Bold Names

Reid Hoffman Says AI Isn’t an ‘Arms Race,’ but America Needs to Win Feb 21, 2025

LinkedIn co-founder and Silicon Valley venture capitalist Reid Hoffman is cautiously optimistic about the future of artificial intelligence. In his new book, “Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right With Our AI Future,” he argues that the current state of AI is similar to the automobile at the start of the 20th century. What does that mean for what Hoffman calls the “cognitive Industrial Revolution” and its potential to create positive change, and who is best suited to regulate it? And what does he think of his old friend Elon Musk’s influence in the Trump administration? Hoffman speaks to WSJ’s Tim Higgins on the Bold Names podcast.

Check Out Past Episodes:

Why Bilt’s CEO Wants You To Pay Your Mortgage With a Credit Card

Why This Tesla Pioneer Says the Cheap EV Market 'Sucks'

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and the AI ‘Fantasy Land’

Why Elon Musk’s Battery Guy Is Betting Big on Recycling

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Why Bilt’s CEO Wants You To Pay Your Mortgage With a Credit Card Feb 14, 2025

Bilt Rewards founder and CEO Ankur Jain took inspiration from American Express’s rewards programs when his company began offering people loyalty points for paying monthly rent. Now, he wants to add homeowners to his customer base by allowing them to get rewards points for their mortgage payments. What does that mean for Bilt’s business, and for its relationship with Wells Fargo over their co-branded credit card? And how could it affect the customers who’ve flocked to the card to earn points? Jain spea ks to WSJ’s Christopher Mims and Tim Higgins on the Bold Names podcast.

Check Out Past Episodes:

Why This Tesla Pioneer Says the Cheap EV Market 'Sucks'

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and the AI ‘Fantasy Land’

Why Elon Musk’s Battery Guy Is Betting Big on Recycling

The CEO Who Says Cheaper AI Could Actually Mean More Jobs

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Introducing: Bold Names Feb 11, 2025

Every day, Wall Street Journal reporters talk with the most powerful, influential and interesting people. Now, we’re bringing some of those conversations directly to you. Introducing Bold Names, a new interview series where we hear directly from the leaders behind bold name companies. Hosted by WSJ columnists Tim Higgins and Christopher Mims. The new season starts Friday, February 14.

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The CEO Who Says Cheaper AI Could Actually Mean More Jobs Feb 11, 2025

Cloud storage used to be a sleepy part of the computing world but, with artificial intelligence becoming cheaper than ever, the companies collecting and protecting that data are now a hot investment. That includes cloud storage company Box, which has seen its stock climb nearly 40% this year. Its customers include most of the Fortune 500, including movie studios, automakers, consumer electronics giants, marketing firms and the Pentagon. Box CEO Aaron Levie says AI is getting better at piecing through 90% of companies’ data that previously was an intractable mess, and is doing some tasks better than humans – from processing invoices and parsing contracts to building marketing campaigns. So why does he think that could actually lead to more jobs for humans? Plus, why his company plans to stay “model agnostic” and continue to work with all the major artificial intelligence models, including OpenAI ’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude. He speaks to WSJ’s Christopher Mims and Tim Higgins in episode four of our interview series Bold Names.

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Further Reading

Amazon Invests an Additional $4 Billion in Anthropic, an OpenAI Rival

How to Make AI Less of a Power Guzzler

What Is AI Best at Now? Improving Products You Already Own

Elon Musk vs. Everyone: The New Fight in AI

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Why Elon Musk’s Battery Guy Is Betting Big on Recycling Feb 11, 2025

JB Straubel was Elon Musk’s battery guy. Now he’s trying to turn what some see as trash into power for the electric vehicle revolution. Straubel was there at the earliest days of Tesla, and in his 15 years with the electric vehicle company, he played an integral role: he developed the battery pack used in the first Tesla vehicle, was the company’s Chief Technology Officer, and now sits on the board of directors. But his day job is running the battery-recycling startup Redwood Materials, and he envisions a future where recycled batteries power our cars, cell phones and power tools. So could companies like his one day replace the oil giants who fueled the last century? Why does he think humans have room to work harder? And can the Tesla board manage Musk as he takes on a growing role in U.S. politics, including advising the Trump administration? Straubel speaks to WSJ’s Tim Higgins and Christopher Mims in episode three of our interview series Bold Names.

