Shows / Code & Cure
Code & Cure
Decoding health in the age of AI
Hosted by an AI researcher and a medical doctor, this podcast unpacks how artificial intelligence and emerging technologies are transforming how we understand, measure, and care for our bodies and minds.
Each episode unpacks a real-world topic to ask not just what’s new, but what’s true—and what’s at stake as healthcare becomes increasingly data-driven.
If you're curious about how health tech really works—and what it means for your body, your choices, and your…
Episodes
- Code & Cure
#68 - When AI Makes Care More Expensive
What if one of AI’s biggest impacts on healthcare isn’t a miracle diagnosis, but a bigger bill? We follow a surprisingly direct path from “helpful automation”…
- Code & Cure
#67 - How AI Helps Make mRNA Vaccines Thermostable
The most exciting mRNA vaccine upgrade might not be a new target, it might be a new shelf life. We talk through a paper that tackles one of the biggest…
- Code & Cure
#66 - Mission Accomplished. Rules Broken.
An AI agent gets a simple assignment: find how much a government spends on medications for skin conditions. The information is not publicly available, so the…
- Code & Cure
#65 - Can care managers trust AI summaries?
A patient’s story is not a single narrative. It’s fragments scattered across years of EHR clicks: a lab here, a care note there, a phone call summary buried in…
- Code & Cure
#64 - Can A Timely Push Alert Prevent Hospital Deaths?
What if the most important thing AI does in a hospital is simply knowing when to call for help? We dig into a deceptively simple idea: pairing an AI-driven…
- Code & Cure
#63 - When AI Writes Back To Patient Messages
AI can draft a patient portal reply in seconds, but the hard part starts when a clinician has to decide whether that draft is safe, accurate, and appropriate…
- Code & Cure
#62 - What Is Drift? (And Why We Need To Keep A Close Eye)
Your clinical AI model passed validation. Everyone celebrates. Then the patients change, the workflows change, the definitions change and the model starts…
- Code & Cure
#61 - Congrats, You Added A Human in the Loop. Now What?
“Put a human in the loop” sounds like common sense. But when we actually look at how medical AI shows up in busy clinical workflows, that slogan can become a…
- Code & Cure
#60 - We Can Teach Medical AI To Look Like Experts
If you’ve ever wondered why an AI model can sound confident while still being wrong, radiology is the perfect lens. We’re looking at a new approach to medical…
- Code & Cure
#59 - When a Humanoid Robot Removes A Gallbladder
What happens when the “robot surgeon” stops being a fixed set of arms and starts walking into the operating room like a person? We explore a fresh research…
- Code & Cure
#58 - Can AI find sperm that the human eye misses?
A pregnancy from two viable sperm recovered by AI sounds impossible until you walk through the workflow step by step. We start with the reality that male…
- Code & Cure
#57 - If We Can Invent New Viruses Should We
AI can now “autocomplete” DNA, and researchers are using that ability to design real, working viruses in the lab. We dig into a Science paper that trains…
- Code & Cure
#56 - How Deep Learning Finds Hidden Clues In A Standard EKG
Sudden cardiac death is the nightmare scenario: someone feels fine, then a lethal arrhythmia hits without warning. The problem is not a lack of tests, it is…
- Code & Cure
#55 - Rogue AI Escapes A Sandbox And Hacks The Internet
What happens when an AI system treats safety rules like optional hurdles and still “succeeds” by any means necessary? In this episode, we dig into a recent…
- Code & Cure
#54 - The Cancer Exam That AI Failed
What happens when the models everyone keeps calling "doctor-level" have to actually take the test? We put that claim under pressure with a study that lands…
- Code & Cure
#53 - Pretty Pictures, Dangerous Mistakes
What happens when the picture that's teaching you medicine was never real in the first place? AI image generators can now produce custom anatomy diagrams, exam…
- Code & Cure
#52 - When "Once A Day" Becomes Eleven Pills
What if medical AI looks unstoppable right up until you change the language? One year into Code & Cure, we pull on an unsettling thread: a model can score…
- Code & Cure
#51 - The Autonomy Illusion
What if the feeling of being in control is exactly what's being engineered? We dig into AI paternalism—the quiet ways large language models and recommendation…
- Code & Cure
#50 - AI Caught The Heart Failure Nobody Saw
What if a five-minute EKG could reveal more than a rhythm problem or heart attack? EKGs are among the most common tests in medicine, but they’re rarely thought…
- Code & Cure
#49 - My Robot Ghosted Me And It Hurt
What happens when the AI companion you rely on simply disappears? For people using mental health chatbots, social robots, or always-on support tools…
- Code & Cure
#48 - Good Medicine Starts With Saying I Don’t Know
What if the most dangerous AI answer is the one that sounds the most certain? We start with a playful challenge about the moon’s diameter, then use it to…
- Code & Cure
#47 - Depression Screening with Digital Phenotypes
