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Carry the Two

Science & Technology News

Carry the Two pulls back the curtain to reveal the mathematical and statistical gears that turn the world. We’re the show for people who enjoy discovering hidden elements that impact our lives in the most unexpected ways, and math is certainly one of those! We are a curiosity-driven podcast that looks to find unique perspectives from the fields of mathematics and statistics. We use stories to convey how mathematical research drives the world around us, with each episode tackling a different topic. This can be anything from modeling how bees in a swarm make group decisions to how we can use textual analysis to reveal surprising changes in policy documents. You can also find Carry the Two on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, and Spotify. Carry the Two is a podcast by the Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI). We are hosted by Sadie Witkowski and Ian Martin. Audio production by Tyler Damme. Music is from Blue Dot Sessions.

Location:

United States

Description:

Carry the Two pulls back the curtain to reveal the mathematical and statistical gears that turn the world. We’re the show for people who enjoy discovering hidden elements that impact our lives in the most unexpected ways, and math is certainly one of those! We are a curiosity-driven podcast that looks to find unique perspectives from the fields of mathematics and statistics. We use stories to convey how mathematical research drives the world around us, with each episode tackling a different topic. This can be anything from modeling how bees in a swarm make group decisions to how we can use textual analysis to reveal surprising changes in policy documents. You can also find Carry the Two on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, and Spotify. Carry the Two is a podcast by the Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI). We are hosted by Sadie Witkowski and Ian Martin. Audio production by Tyler Damme. Music is from Blue Dot Sessions.

Language:

English


Episodes
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Carry the Two Farewell (for now)

9/19/2023
Find our transcript here: LINK Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute Follow Sadie Witkowski: https://www.sadiewit.com/, @SadieWit This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.

Duration:00:06:18

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Caitlin Parrish and Allyson Ettinger on AI & the WGA Strike

9/5/2023
In this classic episode, we explore how GPT-3, a free online natural language processing artificial intelligence by Open AI, does and doesn’t work. Make sure to stick around until the end for an update on how AI is a core demand between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. GPT-3 takes advantage of a whole new method of artificial intelligence research, called neural nets, to create plays, write code, and even roleplay as a historical figure. But what are the limitations to this kind of AI? University of Chicago professor Allyson Ettinger walks us through how GPT-3 manages to sound so human and where and how it fails in interesting ways. Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: When GPT-3 accidentally lies: https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/11/18/1063487/meta-large-language-model-ai-only-survived-three-days-gpt-3-science/ Microsoft’s chatbot that went racist: https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297050/tay-microsoft-chatbot-racist Is GPT-3 a replacement or tool for journalists: https://contently.net/2022/12/15/trends/chatgpt/ Entertainment Community Fund: https://entertainmentcommunity.org/ Science and Entertainment Exchange: http://scienceandentertainmentexchange.org/ AO3 and data scraping: https://www.transformativeworks.org/ai-and-data-scraping-on-the-archive/ Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute Follow Caitlin Parrish: @caitcrime Follow Allyson Ettinger: https://allenai.org/team, @AllysonEttinger This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.

Duration:00:40:07

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Jamie Barty on Visual Effects in Television

8/22/2023
Were you impressed by the underwater scenes in Avatar 2? Have you spent hours trying to figure out how they built the ice wall in Game of Thrones? Everything from big effects like these to smaller hidden visual effects like creating a skyline for an indoor set fall under the purview of visual effects. In this episode of Carry the Two, we get a behind-the-scenes tour of how Fuse FX effects supervisor Jamie Barty from I’m a Virgo leads a team to achieve these effects - and the copious amounts of mathematics that come into play! Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: Fuse FX: https://fusefx.com/ Course on the mathematics behind visual effects: https://www.fxphd.com/details/215/ I’m a Virgo: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13649510/ Entertainment Community Fund: https://entertainmentcommunity.org/ Science and Entertainment Exchange: http://scienceandentertainmentexchange.org/ Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute Follow Jamie Barty: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4495160/ This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.

Duration:00:29:59

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Tara Kerin on The Last of Us

8/8/2023
Could a fungus really wipe out the majority of humans, as shown in the HBO (Max) series The Last of Us? How realistic is the show’s portrayal of epidemiology? Guest and project scientist at UCLA, Tara Kerin explores these questions and how statistics are a core tool in her field of research. Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: The San Diego Comic Con International masquerade ball: https://www.comic-con.org/cci/newsletter/sunday How to calculate R0 (R-naught): https://globalhealth.harvard.edu/understanding-predictions-what-is-r-naught/ Tara’s work on HIV: https://cch.ucla.edu/about-atn-cares/ More on R0: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/25/1/17-1901_article More on the science in The Last of Us: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/17/1157842018/the-science-that-spawned-fungal-fears-in-hbos-the-last-of-us Entertainment Community Fund: https://entertainmentcommunity.org/ Science and Entertainment Exchange: http://scienceandentertainmentexchange.org/ Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute Follow Tara Kerin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarakerin/, @tarakerin This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.

Duration:00:18:25

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Robert Rosner and Paul Wilson on Oppenheimer

7/25/2023
The world, and the US in particular, have a complicated history with nuclear fission. Splitting atoms led to both the development of nuclear energy and weapons with catastrophic power. In the film Oppenheimer, director Christopher Nolan explores these issues. Here we expand this examination to the seminal work done in the Midwest. In this episode of Carry the Two, we speak with nuclear engineer from the University of Wisconsin, Paul Wilson, and University of Chicago physicist, Robert Rosner. They unveil how the University of Chicago was a key research site that tested theories of Oppenheimer and his colleagues, allowing the United States to win the race in building a nuclear weapon. Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: The first nuclear reactor, explained: https://news.uchicago.edu/explainer/first-nuclear-reactor-explained American Prometheus (novel that Oppenheimer is based on): https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/kai-bird-and-martin-j-sherwin Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/current-time/ Nuclear energy and cutting carbon emissions: https://www.wpr.org/nuclear-key-key-cutting-carbon-emissions-combat-climate-change Rosner elected president of American Physical Society: https://chicagomaroon.com/28020/news/theoretical-physicist-robert-rosner-elected-presid/ Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute Follow Robert Rosner: https://astro.uchicago.edu/people/robert-rosner.php Follow Paul Wilson: https://directory.engr.wisc.edu/neep/faculty/wilson_paul The Science and Entertainment Exchange: scienceandentertainmentexchange.org This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.

Duration:00:32:24

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Kevin Grazier on Orbital Dynamics in Foundation

7/11/2023
If you’ve seen the first season of Apple TV’s Foundation, you probably noticed how heavily the show relies on ideas based in mathematics and statistics. However, while the idea of a field of research called psycho-history seems far-fetched, some of the show's scenes are much closer to reality than you might realize. In this episode, we hear from planetary physicist and television science advisor Kevin Grazier about how researchers can help advise TV projects and what that actually looks like. Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: Foundation novels by Isaac Asimov: https://www.goodreads.com/series/43939-foundation-chronological-order Foundation (tv series) season 1 promo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4QYV5GTz7c The Cassini mission: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/overview/ Orbital dynamics: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4939-0802-8_10 Science and Entertainment Exchange: http://scienceandentertainmentexchange.org/ Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute Follow Kevin Grazier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-grazier-1057792/ This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.

Duration:00:25:15

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Summer Hiatus

6/27/2023
We're taking a short break to prepare for our next series of episodes, looking at mathematics and statistics in Hollywood. So stay tuned! Find our transcript here: LINK Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (instagram) IMSI.institute Music by Blue Dot Sessions. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.

