Cleo Abram

The deeper you go, the weirder it gets...
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Gigantic, monstrous, beautiful creatures thrive in the cold dark depths of our oceans. Until now though, most of our discoveries have just required decades of work for the chance to just get… lucky.

Now, there’s a NEW WAY to discover the animals hidden in the deepest oceans.

And all you need is a drop of water…

In this video, come with us as we dive into our deepest oceans. Together we’ll see what’s hiding there, explore how we discover new animals today, and reveal the shocking new tech that is unlocking a new age in deep ocean discovery. Huge if true!

Mercury Note: Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC.

Chapters
00:00 What did they find in the deep ocean?
03:16 What animals are hiding in the twilight zone?
05:29 How do we find giant monsters in the deep?
06:43 What else is still hiding in the abyss?
07:42: Why do they get so BIG?
10:20 What can a drop of water tell us?
11:28 How does eDNA work?
12:24 Can we find the colossal squid?
15:03 What about totally unknown species??
16:19 What’s the new frontier of ocean discovery?
17:04 Why is this huge if true?
18:00 :)

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

You can find me on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
On TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
Or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, HUGE* If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- NOAA's eDNA Fact Sheet: https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/environmental-DNA-fact-sheet.pdf
- Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute: https://www.mbari.org/know-your-ocean/what-is-environmental-dna-edna/
- How eDNA technology is changing the game for protecting ocean species: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/12/this-will-finally-lift-the-veil-how-edna-can-see-the-oceans-hidden-life
- Tracking Down Ocean Species On the Go Using eDNA: https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/tracking-down-ocean-species-go-using-edna#:~:text=A%20drop%20of%20the%20prepared,previously%20run%20via%20the%20internet.
- New DNA tool 'changes everything in marine science: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/edna-environmental-dna-counts-fish-changes-marine-science
- DNA left by ocean animals provides rare glimpse of marine ecosystems, Stanford researchers say: https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2017/06/dna-left-ocean-animals-provides-rare-glimpse-marine-ecosystem
- Exploring Deepwater Ecosystems with eDNA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gSSLigCl8Y
- eDNA in the Twilight zone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2djwE5-SG8
- eDNA: How Scientists See Hidden Animals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8m8SLQZX0Q
- How we can detect pretty much anything: https://youtu.be/bdwU_ZPk1cY?si=CMe19bv49U2PcBrP
- The Wild: Eily Andruszkiewicz Allan: The magic of eDNA https://www.kuow.org/stories/eily-andruszkiewicz-allan-the-magic-of-edna
- NOAA's Ocean Omics: https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/noaa-omics/
- Ocean Census: https://oceancensus.org/
- 1OceanFoundation: https://www.1ocean.org/news/the-untold-story-of-mediterranean

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How can a JPEG cost money?
Subscribe to see the next episode: https://www.youtube.com/cleoabram?sub_confirmation=1

The biggest question I hear about NFTs is: “Why can’t I just screenshot that?” Or, put another way, why does a digital image that can be copied have any value? The answer, it turns out, isn’t in an explainer about blockchain technology (you’re welcome). The answer to why NFTs have any value is hiding in the art market that came before them. Because NFTs are weird, but it turns out art is already even weirder. To really understand NFTs, we have to zoom out a bit, and talk about the incredibly strange way we value art to begin with. And that story starts not with crypto, but with a fight at an art auction in 1973…

This video explains why a JPEG can cost money, and how expensive art led to NFTs. Along the way, I get help from two incredible experts: David Galperin, head of contemporary art for the Americas at Sotheby’s, and Alexis Ohanian, founder of Reddit and investor.

David tells me about how the Scull Sale in 1973 exploded the art market forever, how Andy Warhol gave his silk screens to appropriation artist Elaine Sturtevant so she could copy his prints, and how Sol LeWitt’s wall drawings go for millions but the value is in “the certificate, not the drawing.” Alexis gives me a tour of his NFT collection (!), shows me the Cryptopunk (Serenapunk!) he gave to his wife Serena Williams, and explains how this technology has become a new medium for artists looking to the future. Together, we explore the big questions people are asking about NFTs and how the art world has grappled with those same questions for decades: What is value? Where does it come from? What is too much, for too little?

