Few journalists have gotten a peek inside X, the secretive lab run by Google's parent company Alphabet. Its scientists are researching cold fusion, hover boards, and stratosphere-surfing balloons. Derek Thompson, staff writer at The Atlantic, spent several days with the staff of X. In this episode, he tells Matt and Alex all about what he found, and what it suggests about the future of technological invention.

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Links:“Google X and the Science of Radical Creativity” (Derek Thompson, 2017)“The Promise and Peril of Universal Internet” (Dominic Tierney, 2015)“The Physics Nobel and the Fate of Bell Labs” (Edward Tenner, 2009)“How Should the U.S. Fund Research and Development?” (Robinson Meyer, 2016) “Google Glass” (William Brennan, 2014)The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo (Brian Jordan Alvarez and collaborators, 2017) — N.b.: Parental discretion is advised.

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