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Further Reading

In the Desert With an EV Entrepreneur Who Insists Trump Will Be Good for Business

The Boom in Battery Metals for EVs Is Turning to Bust

Cost-Cutting Lessons From Musk World for DOGE

What Americans Get Wrong About Electric Cars

One of the Brains Behind Tesla May Have a New Way to Make Electric Cars Cheaper

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Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and the AI ‘Fantasy Land’ Feb 11, 2025

Marc Benioff is one of the most outspoken names in tech. The billionaire co-founder of customer relationship software company Salesforce has been pivoting the company’s focus to artificial intelligence agents to help its clients manage customer service and other needs. But he has some strong opinions about how others are promoting AI, from how Microsoft is selling its Copilot feature to companies like Amazon buying up nuclear power contracts for their data centers. And yet he says he’s as excited about AI as he was the day that Apple’s Steve Jobs sent him one of the first iPhones. So what can AI actually do, and what’s a ‘fantasy’? Benioff speaks to WSJ’s Christopher Mims and Tim Higgins in episode two of our interview series Bold Names.

Further Reading

The Secret Weapon Helping Businesses Get Results From AI: Humans

Salesforce Darkens the Skies for Cloud Software as AI Threat Looms

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Makes $150 Million Donation to Hawaii Hospitals

At Marc Benioff’s Salesforce, It’s One Big Family—Until Trouble Hits

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Why This Tesla Pioneer Says the Cheap EV Market 'Sucks' Feb 11, 2025

Tesla, and its CEO Elon Musk, are the big names in electric vehicles, but a lot of competitors are nipping at their heels, including one led by a former top Tesla engineer. Peter Rawlinson is the CEO of Lucid, a billion-dollar auto startup he says has better technology than its rivals. The company recently completed a $1.75 billion stock offering, and has backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Now, as major automakers such as Volkswagen, General Motors and Ford pull back on their EV ambitions, find out why Rawlinson says Lucid’s all-in on luxury vehicles with a high price tag and, eventually, smaller batteries. Plus, why he says he won’t be building a $20,000 EV any time soon. He speaks to WSJ’s Tim Higgins and Christopher Mims in episode one of our interview series Bold Names.

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Further Reading

The Withering Dream of a Cheap American Electric Car

Elon Musk Plays a Familiar Song: Robot Cars Are Coming

Ultralong-Range Electric Cars Are Arriving. Say Goodbye to Charging Stops.

Used EVs Sell for Bargain Prices Now, Putting Owners and Dealers in a Bind

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An Update on The Future of Everything Jan 31, 2025

A brief message about some changes coming to The Future of Everything.

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Nvidia’s Chips Power the Supercomputer That Could Change AI Jan 24, 2025

A few months ago, AI supercomputer Gefion was plugged in for the first time in a ceremony featuring the Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, the King of Denmark and Nadia Carlsten, the CEO of the Danish Centre for AI Innovation. Carlsten and Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, join WSJ’s Ben Cohen to discuss what they hope to achieve with 1,500 of the most powerful graphics processing units on the planet, including innovations in drug discovery, protein design and digital biology.

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Could Ultrasound Help Treat Addiction? Jan 17, 2025

The future of addiction treatment could be in treating the brain itself. A new trial at West Virginia University’s Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute is exploring whether using ultrasound waves on parts of the brain associated with addiction could disrupt connections that contribute to cravings. WSJ health reporter Julie Wernau explains how it works and how it could change the science of treating addiction.

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Further reading:

Can Zapping the Brain Help Treat Addiction?

Ultrasound Isn’t Just for Pregnancy. How It’s Helping Treat the Brain.

A Generation of Drug-Addiction Survivors Is Entering Old Age

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How New Wearable Tech Targets Brain Waves for Better Sleep Jan 10, 2025

Do you have trouble falling asleep? If meditation apps and sleep trackers aren’t cutting it, now there’s technology designed to help users not only nod off more quickly but improve their slumber. WSJ’s Charlotte Gartenberg speaks with Science Bureau Chief Jo Craven McGinty about the latest wearable sleep tech that targets brain waves with sound and light to help you get a good night’s rest.

