Home / Series / Cleo Abram / Aired Order /

All Seasons

Season 2022

  • S2022E01 Why I left Vox

    • January 10, 2022

    Cleo Abram explains why she left Vox, reflects on her work there, and introduces her next independent project.

  • S2022E02 Fracking for Clean Energy (wait, what?)

    • January 18, 2022

    Cleo explores how fracking techniques developed for oil and gas could help unlock enhanced geothermal energy, while examining the environmental risks of the technology.

  • S2022E03 Metformin, the Big New "Anti-Aging" Drug, Explained

    • February 1, 2022

    Cleo examines whether metformin, an inexpensive diabetes drug, could slow aging, speaking with researcher Nir Barzilai about the evidence and the proposed TAME trial.

  • S2022E04 Why You Can't Just Screenshot an NFT

    • February 15, 2022

    Cleo explains why freely copied digital images can still have value as NFTs by comparing them with the economics, provenance, and certificates of the traditional art market.

  • S2022E05 Why Elon Musk is Really Building Starlink

    • March 8, 2022

    Cleo traces how today's internet depends on undersea cables and explains why Starlink and its competitors are building satellite networks to expand high-speed access.

  • S2022E06 The Big Misconception About Clean Energy

    • March 23, 2022

    Cleo challenges the idea that fighting climate change is only about using less energy and explores how abundant clean energy could improve lives while reducing emissions.

  • S2022E07 Would You Use An Artificial Womb? (I Would)

    • April 14, 2022

    Cleo examines advances in artificial-womb research, the medical possibilities for premature babies, and the ethical concerns raised by gestation outside the human body.

  • S2022E08 Can My Dog Live 80 Years?

    • May 18, 2022

    Cleo investigates the science of canine aging, why dog years are misleading, and whether longevity research could help dogs live healthier, longer lives.

  • S2022E09 Formula 1, Explained for Rookies

    • June 16, 2022

    Cleo explains the rules and technology behind Formula 1 and explores how the sport functions as a high-speed engineering laboratory.

  • S2022E10 This Gene-Edited Tree Captures More CO2. Should We Plant It?

    • June 30, 2022

    Cleo visits a greenhouse of genetically modified trees designed to capture more carbon and examines whether they should be used to help fight climate change.

  • S2022E11 How This Telescope Searches For Aliens

    • July 13, 2022

    Cleo explains how the James Webb Space Telescope can analyze the atmospheres of distant exoplanets and search for possible signs of life.

  • S2022E12 The Two Opposite Futures of Self-Driving Cars

    • July 29, 2022

    Cleo examines the arrival of driverless taxis and compares two very different ways self-driving technology could reshape transportation and cities.

  • S2022E13 The Real Fight Over AI Art

    • September 14, 2022

    Cleo and animator Justin test AI image generators while examining how tools such as DALL-E and Midjourney work and why artists find them controversial.

  • S2022E14 Nuclear Fusion, explained for beginners

    • October 7, 2022

    Cleo and Simone Giertz explain how nuclear fusion works, compare major approaches to achieving it on Earth, and explore the challenges that remain.

  • S2022E15 Why Aren't Planes Electric Yet?

    • November 22, 2022

    Cleo visits electric-aircraft company Beta to explore how improving batteries are making electric flight possible and how aviation could change as a result.

  • S2022E16 We Tried To Do Nuclear Fusion

    • December 12, 2022

    With experts from Helion and Simone Giertz, Cleo builds and operates a small fusion device to demonstrate how nuclear fusion works and why scaling it remains difficult.

Season 2023

  • S2023E01 The Electric Formula 1, Explained

    • January 26, 2023

    Cleo examines Formula E's role as an electric alternative to Formula 1 and asks how racing can remain a proving ground as road cars move away from combustion engines.

  • S2023E02 What I Wish Everyone Knew About Cancer

    • February 27, 2023

    Cleo explains cancer as hundreds of different diseases, how it develops, why some forms are harder to treat, and how improving detection and treatment are changing the fight.

