From our digital safety to space and neurotechnology, it seems major shifts in technology are happening faster than ever. We hear from WSJ personal tech columnist Nicole Nguyen, and WSJ tech columnist and co-host of the Bold Names podcast Christopher Mims, about some of the tech that will change our lives in 2026. Belle Lin hosts.
What better time to contemplate the conundrum that is zero than the start of a new year? Zero is a fairly new concept in human history and even more recent as a number. It wasn't until around the 7th century that zero was used as a number. That's when it showed up in the records of Indian mathematicians. Since then, zero has, at times, been met with some fear — at one point the city of Florence, Italy banned the number.
Today, scientists seek to understand how much humans truly comprehend zero — and why it seems to be different from other numbers. That's how we ended up talking to science writer Yasemin Saplakoglu in this encore episode about the neuroscience of this number that means nothing.
Read more of Yasemin's reporting on zero for Quanta Magazine. Plus, check out our episode on why big numbers break our brains. Interested in more math episodes? Let us know what kind of stories you want to hear from us in 2026 by emailing shortwave@npr.org! Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
Artificial intelligence boosters spent the year wedging the tech into our lives – whether we wanted it or not. But one new product brought A.I. from every app and website into the meatspace, forcing you to face it eye-to-eye.
Guest: Nitish Pahwa, staff writer at Slate covering business and technology
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Episode: 1563 Looking back at the impact of toys. Sorting through a box the other day, I found old toys -- a lead soldier, a stuffed dog, a set of blocks.
Hundreds take part in a vigil in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana after around 40 people died in a fire at a bar while out celebrating New Year. Also: Colombia's armed forces say they have "neutralised" the main leader of one of Venezuela's most powerful and far-reaching criminal gangs; fresh research indicates that psychedelic drugs could be beneficial in treating a range of mental disorders; the UN children's agency Unicef estimates that more than a million Palestinian children trapped in Gaza desperately need mental health support and we talk to the great grandson of the Czech artist, Alphonse Mucha, best known for his paintings of graceful powerful female figures that helped define the Art Nouveau era.
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Ryan sits down with Tom Totenberg, head of release automation at LaunchDarkly, to discuss the perils of taking too many shortcuts in software development, how business pressures and AI code tools have contributed to dangerous corner cutting, and the importance of balancing speed with sustainability to maintain system integrity.
Episode notes:
LaunchDarkly is a feature management and experimentation platform that allows you to decouple software feature rollouts from code deployment so you can manage features safely and securely.
Around 40 people are dead and more than 100 are injured after a fire tore through a bar in the Swiss mountain ski town of Crans-Montana. The cause of the fire is still under investigation as the Swiss face a devastating scene. Lisa Desjardins reports. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy