Curiosity Unbounded

Quantum computers promise to tackle problems that are beyond the reach of today’s most powerful computers—but how close are we to making that promise a reality? MIT quantum engineer Will Oliver joins President Sally Kornbluth to explain what makes quantum computing different, why scaling quantum computers is so difficult, and what these machines could eventually mean for fields from drug discovery to materials science. They also explore the role of AI, MIT’s growing quantum ecosystem, and why Ol

Song Han is an associate professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science whose research focuses on efficient AI computing. His work spans high-resolution computer vision for autonomous vehicles, more efficient image generation, improved GPT performance, and novel methods for training machine learning models. He also leads the Efficient AI team at NVIDIA Research, focused on optimizing GPU-accelerated AI systems.

Emil Verner is the Jerome and Dorthy Lemelson Professor of Management and Financial Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His research examines how finance and the broader economy interact, with a focus on the causes and consequences of financial crises — from bank runs and insolvency to debt booms, economic volatility, and political polarization. Show notes and transcript: https://news.mit.edu/podcast/podcast-curiosity-unbounded-episode-17-boom-bust-workings-financial-crises Join

Sebastian Lourido is an associate professor of biology and a member of the Whitehead Institute. Sebastian studies human pathogens and seeks to unravel the genetic pathways that help parasites like Toxoplasma gondii exist in human cells. He hopes that his work will lead to new treatments for toxoplasmosis as well as drugs that could treat diseases caused by similar parasites. Show notes and transcript: https://news.mit.edu/podcast/podcast-curiosity-unbounded-episode-16-toxoplasma-and-human-host

Christopher Palmer is an Associate Professor of Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is also a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and an Affiliate with the Jameel Poverty Action Lab, based here at MIT. He studies consumer credit, and household financial decision making. Show notes and transcript: https://news.mit.edu/podcast/podcast-curiosity-unbounded-episode-15-making-sense-your-dollars Join the mailing list or send us feedback: https://eepurl

Brent Minchew is an Associate Professor of Geophysics in the department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT. He studies the behavior of glaciers in respect to environmental factors and is dedicated to understanding sea level rise and exploring viable interventions to stabilize ice sheets. Show notes and transcript: https://news.mit.edu/podcast/podcast-curiosity-unbounded-episode-14-putting-glacier-its-place Join our mailing list and send us feedback: https://eepurl.com/ixPQPA