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12 Jan 2021

Bots’ Meddling in the 2020 Presidential Election – Emilio Ferrara

How are automated social media bots manipulating our political discourse? In episode 91, Emilio Ferrara from the University of Southern California discusses his research into bots' amplification of conspiracies theories across more than 240 million tweets regarding the 2020 U.S. presidential elect......
Listen to episode..Bots’ Meddling in the 2020 Presidential Election – Emilio Ferrara
9 Jul 2019

Behind the Curtain of Algorithms – Been Kim

Might we be better able to understand what's going on inside the "black box" of machine learning algorithms? In episode 53, Been Kim from Google Brain talks with us about her research into creating algorithms that can explain why they make the recommendations they do via concepts that are relatabl......
Listen to episode..Behind the Curtain of Algorithms – Been Kim
2 Apr 2019

Trusting Our Machines – Neera Jain

Might enabling computational aids to "self-correct" when they’re out of sync with people be a path toward their exhibition of recognizably intelligent behavior? In episode 46, Neera Jain from Purdue University discusses in her experiments into monitoring our trust in AI's abilities so as to drive ...
Listen to episode..Trusting Our Machines – Neera Jain
19 Feb 2019

p-Hacking Business – Ron Berman

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, might the manipulation of statistics in marketing research be costing companies millions? In episode 43, Ron Berman from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business discusses in his open-access article "p-Hacking and False Discovery in A/B ......
Listen to episode..p-Hacking Business – Ron Berman
15 May 2018

Uncovering Uncertain Identities – David Kernot

We set out talk with David Kernot from Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Group about William Shakespeare's true identity, but soon discovered his work has implications on national security and suicide prevention, as well as diagnosing Alzheimer's years before it can be otherwise identifie...
Listen to episode..Uncovering Uncertain Identities – David Kernot
1 May 2018

Linguistic Artifacts in Creole – Nicole Creanza

What might migration patterns tell us about how modern languages came about? Vanderbilt University's Nicole Creanza talks with us about her research into how migration during the colonial era contributed to the development of the creole language, Sranan. Her open-access article "Using features of ...
Listen to episode..Linguistic Artifacts in Creole – Nicole Creanza
2 Apr 2018

How Misinformation Spreads Online – Soroush Vosoughi

By now, we're all familiar with the idea that social media can - and has - been used to spread untruths. But why does this work? Soroush Vosoughi from MIT's Laboratory for Social Machines and Harvard's Berkman Klein Center talks with us in episode 20 about his research into how false news dissemin...
Listen to episode..How Misinformation Spreads Online – Soroush Vosoughi
20 Feb 2018

Universals in Song – Sam Mehr & Manvir Singh

Sam Mehr and Manvir Singh from Harvard's Music Lab talk with us about their research suggesting that people across the world can detect the social purpose of other cultures' songs based only on how they sound. Their open-access article, "Form and function in human song"  was published in Current B...
Listen to episode..Universals in Song – Sam Mehr & Manvir Singh
5 Sep 2017

Semantic Meaning in Images – Devi Parikh

A picture may be worth 1000 words, but can we also teach computers to create stories from the stories that lie inside our images? In this episode, Devi Parikh of Georgia Tech’s school of interactive computing discusses her work training computers to determine the semantic meaning within images...
Listen to episode..Semantic Meaning in Images – Devi Parikh