Where What If Becomes What's Next
by Carnegie Mellon University
Welcome to Season 3 of WHERE WHAT IF BECOMES WHAT’S NEXT. As Carnegie Mellon University celebrates its 125th anniversary, we’re spotlighting 15 CMU inventions that changed the world. From the origins of AI and robotics to innovations in the arts and sciences, join us as we trace the journey from “what if” to “what’s next.” With host Randy Scott, every other Thursday we’re going behind the scenes with CMU makers and visionaries to bring you the stories you may know and the ones you won't believe. Subscribe so you’ll never miss an episode. For more info: cmu.edu/whatsnextpodcast.
Episodes
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Re-Thinking Thinking: The Birth of AI
What happens when a university brings together engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs and artists to tackle the world’s toughest problems? You get the hashtag. Wi-Fi. “Toy Story.” Artificial intelligence. And even Silly Putty. For the Season Three finale of Where What If Becomes What’s Next, we are...
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Cutting the Cord: How Wireless Andrew Paved the Way for Today’s Wi-Fi
What if the wireless connection you take for granted began as a small research experiment, and only revealed its true potential when students hacked their way onto it? In this episode, we're joined by Alex Hills, Distinguished Service Professor of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon...
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Reinventing Animation: The Story Behind Toy Story
How does a filmmaker who had no interest in computers end up producing the first computer-animated feature film – a movie that would change animation forever? That movie was “Toy Story,” and this is the story of the filmmaker, the technologies, and the people who made this groundbreaking movie...
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Materials Science: From Silly Putty to Self-Healing Robots
A failed rubber substitute. A cloudy liquid that looked like a mistake. A robot that heals itself. This episode looks at three chapters in Carnegie Mellon University's long history of materials science: two born from happy accidents, and one built entirely on purpose. The first is Silly Putty. In...
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Imagining the Future: One Story at a Time
What happens when a kid who devours science fiction novels grows up to earn a PhD in robotics — and then writes the books he once dreamed of? Daniel H. Wilson, a Cherokee citizen and Carnegie Mellon University alumnus, has spent his career moving between two worlds: building intelligent machines...
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Bold Strokes: Making the Ordinary Pop
What if the coffee cup on your desk or the ketchup bottle in your fridge could become a symbol recognized around the world? For pop artist and Carnegie Mellon University alum Burton Morris, that's not a hypothetical — it's a career. In this episode, Morris traces his path from a Pittsburgh...
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A New Equation: Teaching Math for an AI World
What is the purpose of learning math in a world where AI can solve any equation in seconds? Carnegie Mellon mathematician Po-Shen Loh has spent his career arguing that math was never really about memorizing formulas — it's about learning how to think. In this episode, part of CMU's series...
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Tech for Good: Rescuing Food to Fight Hunger and Climate Change
What if the surplus food restaurants and grocery stores throw away every day could instead feed the millions of people who don't know where their next meal is coming from? That question sent Leah Lizarondo down a path that reshaped how communities think about hunger, waste, and climate change. In...
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Down the Rabbit Hole: How Alice Turned Computer Coding Into a Wonderland
Thirty years ago, Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch asked a simple question: What if anyone could learn to program a computer? Not just computer scientists, not just engineers. What if kids could learn coding the same way they learned to tell stories, build worlds, and play games?...
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Encore: Curtain Up - What’s Next for Theatre Arts
Greatness is inevitable when focus marries passion, and theatre arts educator Freddie Hendricks lives by, and teaches, that mantra to his students. On June 7, Carnegie Mellon University and the Tony Awards named Hendricks the winner of the 2026 Excellence in Theatre Education Award — the honor...
