Works in Progress Podcast
Works in Progress is an online magazine focused on new and underrated ideas about economic growth, scientific progress, and technology. The podcast features discussions and interviews related to these topics, along with episodes of Hard Drugs by Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen.
Episodes
The lost art of building cities
In the nineteenth century, cities often grew a thousandfold while increasing wages, the size of homes, and delivering great public goods like electricity and plumbing to their people. What made them so extraordinary? They had a hybrid of laissez-faire and top-down control. Landowners could build almost anything they liked but street networks were laid out with near-Soviet thoroughness dec
Inventing the second malaria vaccine with Katharine Collins
Malaria is caused not by a virus or bacterium, but by a complex, shape-shifting parasite that has evolved alongside us for millennia. This has made vaccine development a brutal challenge.In this episode, Jacob and Saloni are joined by Katharine Collins, who co-invented the second malaria vaccine, called R21, during her PhD. They discuss the gruelling process of reverse-engineering a vacci
Where did all the good sculptors go?
The Trump administration wants to bolster traditional art. Their attempt to revive sculpture, a mass statue-building program, is doomed. America doesn’t have the sculptors, foundries, and workers to make hundreds of bronze or marble sculptures. North Korea would be in a much better position.Sam and Samuel sit down with our Art Director, Atalanta, a sculptor by training, and talk all thing
The evolution of bacteria
Generations of microbes evolve in hours, not millennia. By speeding up Darwin’s clock, scientists have watched evolution happen in real time, and it’s changed how we understand natural selection. You can see the images, graphs and read the article at https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-evolution-of-bacteria-2/ And you can find the rest of Works in Progress at worksinprogress.co Words by
What is local government good for?
Local government works best when areas can compete with each other and capture some of the upside of economic growth. Ben sits down with Judge Glock to discuss how well-structured local incentives helped make Loudoun County, Virginia, the global capital of data centers — and helped France build so many nuclear power stations.They discuss which public goods local government is best placed
Washer woman: The invention of dishwashers
In 1965, married American women did 34 hours of housework weekly. By 2010, that had fallen to 18 hours. The dishwasher wasn’t the only cause, but it certainly helped. You can see the images, graphs and read the article at https://worksinprogress.co/issue/inventing-the-dishwasher/ And you can find the rest of Works in Progress at worksinprogress.co Words by Erin BraidRead by Stuart Ritchie
The triumph of logical English
English prose has become much easier to read. But shorter sentences had little to do with it. You can see the images, graphs and read the article at https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-logical-triumph-of-english/ And you can find the rest of Works in Progress at worksinprogress.co Words by Henry Oliver Read by Stuart Ritchie Music by David Hackett
How to speed up clinical trials
Drug development has never been more expensive, in terms of output per dollar spent. This trend, called Eroom's law, is surprising, considering incredible technological advances.Ben and Saloni talk to Ruxandra Teslo about why this has happened and what can be done about it.How can we reform clinical trials to make them more efficient and abundant? Why are so many pharma companies moving e
How to spot a monopoly: Measuring competition
Competition makes capitalism work. A new method for measuring it may be the holy grail of economic regulation. You can see the images, graphs and read the article at https://worksinprogress.co/issue/how-to-spot-a-monopoly/ And you can find the rest of Works in Progress at worksinprogress.co Words by Brian Albrecht Read by Stuart Ritchie Music by David Hackett
The death rays that guard life: We can use ultraviolet light to disinfect public spaces
We disinfect water before we drink it. Germicidal ultraviolet could make airborne disease as rare as those carried by water. You can see the images, graphs and read the article at https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-death-rays-that-guard-life/ And you can find the rest of Works in Progress at worksinprogress.co Words by Gavriel Kleinwaks & Karam ElabdRead by Stuart Ritchie Music by D
Issue 23: Egg freezing, Australian refugee policy and ASML
You should freeze your eggs. Contrary to popular myth, egg freezing works very well and if you freeze your eggs in your twenties or early thirties, you have a very good chance of having a child.European leaders are looking to copy Australia's example and cut migration from boat-bound refugees but they are in danger of learning the wrong lessons. Offshore detention was the most widely publ
Inflatable space stations: Creating artificial gravity so we can live in space
If we ever want to live in space, we need to work out a way of creating artificial gravity.You can see the images, graphs and read the article at https://worksinprogress.co/issue/inflatable-space-stations/ And you can find the rest of Works in Progress at worksinprogress.co Words by Angadh Nanjangud Read by Stuart Ritchie Music by David Hackett
The algorithm will see you now: Why radiologists haven't been replaced by AI
Radiology combines digital images, clear benchmarks, and repeatable tasks. But replacing humans with AI is harder than it seems. You can see the images, graphs and read the article at https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-algorithm-will-see-you-now/ And you can find the rest of Works in Progress at worksinprogress.co Words by Deena Mousa Read by Stuart Ritchie Music by David Hackett
Did status signaling ruin architecture?