00:00 Why do people buy NFTs?
01:04 How are NFTs like contemporary art?
03:41 Why is art so expensive?
05:10 Is art just money laundering?
06:07 Why do people buy NFTs?
07:41 Are NFTs just a link to an image?
08:47 Why do NFTs matter?
10:24 How do I do sponsorships?

Be featured in an episode - upload questions for me to answer! https://www.dropbox.com/request/Edocsb2kErpueQ7F9T1Q

I tell different stories in different places:
You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated video producer and journalist. Cleo produces detailed explainer stories about technology and economics. She wrote the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained, was the host and a senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, as well as a host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked. She now makes her own independent show, Huge If True. Each episode takes on one big technology innovation or idea, explains what it is, and helps people imagine the ways it could improve the world we live in by answering one simple question: If this works, what could go right?

Sources and additional reading:
- “The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art,” Don Thompson https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780230620599/the12millionstuffedshark
- “The Price of Everything” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iejpS_PpPJk&ab_channel=HBO
- “Museum of Forgeries,” MSCHF ​​https://moforgeries.org/
- “Scull's U.S. Art Brings Record $2 Million,” New York Times, 1973 https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1973/10/19/93293442.html?pageNumber=57
- “Screenshotting NFTS” Know Your Meme https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/screenshotting-nfts
- “The Story of Contemporary Art,” Tony Godfrey https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/story-contemporary-art
- “look what i made for you” GB ‘Doc’ Burford https://docseuss.medium.com/look-what-i-made-for-you-appare

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This wasn't in the book...

Andy is one of the most popular science fiction writers alive today. He also wrote The Martian. What’s special about his work is how real his fake stories are. He showed me the secret spreadsheets he uses to calculate the science in his writing (including my favorite, “wrong math”).

The reason that matters is that fiction can help you see the real world more clearly. Sci-fi is “huge if true”!

This show is about real science and tech, but we’ve done a little sci fi to explain complex things. So I wanted to learn from Andy.

In this conversation, we go deep inside Andy’s fictional worlds to see how exactly he makes them so real…

And we play out a BRAND NEW sci fi story together in real time…

Welcome to HUGE* Conversations.

Chapters
00:00 Who is Andy Weir?
03:10: The world’s largest meteorite
06:04 Andy Weir’s secret spreadsheets
10:04 How Rocky became Rocky
13:02 Where Rocky’s story really began
15:07 What didn’t make it into the book for Project Hail Mary
17:22 How to create a true alien
19:25 Rocky’s body v. your body
23:38 Our new sci-fi story
27:23 How to tell if a planet has alien life
31:23 The biggest question if we do find aliens
36:48 How do you talk to a new alien species
41:16 The biggest changes in The Martian
44:55 The secret sauce of HUGE* and Project Hail Mary
48:15 Does sci-fi influence science
51:17 Andy’s new book
51:42 The biggest sci-fi changes in real life
54:54 The optimistic future Andy sees coming
57:35 What Andy Weir wants to be remembered for
58:42 Sneak peek at our next video!
58:53 :)

You can find me on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
On TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
Or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, HUGE* If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- Novels by Andy Weir: Project Hail Mary, The Martian, Artemis
- "The Egg", a short story by Andy Weir
- Webpage with details of Eridian biology https://www.galactanet.com/eridian/
- Interviews with Andy Weir:
- The Talking Room with Adam Savage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SemyzKgaUU
- Penguin Random House https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16bKLuAZvyw
- Dr. Becky: https://youtu.be/JOgwM941nV4?si=MnS-VdLFJ_GcbShR
- Re: Thinking with Adam Grant https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/worklife-with-adam-grant/id1346314086?i=1000607234826
- Lecture at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2tfh6OUUYUw
- Paper, "What Changed when Andy Weir's The Martian Got Edited?" by Ketzan and Schoch https://dh2017.adho.org/abstracts/317/317.pdf
- NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/programs/exep/

Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/

Gear I use:
Camera: Sony A7SIII
Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM
Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX and Zoom H4N Pro

Music: Musicbed, Tom Fox

Follow along for more episodes of HUGE* If True: https://www.youtube.com/cleoabram?sub_confirmation=1

—
Hey, welcome to the joke down low!

