We’re talking about science. But not just any science...
Each episode, journalist Jo Marchant meets researchers who are doing things differently: challenging our assumptions, stretching our minds, and changing how we see the world.
We’ll be pushing boundaries from cosmology and quantum physics to neuroscience, archaeology, ecology… Jo’s guests are asking deep questions, chasing outrageous dreams, and exploring the world in completely new ways.
As well as learning about their pioneering ideas, we’ll hear their personal stories: what inspires their leaps of imagination; how they keep going despite the obstacles; the importance of thinking differently; and why we need creativity to survive. But most of all, Where The Wild Thoughts Are is about the wonder of peeking past supposed limits. Come into the wild with us, for a glimpse of what’s beyond…
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We’re talking about science. But not just any science...
Each episode, journalist Jo Marchant meets researchers who are doing things differently: challenging our assumptions, stretching our minds, and changing how we see the world.
We’ll be pushing boundaries from cosmology and quantum physics to neuroscience, archaeology, ecology… Jo’s guests are asking deep questions, chasing outrageous dreams, and exploring the world in completely new ways.
As well as learning about their pioneering ideas, we’ll hear their personal stories: what inspires their leaps of imagination; how they keep going despite the obstacles; the importance of thinking differently; and why we need creativity to survive. But most of all, Where The Wild Thoughts Are is about the wonder of peeking past supposed limits. Come into the wild with us, for a glimpse of what’s beyond…
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We're delving into one of the ancient world's biggest mysteries: the Herculaneum scrolls. Computer scientist Brent Seales of the University of Kentucky talks about a journey that has taken him from Mars to Beowulf to the Dead Sea and beyond. AI has been key to finally reading what's inside the scrolls -- but this is a story about human ingenuity, and what it takes to make an impossible dream come true.
These are hundreds of Greek and Latin papyri, buried by the Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD and dug up in the 1700s. The scrolls were crushed and carbonised; when anyone tried to read them, they crumbled. Scholars had to accept the rest would never be opened.
This is the only intact library we have from the classical world – complete texts, direct from the pens of ancient scribes. Yet we can’t read them.
Until now. These unopenable scrolls are now being read, through the Vesuvius Challenge, which offers prizes for teams using AI to find the ink in X-ray scans. I’ve written several articles on this, and the pace of discovery has been jawdropping: scholars could soon read the whole library.
But solving this problem hasn't just been about switching on AI. For me, the truly fascinating story is the 20 years of imagination, invention and persuasion that led to this point, all essentially due to one man who persevered even when everyone else thought the idea was crazy.
Brent Seales
https://educelab.engr.uky.edu/w-brent-seales
Vesuvius Challenge
Schmidt Sciences
https://www.schmidtsciences.org/focus-area-ai/
My articles:
Scaling up the Vesuvius Challenge: Apr 2025
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01087-y
AI could rewrite history: Jan 2025
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-04161-z
First passages revealed: Feb 2024
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00346-8
Brent Seales' quest: Jul 2018
Journal papers:
Reading En-Gedi scroll
https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.1601247
Recovering Herculaneum ink
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0215775
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WTWTA is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada
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