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Further reading:

New Wearable Devices Target the Brain to Bring Better Sleep

To Get a Better Night’s Sleep, First Fix Your Day

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Could Making a New Woolly Mammoth Help Human Health? Jan 03, 2025

Colossal Biosciences wants to create new animals that resemble extinct creatures like the woolly mammoth, thanks to advancements in genetic engineering and synthetic biology. In this conversation from the WSJ’s Future of Everything Festival in May 2024, Colossal Biosciences co-founder and CEO Ben Lamm discusses how the de-extinction of species could help address the loss of biodiversity and benefit ecosystems. He tells Future of Everything editorial director Stefanie Ilgenfritz about his plans for monetizing the technology, and how it could be used for human health.

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Further reading:

Return of the Woolly Mammoth?

Doctors Can Now Edit the Genes Inside Your Body

How Ancient Hunters Felled Massive Mammoths and Hungry Predators

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Science of Success: Who’s Winning the EV Market in 2025? Dec 27, 2024

Electric vehicle sales growthexperienced a slow down in 2 023 that continued into this year. Despite EV makers’ big bets on batteries, buyers seemed more hesitant to take the all-electric route. But EV sales are exp ected to keep growing in 2025, according to Cox Automotive. On the Science of Success, WSJ’s Ben Cohen speaks with Journal reporter Sean McLain about the companies he’s watching and his predictions for the EV race in 2025.

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Designing the EV Soundscape of the Future Dec 20, 2024

Electric motors are silent but electric vehicles are not. They make noise for safety, branding and to enhance the driving experience. And since they are no longer limited by the sound of the motor, these cars provide an acoustic blank slate. Jasper de Kruiff, co-founder and creative director of Impulse Audio Lab, has been working in interactive sound design for over a decade. He explains the tech and creative approaches that go into each vehicle’s sonic picture and why the roads of the future could sound like an electric symphony.

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Further reading:

Think You Will Live to 100? These Scientists Think You’re Wrong

The Longevity Vacation: Poolside Lounging With an IV Drip

The Longevity Clinic Will See You Now—for $100,000

For This Venture Capitalist, Research on Aging Is Personal; ‘Bob Has a Big Fear of Death’

Outliving Your Peers Is Now a Competitive Sport

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The New Pharma Frontier: Could Drugs Made in Space Help You Live Longer? Oct 11, 2024

In the future, the drugs helping you live healthier, happier and longer may have components manufactured in space. In this conversation with WSJ’s Danny Lewis from the Future of Everything Festival in May, Eric Lasker, an executive at Varda Space Industries, and Sita Sonty, former CEO of Space Tango, discuss the advantages and limitations of space manufacturing and how it can benefit pharmaceutical development.

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Further reading:

Is Space the Next Manufacturing Frontier?

Varda Hopes New Research Draws More Drugmakers to Space Factories

How Research in Space Helps Doctors Treat People on Earth

Space Manufacturing: Building an Economy Beyond Earth

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People Are Living Longer. Can Old Age Be an Opportunity? Oct 04, 2024

More and more people are living longer lives thanks to modern technology and medicine. But what does that mean for our mental health and making sure we’re living better as well as longer? Stanford University Center on Longevity founding director Laura Carstensen digs into how the milestones of life should be reworked, and tells WSJ’s Danny Lewis how society can adapt and plan for the 100-year lifespan to become common.

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Further reading:

The Keys to Aging at Home? Frank Conversations and Financial Planning

Outliving Your Peers Is Now a Competitive Sport

Star Scientist’s Claim of ‘Reverse Aging’ Draws Hail of Criticism

The Secret to Living to 100? It’s Not Good Habits

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Science of Success: Is Your Home Oversubscribed? Sep 27, 2024

What makes your house a home? For starters, it’s spending time there, relaxing, cooking and watching TV. These days, that means lots of subscriptions, which also means lots of money. In fact, Americans spend billions of dollars on subscriptions they’ve actually forgotten about. On the Science of Success, WSJ’s Ben Cohen looks at the booming subscription business and ways to help you get that spending in check.