What do you give an alien when they’re upset?
Some space.

Find a way to use “space” in a comment to let me know you’re a real one who made it to the end of the description :)

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Your internet isn't in space. It's in the ocean. But that might change, and here's why.
Subscribe to see more optimistic technology stories!

Elon Musk tweeted that Starlink satellite internet service is now available in Ukraine. What does that really mean? Why is it important? And if it’s a big new thing that the internet is in space then… where was it before? In this video, I dive deep into how your internet gets to you right now, why Elon Musk wants to put it in space, and why it all matters.

We’re in the middle of the Internet Space Race. It’s not just Elon with Starlink and SpaceX, it's also Jeff Bezos with Project Kuiper… oh and don’t forget Richard Branson with OneWeb. Why do all these billionaires want to put your internet in space? So much so that they’re willing to put millions of dollars on the line, weather geomagnetic storms, and launch thousands of satellites into orbit, all in an attempt to change the way millions of people get their (your!) internet.

But this is more than just a fight between billionaires. It’s a fight for the future of the internet. It’s an effort to get connected the billions of people who still, in 2022, don’t have access to high speed internet - or can’t afford the cost given the way it’s being provided today.

This is a story about ambition, connection, and a WHOLE LOT of crazy cool engineering.

I show 3 maps in this video that you might enjoy exploring for yourself:
- Submarine cable map: https://www.submarinecablemap.com/
- Share of the population using the internet: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-individuals-using-the-internet
- Starlink satellite map: https://satellitemap.space/

Chapters:
00:00 The Internet Space Race has begun
01:15 How does the internet work?
05:03 Why put the internet in space?
10:37 How does Starlink work?

Be featured in an episode - upload questions for me to answer: https://www.dropbox.com/request/Edocsb2kErpueQ7F9T1Q

I tell different stories in different places:
You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun tech explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts, threads and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated video producer and journalist. Cleo produces detailed explainer stories about technology and economics. She wrote the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained, was the host and a senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, as well as a host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked. She now makes her own independent show, Huge If True. Each episode takes on one big technology innovation or idea, explains what it is, and helps people imagine the ways it could improve the world we live in by answering one simple question: If this works, what could go right?

Sources I read/watched for this video and think you might enjoy:
- “Why SpaceX is Making Starlink,” Real Engineering https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giQ8xEWjnBs&t=108s&ab_channel=RealEngineering
- “Gaming on STARLINK!!” Linus Tech Tips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh1a2K9ZgNA&t=207s&ab_channel=LinusTechTips
- “What Elon Musk's 42,000 Satellites Could Do To Earth,” Tech Insider https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw3R-4UC4wI&t=165s&ab_channel=TechInsider
- “Why Starlink is crucial for SpaceX’s success,” CNBC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GambrByc01A&t=1010s&ab_channel=CNBC
- “Starlink explained - why SpaceX needs 42,000 satellites,” Undecided with Matt Ferrell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuFS0zOwyBg&t=182s&ab_channel=UndecidedwithMattFerrell
- “It’s time for a new approach for mapping broadband data to better serve Americans,” Microsoft https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2019/04/08/its-time-for-a-new-approach-for-mapping-broadband

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He solved “the most important unsolved problem in science”…
If you need more optimistic science and tech stories, subscribe to support HUGE*!

Demis Hassabis is a Nobel Prize winner and CEO of Google DeepMind. He is one of the most important people alive on what is quickly becoming the biggest technological advance of our lifetime. Because the biggest way AI is going to impact your life, you can’t see.

It’s not a chatbot or an image generator. It’s the tools he and his team are building that are invisible to you – in new drug design, nuclear fusion, natural disasters detection, quantum computers.

So who Demis is and what he chooses to build matters a lot. And he’s fascinating…

He’s a childhood chess prodigy who at 17 turned down a reportedly million dollar job offer from a gaming company to go to college instead, and then get a PhD in neuroscience. He founded his company DeepMind with a mission to “solve intelligence” – starting with beating video games. He sold that company to Google specifically because they promised to let DeepMind focus on scientific research.

But as this has turned into the most intense technological battle in recent history, Demis is now in charge of much much more. He’s now behind basically everything Google does in AI.