There are basically no ugly buildings from before 1930. There are definitely none from before 1830. Why? Is it survivorship bias? Have we demolished all the ugly old buildings and only kept the most beautiful and prestigious buildings? Is it just a matter of taste? Perhaps we haven't come round to liking modern buildings yet but we will. Is it because ornament is too expensive to reproduc
Sunscreen for the planet: Geoengineering a cooler planet
The world is warming faster than we can cut emissions. Volcanoes are already cooling the planet, with particles that reflect sunlight. Maybe we can too. You can see the images, graphs and read the article at https://worksinprogress.co/issue/sunscreen-for-the-planet/ And you can find the rest of Works in Progress at worksinprogress.co Words by Daniele Visioni & Dakota Gruener Read by S
How to redraw a city: Land readjustment in Japan
Japan faced some of the world’s toughest planning problems. It solved them by letting homeowners replan whole neighborhoods privately by supermajority vote. You can see the images, graphs and read the article at https://worksinprogress.co/issue/how-to-redraw-a-city/ And you can find the rest of Works in Progress at worksinprogress.co Words by Anya Martin Read by Stuart Ritchie Music by Da
Longevity
There are some animals that can live for hundreds of years. Do the secrets to human longevity lie in a lobster's ability to regrow felled limbs, in a Greenland shark's ultra-slow metabolism, or in an elephant's extreme cancer resistance? Aria, Ben and Saloni discuss why human (and pet) lifespans have increased so much over the past centuries and what we else we can do to age more slowly.F
Two is already too many: Why South Korean birth rates are so low
Every hundred South Koreans today will have only six great-grandchildren between them. The rest of the world can learn from Korea’s catastrophe to avoid the same fate.You can see the images, graphs and read the article at https://worksinprogress.co/issue/two-is-already-too-many/And you can find the rest of Works in Progress at worksinprogress.coWords by Phoebe Arslanagic-LittleRead by Stu
Should everyone be taking statins?
Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, but it’s also one of medicine’s biggest success stories. Since the 1950s, the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease has fallen dramatically, thanks to public health efforts, emergency care, medical innovation, and surgeries.In this episode, Jacob and Saloni explore the cholesterol revolution: from statins discovered in fungi to ne
Why Europe has stagnated
Europe is now much poorer than America. Is it because Europe doesn’t have a big tech giant? Can we blame the bureaucrats in Brussels? What happened to make Germany ban combustion cars? Should we turn Europe into a playground for American and Asian elites? Are the far right going to solve Europe’s energy problems by burning coal to own the libs? Pieter, Sam and Aria discuss why Europe hasn
Inflation in Rome, Weimar Germany and Soviet Russia with Mark Koyama
People hate inflation. It undermines faith in the government so people obstruct policies that require faith in the state, like nuclear power, and in democracies it drives them to vote for extremist parties. Ben and Pieter sit down with economic historian Mark Koyama and discuss the fallout of historical inflation crises from the Roman Empire to Weimar Germany. Ben reveals his hidden liber
The nuclear renaissance
In the mid twentieth century, nuclear power was meant to be the cheap and clean energy of the future. Now, nuclear power is expensive, maligned and unpopular. Ben, Sam and Alex discuss what went wrong in most of the world and, surprisingly, what went right in France. Ben delivers a radioactive hot take that meltdowns aren't so bad after all.You can read more about the French nuclear succe
The first cancer vaccine
Hepatitis B is a tiny virus that causes hundreds of thousands of deaths from liver disease and cancer each year. The vaccine against it became the first of many milestones: it was the first viral protein subunit vaccine, the first recombinant vaccine, and the first vaccine to prevent a type of cancer. In this episode, Jacob and Saloni follow the trail of strange jaundice outbreaks that sc
The history of vaccines
Before vaccines became routine, they were risky experiments. In this episode, Jacob and Saloni travel back to the world of smallpox, cowpox, and cow-based “vaccine farms” to see how scientists stumbled toward the first vaccines against infectious diseases: smallpox, rabies, TB, polio, and more. Through the stories of milkmaids and aristocrats, secret lab notebooks, microscopes and cell cu
Should we ban ugly buildings?
The YIMBY movement is divided about whether there is a tradeoff between building more homes and building beautifully. Ben, Sam and Samuel talk about how aesthetic regulations can make building more popular by generating goodwill from the public and decreasing appetite for historic preservation and how one can differentiate between good-faith complaints and pretextual arguments that make b
The economics of the baby bust with Jesús Fernández-Villaverde
Why are birth rates plummeting across the developing world? Why should we even care about the baby bust? Where can we find the most elastic baby? Jesús Fernández-Villaverde, Professor of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, explains why Japan’s decline might be the best case scenario, the problems with childcare subsidies, why you shouldn’t study David Hume, and why the real ferti
Will AI solve medicine?