  • S2023E03 Quantum Computers, explained with MKBHD

    • April 4, 2023

    Cleo and Marques Brownlee explain what quantum computers actually do, how qubits differ from conventional bits, and which kinds of problems the technology could solve.

  • S2023E04 The Big Lie About Nuclear Waste

    • May 10, 2023

    Cleo examines how nuclear waste is handled and explores technologies that could reuse spent fuel while producing additional low-carbon energy.

  • S2023E05 The Truth About Psychedelics

    • May 31, 2023

    Cleo examines renewed research and legalization of psychedelics, how substances such as psilocybin affect the brain, and their risks and therapeutic potential.

  • S2023E06 How Do Sci-Fi Movies Look So Real? (feat. MKBHD)

    • July 3, 2023

    Cleo and Marques Brownlee test virtual-production, motion-capture, and volumetric-video tools that are changing how realistic worlds and digital performers are created.

  • S2023E07 What We Get Wrong About AI (feat. former Google CEO)

    • August 3, 2023

    Cleo speaks with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt to unpack artificial intelligence, competing predictions about its risks and benefits, and the choices shaping its future.

  • S2023E08 Why More Sports Need Robot Referees

    • August 28, 2023

    Cleo explores automated officiating in tennis, soccer, baseball, and other sports, weighing more objective calls against concerns that robot referees change the game.

  • S2023E09 The Ocean Is Deeper Than You Think. We Need Better Maps.

    • October 2, 2023

    Cleo explains why maps of the ocean floor remain incomplete, how sonar and other technologies reveal the deep sea, and how Seabed 2030 is assembling a global map.

  • S2023E10 AI Music, Explained with Spotify CEO

    • October 23, 2023

    Cleo examines how generative AI can clone voices and create songs, and discusses with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek how artists should be credited and paid.

  • S2023E11 I Challenged Boston Dynamics' Famous Atlas Robot

    • November 20, 2023

    Cleo visits Boston Dynamics and challenges the humanoid Atlas robot to test its athletic abilities while exploring what such robots can and cannot yet do.

  • S2023E12 Supersonic Planes Are Coming BACK

    • December 12, 2023

    Cleo investigates why Concorde disappeared and visits NASA's experimental X-59, designed to reduce sonic booms and help make commercial supersonic flight possible again.

Season 2024

  • S2024E01 I Tested A Robot Dog. It's Not What I Thought.

    • January 24, 2024

    Cleo tests Boston Dynamics' Spot robot and explores its work in factories, disaster sites, mines, archaeology, and policing, along with concerns about weaponizing robot dogs.

  • S2024E02 The Real Reason To Care About The Apple Vision Pro

    • February 6, 2024

    Cleo and Marques Brownlee look beyond product reviews to explore how the Apple Vision Pro and spatial computing could enable new kinds of digital presence and shared experience.

  • S2024E03 Formula 1 Cars, Explained with Max Verstappen

    • March 22, 2024

    With access to Red Bull's factory and race garage, Cleo and Max Verstappen explain how Formula 1 cars are designed, built, powered, and driven at the limits of performance.

  • S2024E04 What's Really Happening At CERN

    • April 18, 2024

    Cleo visits CERN to explain how the Large Hadron Collider accelerates and collides particles, what scientists learn from it, and why they want to build a larger collider.

  • S2024E05 I Tested NASA's New Space Suit (Ft. Axiom Space)

    • May 14, 2024

    Cleo visits Axiom Space and tests the next-generation lunar suit being developed for NASA, examining how it could help astronauts work longer and more safely on the Moon.

  • S2024E06 The Truth About Egg Freezing

    • June 11, 2024

    Drawing on her own egg-freezing process, Cleo explains age-related fertility, how eggs and embryos are frozen, the procedure's limitations, and possible future advances.