He’s making decisions that affect your life and millions of other lives every single day.

So what is he planning to do with all that power?

My goal is to show you the future Demis Hassabis wants to build, so you can decide for yourself what you think of it.

Welcome to HUGE* Conversations.

This interview was recorded on March 5, 2026 in London.

Chapters
00:00 The AI most likely to save your life
02:04 Who is the man behind Google’s AI?
03:58 The 50-year mystery AI just solved
06:15 The moment that changed everything
12:30 Why every future drug will use AI
16:47 The cutting edge of drug discovery now
19:13 How DNA-editing and AI work together
21:52 "I would have left AI in the lab longer"
25:39 The "Code Red" that changed google
29:16 Move 37: When AI got creative
34:24 Why true intelligence is so hard
37:22 From zero to world champion in 24 hours
43:09 How militaries should use AI
45:40 AI risks nobody talks about
50:13 What humans can do that AI can’t
55:17 The sci-fi future Demis imagines
58:17 What Demis Hassabis wants his legacy to be
1:00:14 How to get "superpowers" with AI
1:01:56 How to prepare for AI
1:04:59 :)

You can find me on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
On TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
Or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, HUGE* If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- The Thinking Game (documentary) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d95J8yzvjbQ
- AlphaGo - The Movie (documentary): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXuK6gekU1Y&t=3159s
- Veritasium's "AlphaFold - The Most Useful Thing AI Has Ever Done": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_fHJIYENdI&list=WL&index=5&t=74s
- Google DeepMind: The Podcast, "The future of intelligence | Demis Hassabis": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqVbypvxDto&t=120s
- AlphaGenome Announcement: https://deepmind.google/blog/alphagenome-ai-for-better-understanding-the-genome/
- AlphaFold paper in Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03819-2
- Isomorphic Labs: https://www

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… I’ve been thinking about energy use all wrong.
Subscribe to support Huge If True, an optimistic tech show.

As long as most of our energy still comes from fossil fuels, we’re in kind of a trap. Using less energy is our only real option to slow climate change. So most of us have heard only one message throughout our lives: “Conserve energy. Because terrible things will happen if we don’t.”

That’s true. But I now think of it as “the stick” of climate communication - the way to get people to care about climate change based on fear and desperation.

I think it’s time to talk about “the carrot” - the way to get people to work toward clean energy based on hope and audacious ambition.

This video explains why, with help from my former colleague at Vox, Matt Yglesias. As renewable energy continues to get cheaper, as more and more clean energy technologies become more viable, we have an opportunity to look ahead toward a better future. What would you do with abundant clean energy?

Chapters:
00:00 We’re thinking about energy wrong
01:17 The stick: climate change
02:25 Why you’re taught to conserve energy
03:23 Why we should use more clean energy
04:36 The carrot: energy abundance
05:38 Why poor countries need more energy
06:39 Why everyone needs more energy

Be featured in an episode - upload questions for me to answer! https://www.dropbox.com/request/Edocsb2kErpueQ7F9T1Q

I tell different stories in different places:
You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun tech explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts, threads and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated video producer and journalist. Cleo produces detailed explainer stories about technology and economics. She wrote the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained, was the host and a senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, as well as a host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked. She now makes her own independent show, Huge If True. Each episode takes on one big technology innovation or idea, explains what it is, and helps people imagine the ways it could improve the world we live in by answering one simple question: If this works, what could go right?

Sources and additional reading:
- “The case for more energy,” Matt Yglesias, Slow Boring: https://www.slowboring.com/p/energy-abundance
- “The world’s energy problem,” Our World In Data: https://ourworldindata.org/worlds-energy-problem
- “How Americans see climate change and the environment in 7 charts,” Pew Research Center: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/21/how-americans-see-climate-change-and-the-environment-in-7-charts/
- “How to drive fossil fuels out of the US economy, quickly,” Vox: https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/21349200/climate-change-fossil-fuels-rewiring-america-electrify
- “Energy: Key Charts,” Our World In Data: https://ourworldindata.org/energy-key-charts
- “Why nuclear plants are shutting down,” Vox (previous episode I produced on clean energy dynamics): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC7YD98HixM&t=274s&ab_channel=Vox

Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/

Gear I use:
Camera: Sony A7SIII
Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM
Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX and Zoom H4N Pro

Music: Musicbed

Follow along for more episodes of Huge If True: https://www.youtube.com/cleoabram?sub_confirmation=1

—
Welcome to the joke down low (an idea 100% in reference to Answer In Progress’ awesome “joke below the fold” - I always scroll down to see them and always wanted to do this myself too):

What do wind turbines think of renewable energy?
They’re big fans.

