RSS • Apple PodcastsDescription (podcaster-provided):
Hear the untold stories of mind-blowing achievements in science and tech. “CBS Sunday Morning” correspondent and six-time Emmy winner David Pogue takes you behind the scenes into the creation stories of the world’s greatest advances and the people behind them. From transportation, food, space, internet, and health, creators reveal their inspirations and roadblocks they encountered in bringing their breakthroughs to the public. Hear all-new episodes of the award-winning Unsung Science podcast every other Friday.Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Behind-the-scenes science and tech breakthroughs • Inventors, engineers, corporate rivalries • Space exploration and astronomy • Consumer tech standards and platforms • AI, deepfakes, digital trust • Climate, conservation, sustainable food • Health, genetics, medical innovationsThis podcast tells behind-the-scenes origin stories about scientific and technological breakthroughs and the people who made them happen. Hosted by David Pogue, it focuses on how ideas move from concept to real-world impact, often emphasizing the practical obstacles—engineering limits, organizational resistance, funding pressures, safety concerns, or unintended consequences—that inventors and teams have to overcome.
Across the episodes, the subject matter ranges widely: consumer technologies that became everyday infrastructure (digital mapping, connectors and standards, smartphones, QR codes, spam prevention, emoji, noise-canceling audio, wearables and sleep tracking), and the complex systems that support modern life (global shipping and logistics, real-time data, and timekeeping for computers). It also explores frontier engineering in space and exploration, including robotic missions, telescopes, planetary defense, and the tools used to reach extreme environments on Earth and beyond.
A recurring thread is science applied to health and human behavior, from genetics and political attitudes to medical innovations, mRNA vaccines, placebo effects, and DNA-based forensic genealogy. Environmental and climate-related topics appear frequently as well, covering decarbonizing transportation, biodiversity and rewilding, water security, wildfire and climate adaptation, mosquito-borne disease control, and efforts to reduce harm to wildlife.
The show also examines how modern media and AI are reshaping trust and creativity, including deepfakes, content authentication, accessibility features, and technology’s role in music and entertainment. Throughout, interviews with inventors, engineers, scientists, and industry leaders anchor the narratives in firsthand accounts of how breakthroughs are developed and deployed.
| Episodes: |
Grand Finale: A Pop Song is Born2023-Dec-08 52 minutes |
Electric Planes Take Off2023-Nov-24 40 minutes |
Genetics, Votes, and Colin Firth2023-Nov-10 41 minutes |
How Does Google Maps Do It?2023-Oct-26 32 minutes |
How Cool Tech is Saving the Whales2023-Oct-13 40 minutes |
How the Webb Telescope Sees Back in Time2023-Sep-29 43 minutes |
Inside Elon Musk's Brain2023-Sep-16 39 minutes |
Screaming Babies, Noise Canceling, and You2023-Sep-01 41 minutes |
The Pulse-Pounding Origin Story of USB-C2023-Aug-18 44 minutes |
CeCe Moore Cracks Cold Cases with Genealogy2023-Aug-04 43 minutes |
What if Placebos ARE the Medicine?2023-Jul-21 34 minutes |
The Man Who Invented QR Codes2023-Jul-07 37 minutes |
Inside the Lost Titanic Sub: An Update2023-Jun-23 46 minutes |
How Doug Lindsay Invented His Own Surgery2023-Jun-09 41 minutes |
The Power of an Empty Metal Box2023-May-26 39 minutes |
From Klingon to Dothraki: Constructed Languages for Hollywood2023-May-12 39 minutes |
The Million-Dollar Toothpaste Tube2023-Apr-28 41 minutes |
The Rewilded Farm2023-Mar-31 37 minutes |
NASA Redirects an Asteroid2023-Mar-17 35 minutes |
How They Found the Shipwreck Endurance2023-Mar-03 43 minutes |
Deepfakes: Big Tech Fights Back2023-Feb-17 31 minutes |
The Mars Helicopter That Would Not Die2023-Feb-03 50 minutes |
ChatGPT and the End of Writing2023-Jan-20 35 minutes |
Introducing: Season 2 of Unsung Science with David Pogue2023-Jan-13 4 minutes |
Back to Titanic Part 22022-Dec-19 38 minutes |
Back to Titanic Part 12022-Nov-27 40 minutes |
The Secret of Baby Carrots2022-Nov-20 30 minutes |
How Impossible Meats Might Save the Earth2022-Feb-11 40 minutes |
The Man Who Stopped the Spammers2022-Feb-04 32 minutes |
Where Emoji Come From2022-Jan-28 36 minutes |
How the Fitbit Knows You're Dreaming2022-Jan-21 36 minutes |
Subtitles for the Blind2022-Jan-14 52 minutes |
Chainsaws, Women, and the Cape Town Drought2022-Jan-07 40 minutes |
How to Prepare for Wildfires2021-Dec-31 59 minutes |
Where to Live in the Climate-Change Era2021-Dec-24 60 minutes |
Leap Seconds, Smear Seconds, and the Slowing of the Earth2021-Dec-17 39 minutes |
How the Cellphone was Born: Three Months of Craziness2021-Dec-10 37 minutes |
How Apple and Microsoft Built the Seeing-Eye Phone2021-Dec-03 49 minutes |
How to Prepare for Climate Change: Intro2021-Nov-26 7 minutes |
Who Makes the Fake Languages for Hollywood?2021-Nov-19 39 minutes |
How NASA's $2 Billion Rover Landed Itself on Mars: "Seven Minutes of Terror"2021-Nov-12 43 minutes |
Tornado Alley is Shifting Eastward—and We're Not Ready2021-Nov-05 34 minutes |
Audio Deepfakes and the End of Trust2021-Oct-29 45 minutes |
How We Almost Blew the Vaccine2021-Oct-22 41 minutes |
What Happened to the Mosquitoes in Fresno?2021-Oct-15 38 minutes |
Introducing: Unsung Science with David Pogue2021-Sep-27 3 minutes |