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Bold Builds: How a Class Project Sparked World-Changing Startups
What if a successful startup began with a collaborative class project instead of a business plan? For CMU alum Shanna Tellerman that’s exactly what happened, and it sparked an entrepreneurial career that has reshaped how we design and experience spaces. In this episode, Tellerman shares her…
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The Shape of Everyday Life: How Carnegie Mellon Revolutionized Industrial Design
What if the objects around you weren't just built, but carefully designed to shape how you live? In this episode, we trace the origins of industrial design from Pittsburgh's factory floors to the iconic products defining modern life — and explore how Carnegie Mellon University – and its faculty…
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Making Machines Make Music
What happens when a computer scientist is also a trumpet player? Meet Roger Dannenberg — CMU professor, pioneer of computer music, and co-creator of Audacity — one of the most widely used free audio editing tools in the world. In this episode, drawing from CMU’s Oral History Archives, Roger...
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Designing for the Planet: The Clever Thermostat and the Odorless Food Recycler
What if the secret to saving the planet was hiding in your hallway and under your kitchen sink? Matt Rogers, Carnegie Mellon University electrical and computer engineering alumnus, joins us to trace a remarkable career path — from engineering iPods and iPhones at Apple to co-founding Nest, the...
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Watching the Universe Change: A New Era in Astronomy Begins
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile is now operational, and humanity's view of the universe will never be the same. In this episode, we return to Carnegie Mellon University’s Rachel Mandelbaum, professor and head of the physics department – and a key architect of the observatory's data...
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The Birth of the Hashtag: How a Simple Symbol Changed the World
In 2007, an unused key on the phone keypad became the internet's most powerful organizing tool. In this episode, we sit down with Chris Messina, the Carnegie Mellon University alumnus who invented the hashtag – now used more than three billion times a day – and famously gave it away for free....
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Season 3 Trailer: Where What If Becomes What’s Next
The smiley face in your last text, the Kevlar protecting first responders, and the Wi-Fi signal connecting us all—where did they actually come from? Welcome to Season 3 of Where What If Becomes What's Next, where we take you on a journey through 125 years of innovation at Carnegie Mellon...
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Guiding a Safe Future for AI – Part 2
What if machines could reason like humans? We're racing toward that reality. It's called artificial general intelligence. The question is, can we build it safely? In the second part of our conversation with Dr. Zico Kolter, head of Carnegie Mellon University's Machine Learning Department and…
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Guiding a Safe Future for AI – Part 1
What if AI is automating the one thing that's always made us human—Intelligence itself? And how do we ensure that it's developed safely? In this first of a two-part series, we speak with Dr. Zico Kolter, head of Carnegie Mellon University's Machine Learning Department and newly appointed OpenAI...
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Unlocking the Future of Gene Therapy
What if AI could help design gene therapies so precise they eliminate chronic pain while leaving other senses completely intact? And what if the secret to treating Parkinson's Disease lies hidden in the genome of a mouse? In this episode, we explore groundbreaking advances in genetic medicine…
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Critical Choices: AI in Disaster Management and Healthcare
What if AI could help emergency responders make split-second decisions that save lives during disasters? And what if that same technology could be used in healthcare to identify which patients desperately need care before it's too late? In this episode, we explore how artificial intelligence is...
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Farm to Future: How Robotics and AI are Revolutionizing Agriculture
What if robots could pick apples without bruising them, detect diseases in tomatoes before farmers can see them, or even help prevent catastrophic wildfires? In this episode, host Randy Scott speaks with Professor George Kantor from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute. Professor...
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Cracking the Cosmic Code: How Software Powers the Rubin Observatory
Imagine a telescope so powerful it could give us a whole new picture of the cosmos and help answer some of the biggest questions about the universe–if we can handle the data. From a mountaintop in Chile, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is revolutionizing astronomy. The Observatory began capturing...
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The Science of Sound - Part 2
The sound of someone chewing can be annoying. But what if only one specific person's chewing bothered you? And what if it went beyond annoyance to actual pain? In this the second of a two-part episode on the Science of Sound, host Randy Scott discusses with Professor Laurie Heller what happens…
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The Science of Sound - Part 1
We live in an increasingly noisy world. Our cities are louder than ever. Our devices can pump dangerous levels of sound directly into our ears. One in eight kids has permanent hearing damage. And while we count calories and track our steps, most of us have no idea how much acoustic damage we're...