Artificial intelligence is transforming how we discover and develop new medicines. But how far can it really take us? In this episode, Jacob and Saloni trace the path of drug development from discovery to testing, manufacturing, and delivery. They explore where AI could speed things up, and where it still hits the limits of biology, data, and economics. They ask what it would take, beyond
Treating cost disease with Congressman Jake Auchincloss
How can we build new cities in America? Which historical president is Trump most like? Why did immigration policy go so wrong? Sam and Pieter sit down with Congressman Jake Auchincloss to discuss the politics of the Abundance movement. They talk about Auchincloss's fight against free parking, regulating big tech, the success of YIMBYs, and why curing Alzheimers should be the next American
The art of protein design with AI
What if you could design a protein never seen before? In this episode, Jacob and Saloni explore how researchers are using new tools like RFDiffusion, AlphaFold, and ProteinMPNN to ‘hallucinate’ entirely novel proteins: designing them from scratch to solve problems evolution hasn’t tackled. They talk about how these technologies could transform medicine, agriculture, and materials science.
Hacking proteins with AI
Nature didn’t evolve all the proteins we need, but maybe artificial intelligence can help. Jacob and Saloni explore how tools like AlphaFold and ProteinMPNN are helping researchers re-engineer proteins, to make them safer, more stable, and more effective. They talk about how new technologies could help make a long-sought vaccine against Strep A, which causes scarlet fever and rheumatic he
How traffic modernism ruined cities with Nicholas Boys Smith
Nicholas Boys Smith joins Ben and Sam to explain how to plan spaces that people like; dense, sociable and, above all else, beautiful. He says people don't like new buildings because they don't trust what planners and architects are going to do to the places that matter to them. As an alternative he presents his playbook for how YIMBYs can win over the public.If you liked this episode, you
100 years of insulin in 15 minutes
A hundred years ago, insulin was scraped from pig pancreases. Today, it’s made by bacteria in giant tanks. In the second part of a mini series on proteins, drug development and AI, Saloni tells the story of how insulin went from a crude animal extract to the first genetically-engineered drug, kickstarting the biotech industry along the way.Hard Drugs is a new podcast from Works in Progres
Why feminism worked best in the West with Alice Evans
Social scientist Alice Evans talks about why, despite a superficially similar feminist movement in East Asia, Western feminism has been much successful. Alice, Sam and Aria talk about dating markets, drinking culture at work, top-down media control, and what tax policy is best for motivating people to have more children.For more of Alice's work, check out her Substack.Go to worksinprogres
Proteins: Weird blobs that do important things
This episode kicks off a mini-series on proteins, drug development and AI. Saloni and Jacob explore the world of proteins, including how proteins fold into complex shapes, why that complexity matters and how crowded and dynamic the inside of a cell really is; and they exchange surprising statistics about proteins.Hard Drugs is a new podcast from Works in Progress and Open Philanthropy abo
How to become President of China with Dan Wang
Is it better to be run by engineers, lawyers or regulators? Can you build an economy on luxury handbags or do you need advanced manufacturing? Dan Wang, author of Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future discusses why China outbuilds America, how the young and ambitious succeed in China, and the secret to finding the best Chinese restaurants.You can order his new book here, read hi
The underrated economics of land with Mike Bird
Why is Chinese housing so expensive despite being oversupplied? How did land reforms in Russia lead to the Bolshevik revolution? What killed Georgism? The Economist’s Wall Street Editor, Mike Bird, discusses the underrated economics of land.You can preorder Mike's book here and read more about land readjustment in Works in Progress Issue 19.
How Henry VIII accidentally started the Industrial Revolution, with Anton Howes
Historian Anton Howes discusses how Henry VIII turned Britain into an economic backwater – making it the unlikeliest place for the Industrial Revolution to happen. But, he explains it only took a small cabal of people who understood the problems of the time to turn the fate of the country (and thus, the world) around.You can learn more about the history of the Industrial Revolution on Ant
Stian Westlake on the intangible economy and paying for social science
Why does London dominate Britain's economy, whereas Germany's is spread out across the whole country? Why don't restaurants scale well? What kind of social science research (if any) should the government be funding? Stian Westlake – Executive Chair of the Economic and Social Research Council and author of Capitalism Without Capital: The Rise of the Intangible Economy – joins the Works in
Samuel Hughes on The Great Downzoning
Before the twentieth century, most cities were highly permissive about what people were allowed to build on their land. Nearly all Western householders lost these liberties during the first half of the twentieth century. Samuel Hughes calls this phenomenon The Great Downzoning. In the first episode of the Works in Progress Podcast, he describes how and why this happened, and what it means
Lenacapavir: The miracle drug that could end AIDS
Lenacapavir is a new HIV drug that blocks infections with an efficacy rate of nearly 100%, and it could completely change the fight against HIV worldwide. Saloni and Jacob talk about the development and prospects for this new drug, as well as the history of HIV, the initial discovery of retroviruses, and how HIV was transformed from a death sentence to a manageable condition.Hard Drugs is
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