logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2022
15m 51s

Why Theranos’s blood-testing claims were...

The Guardian
About this episode
Last week, the tech CEO Elizabeth Holmes – once described as ‘the next Steve Jobs’ – was convicted of fraud, and could face decades in prison. Her now collapsed company, Theranos, promised to revolutionise medicine with a machine that could run hundreds of health tests on just a pinprick of blood. Those claims have since been exposed as false – but could they ever have been true? Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian’s wealth correspondent, Rupert Neate, about Silicon Valley’s trial of the century, and pathologist Dr Benjamin Mazer about why Theranos’s vision seemed impossible from the start. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod
Up next
Today
Can science crack the mystery of ME?
Scientists have found the first robust evidence that people’s genes affect their chances of developing myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a mysterious and debilitating illness that has been neglected and dismissed for decades by many in the medical co ... Show More
19m 7s
Aug 19
Why can’t the world get its act together on plastics?
After three years of negotiating, talks over a global plastics treaty came to an end in Geneva last week with no agreement in place. So why has it been so difficult to get countries to agree to cut plastic production? Madeleine Finlay hears from Karen McVeigh, a senior reporter f ... Show More
15m 57s
Aug 14
Staying cool in Europe’s record-breaking heat
Europe is suffering from another heatwave as deadly temperatures of up to 44C hit the continent and wildfires blazed across the Mediterranean. To find out why Europe is heating faster than anywhere else, Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian’s Europe environment correspondent, ... Show More
16m 40s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2022
Elizabeth Holmes: The downfall of a billion dollar startup
Elizabeth Holmes was once hailed as a visionary, and her company Theranos was set to revolutionise the world of medicine. But her success was a tale of hot air and hubris. Last week, Holmes was convicted of fraud and conspiracy. How was this silicon valley star brought down by a ... Show More
31m 26s
Sep 2021
The United States v. Elizabeth Holmes
When Elizabeth Holmes founded Theranos, the blood testing start-up, she was held up as one of the next great tech innovators.But her company collapsed, and she was accused of lying about how well Theranos’s technology worked. Now she is on trial on fraud charges.The case against ... Show More
31m 50s
Jan 2019
Trailer: The Rise and Fall of Elizabeth Holmes' Theranos
The Dropout tells the story of the rise and fall of former Silicon Valley darling Elizabeth Holmes, the youngest self-made female billionaire. She dropped out of Stanford to launch her company Theranos -- claiming her technology could detect hundreds of diseases from a drop or tw ... Show More
2m 15s
Jan 2022
Holmes stretch: Theranos’s founder convicted
Elizabeth Holmes has been found guilty of fraud. We ask what lessons her downfall holds for Theranos’s high-profile backers—and for a startup culture of hype before science. As Apple crosses a $3trn valuation we examine the motives for its stop-start forays into the competitive s ... Show More
21m 34s
Sep 2021
Ep. 214: Blood Feud - The U.S. v. Elizabeth Holmes
The upcoming criminal trial of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes figures to center around one crucial question: Was the blood testing startup’s failure a case of misguided Silicon Valley over-ambition, or was it outright fraud? Law360’s Dorothy Atkins has been covering the The ... Show More
32m 48s