Find a way to use the word “fan” in a comment to let me k

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The first all electric Ferrari, the Ferrari Luce, isn't what you think... (feat. Apple legend Jony Ive and Ferrari Chief Designer Flavio Manzoni)
For more optimistic science and tech stories, subscribe to HUGE*!

You’re about to see the first ever all electric Ferrari. A car Ferrari said they’d never make, that will probably be the most controversial car they’ve ever made. Above all, it will definitely be a massive risk – new tech and new design that will impact all of us, whether or not we ever drive a Ferrari.

I’m at a secret track in Italy to get a first look before it launches. And talk to the two people most responsible for it:
Apple legend Jony Ive who showed me the crazy details inside this car. And Ferrari Chief Designer Flavio Manzoni
who told me the real reason they made it, and why it matters – for Ferrari, electric cars, and you and me.

Welcome to HUGE* Conversations.

This HUGE* Conversation was recorded on April 29, 2026 in Balocco, Italy.

Chapters:
00:00 What is the Ferrari Luce?
1:28 What does the first electric Ferrari look like?
3:28 Why did Ferrari say "never" to electric cars?
5:30 Will all cars be electric by 2035?
7:52 Why is this car already controversial?
10:20 What did Jony Ive learn from 20 years of the iPhone?
12:09 Why does this car matter if I won’t buy a Ferrari?
14:11 How much does the Ferrari Luce cost?
14:40 How fast is the Ferrari Luce?
15:28 What does the inside of the car look like?
17:18 Does the Ferrari Luce have fake engine sound?
18:30 Why did Jony Ive add more buttons and fewer screens?
21:25 What are the secret books Jony Ive wrote Ferrari?
23:18 Does Jony Ive regret the iPhone?
25:56 What would Steve Jobs say?
27:21 Why did Ferrari hire Jony Ive?
28:38 What shocked Flavio Manzoni about the Ferrari Luce?
30:38 Why make such a big car?
31:50 How do you make an electric Ferrari feel alive?
33:12 Is this the future of Ferrari?
35:56 What’s next for Ferrari?
38:11 How did they build the Ferrari Luce?
40:00 What would Enzo Ferrari say?
41:55 What do the world’s most famous designers want their legacy to be?




You can find me on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
On TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
Or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, HUGE* If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching (Nicole or Justin?)
Great multi-decade study on Ferrary by Worldly Partners: https://worldlypartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Ferrari.pdf
Awesome deep dive into Ferrari history by the Acquired pod: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/ferrari
More on Ferrari economics by the Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-wild-economics-behind-ferraris-domination-of-the-luxury-car-market-8427dff0
Origin story of the Ferrari Luce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s2WW-99GtI&t=11s
Design details of the Ferrari Luce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhVjIw9cv_4&t=37s
How Ferrari built the Luce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_67jy3OqqQ&t=84s
Deep dive into the process behind the Ferrari Luce by Jordon Golson: https://www.prndlcars.com/p/what-they-copied-ferrari-luce-jony-ive
More on the interior by Jony Ive with Jordon Golson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wv1btxCjVE

Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242

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Artificial wombs are coming. That's a good thing.
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Artificial wombs are the stuff of science fiction, the scary kind. I think of The Matrix, when Neo wakes up in the real world, covered in goo. But in recent years, researchers have taken enormous leaps in helping embryos survive and grow outside a uterus. Artificial wombs are becoming more science, less fiction.

Any conversation about this topic gets heated, fast. Some people HATE the idea of an artificial womb. They feel that this technology could be used in terrible ways, like to control how people have kids or breed babies. Or that pregnancy is an important, special connection that we can never replicate with technology. Or that it’s a useless distraction, because there’s way more important stuff we should be investing in right now to make life easier for parents (parental leave, affordable childcare) and in the US at least, we don’t.