Duration:00:01:44

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Dan Cooley on the Colorado Fire Season

6/13/2023
Predicting weather is already a difficult statistical challenge, but it becomes even more complex when trying to predict rare weather events. Dan Cooley, a professor in the statistics department at Colorado State University, uses extreme value analysis to model these rare events. In today’s episode, we ask Dan how his work can help explain the changing frequency and severity of wildfires in Colorado and how climate change might be playing a key role. Don’t forget to listen to Dan’s work through a geophysical lens, over at Third Pod from the Sun! Check out the episode here: LINK Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: Hear Dan’s talk for IMSI’s Confronting Global Climate Change: https://www.imsi.institute/videos/transformed-linear-methods-for-multivariate-extremes-and-application-to-climate/ More on the Fire Weather Index: https://www.nwcg.gov/publications/pms437/cffdrs/fire-weather-index-system Extreme Value Theory: https://towardsdatascience.com/extreme-value-theory-in-a-nutshell-with-various-applications-3260b6a84316 Previous Carry the Two episode on 100-year floods: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/richard-smith-on-100-year-floods/id1629115184?i=1000574780329 Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute Follow Dan Cooley: https://www.stat.colostate.edu/~cooleyd/ This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Special thanks to Third Pod’s producer Jace Steiner. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.

Duration:00:23:14

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Angel Hsu on Urbanization and Climate Change

6/6/2023
Researchers become interested in their fields through all sorts of unique paths. Today’s guest, Angel Hsu of University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, came to climate research from a public policy background. She uses her work to help inform local communities how policy decisions affect different groups’ risk to extreme heat and the heat island effect. Specifically, she uses local and global data sets to track heat stress across city neighborhoods and show how those can differ based on neighborhood income. Don’t forget to listen to Angel’s work through a geophysical lens, over at Third Pod from the Sun! Check out the AGU’s Third Pod from the Sun with Angel: LINK Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: Hear Angel’s talk for IMSI’s Confronting Global Climate Change: https://www.imsi.institute/videos/detecting-and-attributing-disparities-in-urban-heat/ Data Driver Lab website: http://datadrivenlab.org/urban/ Carry the Two’s previous episode on Angel’s work: https://www.imsi.institute/podcast/tiffany-christian-on-the-heat-island-effect/ Carry the Two’s previous episode on community science: https://www.imsi.institute/podcast/kathryn-leonard-and-axel-carlier-on-crowdsourcing-for-math-research/ Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute Follow Angel Hsu: @ecoangelhsu, https://publicpolicy.unc.edu/person/hsu-angel/ This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Special thanks to Third Pod’s producer Jace Steiner. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.

Duration:00:25:06

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Matt Huber on Modeling Paleoclimates

5/30/2023
Today we speak with a non-mathematician who uses mathematical tools to understand our planet’s past climates and what they might be able to tell us about our future. Matt Huber, from Purdue University, tells us how the paleoclimate had sudden, rapid shifts in the climate that our current climate models aren’t good at predicting. So, if we’re on the precipice of another rapid shift, we might need to start employing different models. And don’t forget to listen to Matt’s work through a geophysical lens, over at Third Pod from the Sun! Check out the AGU’s Third Pod from the Sun with Matt: LINK Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: Hear Matt’s talk for IMSI’s Confronting Global Climate Change: https://www.imsi.institute/videos/the-dynamics-and-impacts-of-moist-heat-stress/ Younger Dryas event in Day After Tomorrow: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/02/25/metro/researchers-say-ancient-day-after-tomorrow-scenario-could-have-been-caused-by-melting-icebergs/ What is paleoclimatology: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/paleoclimatology-RL/ Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute Follow Matt Huber: https://www.eaps.purdue.edu/people/profile/huberm.html This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Special thanks to Third Pod’s producer Jessica Buser. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.

Duration:00:26:26

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Kristie Ebi on Climate Change & Global Health

