Virtual reality adoption has been slow. Despite promising leaps in the tech over the past several decades, relatively few VR headsets have been sold worldwide, especially compared to smartphones. Can the world's most popular social network bring VR to the forefront? In this episode, Motherboard's Louise Matsakis goes to Facebook to try out its virtual reality platform and chat with its head of Social VR, Rachel Franklin.

Radio Motherboard sits down with infamous hacker and computer security expert Kevin Mitnick—AKA The Condor—to discuss internet safety, online privacy, and the art of hacking.

The award-winning sci-fi novelist's new book 'Provenance' is due out September 26. A far-flung space empire on the verge of internal collapse? Check. A multi-body artificial intelligence that calls all people "she"? Si. Tea? Of course. These are just some of the aspects of sci-fi author Ann Leckie's award-winning Imperial Radch book series, which started with her debut novel Ancillary Justice in 2013. Ahead of her new book Provenance, which will be available on September 26, Leckie stopped...

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies aren't just for making money. Enthusiasts often believe the technology could help give rise to a political revolution. But of what kind? On this week's episode, we talk to two researchers about the ideology behind Bitcoin. Did it arise out of extreme right-wing beliefs, or merely the desire to fight back against big tech companies consolidating the internet?

Description: We talk to the award-winning sci-fi author about his new book, New York 2140.

It's the 10th anniversary of the iPhone! Motherboard's Jason Koebler talks to Brian Merchant, author of The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone, about how Apple's most groundbreaking products changed our lives.

Motherboard has a change in management! Starting today, Jason Koebler is taking over the keys to this website as its new editor-in-chief. To set a course for the future of the site, he sat down with Derek Mead—who had been running Motherboard for the last four years—to record a podcast about where we’re going as a media outlet and where humanity is going, more generally.

Radio Motherboard talks time travel, sound tech, and why we're all living in the Grateful Dead's future, with Amir Bar-Lev, director of the new Martin Scorsese-produced documentary about the band.    

A mystery is only as good as its solution…at least, that’s what host Kaleigh Rogers believes. Science Solved It is a new weekly show from Motherboard that introduces listeners to the world’s greatest mysteries that were solved by science, with insight from the actual researchers who cracked the case. We cover everything from strange, underwater noises to cartoons that give people seizures, all with a satisfying scientific solution at the end. Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite app or...

We'll be back with a new episode tomorrow, but in the meantime, please vote for Motherboard in the Webbys: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2017/podcasts-digital-audio/general-podcasts/technology ... Then tweet at us telling us you voted (@jason_koebler or @motherboard), and we'll select one person to come on a future episode of the show to talk about whatever they want.     

Have you ever tried a digital detox? Or spending less time on Facebook, Twitter, or Reddit? Kenneth Goldsmith definitely hasn't. He's a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches a class called "Wasting Time on the Internet." What started as an exploration of how we spend time online quickly became something of an art project—students shared their passwords, deleted files at random off their classmates' computers, and started impromptu dance parties. Goldsmith tells us why...

Congress just voted to repeal the FCC's privacy rules that prevent your internet provider from selling your personal data to the highest bidder. Last week, Radio Motherboard talked to Mignon Clyburn—the only Democrat on the commission—who is still fighting to protect your privacy.  Motherboard Contributing Editor Sam Gustin and Senior Staff Writer Jason Koebler spoke with Clyburn about privacy, net neutrality, broadband access and competition, the future of the FCC, and what it means to...

Radio Motherboard talks to Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, and Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of Repair.org about legislation that is moving through eight states that would require electronics manufacturers to enable you to fix your things. The bills have been intensely opposed by companies like Apple, IBM, John Deere, and dozens of other gigantic corporations. If you're here, you might want to check out "pluspluspodcast," a new podcast from Motherboard that takes you on the road with our...

Motherboard is launching a brand new show! This is a preview for "pluspluspodcast," a fully produced, documentary-style show that takes you on the road with Motherboard reporters as we meet with the people who are helping shape our shared, crazy future. In season one, we'll go to India, Canada, and all over the United States to talk to hackers, scientists, activists, and gun nuts.  You can find the feed on any podcast app—it's "pluspluspodcast," all one word and spelled out. Here's a...

Radio Motherboard's first ever LIVE EPISODE! On February 12, the Radio Motherboard crew recorded a podcast in front of a live audience at the Work x Work On Air festival. We talked about what it means to be vigilant in Trump's America and discussed how Motherboard and the general populous can defend the future from an administration that seems hellbent on stunting progress. Also, a helpful audience member explains why you should always use encrypted chat with your drug dealers.   Special...

The internet of things, End User License Agreements, and Digital Rights Management are increasingly being used to give electronics manufacturers control and ownership over your stuff even after you buy it. Radio Motherboard talks to Aaron Perzanowski and Jason Schultz, authors of The End of Ownership about what we stand to lose when our songs, movies, tractors, and even our coffee makers serve another master. 

Radio Motherboard discusses the extent that memes have taken over political discourse with Ryan Milner, a College of Charleston assistant professor who wrote his PhD. dissertation on memetics. We also discuss the idea of meme warfare, meme insurgency, and meme use by nation states. Milner is the author of World Made Meme, published by MIT Press.

A preview for the new Nintendo Switch has brought us to the startling realization that Super Mario is not a homo sapien. On this episode, we discuss the geographic location of the Mushroom Kingdom and how excited we should be for Nintendo’s new console. Waypoint managing editor Danielle Riendeau and Motherboard contributor Zack Kotzer join the discussion—listen to Waypoint Radio wherever you get your podcasts.

Dozens of scientists working at schools like the University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Toronto, and a handful of others are frantically working on a series of projects to preserve government science from alteration or deletion under the Donald Trump administration.  In this episode, we’ll be checking in with Nick Shapiro and Bethany Wiggin, who are organizing efforts to download and rehost vital climate change data before Trump takes office.

Diabetes is usually considered a disease of excess—so why are so many starving people in India getting it?

Like much of America, we are big fans of HBO's 'Westworld,' but not because of the science in the show. To be honest, the show doesn't really bother trying to explain how its hosts work, but in doing so, it allows the show to ask some of the big ethical questions associated with artificial intelligence and our pursuit of the singularity. Radio Motherboard talks to Facebook AI researcher Antoine Bordes about where we are in the development of artificial intelligence right now, and the show...

Radio Motherboard was recently down for a few days because we migrated our feed to a new address. If you have had trouble getting this through any of your apps, please change the feed to: http://radiomotherboard.vice-media.libsynpro.com/rss Also: We are beginning an every Tuesday publishing schedule starting now. Thank you for listening!

Motherboard takes a trip to Biofabricate, a synthetic biology conference at the Parsons School of Design. We talk to Aaron Nesser and Kenji Higashi, two entrepreneurs who are hoping that fibers made of spider silk and alginate could help clean up our disastrous fashion industry.

Motherboard's writers, editors, and contributors have spent the last week talking to activists, researchers, and policy makers about the powers that Donald Trump will inherit when he takes power in January. There's little sense in speculating about what Trump will do when he takes office, but it's important to understand the powers he will have to affect things like climate change, energy policy, surveillance, cybersecurity, and the other things Motherboard holds dear.   Credits for this...

We couldn't ignore the fact that an impending Trump presidency feels like a Black Mirror episode. We discuss his campaign and the election through the lens of Black Mirror, and discuss 'San Junipero,' 'Men Against Fire,' and 'Hated in the Nation.'