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Further reading:

The Real Reason You’re Paying for So Many Subscriptions

Americans Are Canceling More of Their Streaming Services

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Will AI Make Home Renovations Easier? Sep 20, 2024

Whether you’re sprucing up a kitchen or gutting a house, home renovations can be stressful, complicated and expensive. But new tools using artificial intelligence are trying to take some of the struggle out of the process by helping homeowners envision their dream home and communicate with architects and contractors. WSJ real estate, architecture and design reporter Nancy Keates joins host Danny Lewis to talk about how AI is making inroads into home renovations.

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Further reading:

Stressing Over Your Next Home Renovation Project? Let AI Handle It.

The Big Risk for the Market: Becoming an AI Echo Chamber

United Arab Emirates Fund in Talks to Invest in OpenAI

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It Cooks, It Cleans! When Will Robots Be Doing Our Chores? Sep 13, 2024

What if you had a robot that could take care of your household chores, from doing laundry to making dinner? When the Roomba came out over 20 years ago, it seemed like other autonomous robots for the home were not far off. But no other home robot has yet become a household name. WSJ’s Charlotte Gartenberg speaks with Charlie Kemp, co-founder and chief technology officer of Hello Robot, about his company's dexterous robot called Stretch 3.They also talk about the technological hurdles we’ll have to overcome before truly helpful robots move into our homes.

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Further reading:

Elon Musk Says Tesla to Use Humanoid Robots Next Year

AI Startup Making Humanoid Robots Raises $675 Million With Bezos, Nvidia in Funding Round

Companies Brought in Robots. Now They Need Human ‘Robot Wranglers.’

Rise of the Restaurant Robots: Chipotle, Sweetgreen and Others Bet on Automation

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The Home-Solar Boom May Have Gone Bust. What’s Next for Solar Power? Sep 06, 2024

The amount of electricity generated by solar panels has surged over the last decade. But while rooftop solar panels are more common than ever, the balance of solar-power generation has shifted from power systems on individual homes to large-scale commercial arrays used by utilities. WSJ’s Danny Lewis sits down with energy and climate reporter Phred Dvorak and Pvilion CEO Colin Touhey to talk about the future of home solar, and the new role it might play in the power grid.

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Further reading:

The Home-Solar Boom Gets a ‘Gut Punch’

The Solar Breakthrough That Could Help the U.S. Compete With China

Why Californians Have Some of the Highest Power Bills in the U.S.

Coming Soon for Homeowners: Solar Panels That Actually Look Attractive

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Meet the CEO Bringing Seaweed to Your Grocery Store Aug 30, 2024

Seaweed has lots of practical applications. We use it as fertilizer, incorporate it into face creams and packaging as a plastic alternative, and we eat it. Very little of the seaweed used worldwide is grown in the U.S., which some proponents and regulators are looking to change because seaweed has been shown to have some positive effects on ecosystems. Maine-based Atlantic Sea Farms is one company looking to increase the amount of seaweed grown in U.S. waters. WSJ’s Alex Ossola speaks with Atlantic Sea Farms CEO Briana Warner about how her company is making that happen, and what it will take for seaweed aquaculture to truly scale in the U.S.

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Further reading:

A Seaweed Crop Finds a Spot in Maine Waters

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Science of Success: A Better Way to Board a Plane Aug 23, 2024

It seems like every airline has a different way of boarding a plane. But which way works best? Astrophysicist Jason Steffen has spent his career trying to crack the deepest mysteries of the universe, and 15 years ago he discovered and published what he says is the optimal boarding strategy. So why aren’t all commercial airlines using it? On the Science of Success, WSJ’s Ben Cohen looks at what goes into planning the most efficient boarding process and what airlines are doing to help customers have a smooth entry to their flights.

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Further reading:

The Astrophysicist Who Has a Better Way to Board Airplanes

Southwest Airlines Is Ditching Open Seating on Flights

Southwest Fans Wonder if the Airline Has Changed Forever

It Can’t Be This Hard to Board a Plane

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Pokémon Go as a Travel Guide? Meet the Fans Booking Trips to Catch 'Em All Aug 16, 2024

The Pokémon videogame series has always been about traveling the world. But eight years after the launch of the mobile-phone game Pokémon Go, some players are taking that to extremes by using the game as a tool to plan their real-life travels. Salvador Rodriguez joins host Danny Lewis to talk about the people circling the globe in order to catch and trade the digital monsters.