5/23/2023
Turn on the news during the spring and you’ll hear how seasonal allergies are being made worse by climate change. But it turns out the seasonal sniffles are some of the smallest health consequences of our rapidly shifting climate. Droughts and floods don’t just damage the local ecosystem, they also have real, measurable effects on human health. In this episode of Carry the Two, we hear from University of Washington’s Kristie Ebi, who has helped lead research on the health impacts of climate change. And don’t forget to listen to Kristie’s work through a geophysical lens, over at Third Pod from the Sun! Check out the AGU’s Third Pod from the Sun with Kristie: LINK HERE Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: Kristie’s presentation at IMSI’s Confronting Global Climate Change: https://www.imsi.institute/videos/detection-and-attribution-of-the-health-impacts-of-climate-change/ Climate change and allergies: https://abc7chicago.com/pollen-allergies-spring-allergy-climate-central-report/12931026/ Center for Health and the Global Environment: https://www.washington.edu/research/research-centers/center-health-global-environment-change/ Kristie’s shared Nobel Peace Prize: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2007/summary/ Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute Follow Kristie Ebi: @kristie_ebi, https://globalhealth.washington.edu/faculty/kristie-ebi This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Special thanks to Third Pod’s producer Katrina Jackson. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. Turn on the news during the spring and you’ll hear how seasonal allergies are being made worse by climate change. But it turns out the seasonal sniffles are some of the smallest health consequences of our rapidly shifting climate. Droughts and floods don’t just damage the local ecosystem, they also have real, measurable effects on human health. In this episode of Carry the Two, we hear from University of Washington’s Kristie Ebi, who has helped lead research on the health impacts of climate change. And don’t forget to listen to Kristie’s work through a geophysical lens, over at Third Pod from the Sun! Check out the AGU’s Third Pod from the Sun with Kristie: LINK Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: Kristie’s presentation at IMSI’s Confronting Global Climate Change: https://www.imsi.institute/videos/detection-and-attribution-of-the-health-impacts-of-climate-change/ Climate change and allergies: https://abc7chicago.com/pollen-allergies-spring-all

Duration:00:24:04

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Jane Baldwin on Modeling Climate Change Hazards

5/16/2023
We are continuing our collaboration between Carry the Two and the American Geophysical Union’s Third Pod from the Sun with another episode! Jane Baldwin’s research centers issues of equity when it comes to understanding climate change’s impact on the global population. In this episode, we hear how Jane gets clever with data sources to better understand risk and vulnerability to tropical cyclones in the Philippines and discusses the importance of building useful climate models. And don’t forget to listen to Jane’s work through a geophysical lens, over at Third Pod from the Sun! Check out the AGU’s Third Pod from the Sun with Jane: https://thirdpodfromthesun.com/2023/05/12/solving-for-climate-do-go-chasing-hurricanes/ Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: Jane’s presentation at IMSI’s Confronting Global Climate Change: https://www.imsi.institute/videos/the-missing-links-in-projecting-impacts-from-extreme-events/ Jane’s Philippine’s study: https://www.janebaldw.in/publication/baldwin-direct-2019/ & https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/wcas/aop/WCAS-D-22-0049.1/WCAS-D-22-0049.1.xml The origin of “All models are wrong…”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_models_are_wrong Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute Follow Jane Baldwin: https://www.janebaldw.in/, @janewbaldwin This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Special thanks to Third Pod’s producer Devin Reese. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.

Duration:00:22:45

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Maike Sonnewald on Modeling Oceanic Currents

5/9/2023
Welcome to the first episode of Carry the Two’s collaboration with the American Geophysical Union’s Third Pod from the Sun! In this episode, we get our feet wet with physical oceanographer, Maike Sonnewald. Maike explains how the ocean currents interplay with our warming atmosphere and what that means for our climate. Using machine learning to build climate models, Maike analyzes how things like greenhouse gases are warming our oceans and changing the pattern of currents. And don’t forget to listen to Maike’s work through a geophysical lens, over at Third Pod from the Sun! Check out the AGU’s Third Pod from the Sun with Maike: https://thirdpodfromthesun.com/2023/05/05/wave-and-means/ Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: Hear Maike’s talk for IMSI’s Confronting Global Climate Change: https://www.imsi.institute/videos/elucidating-ecological-complexity-unsupervised-learning-determines-global-marine-eco-provinces/ Upcoming paper from Maike: The Southern Ocean supergyre: a unifying dynamical framework identified by machine learning. In press, Nature Communications Earth & Environment. A review paper on ML in oceanography: Bridging theory, simulation, and observations of the global ocean using Machine Learning, 2021, Environmental Research Letters Paper on the North Atlantic: Revealing the impact of global warming on climate modes using transparent machine learning. 2021, Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems For a math and AI twist on predicting ocean dynamics: Explainable Artificial Intelligence for Bayesian Neural Networks: Towards trustworthy predictions of ocean dynamics. 2022, Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems. Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute Follow Maike Sonnewald: https://msonnewald.com/ This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Special thanks to Third Pod’s producer Anupama Chandrasekaran. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.