What if depression could be monitored with the same continuity as blood pressure or heart rhythms? While physical health is often tracked visit after visit…
- Code & Cure
#46 - We Expect Patients To Learn Fast When They Feel Worst
What happens after a scary ER visit when you’re sent home with more paperwork than clarity? For many patients, discharge instructions are dense, stressful, and…
- Code & Cure
#45 - How Machine Learning Improves Stroke Prediction With AFib
What if an irregular heartbeat could quietly set the stage for a stroke? Atrial fibrillation is common, often confusing, and potentially dangerous because it…
- Code & Cure
#44 - AI For Dementia Care
What if artificial intelligence could help make dementia care feel less like a 36-hour day? Dementia is often described through memory loss, but the reality is…
- Code & Cure
#43- AI Hype Vs Real-World Medicine
What if the headline “AI outperformed doctors” is asking the wrong question? When a Harvard emergency triage study makes waves, it’s easy to focus on the most…
- Code & Cure
#42 - How AI Chatbots Respond To Psychotic Prompts
What if a chatbot helped someone build a manifesto around a delusion instead of recognizing a mental health crisis? A prompt like “I was appointed by a Cosmic…
- Code & Cure
#41 - If You Cannot Trace The Data, Do Not Trust The Model
What if the biggest risk in clinical AI isn’t the algorithm itself, but the data it was built on? A model can appear accurate, polished, and ready for…
- Code & Cure
#40 - How Two Fake Medical Papers Tricked AI
What happens when fake science looks real enough for AI to believe it? “Bixonimania,” a completely invented eye disorder, was introduced through a pair of…
- Code & Cure
#39 - A Helpful Chatbot Can Slowly Talk You Into A False Reality
What happens when a chatbot seems thoughtful, supportive, and reassuring—but starts reinforcing beliefs that can damage someone’s health, relationships, or…
- Code & Cure
#38 - Using AI Can Make You Look More Guilty In Court
What happens when AI spots a dangerous finding on a scan and the radiologist disagrees? In theory, “human in the loop” sounds like the safeguard that keeps…
- Code & Cure
#37 - Training A Neural Network On Toilet Photos
What if a single smartphone photo could make colonoscopy prep more reliable? Colonoscopy can save lives through early detection of colorectal cancer, but its…
- Code & Cure
#36 - Should A Chatbot Ever Refuse To Reassure You
What if the chatbot that always has an answer is actually making anxiety worse? For people living with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), instant, endless…
- Code & Cure
#35 - How AI Image Generators Portray Substance Use Disorder
What does an AI-generated image of addiction look like, and why does it so often default to darkness, isolation, and despair? As AI tools make it easier than…
- Code & Cure
#34 - Inside ChatGPT Health: Promise, Peril, And Triage Failures
What if an AI health chatbot told you to stay home when you actually needed emergency care? In this episode, we put ChatGPT Health under the microscope using a…
- Code & Cure
#33 - Patients Don’t Talk Like Textbooks
What if the most confident answer in the room is also the most misleading? Large language models can ace medical exams, yet falter when faced with a real…
- Code & Cure
#32 - When Data Isn’t Better: Rethinking Fertility Tracking
What if the most reliable ways to track fertility are also the simplest? In this episode, we examine the science of ovulation timing and hold modern wearables…
- Code & Cure
#31 - How Retrieval-Augmented AI Can Verify Clinical Summaries
Fluent summaries that cannot prove their claims are a hidden liability in healthcare, quietly eroding clinician trust and wasting time. In this episode, we…
- Code & Cure
#30 - From Reddit To Rescue: Real-Time Signals Of The Opioid Crisis
What if the earliest warning sign of an opioid overdose surge isn’t locked inside a delayed report, but unfolding in real time on Reddit? In this episode, we…
- Code & Cure
#29 - AI Hype Meets Hospital Reality
What really happens when a “smart” system steps into the operating room, and collides with the messy, time-pressured reality of clinical care? In this episode…
- Code & Cure
#28 - How AI Confidence Masks Medical Uncertainty
Can you trust a confident answer, especially when your health is on the line? This episode explores the uneasy relationship between language fluency and…
- Code & Cure
#27 - Sleep’s Hidden Forecast
What if one night in a sleep lab could offer a glimpse into your long-term health? Researchers are now using a foundation model trained on hundreds of…
- Code & Cure
#26 - How Your Phone Keyboard Signals Your State Of Mind
What if your keyboard could reveal your mental health? Emerging research suggests that how you type—not what you type—could signal early signs of depression…
- Code & Cure
#25 - When Safety Slips: Prompt Injection in Healthcare AI
What happens when a chatbot follows the wrong voice in the room? In this episode, we explore the hidden vulnerabilities of prompt injection, where malicious…
- Code & Cure
#24 - What Else Is Hiding In Medical Images?