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Further reading:

The Adults Who Book Vacations Based on…. Pokémon?

Science of Success: The Mind at Work Behind an Iconic Song

How Pokémon Became a Monster Hit

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Are the Skies Going Hypersonic? Aug 09, 2024

The Concorde has long been retired, but future skies may be filled with aircraft that can go even faster, criss-crossing the world in a matter of hours. Hypersonic engines that are being developed for military and government applications, like defense, drones and missiles, could one day propel future planes much faster than conventional engines for less money. Host Danny Lewis looks at the technical and business obstacles, and finds out what it would take to make hypersonic air travel a reality.

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Further reading:

Silicon Valley’s Next Mission: Help the U.S. Catch China and Russia in Hypersonic Weapons

How Hypersonic Flight Could Transform Transatlantic Flights

Hypersonic Missiles Are Game-Changers, and America Doesn’t Have Them

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Google’s AI Can Help Plan Your Next Vacation. Should You Rely On It? Aug 02, 2024

From flights to hotels to entire itineraries, AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini Advanced can help you plan your next vacation. In fact, more than 30% of “active leisure travelers” have used artificial intelligence for travel planning, according to MMGY global, a travel marketing agency. But how soon might these bots go from travel planning tool to travel planning agent? WSJ’s Charlotte Gartenberg speaks with Google’s Amar Subramanya, vice president of engineering for Gemini experiences, about the future of using AI for travel planning.

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Further reading:

How Well Can AI Plan Your Next Trip? We Tested Gemini and ChatGPT

Don’t Trust an AI Chatbot With All Your Travel Plans Just Yet

AI Apps For Travel

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Science of Success: What It Takes to Make a Better Berry Jul 26, 2024

What makes for a luxury strawberry? Is it the taste? Texture? Color? Around five years ago, berry company Driscoll’s released a new, premium line of berries with a higher price tag. Some consumers are shelling out almost 70% more to get their hands on this fancy fruit. But what are the qualities of a premium berry? On this Science of Success, we delve into the food science behind breeding and selling Driscoll’s Sweetest Batch, from creating more objective benchmarks for the highly subjective experience of taste to how the company works with supertasters and sensory analysts to create the best possible berry.

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Further reading:

Why America’s Berries Have Never Tasted So Good

How Designer Fruit Is Taking Over the Grocery Store

Trying to Breed Better Fruit

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Can Robots Reinvent Fast Food? Jul 19, 2024

Restaurants are a tough business with tight margins, from the cost of food to paying for staff. Kernel, the new venture by Steve Ells, the founder and former CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill, is trying to fix that by introducing food-making robots and a "digital-first" approach to restaurants. In this conversation from the WSJ Global Food Forum in June, reporter Heather Haddon talks with Ells about his new bet on consumers’ desire to eat less meat, and on a business model that could solve some of the industry’s thorny challenges.

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Further reading:

Rise of the Restaurant Robots: Chipotle, Sweetgreen and Others Bet on Automation

How Chipotle’s Founder Is Moving Beyond Burritos

Chipotle’s Labor Costs Are Rising. Customers Will See It in Pricing.

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Why You Might Be Eating More Seaweed in the Future Jul 12, 2024

To hear proponents talk about it, seaweed could solve a whole lot of problems. It could feed people, restore polluted habitats and be an economic boost for fishermen. Though seaweed aquaculture has grown in the U.S. in recent years, the country produced less than 1% of the global seaweed crop in 2019. Now, some companies are trying to get seaweed aquaculture to scale in the U.S. But there are regulatory hurdles to overcome, and researchers have questions about how a scaled industry would affect existing ecosystems. WSJ’s Alex Ossola looks at what it will take to make seaweed a bigger part of the American diet in the future.

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Further reading:

Inside the Quest for a Super Kelp That Can Survive Hotter Oceans

Cows Make Climate Change Worse. Could Seaweed Help?

A Sargassum Bloom Is Hitting Florida: What to Know About the Seaweed Mass

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How Designer Fruit Is Taking Over the Grocery Store Jul 05, 2024

No more mealy apples and flavorless oranges. There’s a growing category of produce available in your local grocery store: fruits and vegetables that have been carefully bred with flavor in mind. But these more delicious varieties tend to come in premium packaging—with a premium price to boot. WSJ contributor Elizabeth G. Dunn tells host Alex Ossola how this produce is bred and whether we can expect to see more of it in the future.