Duration:00:24:42

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Kathryn Leonard and Axel Carlier on Crowdsourcing for Math Research

4/25/2023
We’re still celebrating Mathematical and Statistical Awareness Month here at Carry the Two. This time, we’re taking a look at how anyone can get involved with research and help move mathematics (or statistics) forward. We explore the differences between citizen science, community science, and crowd sourcing and how one group of researchers used an international scavenger hunt to collect data. Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: Peer-reviewed article of today’s paper: The 2D shape structure dataset: A user annotated open access database - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0097849316300528 Follow-up research: T. Blanc-Beyne, G. Morin, K. Leonard, A. Carlier, S. Hahmann, A Salience Measure for 3D Shape Decomposition and Sub-parts Classification, Graphical Models 99:22-30, September 2018. K. Leonard, G. Morin, S. Hahmann, A. Carlier, A 2D shape structure for decomposition and part similarity, International Conference on Pattern Recognition, p. 3216-3221, Dec 2016. Other examples of community/citizen science/crowdsourcing: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.4300 NASA's Harp Project: https://listen.spacescience.org/ National Geographic’s collection of community science projects: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/citizen-science-projects/ Collection of Community Science Projects in a searchable database: https://scistarter.org/finder?active=true Peer-reviewed article on crowdsourcing in science: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11846-022-00602-z Peer-reviewed article on community science:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901119300942 History of GISH items: https://gishwheshistorian.tumblr.com/2022items Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute Follow Kathryn Leonard: https://www.oxy.edu/academics/faculty/kathryn-leonard Follow Axel Carlier: https://ipal.cnrs.fr/axel-carlier-personal-page/ This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation

Duration:00:27:09

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Benson Farb on Math and Mentorship

4/11/2023
Happy Mathematical and Statistical Awareness Month! To celebrate, hosts Sadie and Ian decided to take a peek behind the curtain and see what it is that pure mathematicians do all day. This episode follows a conversation with University of Chicago Math Professor Benson Farb as he explains how he approaches mentoring future mathematicians and what got him into his field in the first place. Spoiler alert: it’s a lot more about luck and timing than you’d expect! Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: UChicago Math Pizza Seminar: https://math.uchicago.edu/~pizzaseminar/ Math Genealogy Tree: https://www.mathgenealogy.org/index.php Stereotype Threat Research: https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-psych-073115-103235 More on Benson: https://news.uchicago.edu/profile/benson-farb Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute Follow Benson Farb: https://mathematics.uchicago.edu/people/profile/benson-farb/ This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.

Duration:00:34:47

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Spring Hiatus

3/28/2023
We're taking a short break to prepare for the rest of Season 2 and our collaboration with AGU’s Third Pod from the Sun. So stay tuned! Find our transcript here: LINK Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (instagram) IMSI.institute This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.

Duration:00:01:57

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Jude Higdon on Small Town Policing

3/14/2023
We have another guest host this episode, with Jude Higdon. Jude is the Chief Information Officer at Bennington College and co-founder of the QSIDE Institute. Jude led the charge during IMSI’s Research Collaboration Workshop that was aimed at addressing small town policing. Using the road map laid out by the Small Town Policing Accountability (SToPA) Lab, Jude’s team developed a toolkit for procuring, structuring, and analyzing policing data in small towns that lack the resources and systems to make their own data public. By the end of a month at IMSI, Jude’s team had a prototype that can empower small community-based participatory action research. Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: QSIDE Institute: https://qsideinstitute.org/ Small Town Policing Accountability previous research: https://bigdata.duke.edu/projects/small-town-policing-accountability/ Submit a Research Collaboration Workshop proposal to IMSI: https://www.imsi.institute/proposals/collaboration/ Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute Follow Jude Higdon: https://www.bennington.edu/about/college-leadership/jude-higdon This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.

