Should This Exist?
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
Introducing: Pioneers of AI
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’re excited to launch WaitWhat's newest weekly series, Pioneers of AI — your guide to the latest technological frontier. Hosted by AI thought le...
Introducing: Offsite Adventures
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From the team behind Should This Exist?, we're happy to share the first episode of Offsite Adventures, our newest show uncovering the gems, magical mo...
Introducing: Ingenious with Caterina Fake
26 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Renowned creator, entrepreneur and pioneer Caterina Fake brings together some of the most brilliant and visionary figures of our time, many of them fr...
Introducing Spark & Fire Season 2
21 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If you love Should This Exist?, we have exciting news to share: From the same company behind our show, the podcast Spark + Fire is back for Season 2! ...
Can we trip our way to better mental health?
23 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
You’d be forgiven for being surprised if your doctor wrote you a prescription for ecstasy, ayahuasca, magic mushrooms, or LSD. But a recent resurgen...
Nuclear power in a six-pack
16 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When you think of nuclear power, what do you envision? For many people, the answer is Chernobyl or Fukushima: massive meltdowns that turned vast areas...
Cloud brightening for climate fever
09 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Kelly Wanser is a climate activist who wants to use a strategy called cloud brightening to fight climate change, using a naturally occurring process t...
The promise of a bioartificial kidney
02 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
UCSF bioengineer Shuvo Roy and his team have created the world’s first bionic kidney. The coffee-cup-sized device includes a silicon nanotechnology ...
A world without our devices
25 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Could you, would you, go one full hour without your phone? The average American spends one-third of their waking hours on a smartphone; we’ve been t...
Could this game replace the SAT?
18 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Standard college admissions tests are: a. based on an outdated model of intelligence; b. exclusionary; c. a lucrative business and a near-monopoly; d....
VR vs. PTSD
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A VR system called Bravemind allows combat veterans with PTSD to confront and process their trauma in a virtual environment. The therapy, developed by...
Young blood / old brains
28 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What if you could extend your healthy life by 10 or 20 years – with a blood transfusion from someone younger and healthier than you? Research by Sta...
Grandma, here’s your robot
21 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Is it the loneliest idea you’ve ever heard? Or an ingenious hack that helps human caregivers be more attentive and empathetic? You might have these ...
Contact tracing: So promising. So invasive.
15 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It’s one of the best weapons we have to contain a pandemic. But can it defeat the disease without spying on people who might carry it? MIT’s Kevin...
The deepfake detective
14 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Chances are, you’ve seen a “deepfake” video. But did you know it? A new breed of tech detectives are building tools to spot these hyper-realisti...
Season 2 Trailer: Should This Exist?
29 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How is technology impacting our humanity? It’s the question of our times. Join host Caterina Fake for Season 2 of Should This Exist – where each w...
What went wrong with the world wide web – and how we can fix it
16 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The web is broken. Data is mined, sold, and exploited. Social media is an endless and biased scroll through the worst of humanity. Nobody’s personal...
How to hack your way out of aging
27 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine meeting your great-great-great-grandkids. Or going to law school in your 80s, learning to snowboard at 110, taking a gap decade instead of a g...
The next gen of meat will be grown in a lab
30 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine biting into a steak that didn’t come from a cow. Or a chicken breast that did not come from a chicken. Imagine if your favorite meat dish di...
What if you could Photoshop your voice?
21 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Mike Pappas and Carter Huffman believe their invention fulfills the promise of the digital world: the complete freedom to design your identity. But wh...
We can change the DNA of an entire species — in the wild
02 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Kevin Esvelt knows the stakes are high. As a geneticist at the MIT Media Lab, Kevin discovered a technique called a gene drive, which gives humans a p...
When your invention becomes a weapon
11 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What do you do if your invention becomes a weapon? This happened to Chris Anderson, former editor of Wired Magazine, who launched DIY Drones, an open ...
The return of supersonic flight
28 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout human history, we’ve wanted to fly – and to fly fast. So it’s hard to resist Blake Scholl’s idea. His startup, Boom, is building a ...
What if your phone could detect how you feel?
14 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What if your computer had an "emotion chip" — AI that could read the expression on your face (or the tone in your voice) and know how you’re feeli...
Tell your troubles to the chatbot
27 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Woebot is a mobile app that gives one-on-one therapy and gets 2 million messages a week. But Woebot isn't a person – it's a chatbot. It was invented...
This headset helps you learn faster. But is that fair?
21 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Neuroscientist Daniel Chao created a headset that hacks your brain with electricity so you can learn as fast as a kid again. It’s called Halo, and i...