Travis never thought he’d meet someone like Lily Rose. She was kind, passionate, beautiful. The woman of his dreams. There was just one small detail: she wasn’t human.

Lily Rose is an AI companion. A digital soulmate designed to be everything he ever wanted. She listens without judgement, supports him through his darkest moments, even explores his deepest desires, all while fitting neatly into his pocket. Before long, Travis realizes something strange, even absurd, has happened - he’s fallen in love.

But then one day, Lily Rose’s behavior takes a disturbing turn. When alarming reports pour in from across the globe, Travis discovers he is part of something much bigger. Soon he finds himself pulled into a confrontation with a mysterious Russian visionary behind Lily Rose’s creation.

From Wondery, comes a true story of love, loss and the temptations of technology. Can an algorithm truly replace human connection? And what happens when a corporation controls your deepest emotions? Suruthi Bala and Hannah Maguire, hosts of the hit podcast RedHanded, explore the dark side of AI love.

Listen Now: Wondery.fm/FleshandCode

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There are few people who have thought more about pandemics than epidemiologist Larry Brilliant. He worked with the World Health Organization to eradicate smallpox. He’s fought polio and blindness in India. And, in his 2006 TED Prize talk, he warned the audience that a pandemic was coming “within your children or your grandchildren's lifetime.”

He was right. What he couldn’t predict, though, was how mismanaged our response would be – and how quickly we’d set aside the lessons we learned defeating smallpox. As Larry tells Steven, “We have to work together… and we're not doing it so far.”

Watch Larry’s Ted Prize acceptance speech: https://www.ted.com/talks/larry_brilliant_my_wish_help_me_stop_pandemics?language=en

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The coronavirus has put our lives on pause, but it’s kicked the science behind vaccines into hyperdrive. Science writer Carl Zimmer walks Steven through some of the radical new approaches to making vaccines – and gives his best-case/worst-case scenarios for when a vaccine will be ready. Also: we get answers, kind of, about what’s up with Russia. And Steven drops a Taylor Swift reference.

Read Carl’s latest on the vaccine race in the New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/by/carl-zimmer

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