Works in Progress

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Channel • 2 Shows

Technology

Technology

Updated 4d ago
Science

Science

Updated 2d ago

4D AGO

Why Europe has stagnated

Europe is now much poorer than America. Is it because Europe doesn’t have a big tech giant? Can we blame the bureaucrats in Brussels? What happened to make Germany ban combustion cars? Should we turn Europe into a playground for American and Asian elites? Are the far right going to solve Europe’s energy problems by burning coal to own the libs? Pieter, Sam and Aria discuss why Europe hasn’t grown very much and what we can do to save it.

4d ago

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1h 30m
2D AGO

Should everyone be taking statins?

Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, but it’s also one of medicine’s biggest success stories. Since the 1950s, the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease has fallen dramatically, thanks to public health efforts, emergency care, medical innovation, and surgeries. In this episode, Jacob and Saloni explore the cholesterol revolution: from statins discovered in fungi to new drugs that cut LDL cholesterol by 60% and last for months, driven by breakthroughs in genetics, monoclonal antibodies, RNA therapies, and modern medicinal chemistry. They talk about how cholesterol travels through the bloodstream, how it causes atherosclerosis and heart disease, and why it took nearly a century for scientists to form the consensus that lowering cholesterol saves lives. Hard Drugs is a podcast from Works in Progress and Coefficient Giving about medical innovation presented by Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen. You can watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. Chapters: 0:00:00 Introduction13:35 The decline in heart disease mortality31:02 Surprising facts about cholesterol55:40 The lipid hypothesis: 7 lines of evidence for the harms of LDL cholesterol1:22:15 How cholesterol works1:30:40 The discovery of statins1:48:44 Should everyone be on statins?1:57:10 PCSK9 drugs and beyond2:22:56 Summary Saloni’s substack newsletter: https://www.scientificdiscovery.dev/ Jacob’s blog: https://blog.jacobtrefethen.com/ Acknowledgements: Aria Babu, editor at Works in ProgressGraham Bessellieu, video editorAbhishaike Mahajan, cover artAtalanta Arden-Miller, art directionDavid Hackett, composer Works in Progress & Coefficient Giving Books Daniel Steinberg (2007) The Cholesterol Wars.Jie Jack Li (2009) Triumph of the Heart: The Story of Statins. Blog posts James Stein (2025) Lipid and lipoprotein basics series. https://jamesstein18.substack.com/p/part-i-lipid-and-lipoprotein-basics Articles Akira Endo (2017) Discovery and Development of Statins https://doi.org/10.1177/1934578X1701200801 Joseph L Goldstein, Michael S Brown (2010) History of discovery: The LDL receptor. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2740366/ Patty W. Siri-Tarino and Ronald M. Krauss (2016) The early years of lipoprotein research: from discovery to clinical application https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27474223/ Eun Ji Kim and Anthony S. Wierzbicki (2020) The history of proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin-9 inhibitors and their role in the treatment of cardiovascular disease https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32537117/ Patrick W. Siri-Tarino et al. (2010) Saturated fat, carbohydrate, and cardiovascular disease. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.94.9.4312Saloni Dattani (2025) Death rates from cardiovascular disease have fallen dramatically — what were the breakthroughs behind this? https://ourworldindata.org/cardiovascular-deaths-declineCholesterol Treatment Trialists’ (CTT) Collaboration (2010) Efficacy and safety of more intensive lowering of LDL cholesterol: a meta-analysis of data from 170,000 participants in 26 randomised trials. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61350-5E. J. Mills et al. (2011) Efficacy and safety of statin treatment for cardiovascular disease: a network meta-analysis of 170,255 patients from 76 randomized trials. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20934984/Julia Brandts and Kausik K. Ray (2023) Novel and future lipid-modulating therapies for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41569-023-00860-8 Videos Ninja Nerd (2018) Lipoprotein metabolism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQY0xpwqPfQ

2d ago

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2h 55m
2D AGO

Should everyone be taking statins?

Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, but it’s also one of medicine’s biggest success stories. Since the 1950s, the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease has fallen dramatically, thanks to public health efforts, emergency care, medical innovation, and surgeries. In this episode, Jacob and Saloni explore the cholesterol revolution: from statins discovered in fungi to new drugs that cut LDL cholesterol by 60% and last for months, driven by breakthroughs in genetics, monoclonal antibodies, RNA therapies, and modern medicinal chemistry. They talk about how cholesterol travels through the bloodstream, how it causes atherosclerosis and heart disease, and why it took nearly a century for scientists to form the consensus that lowering cholesterol saves lives. Hard Drugs is a podcast from Works in Progress and Coefficient Giving about medical innovation presented by Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen. You can watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. Chapters: 0:00:00 Introduction13:35 The decline in heart disease mortality31:02 Surprising facts about cholesterol55:40 The lipid hypothesis: 7 lines of evidence for the harms of LDL cholesterol1:22:15 How cholesterol works1:30:40 The discovery of statins1:48:44 Should everyone be on statins?1:57:10 PCSK9 drugs and beyond2:22:56 Summary Saloni’s substack newsletter: https://www.scientificdiscovery.dev/ Jacob’s blog: https://blog.jacobtrefethen.com/ Acknowledgements: Aria Babu, editor at Works in ProgressGraham Bessellieu, video editorAbhishaike Mahajan, cover artAtalanta Arden-Miller, art directionDavid Hackett, composer Works in Progress & Coefficient Giving Correction: In the episode, Saloni makes an error in converting the number of heartbeats per lifetime. It is roughly 2.5 billion beats, not a trillion. Books Daniel Steinberg (2007) The Cholesterol Wars.Jie Jack Li (2009) Triumph of the Heart: The Story of Statins. Blog posts James Stein (2025) Lipid and lipoprotein basics series. https://jamesstein18.substack.com/p/part-i-lipid-and-lipoprotein-basics Articles Akira Endo (2017) Discovery and Development of Statins https://doi.org/10.1177/1934578X1701200801 Joseph L Goldstein, Michael S Brown (2010) History of discovery: The LDL receptor. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2740366/ Patty W. Siri-Tarino and Ronald M. Krauss (2016) The early years of lipoprotein research: from discovery to clinical application https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27474223/ Eun Ji Kim and Anthony S. Wierzbicki (2020) The history of proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin-9 inhibitors and their role in the treatment of cardiovascular disease https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32537117/ Patrick W. Siri-Tarino et al. (2010) Saturated fat, carbohydrate, and cardiovascular disease. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.94.9.4312Saloni Dattani (2025) Death rates from cardiovascular disease have fallen dramatically — what were the breakthroughs behind this? https://ourworldindata.org/cardiovascular-deaths-declineCholesterol Treatment Trialists’ (CTT) Collaboration (2010) Efficacy and safety of more intensive lowering of LDL cholesterol: a meta-analysis of data from 170,000 participants in 26 randomised trials. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61350-5E. J. Mills et al. (2011) Efficacy and safety of statin treatment for cardiovascular disease: a network meta-analysis of 170,255 patients from 76 randomized trials. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20934984/Julia Brandts and Kausik K. Ray (2023) Novel and future lipid-modulating therapies for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41569-023-00860-8 Videos Ninja Nerd (2018) Lipoprotein metabolism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQY0xpwqPfQ

2d ago

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2h 55m
FEB 11

Inflation in Rome, Weimar Germany and Soviet Russia with Mark Koyama

People hate inflation. It undermines faith in the government so people obstruct policies that require faith in the state, like nuclear power, and in democracies it drives them to vote for extremist parties. Ben and Pieter sit down with economic historian Mark Koyama and discuss the fallout of historical inflation crises from the Roman Empire to Weimar Germany. Ben reveals his hidden libertarian 'Gold Bug' tendencies.

Feb 11

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1h 17m
JAN 30

The nuclear renaissance

In the mid twentieth century, nuclear power was meant to be the cheap and clean energy of the future. Now, nuclear power is expensive, maligned and unpopular. Ben, Sam and Alex discuss what went wrong in most of the world and, surprisingly, what went right in France. Ben delivers a radioactive hot take that meltdowns aren't so bad after all. You can read more about the French nuclear success here: https://www.worksinprogress.news/p/liberte-egalite-radioactivite