Duration:00:31:49

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Carrie Diaz Eaton on Community-Driven Data Science

2/28/2023
Joining the helm as cohost, Bates Professor Carrie Diaz Eaton leads this week’s exploration of how to build a data science tool, not just for local activists, but with them. We begin with how the partnership between the environmental justice leadership program Nuevas Voces and Carrie’s team of interdisciplinary math researchers first met. Then, we hear from the members of Carrie’s Research Collaboration Workshop team as they worked at a breakneck pace here at IMSI to have a completed prototype by the end of a month. Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: Listen to Carrie’s first feature on Carry the Two: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/carrie-diaz-eaton-on-equity-in-policy-documents/id1629115184?i=1000567232994 Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council: https://wrwc.org/wp/ Nuevas Voces: https://wrwc.org/wp/nuevas-voces-graduation/ Submit a Research Collaboration Workshop proposal to IMSI: https://www.imsi.institute/proposals/collaboration/ Providence VECINA: https://math-data-justice-collaborative.github.io/fuertes-pvd/#1 Example similar to VECINA: https://chichives.com/ Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute Follow Carrie Diaz Eaton: @mathprofcarrie This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. Sound effect from pixabay. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.

Duration:00:30:05

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Heather Zheng on Privacy and AI

2/14/2023
What if you had a way to upload as many selfies as you wanted to instagram or facebook, and still protect yourself from facial recognition software? Turns out, that’s not a pipe dream! In fact, the SAND Lab (Security, Algorithms,Networking and Data) at the University of Chicago is developing all sorts of tools and techniques to help us protect our digital privacy. Joining us in this episode, Heather Zheng, PhD from the SAND lab, walks us through both examples of current data privacy concerns, as well as new potential threats to privacy. But don’t worry, for each concern, Heather is able to provide a solution to keep your data private. Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: (Guy) Fawkes image/photo masking: http://sandlab.cs.uchicago.edu/fawkes/ Research about tracking you through your home with wi-fi: http://sandlab.cs.uchicago.edu/adversarialwifi/ Research on recovering your key strokes: https://sandlab.cs.uchicago.edu/keystroke/ Hidden Markov models explained: https://brilliant.org/wiki/hidden-markov-models/ Allyson’s episode about GPT-3: [LINK] Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute Follow Heather Zheng: https://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~htzheng/ This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.

Duration:00:36:30

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Allyson Ettinger on GPT-3

1/31/2023
How can a teacher know if a student actually wrote their book report, or if a computer did it? Are AI writers coming for journalists’ jobs? What does it mean when a language processing model can write its own computer code upon request? These are all questions currently sparked by GPT-3, a free online natural language processing artificial intelligence by Open AI. This isn’t your dimestore chatbot. GPT-3 takes advantage of a whole new method of artificial intelligence research, called neural nets, to create plays, write code, and even roleplay as a historical figure. But what are the limitations to this kind of AI? In this episode of Carry the Two, University of Chicago professor Allyson Ettinger walks us through how GPT-3 manages to sound so human and where and how it fails in interesting ways. Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: Use natural language processing to talk with a TV character or historical figure: https://beta.character.ai/ Chat bot using GPT-3.5: https://chat.openai.com/chat Find out how you can chat with GPT-3: https://lifearchitect.ai/how-do-i-talk-to-gpt/ When GPT-3 accidentally lies: https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/11/18/1063487/meta-large-language-model-ai-only-survived-three-days-gpt-3-science/ Microsoft’s chatbot that went racist: https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297050/tay-microsoft-chatbot-racist Is GPT-3 a replacement or tool for journalists: https://contently.net/2022/12/15/trends/chatgpt/ Undark’s interview with GPT-3 on truth & journalism: https://undark.org/2023/01/07/interview-a-conversation-on-truth-and-fiction-with-chatgpt/ Previous Carry the Two episode on statistical language learning with Ben Reuveni: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ben-reuveni-on-statistical-learning/id1629115184?i=1000577827727 Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute Follow Allyson Ettinger: https://linguistics.uchicago.edu/people/allyson-ettinger, @AllysonEttinger This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. Sound effects from pixabay. The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.

Duration:00:41:27