MIT Press Podcast

MIT Press Podcast

episodes

The MIT Press Podcast features exclusive interviews and content that draw on the topics, themes, and trends explored in our books and journals. Subject areas that are covered include art and design, technology, science, information and data science, linguistics, neuroscience, business and management, architecture and urban design, ecology and sustainability, science fiction, and more. The podcast also regularly features high level discussions about open access publishing and knowledge.

Victor P. Petrov, "Balkan Cyberia: Cold War Computing, Bulgarian Modernization, and the Information Age Behind the Iron Curtain" (MIT Press, 2023)

November 18, 2024

Balkan Cyberia

Victor P. Petrov
Hosted by Iva Glisic

Balkan Cyberia: Cold War Computing, Bulgarian Modernisation, and the Information Age Behind the Iron Curtain (MIT Press, 2023) examines the history of…

Todd Stern, "Landing the Paris Climate Agreement: How It Happened, Why It Matters, and What Comes Next" (MIT Press, 2024)

November 8, 2024

Landing the Paris Climate Agreement

Todd Stern
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

From the U.S. lead negotiator on climate change, an inside account of the seven-year negotiation that culminated in the Paris Climate Agreement in 201…

Greg Epstein, "Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World's Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation" (MIT Press, 2024)

October 30, 2024

Tech Agnostic

Greg Epstein
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

Technology has surpassed religion as the central focus of our lives, from our dependence on smartphones to the way that tech has infused almost every …

Kids Across the Spectrums: Growing Up Autistic in the Digital Age

October 21, 2024

Kids Across the Spectrums: Growing Up Autistic in the Digital Age

Meryl Alper
Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Meryl Alper, Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Northeastern University, about her recent b…

Anna Lora-Wainwright, "Resigned Activism: Living with Pollution in Rural China" (MIT Press, 2021)

October 20, 2024

Resigned Activism

Anna Lora-Wainwright
Hosted by Elena Sobrino

Resigned Activism: Living with Pollution in Rural China (MIT Press, 2021) by Dr. Anna Lora-Wainwright digs deep into the paradoxes, ambivalences, and …

Francisco Aboitiz, "A History of Bodies, Brains, and Minds: The Evolution of Life and Consciousness" (MIT Press, 2024)

October 19, 2024

A History of Bodies, Brains, and Minds

Francisco Aboitiz

Francisco Aboitiz is a professor at the Medical School and the director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Neuroscience at Pontificia Universidad Cat…

Jackie Wang, "Alien Daughters Walk Into the Sun: An Almanac of Extreme Girlhood" (Semiotext(e), 2023)

October 14, 2024

Alien Daughters Walk Into the Sun

Jackie Wang
Hosted by Rachel Pafe

Jackie Wang is a poet, scholar, multimedia artist, and Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California.…

Alan F. Blackwell, "Moral Codes: Designing Alternatives to AI" (MIT Press, 2024)

October 6, 2024

Moral Codes

Alan F. Blackwell
Hosted by Michael LaMagna

Why the world needs less AI and better programming languages. Decades ago, we believed that robots and computers would take over all the boring jobs a…

Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani, "The Cities We Need: Essential Stories of Everyday Places" (MIT Press, 2024)

October 2, 2024

The Cities We Need

Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

An expressive book of prose and photographs that reveals the powerful ways our everyday places support our shared belonging. Where would you take some…

Lynne B. Sagalyn, "Times Square Remade: The Dynamics of Urban Change" (MIT Press, 2023)

September 30, 2024

Times Square Remade

Lynne B. Sagalyn
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

What is it about Times Square that has inspired such attention for well over a century? And how is it that, despite its many changes of character, the…

Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World

September 26, 2024

Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World

Meredith Broussard

Why do we assume that computers always get it right? Today’s book is: Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World (MIT Press, 20…

Francis Stevens, "The Heads of Cerberus and Other Stories" (MIT Press, 2024)

September 23, 2024

The Heads of Cerberus and Other Stories

Francis Stevens
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

When three people in Philadelphia inhale dust developed by a scientist who has discovered parallel universes, they are transported into an interdimens…

Brian Clegg, "Ten Patterns That Explain the Universe" (MIT Press, 2021)

September 2, 2024

Ten Patterns That Explain the Universe

Brian Clegg
Hosted by Galina Limorenko

Our universe might appear chaotic, but deep down it's simply a myriad of rules working independently to create patterns of action, force, and conseque…

Cyrus Mody on the Importance of Square (as in NOT COOL) Scientists and Engineers

August 26, 2024

On the Importance of Square (as in NOT COOL) Scientists and Engineers

Cyrus Mody
Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks to Cyrus Mody, Professor in the History of Science, Technology, and Innovation and Director of the STS Progra…

Edward Shanks, "The People of the Ruins" (MIT Press, 2024)

August 6, 2024

The People of the Ruins

Edward Shanks
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In The People of the Ruins (originally published in 1920), Edward Shanks imagines England in the not-so-distant future as a neo mediaeval society whos…

Robert Baker, "Making Modern Medical Ethics: How African Americans, Anti-Nazis, Bureaucrats, Feminists, Veterans, and Whistleblowing Moralists Created Bioethics" (MIT Press, 2024)

August 2, 2024

Making Modern Medical Ethics

Robert Baker
Hosted by Claire Clark

The little-known stories of the people responsible for what we know today as modern medical ethics. In Making Modern Medical Ethics: How African Ameri…

Aram Sinnreich and Jesse Gilbert, "The Secret Life of Data: Navigating Hype and Uncertainty in the Age of Algorithmic Surveillance" (MIT Press, 2024)

July 10, 2024

The Secret Life of Data

Aram Sinnreich and Jesse Gilbert
Hosted by Joanne Kuai

What is data, and why does it matter for us to care about the data traces we leave behind? What are the implications for our lives of how this data is…

Donna Drucker, "Contraception: A Concise History" (MIT Press, 2020)

July 8, 2024

Contraception

Donna Drucker

The beginning of the modern contraceptive era began in 1882, when Dr. Aletta Jacobs opened the first birth control clinic in Amsterdam. The founding o…

Anna Abraham, "The Creative Brain: Myths and Truths" (MIT Press, 2024)

June 24, 2024

The Creative Brain

Anna Abraham
Hosted by Jeff Adler

A nuanced, science-based understanding of the creative mind that dispels the pervasive myths we hold about the human brain—but also uncovers the truth…

Ann Johnson and Johannes Lenhard, "Cultures of Prediction: How Engineering and Science Evolve with Mathematical Tools" (MIT Press, 2024)

June 24, 2024

Cultures of Prediction

Ann Johnson and Johannes Lenhard
Hosted by Nikki Stevens

A probing examination of the dynamic history of predictive methods and values in science and engineering that helps us better understand today's cultu…