This week on Entanglements, hosts Brooke Borel and Anna Rothschild talk to a former OpenAI employee and a Princeton professor about AI and doom. Could AI really become an existential threat to humanity? Or is the possibility — highlighted by some 300 AI experts in an open letter last year — overhyped?

The Undark podcast is back with a new format and a new name: Entanglements. Tune in as our hosts explore some of the most contentious topics in science today. Our first 8-episode season will launch November 11, with new episodes dropping every Monday through the end of the year. 

This month: Some regions of the deep ocean contain vast amounts of key minerals, like cobalt and nickel, that are needed to power clean energy technologies. But some scientists warn that mining them could have tremendous consequences, not just for underwater ecosystems, but for the planet as a whole.

This month: Twenty-six years after the end of the Bosnian War, farmers in Livno are once again making cheese the traditional way, grazing herds of sheep on the wide-open plains. The animals' return is restoring natural wetlands, leading to cascading impacts on the environment and the economy.

For scientists who come from abroad to live and work in America, accents can be personal. It's discouraging to be misunderstood, even when they think they’re speaking clearly. Sometimes, it could even be a career liability. Is the problem the accent, or those on the receiving end?

Residents of Lebanon's Beqaa Valley say pollution in the Litani River is responsible for a host of chronic health problems. While a causal link is hard to prove, cleanup efforts are precarious amid the country's economic crisis and shifting blame between refugees and government inaction.

Alkaline hydrolysis is an end-of-life option that’s gaining popularity in Canada and the U.S. It’s marketed as a greener form of cremation — a way to still end up with ashes, but without sending harmful emissions into the air. But getting the technology approved by lawmakers has proven difficult.

When Pervis Payne was sentenced to death more than three decades ago, it was permissible to execute someone with an intellectual disability. A Supreme Court decision changed that in 2002, but Payne's disability was acknowledged only last year. Why did it take so long to remove him from The Row?

Urbanization in Lagos, Nigeria, is moving at a rapid clip — burying mangrove forests and wetlands under mounds of sand to make way for wealthy subdivisions. Without strong regulations around how that sand is harvested, the social, economic, and environmental consequences are vast.

Scientists and counterterrorism experts believe understanding the underlying motivations of radical extremists will help them deradicalize people. Now, one group has studied the brain activity of active extremists after asking them to contemplate the values they are willing to fight and die for.