Why does it seem so difficult to cancel an online subscription, delete an account, or opt out of data tracking? You might think it’s just bad luck or a confusing online interface, but more often than not, it’s by design.

In this episode of Big Brains, we speak with Marshini Chetty, Professor in the University of Chicago’s Department of Computer Science. As a leading expert in human-computer interaction, Chetty reveals the science behind "dark patterns” online—the subtle, manipulative design choices woven into the apps and websites we use every day. We explore how these deceptive interfaces weaponize human psychology to keep us clicking, spending and sharing our data.

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Quantum technology is at a pivotal moment. No longer the faraway dream of scientists, the field is rapidly developing across the world, fueled by major investments from governments, industry, and universities racing to lead its promising future. But what exactly is quantum technology? And how will it affect our lives today—and in the coming decades?

A recent event at the University of Chicago, hosted by Big Brains in partnership with 1440, sought to demystify quantum, separate the hype from reality and explore how it could transform our daily lives. Three renowned scientists—Prof. David Awschalom, Fred Chong and Nadya Mason—discussed how UChicago was leading innovative research, in partnership with its affiliated labs Argonne and Fermilab, as well as other universities across the Midwest. They explained how quantum has the potential to revolutionize our world—from creating unhackable communications to supercharging quantum computers to detecting disease at the cellular level. They discussed the challenges as well as the opportunities, especially for the next generation of quantum engineers and scientists needed to make these dreams a reality.

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From setting interest rates to keeping inflation in check, the Federal Reserve sits at the center of some of the most important economic decisions shaping our daily lives. As the Fed prepares for new leadership, following the tenure of Jerome Powell, many are wondering: What’s next for the Fed, especially when it comes to their financial decisions and their independence?

We spoke with Prof. Douglas Diamond, the Nobel Prize-winning economist of the University of Chicago, in order to explain the Fed’s crucial role in our financial system—and why it matters so much for our future. Renowned as one of the founders of modern banking theory, Diamond has conducted groundbreaking research on banking, particularly during financial crises. He described the lessons we can learn from past bank runs, including the 2023 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, and warns that we must remain on guard to help prevent the next financial crisis from happening.

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What if the way you relate to others isn’t fixed—but fundamentally changeable? In this episode, we speak with psychiatrist and neuroscientist Amir Levine, who is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center.

He's the author of the best-selling book Attached, which examined how people’s attachment styles—from secure to anxious to avoidant. In his new book, Secure: The Revolutionary Guide to Creating a Secure Life, Levine argues that attachment styles aren’t lifelong labels but actually patterns the brain can relearn. He explores the emerging science of “earned security”—how relationships reshape our neural wiring, why some people feel safe under pressure while others spiral, and what it takes to move from insecurity to stability.

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What if we could predict the world’s most dangerous weather events—not days, but weeks in advance? Extreme events like heat waves, hurricanes, and floods cause massive loss of life and billions in damage, but they’re also some of the hardest events for traditional weather forecasting to predict.

In this episode, Assoc. Prof. Pedram Hassanzadeh of the University of Chicago explains why forecasting extreme weather has long pushed science to its limits—and how a new wave of AI models could transform the field at a time when climate change is making these events more common. By learning directly from decades of atmospheric data, these systems can generate forecasts faster, more cheaply, and in some cases more accurately than traditional models—even to predict freak ‘gray swan’ weather events no one has ever seen.

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In recent years, a judge in one state had gained the power to halt policies across the entire United States. Known as nationwide or universal injunctions, these actions have become one of the sweeping tools in the federal court—affecting cases ranging from student loan forgiveness to environmental policies to birthright citizenship.

How did universal injunctions become such a central feature of modern constitutional battles? And should one judge really be able to block a policy for the entire country? In this episode, UChicago legal scholar Samuel Bray explains the history and legal debate behind such actions, including his research which was cited more than a dozen times in the 2025 Supreme Court case Trump v. Casa, which examined how courts use this remedy—and whether injunctions fit within the Constitution’s design.

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Artificial intelligence may live in “the cloud,” but its footprint is firmly on the ground. As AI systems grow more powerful, the data centers that train and run them are consuming massive amounts of land, water and electricity—as well as reshaping regional power grids. What does this surge in demand mean for the environment, energy infrastructure, and the future of innovation?

In this episode, we speak with UChicago computer scientist Andrew Chien, an expert in large-scale computing and cloud computing, about why these data centers require so much power, why they’re stirring such controversy—and whether there are sustainable approaches that could keep our energy use in check.

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