The Edge

<p><b>Some Catholics no doubt took offense, but no one was seriously harmed by the Pope-in-a-puffer-jacket meme. Far more sinister deepfakes are on the rise, however, with scammers now frequently using widely available...

<p><b>Just over a decade ago, Berkeley computer science professor Stuart Russell, recently named one of </b><b>TIME’s </b><b>100 Most Influential People in AI, warned a lecture audience that achieving artificial general...

<p><b>There’s a paradox in robotics that says: what’s easy for humans is hard for robots, and vice versa. Complex calculations, for instance, are the domain of machines. Simple motor tasks like picking up an object, on...

<p><b>Can we look into the past? Does the universe have an edge? What’s so great about a total solar eclipse? Have we been visited by aliens? Astrophysicist Alex Filippenko joins Editor-in-Chief Pat Joseph live onstage...

<p><b>Octopuses and humans have very little in common. It’s not just a matter of their eight limbs and cool camouflage—we haven’t had a shared ancestor for more than half a billion years, before dinosaurs walked the...

<p><b>Don’t let the term “climate change” mislead you. It’s true that our environment is changing in all sorts of ways as we continue to pollute and exploit and manipulate our planet. But even as we brace for more...

<p><b>Nearly four years have passed since COVID swept the globe, infecting millions and bringing society to a grinding halt. The ensuing months saw strict mask mandates, revolutionary vaccines, new viral strains...

<p><b>Roughly every second, a star explodes. Beyond treating astronomers to a radiant light display, these dramatic supernova events contain vast amounts of information about the origin, behavior, and ultimate demise of...

<p><b>We’re back with something a little different this month. In the wake of this year’s historic floods, wildfires, and hurricanes, we asked ourselves: What would it look like to take a more optimistic attitude...

<p><b>For centuries, doctors have medically treated people differently according to their race because they believed that race was biological. But in recent years, medical professionals and activists have argued that...

<p><b>Car-free streets are no longer just an urban fantasy. In cities across the nation, a movement is growing to return the streets to the people. In this episode, we talk to two advocates from UC Berkeley about their...

<p><b>The teens are not alright! In fact, they’re experiencing a sleep crisis. In this episode, we talk to journalist and UC Berkeley grad Lisa Lewis about why teens have different sleep needs than the rest of us and...

<p><b>Today, we’re featuring the audio version of </b><b>California</b><b> magazine’s recent cover story, “Into the Ishi Wilderness.” In 1911, a Yahi Native American man walked out of the wilderness near Oroville...

<p><b>These days, kids want to be social media influencers when they grow up. But is it a viable career? And what does our ever-growing social media obsession mean for society? In this episode, we talk to TikTok star...

<p><b>How is it possible to be blind and able to see at the same time? In this episode, we explore a bizarre, paradoxical neurological condition called blindsight, which challenges everything we think we know about...