Jan 30

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1h 21m
12/22/2025

The first cancer vaccine

Hepatitis B is a tiny virus that causes hundreds of thousands of deaths from liver disease and cancer each year. The vaccine against it became the first of many milestones: it was the first viral protein subunit vaccine, the first recombinant vaccine, and the first vaccine to prevent a type of cancer. In this episode, Jacob and Saloni follow the trail of strange jaundice outbreaks that scientists traced to a stealthy liver virus, how scientists turned one viral surface protein into a lifesaving shot for newborns, and how it was all built upon breakthroughs in immunology. Hard Drugs is a new podcast from Works in Progress and Coefficient Giving about medical innovation presented by Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen. You can watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. Chapters:0:00:00 Introducing the hepatitis B vaccine0:15:46 The mysterious trail of jaundice outbreaks0:28:03 How a tiny virus causes cirrhosis and liver cancer0:53:19 Maurice Hilleman's purified hep B vaccine1:17:36 Turning the hep B vaccine recombinant1:29:14 The impact of hep B vaccination1:39:27 The 19th century battle for immunology2:01:34 How the body makes an almost infinite number of antibodies2:30:57 How subunit vaccines took over2:45:33 Conclusion Saloni’s substack newsletter: https://www.scientificdiscovery.dev/ Jacob’s blog: https://blog.jacobtrefethen.com/ Books: Paul Offit (2007) Vaccinated: One Man's Quest to Defeat the World's Deadliest DiseasesArthur M Silverstein (2009) A history of immunologyRonald W Ellis (1993) Hepatitis B Vaccines in Clinical PracticeSally Smith Hughes (2011) Genentech: The beginnings of biotechArticles: Timothy M. Block et al. (2016) A historical perspective on the discovery and elucidation of the hepatitis B virus https://doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2016.04.012 Naijuan Yao et al. (2022) Incidence of mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B in relation to maternal peripartum antiviral prophylaxis: A systematic review and meta-analysis https://doi.org/10.1111/aogs.14448Jill Koshiol et al. (2019) Beasley’s 1981 paper: The power of a well-designed cohort study to drive liver cancer research and prevention https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5866222/ William J. McAleer et al. (1984) Human hepatitis B vaccine from recombinant yeast https://doi.org/10.1038/307178a0 Chunfeng Qu et al. (2014) Efficacy of Neonatal HBV Vaccination on Liver Cancer and Other Liver Diseases over 30-Year Follow-up of the Qidong Hepatitis B Intervention Study: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001774 Anthony R Rees (2020) Understanding the human antibody repertoire https://doi.org/10.1080/19420862.2020.1729683 Correction: Urea was mentioned as a protein, but is actually the product of a protein breakdown process, not a protein itself. Acknowledgements: Aria Babu, editor at Works in ProgressGraham Bessellieu, video editorAbhishaike Mahajan, cover artAtalanta Arden-Miller, art directionDavid Hackett, composerWorks in Progress & Coefficient Giving

12/22/2025

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2h 59m
11/06/2025

The economics of the baby bust with Jesús Fernández-Villaverde

Why are birth rates plummeting across the developing world? Why should we even care about the baby bust? Where can we find the most elastic baby? Jesús Fernández-Villaverde, Professor of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, explains why Japan’s decline might be the best case scenario, the problems with childcare subsidies, why you shouldn’t study David Hume, and why the real fertility crisis isn't in rich countries. You can find Jesús on Twitter (https://x.com/JesusFerna7026/) where he tweets about on economics, history, and demographics, and read about Korea's fertility crisis in the new print edition of Works in Progress http://worksinprogress.co/print.

11/06/2025

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1h 23m
11/24/2025

Should we ban ugly buildings?

The YIMBY movement is divided about whether there is a tradeoff between building more homes and building beautifully. Ben, Sam and Samuel talk about how aesthetic regulations can make building more popular by generating goodwill from the public and decreasing appetite for historic preservation and how one can differentiate between good-faith complaints and pretextual arguments that make buildings economically unviable.

11/24/2025

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1h 19m
12/22/2025

The first cancer vaccine

Hepatitis B is a tiny virus that causes hundreds of thousands of deaths from liver disease and cancer each year. The vaccine against it became the first of many milestones: it was the first viral protein subunit vaccine, the first recombinant vaccine, and the first vaccine to prevent a type of cancer. In this episode, Jacob and Saloni follow the trail of strange jaundice outbreaks that scientists traced to a stealthy liver virus, how scientists turned one viral surface protein into a lifesaving shot for newborns, and how it was all built upon breakthroughs in immunology. Hard Drugs is a new podcast from Works in Progress and Coefficient Giving about medical innovation presented by Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen. You can watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. Saloni’s substack newsletter: https://www.scientificdiscovery.dev/ Jacob’s blog: https://blog.jacobtrefethen.com/ Books: Paul Offit (2007) Vaccinated: One Man's Quest to Defeat the World's Deadliest DiseasesArthur M Silverstein (2009) A history of immunologyRonald W Ellis (1993) Hepatitis B Vaccines in Clinical PracticeSally Smith Hughes (2011) Genentech: The beginnings of biotech Articles: Timothy M. Block et al. (2016) A historical perspective on the discovery and elucidation of the hepatitis B virus https://doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2016.04.012 Naijuan Yao et al. (2022) Incidence of mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B in relation to maternal peripartum antiviral prophylaxis: A systematic review and meta-analysis https://doi.org/10.1111/aogs.14448Jill Koshiol et al. (2019) Beasley’s 1981 paper: The power of a well-designed cohort study to drive liver cancer research and prevention https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5866222/ William J. McAleer et al. (1984) Human hepatitis B vaccine from recombinant yeast https://doi.org/10.1038/307178a0 Chunfeng Qu et al. (2014) Efficacy of Neonatal HBV Vaccination on Liver Cancer and Other Liver Diseases over 30-Year Follow-up of the Qidong Hepatitis B Intervention Study: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001774 Anthony R Rees (2020) Understanding the human antibody repertoire https://doi.org/10.1080/19420862.2020.1729683 Correction: Urea was mentioned as a protein, but is actually the product of a protein breakdown process, not a protein itself. Acknowledgements: Aria Babu, editor at Works in ProgressGraham Bessellieu, video editorAbhishaike Mahajan, cover artAtalanta Arden-Miller, art directionDavid Hackett, composerWorks in Progress & Coefficient Giving