But others LOVE the idea. They feel that artificial wombs could help reduce the risks of pregnancy, and point out that more than 800 women die from childbirth around the world every day. Or that pregnancy holds women back, with data showing the wage gap is borne mostly by mothers. Or simply that bearing children is painful, an argument all on its own.

At the start of this episode, I feel genuinely conflicted. But halfway through, something happens that gives me a much-needed perspective shift.

In this video, we dive deep into artificial wombs, with help from leading researcher Dr. Jacob Hanna. We explore how close we really are on artificial wombs now, how they work, why they’re so controversial - and why I realized I’d totally use one.

Chapters:
00:00 Artificial wombs are coming
1:42 What is an artificial womb?
2:58 How close are we to artificial wombs?
4:06 Why are artificial wombs controversial?
6:42 Why we need artificial womb research now
9:42 My big perspective shift
12:19 What to expect from surgery
14:53 I get surgery
16:30 Why we need artificial wombs
18:48 The artificial womb moonshot

Be featured in an episode - upload questions for me to answer! https://www.dropbox.com/request/Edocsb2kErpueQ7F9T1Q

I tell different stories in different places:
You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun tech explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts, threads and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated video producer and journalist. Cleo produces detailed explainer stories about technology and economics. She wrote the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained, was the host and a senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, as well as a host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked. She now makes her own independent show, Huge If True. Each episode takes on one big technology innovation or idea, explains what it is, and helps people imagine the ways it could improve the world we live in by answering one simple question: If this works, what could go right?

Sources and additional reading:
- The twitter fight that inspired this episode: https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/1483491180906045440
- Dr. Hanna and his team’s research, “Ex utero mouse embryogenesis from pre-gastrulation to late organogenesis,” Nature 2021 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03416-3
- “Maternal Mortality,” Our World In Data https://ourworldindata.org/maternal-mortality
- “The true cause of the gender wage gap,” Vox ​​https://www.vox.com/2018/2/19/17018380/gender-wage-gap-childcare-penalty
- Organ transplant data, US Dept of Health and Human Services https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/data/
- “Experimenting With Test-Tube Babies

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Something's hiding below the ice in Antarctica….
For optimistic science and tech stories, subscribe!

In 1970, a team of Soviet scientists started drilling. For 28 years, they kept going… until after nearly 4,000 meters… they suddenly stopped. Because they’d found something unimaginable: Liquid water. A secret lake, down below all this ice, that had been completely sealed off from the rest of the world for 15 million years.

How? And… is there something alive in there? Creatures that have been evolving separately from the rest of the planet for 15 million years?

Scientists started searching for more of these secret lakes, and as they did, they realized there is way more going on under Antarctica than we ever thought.

I needed to know the truth about Earth’s most remote continent. So I've come all the way to Antarctica to show you what's really happening down below this ice. And exactly what they discovered when they finally broke inside…

Chapters:
00:00 What’s hiding under Antarctica?
01:50 How thick is the ice in Antarctica?
2:30 What if you dig a hole into Antarctica?
4:13 What’s inside a crevasse?
4:56 How do we know what’s under the ice?
6:24 What if you go deeper?
07: 18 How old is the ice under Antarctica?
10:33 Why are there lakes under Antarctica's ice?
13:31 How can we study the subglacial lakes?
15:19 Did we find new life under Antarctica?
16:52 Can research in Antarctica help us find aliens in space?
17:41 What don’t we know?
18:12 What's next?
18:22 :)

Special thanks to Dr. Steven Chown, Rebecca Warne and all of the amazing guides from the White Desert Foundation leading Science Week .

