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...

Darwin first proposed evolution as a way that species change and diverge to fill niches in their environment. This observation led to the first, rudimentary species trees, showing ancestors and descendants across genetic lineages. But this work is far from settled. As we continue to collect more and richer data sets from species, whether they be plants, bacteria, or mammals like ourselves, researchers need new and better methods for building phylogenetic trees. That’s where Tandy Warnow, from...

Imagine trying to unfold 5 layered, thin metallic sheets, each the size of a tennis court without tearing or snagging the material. Now imagine doing it in the vacuum of space, at a distance much farther than the moon, and that a multimillion dollar project relies on your success. That provides a bit of perspective for the massive undertaking that was the James Webb Space Telescope (or JWST). In this episode of Carry the Two, we hear from NASA lead systems engineer, Mike Menzel, all about...

We're taking a short break to prepare for the new year and season 2. 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.

Our last episode featuring Statistician-in-Residence Tiffany Christian (at least for now), dives into sampling methods. How can we track animal populations, especially those who share our urban environment with us? Ecologists and statisticians have found methods to track everything from coyotes to Canadian geese and can see how their populations are changing over time. Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: Video explaining the statistics of...

Wetlands like the marshes located just outside the city of New Orleans, LA are often overlooked, but these ecosystems provide many vital services. Wetlands, like all ecosystems, are under threat by climate change and particularly the increased tropical storms and hurricanes that tear across our coasts. So how can we monitor vast areas of wetlands to check their health, year after year? Statistician-in-Residence Tiffany Christian explains how researchers can remotely monitor wetland health and...

If you live in the United States, have you already voted? If not, go vote! The bedrock of American democracy is the idea of citizens voting for candidates to represent their interests. However, determining how to cluster voters into districts has always been a fraught topic, particularly when it comes to ensuring that minorities have representation. How can we create the most fair electoral districts? How can we use geometric topographical analysis to recognize gerrymandering strategies like...

Typical invasive species that pop to mind tend to be large animals like the common carp in the Mississippi River, or species obviously detrimental to their non-native habitat like zebra mussels in the Great Lakes. But what about smaller species that are difficult to spot and that are located in remote areas of the country? It turns out, researchers can use statistical methods to help assess remote ecosystems that may be in danger. In the case of today’s topic, we take a look at the invasive...

Have you noticed how summer days seem so much hotter in the city center as compared to the burbs or out in the country? Part of this is due to the “heat island effect,” where heat absorbing materials like concrete and asphalt make areas that are less green feel much hotter. As it turns out, even in big cities, not all neighborhoods are equally affected…  But why? To help answer this question and for the rest of this mini season, we have a recurring guest joining us! Meet Carry the Two’s...

For this episode, host Sadie Witkowski goes a bit off-script. Sadie is joined by sports reporter Jon Zaghloul to interview rookie Cubs pitcher and applied math University of Chicago undergraduate Wilson Cunningham. This conversation ranges from interests in mathematics and statistics to applying those statistics to baseball. Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links: University of Chicago’s story about Wilson’s baseball career:...

We're taking a short break to prepare our mini season, as well as start working on season 2. 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.

Even if you don’t think you’re good at math, it turns out that our brains are basically little statistical machines. Learning a new language, whether as a baby or as an adult attempting to become bilingual, means recognizing the underlying statistical patterns within language. Don’t believe us? Take it from the researchers at Duolingo!  We’re rounding out our first season of the show with Duolingo learning scientist Ben Reuveni, PhD. Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn...

Self-driving cars evoke an image of perfectly synchronized traffic moving through streets as all the vehicles coordinate with each other. Of course, this is a future vision and not the current state of autonomous vehicles. But the process of going from a few self-driving cars to a fully automated grid will be a slow process. Sharon Di, traffic engineer and Columbia University researcher, is here to help explain how engineers and policymakers think about these issues. Find our transcript here:...

Some rare weather events, like the 100-year-flood, are confusingly named. This is because 100 years refers to a statistical probability and not a guaranteed rate. That, combined with our changing climate, means predicting future weather events can be difficult. Thankfully, we have statistical tools to help us with this problem! Sadie and Ian speak with Richard Smith about climate change, rare weather events, and how climate modeling works. Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to learn more?...

5G technologies have long been the subject of concerns and conspiracy theories, especially because many 5G towers rolled out around the same time as the start of the COVID19 pandemic. This episode’s guest, Merouane Debbah, has heard all sorts of stories because of his research. Merouane uses math to study wireless communication and how to improve cell phone technology, including 5G (and 6G!) networks. In this episode, Sadie and Ian talk about the history of wireless technology, the future of...

Welcome to the second episode of Carry the Two! We’re the show for people who enjoy discovering hidden elements that impact our lives in the most unexpected ways. In this episode, Ian and Sadie talk about how honeybees decide on new hive locations when they outgrow their current home. With the help of mathematician Dario Bauso, they learn how researchers use mean field games to model such decision-making and how it applies to other cases as well. Find our transcript here: LINK Curious to...

Welcome to the very first episode of Carry the Two! We’re the show for people who enjoy discovering hidden elements that impact our lives in the most unexpected ways, and today we’re taking a look at how Carrie Diaz Eaton and colleagues use the tool set of mathematics to reflect on STEM (science, technology, engineering, & mathematics) policy documents. Specifically, Carrie used her mathematical know-how to quantify how a policy document from the National Academies of Science, Medicine,...

Check out our new mathematics and statistics podcast, Carry the Two, coming out on June 21st.