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Further reading:

This Strawberry Will Blow Your Mind: Inside the Startlingly Delicious World of Designer Produce

The Race to Save Ketchup: Building a Tomato for a Hotter World

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Science of Success: The Hot Window AC Making Summers Cool Jun 28, 2024

They’re ugly. They’re clunky. They’re loud. And, worst of all, they spike your energy bills every summer. The window air conditioner is a dreaded summer staple in many homes. But one company is redefining how an AC functions by thinking outside the typical window box. For Science of Success, WSJ’s Ben Cohen tells the story of Midea’s U-shaped window AC that captured the collective consciousness for its noise reduction and energy efficiency.

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Further reading:

How Did the World’s Coolest Air Conditioner Get So Hot?

The Race to Build a Better Air Conditioner

Does Turning Off Your A/C When You’re Not Home Actually Save Money?

My Love Affair With Air-Conditioning

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How NASA Sees Climate Change From Space Jun 21, 2024

Our climate is changing. In the last 100 years, the planet has warmed about 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to NASA. But how can we learn more about our planet’s climate and what we can do to slow the changes? Gavin A. Schmidt, a top NASA climate scientist and director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, spoke with WSJ reporter Emily Glazer at the Future of Everything Festival on May 22, 2024 about the future of climate science and the data NASA is collecting on the Earth by looking at it from space.

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Further reading:

2023 Was the Hottest Year on Record

Extreme Heat, Floods, Fire: Was Summer 2023 the New Normal?

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Keeping Cities Cool in a Warmer Future Jun 14, 2024

2023 was the world’s hottest year on record, and temperatures are expected to continue heating up. Cities, where more than half of the world lives, are contending with this extreme heat. But some places, such as Singapore, are looking for ways to modify aspects of their cities to make them more comfortable for people to live. The Cooling Singapore project is creating a hyper detailed digital twin of the city-state to be able to test the effectiveness of new methods the city would want to implement. WSJ’s Alex Ossola explains what they’ve learned, and how it can help us understand how more cities in the future might make changes to combat heat.

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Further reading:

The Cooling Singapore 2.0 project, funded by the Singapore Nat ional Research Foundation, is led by the Singapore ETH Centre in partnership with Cambridge CARES, the National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore Management University (SMU), the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), and TUMCREATE (established by the Technical University of Munich).

2023 Was the Hottest Year on Record

Earth Just Had Its Hottest Month Ever. How Six Cities Are Coping.

How Reflective Paint Brings Down Scorching City Temperatures

These Photos Show How Urban Growth Fuels Extreme Heat

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Saving Ketchup: The Race to Breed a Tomato for a Warming World Jun 07, 2024

What good is a future without ketchup or pasta sauce? These are just two potential casualties of a changing climate, as tomato growers face shrinking harvests due to hotter and drier weather. WSJ reporter Patrick Thomas takes us behind the scenes of how seed breeders are trying to make a tomato that can thrive with less water, and how that highlights the efforts going into protecting crops against the effects of climate change.

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Further reading:

The Race to Save Ketchup: Building a Tomato for a Hotter World

How to Eat Your Way to a Greener Planet

Sustainable Agriculture Gets a Push From Big Corporations

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Science of Success: Birkenstocks and the Promise of Healthy Feet May 24, 2024

How did a sandal that originally entered the U.S. market as a health product become a fashion staple and the crowning shoe of a multibillion dollar company? Margot Fraser originally brought Birkenstocks to the U.S. thinking that the comfort of the German sandal would appeal to women. But she couldn’t get shoe stores to sell them. They finally made it into the U.S. market through health food stores. Now, the seductively ugly shoe is a cultural icon and was valued at about $8.6 billion when the company went public last year. WSJ’s Ben Cohen explores the history of Birkenstock and how it paved the way for the future of women’s feet.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: FOEPodcast@wsj.com

Further reading:

Why Americans Are Obsessed With These Ugly Sandals

A Key to Birkenstock’s Billion Dollar Success? Its Frumpiest Shoe

A Visual History of Birkenstock’s Rise, From Insoles to IPO

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Will a Treatment Work? Try the 'Digital Twin' First. May 17, 2024