You can find me on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
On TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
Or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, HUGE* If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- History on the drilling into Lake Vostok: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/annals-of-glaciology/article/deep-drilling-at-vostok-station-antarctica-history-and-recent-events/8DA18E684DD19E80E7D02F2FBD2DFA26
- Drilling into Lake Ellsworth: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/antarcticas-subglacial-lake-ellsworth-will-keep-its-secrets-for-now-75/
- WISSARD (Lake Whillans) drilling project: https://www.montana.edu/priscu/research/current/wissard-summary.html, https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/antarcticas-subglacial-lakes-support-prospects-for-life-on-icy-moons/
- SALSA (Lake Mercer) drilling project: https://today.ucsd.edu/story/researchers-extract-first-layered-lake-sediment-sample-from-subglacial-antarctica.
- Beyond EPICA and Million year Ice Core Projects: https://www.beyondepica.eu/en/, https://www.antarctica.gov.au/science/climate-processes-and-change/antarctic-palaeoclimate/million-year-ice-core/
- Bedmap data from the British Antarctic Survey: https://bedmap.scar.org/
- The Polar Regions: https://nsidc.org/home, https://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/
- Helen Fricker’s work + NASA’s ICESat tools: https://icesat-2.gsfc.nasa.gov/, https://today.ucsd.edu/story/uc-san-diego-led-science-team-selected-for-nasa-satellite-mission, https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1136897
- John Priscu's research on the Lake Vostok’s accretion ice: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/

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The real science of puppy aging
Subscribe to support optimistic science and tech videos!

Meet Thor. He’s a 10-pound Australian Shepherd and, objectively, the cutest dog to ever live (except yours, of course). Thor is 8 years old, which means that he is likely about halfway through his life. I on the other hand am probably about a third of the way through mine. I hate that math. It seems cruel that we live so much longer than our best friends.

What can we do to help dogs live longer? That’s where this video begins. Along the way, my research took me on a journey to better understand what aging is, human and dog longevity research, how dogs and humans age differently, and why “dog years” aren't real. I met Celine Halioua, founder of a company called Loyal, which is conducting large-scale dog longevity research. And I spent some quality time with Thor.

But the best part of this video is that YOU submitted your dog videos and photos! This video is dedicated to your dogs: Poppy, Cleo (oh, hey!), Alexa, Pickles, Bree, Tuffy, Whitey, Dakota, Callan, Annie, Lonzo, Belle, Momo, Nelson, Yolie, Achilles, Yondu, Jasper, Ginny, Arya, Goldie, Macho, Mochi, Bombon, Pepe, Cheeseburger (omg), Ellie, Hagrid, Leia, Mosley, Chillie, Mery, Azure, Data, Luna, Dobby, Ketch, Sem, Hershey, Kobe, Penny, Ari, Lou, Browser, Molly, Pia, Jack, Pocky, Alphonse, Banjo, Sandy, Simba, Maha, Chip, Titus, Dougal, Apollo, Lucky, Mister, Mouse, King, Meda, Yoshi, Bacon, Mia, Sherry, and Macy. We love you. (Please let me know if you submitted but don’t see your dog’s name here! I’ll add them.)

Chapters:
00:00 How can I help my dog live longer?
01:11 What are dog years?
02:29 How do you measure aging?
03:15 The methylation “aging clock”
04:10 Why small dogs live longer
05:22 Making all dogs live longer
06:49 How to help my dog live longer now
07:43 Ode to our best friends

Be featured in an episode - upload questions for me to answer! https://www.dropbox.com/request/Edocsb2kErpueQ7F9T1Q

I tell different stories in different places:
You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun tech explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts, threads and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated video producer and journalist. Cleo produces detailed explainer stories about technology and economics. She wrote the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained, was the host and a senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, as well as a host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked. She now makes her own independent show, Huge If True. Each episode takes on one big technology innovation or idea, explains what it is, and helps people imagine the ways it could improve the world we live in by answering one simple question: If this works, what could go right?

Sources and additional reading:
- “The Seven-Year Glitch,” WSJ https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121997338176882143
- “Quantitative translation of dog-to-human aging by conserved remodeling of epigenetic networks” https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/829192v2
- “What the aging field needs,” Celine Halioua https://www.celinehh.com/aging-field
- “Why do dogs get old? Some theories of aging” https://skeptvet.com/Blog/2021/02/why-do-dogs-get-old-some-basic-theories-of-aging/
- “Dogs are great models for aging biology” https://blog.loyalfordogs.com/dogs-are-great-models-for-aging-biology/

Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/

Gear I use:
Camera: Sony A7SIII
Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM
Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX and Zoom H4N Pro

Music: Musicbed

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