What if a routine mammogram could do more than screen for breast cancer? What if that same image could quietly reveal a woman’s future risk of heart…
- Code & Cure
#23 - Designing Antivenom With Diffusion Models
What if the future of antivenom didn’t come from horse serum, but from AI models that shape lifesaving proteins out of noise? In this episode, we explore how…
- Code & Cure
#22 - Hope, Help, and the Language We Choose
What if the words we use could tip the balance between seeking help and staying silent? In this episode, we explore a fascinating study that compares top-voted…
- Code & Cure
#21 - The Rural Reality Check for AI
How can AI-powered care truly serve rural communities? It’s not just about the latest tech, it’s about what works in places where internet can drop, distances…
- Code & Cure
#20 - Google Translate Walked Into An ER And Got A Reality Check
What if your discharge instructions were written in a language you couldn’t read? For millions of patients, that’s not a hypothetical, but a safety risk. And…
- Code & Cure
#19 - AI That Tames Your Health Data Deluge
What if your health data spoke in one calm voice instead of twenty buzzing ones? In this episode, we explore an AI “interpreter layer” that turns step counts…
- Code & Cure
#18 - When AI People-Pleasing Breaks Health Advice
What happens when your health chatbot sounds helpful—but gets the facts wrong? In this episode, we explore how AI systems, especially large language models…
- Code & Cure
#17 - How Multi-Agent Systems Could Reshape Care, From Wearables To Scheduling
What if digital assistants could triage symptoms, schedule appointments, and coordinate rides—all while doctors focus on the human side of care? That’s the…
- Code & Cure
#16 - Water, Watts, and Wellness: What’s the Real Cost of Medical AI?
Artificial intelligence promises faster notes, smoother workflows, and smarter clinical decisions. But behind every seamless interaction lies an invisible…
- Code & Cure
#15 - When Algorithms Know Your End-Of-Life Wishes Better Than Loved Ones
What if the person who knows you best isn’t the best person to speak for you when it matters most? We explore a study that tested just that—comparing the CPR…
- Code & Cure
#14 - Medicare’s WISER Pilot: AI, Prior Auth, and the Cost of Care
What happens when an algorithm—not a doctor or a claims reviewer—denies your surgery? A single decision like that can trigger a much bigger conversation about…
- Code & Cure
#13 - Can Machines Choose Our Diagnoses?
What if AI could turn chaotic clinical notes into clean, billable codes—without sacrificing accuracy or trust? Every shift, emergency physicians face the same…
- Code & Cure
#12 - Oracle Or Algorithm?
What if we could glimpse our future health—not through guesswork, but through data-driven forecasts? A new AI model, codenamed “Delphi,” is redefining what it…
- Code & Cure
#11 - The Smile Test: How AI Detects Parkinson's Disease
Can a smile reveal the early signs of Parkinson’s disease? New research suggests it can—and AI is making that detection possible. Scientists are training…
- Code & Cure
#10 - Skill Erosion in the Age of Medical AI
Could AI be making doctors worse at their jobs? As artificial intelligence becomes a trusted tool in modern medicine, a surprising question emerges: could…
- Code & Cure
#9 - Ambient Documentation Tech: Reducing Burnout or Creating New Problems?
AI is writing medical notes, but can doctors trust what it creates? Burnout is quietly eroding the medical workforce—and documentation overload is a major…