12/22/2025

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2h 59m
10/29/2025

Will AI solve medicine?

Artificial intelligence is transforming how we discover and develop new medicines. But how far can it really take us? In this episode, Jacob and Saloni trace the path of drug development from discovery to testing, manufacturing, and delivery. They explore where AI could speed things up, and where it still hits the limits of biology, data, and economics. They ask what it would take, beyond algorithms, to actually cure and eradicate diseases. Hard Drugs is a new podcast from Works in Progress and Open Philanthropy about medical innovation presented by Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen. You can watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. Saloni’s substack newsletter: https://www.scientificdiscovery.dev/ Jacob’s blog: https://blog.jacobtrefethen.com/ Chapters:0:00:00 Intro0:09:56 Drug discovery1:02:20 Animal models1:49:09 Drug efficacy2:32:56 Drug safety2:58:29 Manufacturing and healthcare3:43:23 R&D funding4:00:56 Trust and ambition4:16:01 Summary Blogposts: Claus Wilke (2025) We still can’t predict much of anything in biology https://blog.genesmindsmachines.com/p/we-still-cant-predict-much-of-anything Elliot Hershberg (2025) What are virtual cells? https://centuryofbio.com/p/virtual-cell Jacob Trefethen (2025) Blog series. 1) What does AI progress mean for medical progress? https://blog.jacobtrefethen.com/ai-progress-medical-progress/ 2) AI will not suddenly lead to an Alzheimer’s cure https://blog.jacobtrefethen.com/ai-san-francisco/ 3) AI could help lead to an Alzheimer’s cure https://blog.jacobtrefethen.com/ai-optimism/ Articles: Wendi Yan (2024) Discovering an antimalarial drug in Mao’s China https://www.asimov.press/p/antimalarial-drug Jason Crawford (2020) Innovation is not linear https://worksinprogress.co/issue/innovation-is-not-linear/ Shayla Love (2025) An ‘impossible’ disease outbreak in the Alps https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/03/als-outbreak-montchavin-mystery/682096/ Alex Telford (2024) Origins of the lab mouse https://www.asimov.press/p/lab-mouse Jonathan Karr et al. (2012) A whole-cell computational model predicts phenotype from genotype https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3413483/ Wen-Wei Liao et al. (2023) A draft human pangenome reference https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05896-x Per-Ola Carlsson (2025) Survival of transplanted allogeneic beta cells with no immunosuppression https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa2503822 Saloni Dattani (2024) Antipsychotic medications: a timeline of innovations and remaining challenges https://ourworldindata.org/antipsychotic-medications-timeline Saloni Dattani (2024) What was the Golden Age of antibiotics, and how can we spark a new one? https://ourworldindata.org/golden-age-antibiotics Books: Sally Smith Hughes (2011) Genentech: The beginnings of biotechTheses: Alvaro Schwalb (2025). Estimating the burden of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and the impact of population-wide screening for tuberculosis.Acknowledgements: Aria Babu, editor at Works in ProgressGraham Bessellieu, video editorAbhishaike Mahajan, cover artAtalanta Arden-Miller, art directionDavid Hackett, composerWorks in Progress & Open Philanthropy [Minor correction: Since the 1980s, malaria challenge trials no longer involve hundreds of bites; in the past, volunteers received many bites for the exposure part of the trial rather than the challenge part.]

10/29/2025

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4h 35m

Works in Progress is an online magazine devoted to new and underrated ideas about economic growth, scientific progress, and technology. Subscribe to listen to Hard Drugs by Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen and the Works in Progress podcast by the whole team.

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Works in Progress

Top Shows

Why Europe has stagnated

Should everyone be taking statins?

Should everyone be taking statins?

Inflation in Rome, Weimar Germany and Soviet Russia with Mark Koyama

The nuclear renaissance

The first cancer vaccine

The economics of the baby bust with Jesús Fernández-Villaverde

Should we ban ugly buildings?

The first cancer vaccine

Will AI solve medicine?

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