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Happy Fourth of July
Happy Fourth of July from the Where What If Becomes What’s Next podcast team and Carnegie Mellon University. As we celebrate independence and look towards the future, our host Randy Scott reflects on the spirit of innovation and forward-thinking embodied by Carnegie Mellon University. For...
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The Science of Coping with Stress
What if instead of avoiding stress we actually leaned into it – and built resilience for next time? In this episode, we speak with Dr. David Creswell, a psychology and neuroscience professor at Carnegie Mellon University, about reframing our relationship with stress. Creswell argues that modern...
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Game Theory Decoded - Part 2
In the second part of a special two-part episode on Game Theory, CMU’s Kevin Zollman discusses how the principles of Game Theory can be used for the betterment of humanity – including improving social interactions, addressing complex global challenges like hunger, and improving personal...
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Game Theory Decoded - Part 1
Have you ever been stuck in traffic and switched lanes, only to watch your old lane start moving faster? Or perhaps you've stood in a grocery line, debating whether to move to the shorter line, knowing others are thinking the same thing? Welcome to Game Theory in action. In Part 1 of a two-part...
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Future of AI: DeepSeek’s Transformative Impact
What if a small startup transformed the future of artificial intelligence in the blink of an algorithm? This conversation explores the transformative impact of DeepSeek, a groundbreaking AI chatbot that has disrupted the AI landscape by offering competitive performance at a fraction of the cost…
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Curtain Up: What’s Next for Theater Arts
What role should new technologies – such as robots, artificial intelligence and virtual reality – play in theatrical arts? And how are educators preparing their students for the future of this art form? This episode explores the future of arts education, particularly in theater, focusing on how...
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Healing with Intelligence Part 2: Quantum Science Diagnoses Diseases Faster, Better
What if AI and an emerging new technology called quantum science could save millions of lives from diseases like cancer or pneumonia? In this second part on Healing with Intelligence – we're exploring how quantum science has the potential to transform healthcare by helping doctors to better...
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Healing with Intelligence Part 1: AI and Robots Saving Lives
In today’s episode – the first of a two-parter on Healing with Intelligence – we're exploring how robots, artificial intelligence, and an emerging new technology called quantum science are transforming healthcare by helping doctors to better diagnose, monitor, and treat illness. In part one, we...
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Season 2: Where What If Becomes What’s Next
Welcome to Season 2 of Where What If Becomes What's Next, a podcast from Carnegie Mellon University where we ask the bold questions that will become innovations for the betterment of humanity. You'll hear about breakthroughs at CMU from scientists, researchers, innovators and artists at the...
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Does Compute: Robots in Space
While we’re working on Season 2 of Where What If Becomes What’s Next, we’d like to introduce you to a new Carnegie Mellon University podcast - DOES COMPUTE — from our School of Computer Science – where CMU experts, alumni and students along with host Stephanie Stricklen will explore what’s next…
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Mind to Machine Part 2: What’s Next for AI
Artificial intelligence is already revolutionizing almost every aspect of society. But what additional advancements will we see in the near future? And what ethical issues should we address along the way? In this, the second of a two-part episode – and our Season One finale – we explore what’s…
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Mind to Machine Part 1: A Brief History of AI
If you think that Artificial Intelligence was recently invented, think again. The roots of AI go back decades, centuries, even to ancient mythology. So how did AI go from myth to reality? In this, the first of a special two-part episode, we present a brief history of AI. We start with the first...
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Paleobionics: Dinosaurs Are Back
What if paleontologists could create robot replicas of dinosaurs to better understand them – and how they moved – and in turn learn more about us? In this episode, we’re talking about the intersection of paleontology, robotics, and artificial intelligence. That includes paleobionics… an emerging...