  • S2024E07 The Shoe That Broke Running

    • July 27, 2024

    Cleo investigates tech doping in sport, from banned swimsuits and equipment to high-performance running shoes, and asks when better gear becomes an unfair advantage.

  • S2024E08 Why This Robot Kills Weeds With Lasers

    • August 27, 2024

    Cleo explores the fourth agricultural revolution, including autonomous tractors, precision planting, and laser-weeding robots designed to increase food production while reducing chemical use.

  • S2024E09 Something Huge Is Coming...

    • September 24, 2024

    Cleo announces Huge Conversations, a new long-form interview series featuring in-depth discussions with people whose ideas and technologies are shaping the future.

  • S2024E10 The Future Mark Zuckerberg Is Trying To Build

    • September 25, 2024

    Cleo interviews Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about Orion augmented-reality glasses, generative AI, social connection, open-source models, and the future Meta is working to build.

  • S2024E11 Why Can't I Vote Online?

    • October 28, 2024

    Cleo examines why online voting is fundamentally harder to secure than online banking and explores the challenges of privacy, verification, accessibility, and public trust.

  • S2024E12 What If You Just Keep Digging?

    • November 18, 2024

    Starting with the Soviet Union's Kola Superdeep Borehole, Cleo explores what lies beneath Earth's surface and what would happen if someone could dig toward the planet's center.

  • S2024E13 Dinosaurs Were Weirder Than We Thought

    • December 14, 2024

    Cleo joins paleontologists at a fossil bonebed to examine new discoveries about dinosaur size, appearance, behavior, extinction, and how fossils reveal the prehistoric world.

Season 2025

Season 2026

  • S2026E01 The Craziest Experiment Humans Have Ever Built

    • January 20, 2026

    Cleo visits LIGO to explain how its kilometer-scale laser interferometers detected gravitational waves and how larger observatories could reveal even more of the universe.

  • S2026E02 Why This Olympic Sport Bothers Physicists

    • February 5, 2026

    At the Olympic trials, Cleo explores curling's strategy, specialized stones, sweeping technology, and the century-old physics puzzle behind the way curling stones turn.

  • S2026E03 The New Hunt for the Colossal Squid

    • March 28, 2026

    Cleo explores deep-ocean discovery and explains how environmental DNA from seawater could reveal elusive animals such as the colossal squid and species still unknown to science.

  • S2026E04 The Hardest Problem AI Ever Solved, with Google DeepMind CEO

    • April 7, 2026

    Cleo interviews Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis about AlphaFold, scientific discovery, drug design, AI safety, and his goal of using artificial intelligence to solve major research problems.

  • S2026E05 I Wrote a NEW Sci-Fi with Project Hail Mary Author Andy Weir

    • April 15, 2026

    Cleo speaks with author Andy Weir about the science and calculations behind The Martian and Project Hail Mary, then develops a new science-fiction story with him in real time.

  • S2026E06 What's Hidden Under Antarctica?

    • May 9, 2026

    Cleo travels to Antarctica to investigate subglacial lakes sealed beneath kilometers of ice, how scientists study them, and whether they could contain isolated life.

  • S2026E07 Jony Ive Shows The Real Process Behind the Ferrari Luce

    • May 25, 2026

    Cleo joins Jony Ive and Ferrari designer Flavio Manzoni for an early look at the all-electric Ferrari Luce and a discussion of its design, technology, sound, controls, and significance.

  • S2026E08 The $1 Trillion Problem Diamonds Can Solve

    • June 27, 2026

    Cleo visits a laboratory that grows diamonds and explores how their thermal and material properties could help cool advanced computer chips and overcome limits in computing.

  • S2026E09 The Massive Machine at the Bottom of the Sea

    • July 31, 2026

    Cleo explains how the underwater KM3NeT observatory and Antarctica's IceCube detector use vast arrays of sensors to capture neutrinos and study extreme cosmic events.