuclear scien…

Federico Rossano convinces Hakeem that animals have a lot more to say than we've given them credit for. The cognitive scientist shares the origin story behind his record-breaking s…

Federico Rossano says the secret to speaking with apes is trust. For primates, the world is full of high-stakes friends and foes, and of course, there are always predators to worry…

Federico Rossano caught dogs doing something that looks a lot like telling jokes. The cognitive scientist shares what he learned from speaking with dogs. Dogs can smell, hear, and…

Federico Rossano didn't care about talking dogs until science made it impossible to ignore. The cognitive scientist joins Hakeem to reveal how a viral social media trend turned int…

Brent Minchew could have a plan to stop Thwaites Glacier, AKA the “Doomsday Glacier”, cold in its tracks. That’s good news because if this one glacier slips into the sea, it could…

Brent Minchew responded to the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001. Before he was a glaciologist at Caltech, he was a marine aboard the Marine One presidential helicopter and was one…

Brent Minchew has a plan that could stop the “Doomsday Glacier” in its tracks, and we don’t even need new technology to do it. The Caltech glaciologist returns to unveil an interve…

Brent Minchew is an expert on the glacier that could devastate the world’s coastlines. As a glaciologist at Caltech, he's spent his career tracking Thwaites Glacier, AKA the "Dooms…

Jordan Ellenberg tells Hakeem that math isn't just about numbers. It's about everything. The mathematician and bestselling author shares how AI models are trained through trial and…

Jordan Ellenberg finds mathematical certainty overrated. Calming our fear of the unknown, the mathematician joins Hakeem to explore why math, contrary to popular belief, is less ab…

Jordan Ellenberg says geometry isn’t about shapes. It’s about distance. In a tour of geometry far stranger than anything from high school, the mathematician breaks down how our anc…

Jordan Ellenberg has good news: artificial intelligence is just math you can actually understand. The mathematician joins Hakeem to pull back the curtain on how large language mode…

Ella Al-Shamahi explores what it means to be human. She reveals the surprising truth that our ancestors shared the planet with at least seven other human species as recently as 50,…

Ella Al-Shamahi set out to disprove the theory of evolution. Now she’s one of its greatest advocates. In this deeply personal conversation, Ella tells Hakeem her story. She started…

Ella Al-Shamahi thinks Neanderthals have a reputation problem, and the science backs her up. For decades, the word "Neanderthal" has been shorthand for something primitive and brut…

Ella Al-Shamahi says the iconic picture of human evolution is all wrong. She joins Hakeem to take apart the conventional image of the straight-line march of evolution from ape to m…

Daniela Rus brings robots and AI together, and as a computer scientist and roboticist at MIT, she's here to set the record straight. She's not just studying AI from the outside. Sh…