Podcasts

Discovery Institute Podcast

What’s Next in the Search for Habitable Worlds

_{Bijan Nemati
July 3, 2026}

Are we common or rare? You can be on either side of the question and still be excited about the search for habitable planets capable of harboring life. On this classic episode of ID the Future from the archive, host and amateur astronomer Eric Anderson concludes his two-part conversation with Bijan Nemati, professional astronomer and expert on exoplanet search technology, to review the history of exoplanet research and share key details about upcoming NASA missions. Nemati is currently one of the lead scientists for the coronagraph instrument on the Roman Space Telescope, slated to launch in August 2026, and is also closely involved in early planning for the next-generation Habitable Worlds Observatory, which will be focused specifically on identifying signs of life on a small …

Beyond the Written Word: AI’s Role in Reaching Oral Cultures

_{Robert J. Marks II
July 1, 2026}

AI is having impact everywhere. But what about global outreach initiatives? And specifically Christian missions? How are those in the mission field using artificial intelligence? On this episode of Mind Matters News, host Robert J. Marks and co-host Jonathan Swindell welcome Dr. Don Barger to the show. Barger is the Director of Innovation and Artificial Intelligence at the International Mission Board. Don works with new technology, especially AI, and helps people use it in smart and responsible ways. He thinks a lot about how AI can help in real-life situations, especially in global missions. He also understands the limits of AI and what it cannot do. In this conversation, we’ll discuss how AI is changing the world, how AI should be used responsibly in global outreach initiatives …

Take a Tour of the Cell in an Incredible Shrinking Submarine!

_{Thomas E. Woodward
June 29, 2026}

Imagine you have been invited to a futuristic discovery center, a lavishly funded facility that has pioneered the ability to shrink people and objects many orders of magnitude. What if you could climb aboard an incredible shrinking submarine and travel into the heart of a living cell? This would be a tour like no other, to be sure! You’d get a glimpse of DNA, molecular machines, and cellular architecture, certainly, but you’d also bear witness to the workings of a hidden world of information and epigenetic controls operating beyond the physical structures of life. On this ID The Future, historian of science Dr. Tom Woodward reads an excerpt from his new book Epigenetics and the Architect, co-authored with Dr. James Gills. And rather than beginning with definitions and diagrams, he …

Mind Matters

Beyond the Written Word: AI’s Role in Reaching Oral Cultures

_{391
Robert J. Marks
July 1, 2026}

Mind Over Models: An Economist’s Take on AI Speculation

_{390
Robert J. Marks
June 19, 2026}

In this bingecast installment of the Mind Matters News podcast, host Robert J. Marks welcomes economics professor and author Gary Smith to discuss the hype around artificial intelligence and its impact on the market. Smith is the Fletcher Jones Professor of Economics at Ponoma College and a frequent contributor to Mind Matters News. Smith argues that generative AI, embodied in services like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, exhibits many characteristics of past market bubbles, including excessive hype, lack of profitability, and unrealistic expectations. Smith holds that generative AI models have limited practical economic value. They may be good at finding statistical patterns but struggle to distinguish meaningful, useful correlations from coincidental ones. Smith describes the fundamental challenge of teaching machines true understanding that goes beyond mere pattern recognition. A number of examples and stories are shared throughout.

Donald Wunsch on the Limits of AI and Why It Matters

_{389
Robert J. Marks
June 3, 2026}

The hype around AI is reaching fever pitch these days. But never mind predictions of future AI potential. What can it actually do and not do today? On this episode of the Mind Matters News podcast, host Robert J. Marks welcomes Dr. Donald C. Wunsch II to the show for a long-form, wide-ranging conversation about what AI can actually do today—and the very real risks and responsibilities that come with it.

ID the Future

Mind Over Matter: Darwin, AI, and the Future of Reason

_{2236
Rebekah Valerius
July 8, 2026}

If our minds are the product of a blind and aimless process, what reason do we have to believe what we think? But if we can be rational because a rational intelligence designed life and the universe, how does that change how we should think about thinking? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes his conversation with science teacher and writer Rebekah Valerius about an essay she recently wrote unpacking the argument from reason and its implications for Darwinism, materialism, and atheism. In Part 2, Valerius shows why a Darwinian process cannot be responsible for our powers of reason. She also offers the argument from reason as a lens to better understand modern technology like artificial intelligence. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

The Anchor of Reason: Beyond Naturalism and Materialism

_{2235
Rebekah Valerius
July 6, 2026}

Before we can ask whether the universe is designed, we should first ask if we can trust the minds we’re using to investigate it. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes to the show science teacher and writer Rebekah Valerius to discuss an essay she recently penned unpacking the argument from reason and its implications for Darwinism, materialism, and atheism. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

What’s Next in the Search for Habitable Worlds

_{2234
Bijan Nemati
July 3, 2026}

Humanize

Stephen C. Meyer on “The Story of Everything”

_{15
Stephen C. Meyer
June 15, 2026}

In 50 BC, the great Roman statesman Cicero expressed a thought that has been echoed by thinkers down the generations: “The celestial order and beauty of the universe compel me to admit that there is some excellent and eternal Being who deserves the respect and homage of men.” But in our own day, the evolutionary biologist and atheism proselytizer Richard Dawkins has claimed, “The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.” Dawkins believes that complex life and the cosmos arose through gradual, evolutionary mechanisms, not through any influence of a creator or purposeful creation. But which worldview does the scientific evidence …

Timothy S. Goeglein on Restoring a Legacy of Faith, Freedom, and Family

_{Timothy S. Goeglein
May 18, 2026}

The United States is in a cultural crisis. Our young are experiencing unprecedented levels of mental illness. Family structures are crumbling with out-of-wedlock births increasing while, at the same time, the number of children being born is decreasing. Some worry about masculinity under attack while others believe that “toxic masculinity” is the cause of most problems. Many are even worried that democracy itself is in real and present danger. It’s all a big mess. How do we restore societal equilibrium? In a new compendium of his many columns on cultural issues, What Really Matters, Timothy S. Goeglein offers readers what he calls a “blueprint” to encourage us “to reevaluate the road we currently travel” and get back to the basics of …

Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, Sr. on His Life and the Importance of America’s Founding Principles

_{Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, Sr.
April 27, 2026}

In our badly fractured society, can public servants and politicians act with decency and argue about policy with restraint and dignity? We believe the answer is yes, and so Wesley invited a man on the show who epitomizes such virtues to talk about his varied career and the importance of the nation’s founding principles. Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, Sr., MD, was born in Detroit to a single mother with a third-grade education, who raised her son to love reading and learning. He graduated from Yale University and earned his M.D. from the University of Michigan Medical School. For nearly 30 years, Dr. Carson served as Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, a position he assumed when he was just 33 years old, becoming the youngest major …