ON CRISPR Episode 1: Beginnings

Back in the 1990s, a young microbiologist in Alicante, Spain became obsessed with a strange pattern he observed in the genes of tiny organisms — a series of inexplicable clusters. And he wasn’t alone. All around the world, a network of scientists were growing curious as to what t ...  Show more

Jennifer Doudna thought she had won the race. She thought she had beaten out all scientific competitors when she and her co-author had shocked the world with their groundbreaking technology for gene editing. But turned out, the race had just gotten fiercer. Walter Isaacson sits d ...  Show more

When Walter Isaacson, the legendary biographer of Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and Leonardo da Vinci, started shadowing Elon Musk, he found himself following "a guy who was one of the most popular people on the planet, and ended up with a guy who's the most con ...  Show more

Are innovators always difficult to work with? What kind of person can create disruptive change? Walter Isaacson is a student of history with a focus on geniuses, from Albert Einstein to Leonardo da Vinci. The former Time magazine editor followed Elon Musk for three years to repor ...  Show more

Filmmaker Ken Burns’ new two-part documentary on PBS documents the life and complicated legacy of Benjamin Franklin. The documentarian joins Franklin biographer Walter Isaacson to discuss how the founding father shaped not only our country, but America’s everyday life, languag ...

How did the world’s second-richest man become so successful? This week, Eric Berger, who spent time with Elon Musk as he built SpaceX, reveals how the real-life Tony Stark gets people to join him in his quests, and drives them to unheard-of achievements—insights you won’t want to ...  Show more