How does your doctor know that a drug or procedure will work to treat a condition before they try it? Often, they don’t. Researchers are looking to create “digital twins,” digital versions of individual organs, to see how a patient will respond. Eventually there could be digital twins of entire bodies that are updated in real time with patient data. WSJ’s Alex Ossola speaks with WSJ senior special writer Stephanie Armour about how that might change the way we treat diseases in the future.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify , or email us: FOEPodcast@wsj.com

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Further reading: A ‘Digital Twin’ of Your Heart Lets Doctors Test Treatments Before Surgery

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Ultrasound Isn’t Just for Pregnancy. How It’s Helping Treat the Brain. May 10, 2024

Ultrasound is known for its use in imaging during pregnancy. But new advancements in the technology suggest that in the future, ultrasound could be used to disrupt the blood-brain barrier. This would allow doctors to more easily diagnose and directly treat illnesses like brain cancer without major surgery. WSJ’s Danny Lewis and Charlotte Gartenberg examine the new ways that ultrasound could be used more specifically and subtly to deliver accurate diagnoses and precise treatments.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: FOEPodcast@wsj.com

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Further reading:

New Ultrasound Therapy Could Help Treat Alzheimer’s, Cancer

Treatment Breakthrough for an Intractable Brain Cancer

The ‘Mini Brains’ solving medical mysteries and raising concerns

We Can Now See the Brain Like Never Before

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Chip in the Brain? How Brain-Computer Interfaces Could Change Medicine May 03, 2024

A day when people can interact directly with computers using their thoughts could be on the horizon. Several companies, including Elon Musk’s Neuralink, have begun preliminary human trials of brain-computer interfaces - devices that decode the electrical signals in their brain and translate them into digital bits. Neurosurgeon Benjamin Rapoport is a co-founder and chief science officer of Precision Neuroscience, a company working on brain-computer interfaces. He spoke with WSJ’s Danny Lewis about how the technology works and how these implants could improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who could gain the ability to independently engage with the digital world.

Correction: Dr. Benjamin Rapoport is the co-founder of Precision Neuroscience. An earlier version misspelled his name Rapaport. (Corrected on May 3)

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: FOEPodcast@wsj.com

Further reading:

Inside the Operating Room: Doctors Test a Revolutionary Brain-Computer Implant

Elon Musk’s Neuralink Wants to Make ‘The Matrix’ a Reality. It Has a Lot to Prove First.

She Didn’t Speak for 18 Years. A Computer Helped Find Her Voice.

The Devices That Will Read Your Brain—and Enhance It

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Science of Success: How Barnes & Noble Is Redesigning the Bookstore Chain Apr 26, 2024

What does the brick and mortar bookstore of the future look like? For Barnes & Noble, it looks more like the indie bookstores they once threatened to put out of business 20 years ago. The company recently redesigned their national chain of over 500 bookstores, shedding the big box personality in favor of a look reminiscent of local bookshops. On this week’s Science of Success, WSJ columnist Ben Cohen speaks to Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt about the look, feel and idea behind Barnes & Noble’s new indie design.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: FOEPodcast@wsj.com

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Further reading:

That Cool New Bookstore? It’s a Barnes & Noble.

New CEO Wants to Make Barnes & Noble Your Local Bookstore

Barnes & Noble’s New Boss Tries to Save the Chain—and Traditional Bookselling

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Designing the Sneaker of the Future Apr 19, 2024

Can technology help us design the perfect running shoe that’s stronger, faster and better for the environment? David Allemann, co-founder of On, thinks technology can get us part of the way there, but it’s not the whole story. The performance running shoe and sportswear company is experimenting with computer simulation and bio-based materials to design sneakers to advance both runners and sustainability goals. WSJ men’s fashion columnist Jacob Gallagher speaks with Allemann about the future of running shoe tech and how sneakers might redefine the design cannon.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: FOEPodcast@wsj.com

Further reading:

How On’s Running Sneakers Won Over Tech Bros and High Fashion Alike

Where Did All the Crazy Sneakers Go?

This Designer Knows What Sneakers You’ll Be Wearing Next Year

These Grandpa Sneakers Are Made in America. They’re a Hit Overseas.

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