Fighting deepfakes, and using bacteria to deliver medicine inside the body

Fighting deepfakes, and using bacteria to deliver medicine inside the body

From Science Magazine Podcast by Science Magazine

May 14, 2026 · 32 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the fight against deepfakes and the use of engineered bacteria for medicine delivery inside the body.

First up on the podcast, Meagan Cantwell produced a segment with Contributing Correspondent Kai Kupferschmidt on the fight against deepfakes. Kupferschmidt talks with Hany Farid, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, about the never-ending battle against fake imagery and why Farid is not giving up. Next on the show, building a tough, bio-compatible capsule for engineered bacteria. Tetsuhiro Harimoto talks about the challenges of keeping living bacteria inside a hydrogel capsule and the advantages of using engineered bacteria as sensors and medicine dispensers inside the body. (Harimoto completed this work as a postdoc at Harvard University and will start as a professor at Cornell University in the fall.) This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. About the Science Podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Meagan Cantwell

Guests: Kai Kupferschmidt, Tetsuhiro Harimoto

Topics covered

  • deepfakes
  • bacteria
  • medicine delivery
  • bio-compatible capsules
  • engineering
  • sensors

Keywords

  • deepfakes
  • Hany Farid
  • bacteria
  • medicine delivery
  • bio-compatible capsules
  • sensors
  • engineering

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University, Cornell University, Podigy

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