The COVID-19 vaccine came out at warp speed because of the work of these two scientists. This week, they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. In celebration, we are re-posting our episode about Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman. For many, many years they investigated the secrets of messenger RNA (mRNA). And when the pandemic began, their r ... Show More
Jul 20
Katie Ledecky: The Call Of The Water
She sent shockwaves through the world of competitive swimming, when she won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics, beating out the favorites by a wide margin. She was 15 years old. Katie Ledecky is now training for her fifth Olympics, and is indisputably the greatest female swimmer o ... Show More
53m 20s
Apr 2026
Cindy Sherman: Illusions of Identity
Cindy Sherman, one of the world's most renowned contemporary art photographers, started posing for her own photos in the 1970's, long before the advent of selfies. But she says her images are not self-portraits. Instead, she uses sets, costumes and makeup to create an elaborate a ... Show More
42m 14s
Aug 2021
Meet the scientist couple driving an mRNA vaccine revolution | Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci
As COVID-19 spread, BioNTech cofounders Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci had one goal: to make a safe, effective vaccine faster than ever before. In this illuminating conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson, the immunologists (and married couple) share the fascinating story of ho ... Show More
21m 40s
Sep 2021
Meet the scientist couple driving an mRNA vaccine revolution | Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci
As COVID-19 spread, BioNTech cofounders Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci had one goal: to make a safe, effective vaccine faster than ever before. In this illuminating conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson, the immunologists (and married couple) share the fascinating story of ho ... Show More
21m 20s
Nov 2022
The Covid Vaccine Is Fueling A Race For All Kinds Of Cures
Messenger RNA technology made it possible for scientists and drugmakers to quickly develop a Covid-19 vaccine. Now, pharmaceutical companies are racing to use mRNA for other illnesses, including flu, cancer and rare genetic diseases. Dr. Drew Weissman, one of the researchers who ... Show More
26m 58s
Jun 2021
The Unlikely Pioneer Behind mRNA Vaccines
<p>When she was at graduate school in the 1970s, Dr. Katalin Kariko learned about something that would become a career-defining obsession: mRNA.</p><p>She believed in the potential of the molecule, but for decades ran up against institutional roadblocks. Then, the coronavirus hit ... Show More
34m 4s
Apr 2022
The breakthrough science of mRNA medicine | Melissa J. Moore
The secret behind medicines that use messenger RNA (or mRNA) is that they "teach" our bodies how to fight diseases on their own, leading to groundbreaking treatments for COVID-19 and, potentially one day, cancer, the flu and other ailments that have haunted humanity for millennia ... Show More
17m 21s