Data Nation

Today on Data Nation, we are speaking with Jeffrey Karp and Daniel Belsky to explore the future of anti-aging technologies. Together, we’ll explore the accuracy of biological age tests, the ethics of anti-aging technologies, and how to ensure these innovations benefit more than just the wealthy. With Jeffrey Karp’s expertise in brain health and creating biomedical advancements in the Karp Lab and Daniel Belsky’s work in aging and h...

The 2024 election was a time of tension and polarization amongst Americans. With these pressures, according to Associated Press elections data, over 153 million Americans felt the need to cast their ballot this year. Polls leading up to the election painted it as one of the tightest races in history, with The New York Times even reporting that “In the history of modern polling, there’s never been a race where the final polls showed...

Today on Data Nation, guests John Della Volpe and Scott Tranter join us to discuss the approaching 2024 U.S. presidential election. Together, we’ll explore the many factors at play in the 2024 election from discussing the role of Gen Z voters and the use of social media in campaigning to the importance of swing state voters. Our guests bring fascinating insights with John Della Volpe, the Director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy ...

With Election Day nearing, this episode explores the relationships between polling and election digitalization with experts Andrew Gelman, a statistician and political scientist at Columbia University, and Brendan Lind, the founder of Human Agency - a company specializing in creating digital footprints for companies and individuals. 

Co-hosts Liberty Vittert and Munth...

Why are they using more electric cars in Norway than in the US? What are the underlying mechanisms that drive technological change, and how can we influence them? What is ‘soft technology’ and what role can it play in lowering carbon emissions? In the season 2 finale of Data Nation, IDSS professor Jessika Trancik explains how her lab attempts to measure and model a technology’s real or potential impact, beneficial or harmful, on pe...

When Maxwell Frost was elected to Congress, he struggled to find housing in DC. Today he advocates for stronger consumer protections and authors legislation to level the playing field between renters and landlords. Frost joins Data Nation along with Catherine D’Ignazio, an Urban Science and Planning professor at MIT, to talk about the challenges renters and home buyers face, how algorithmic technology perpetuates discrimination, an...

As an MIT professor and tech entrepreneur, Devavrat Shah has seen firsthand how AI tools can impact research, business, and careers. While some have dire warnings about the scale of harm AI can cause, Shah is optimistic. He joins the Data Nation podcast to dispel some doom and gloom, unpack ways that people are already using AI to make change for the better, and to examine how future benefits can emerge with regulation and educatio...

Facing the tough decisions of a serious health threat brings the need for information and analysis into a sharp and personal focus. Computer scientist Regina Barzilay was an expert in natural language processing when she joined MIT; her cancer diagnosis led her to collaborations in healthcare, where she has advanced imaging, prediction, drug discovery, and clinical AI. She joins Munther Dahleh and Liberty Vittert to talk about issu...

The term “election fraud” is on the verge of making a comeback with the approach of the 2024 presidential election. Liberty Vittert and Munther Dahleh speak to MIT political scientist and MIT Election Lab director Charles Stewart to get to the bottom of modern-day election fraud. When are voting errors significant? How has voting evolved throughout American history? What effect did the COVID pandemic have on our elections? What do ...

Liberty Vittert and Munther Dahleh dive into the world of augmented and virtual reality this month with Professor Fox Harrell.  Harrell is Professor of Digital Media & AI in both the Comparative Media Studies Program and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT.  Is the world ready for what’s coming? Will augmented reality and virtual reality be a force for good or for evil, and what can you do to prepare ...

In this episode of Data Nation, we’re talking all about anesthesia and sleep with Dr. Emery Brown. Dr. Brown is a Professor in IDSS and Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, as well as Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Data Nation is hosted by Professor Liberty Vittert and Dr. Munther Dahleh, the head of MIT’s Institute for Data, Systems, a...

A Native American man gets pulled over for driving a nice car, a black man is arrested in front of his family for a crime he didn’t commit – innocent people are at risk because of racial profiling. But to stop profiling, you have to first identify it, and that’s not as easy as it seems. Liberty and Scott are going deep into data in this episode, investigating how data is used against marginalized communities, and how it should be u...

Artificial intelligence – it’s not the easiest thing to trust when it comes to our healthcare. I mean, will AI replace our doctors in the future? There’s a lot of uncertainty about algorithms deciding our medical fate, so Liberty and Scott are getting the truth on AI’s role in healthcare. They go to the experts to explore the problems behind biased algorithms and faulty diagnoses, and discover if AI will cause harm to patients or i...

Depending on who you are, when someone brings up the metaverse, you either get really excited, or you have no clue what they’re talking about. Or both! Liberty and Scott have each found themselves in one of these boats. So they’re diving deep into the data to find out what in the world the metaverse actually is, what it’s not, and if it’s going to be a thing that helps society flourish, or if it will be our demise. They talk with e...

“Shh! Google is listening,” your mom points at her Alexa. You roll your eyes, but you know there’s some truth to it. Your data is being tracked. The question is, where’s it going, what are they doing with it, and how are they getting it? Liberty and Scott are investigating just how dangerous the data economy really is and if people truly need to be worried. They look for answers from MIT professor and former scientist at Facebook D...