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AI Care Part 2: Companion Robots Help the Elderly Feel Less Lonely
What if a robot could be a compassionate companion - an antidote to loneliness as we age – and in some cases – help those suffering from dementia? Loneliness among the elderly has become something of an epidemic. According to a recent national survey, about 37 % of American adults aged 50 to 80...
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AI Care Part 1: Robots and AI Transforming Healthcare
Robots and artificial intelligence are transforming the healthcare industry, from drug development to surgical procedures to personalized healthcare plans. In this, the first of a two-part episode, we'll take a big picture look at these transformational technologies and meet a leader in the...
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Driven: What’s Next for Autonomous Vehicles
What’s next for autonomous self-driving cars? In this episode we explore the development of self-driving autonomous vehicles and the role of AI in improving their reliability, safety, and economic viability. We discuss the history of self-driving vehicles, including the DARPA Challenges which...
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AI and Agriculture: How to Pick an Apple
What does it take to teach a robot to pick an apple? Let’s find out. In today’s episode, we will explore how AI technologies are helping agriculture solve some of the world’s biggest problems – from world hunger to protecting the environment to a labor shortage down on the farm. Robots, drones…
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Happy Fourth of July
Happy 4th of July – from the Where What If Becomes What’s Next podcast team – and Carnegie Mellon University. I’m your host Randy Scott, and we are giving the team a well-deserved break – and will see you on July 18th with our next episode on how Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing...
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Robots to the Rescue: AI Revolutionizes Disaster Response
What if artificial intelligence and robotics – including drones – are used to revolutionize disaster response? It's already happening. The use of drones – particularly small consumer drones – has become standard in disaster response due to their affordability and ease of use. AI is used to…
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Stellar Observations: AI’s Journey into the Cosmos
What if AI could discover new black holes and unlock the secrets of the universe? On this episode, we're diving deep into the cosmos and back in time to explore how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing astrophysics and astronomy at warp speed. From discovering black holes to modeling the...
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Clocking In: AI Transforms the Future of Work
What if AI transformed your job so you had four-day weekends or never even had to work again? The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence is poised to dramatically transform the landscape of work. As routine tasks are automated by AI, new efficiencies are created, freeing up time for workers…
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What’s Next: AI Ventures Beyond the Cosmos
What if AI can help discover new black holes and help scientists unravel the greatest mysteries of our cosmos? In this preview of an upcoming episode, we journey into space with AI – which is revolutionizing astrophysics, uncovering the mysteries of the cosmos and shaping the future of space...
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AI for Science: What's Next in Research
What if researchers could run thousands of experiments all at the same time to solve some of the world's greatest problems -- like sickle cell anemia, Alzheimer’s or cancer? We take you inside what's next for scientific research -- automated science. Automated science is where AI and hands-on...
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When Drones and Robots Knock on Your Door
What if a self-driving robotic vehicle or drone delivered your next package? Artificial intelligence is transforming how companies deliver packages the “last mile” to your home, the most expensive and time-consuming part of the supply chain. Companies are using AI to reduce costs and improve...
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Finding the Deep Truth About Deep Fakes
What if AI-generated deep fakes could be used to influence our upcoming elections? Generative AI (GenAI) allows users to create realistic images, videos, audio and text, rapidly, cheaply and at scale. These capabilities can be useful, but during elections, they also could be misused to manipulate...
About this show
Welcome to Season 3 of WHERE WHAT IF BECOMES WHAT’S NEXT. As Carnegie Mellon University celebrates its 125th anniversary, we’re spotlighting 15 CMU inventions that changed the world. From the origins of AI and robotics to innovations in the arts and sciences, join us as we trace the journey from “what if” to “what’s next.” With host Randy Scott, every other Thursday we’re going behind the scenes with CMU makers and visionaries to bring you the stories you may know and the ones you won't believe. Subscribe so you’ll never miss an episode. For more info: cmu.edu/whatsnextpodcast.
Hosted by
Carnegie Mellon University
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