Explore every episode of the podcast The Quantum Kid
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| This Roblox game uses quantum computing?! (Gamescom reveal) Kai plays quantum chess too | 04 Oct 2026 | 00:14:26 | |
This game was shown live at Gamescom, where it got serious attention, so we had to find out what it's actually doing with quantum computing. Can a video game really run on quantum mechanics? Kai finds out, then sits down for a real game of quantum chess, where winning means putting his own king into superposition. Chapters: In this episode, Kai explores a Roblox-style quantum game (rescuing a moth using quantum mechanics!), then learns to play quantum chess with Tamás Varga, discovering what superposition and entanglement actually mean by using them to win. Along the way, we dive into:
💬 Leave a comment here on Spotify. Kai reads them all! 🎧 Follow The Quantum Kid on Spotify for new episodes | |||
| Can quantum computers really break the encryption protecting your data? | 04 Oct 2026 | 00:08:51 | |
Can quantum computers really break the encryption protecting your data? Kai sits down with Rebecca Krauthamer, CEO of QuSecure, to find out, recorded live in Geneva at the AI for Good Summit. Plus, great questions from the UN diplomatic corps in the audience! Chapters: The Quantum Kid is a show where 10-year-old Kai asks the world's top scientists and tech leaders to explain quantum computing to him, and if he gets it, so will everyone else. 💬 Leave a comment here on Spotify. Kai reads them all! 🎧 Follow The Quantum Kid on Spotify for new episodes | |||
| Particle Fever director: can art explain quantum physics better than equations? | 04 Oct 2026 | 00:16:10 | |
Can quantum be explained through art instead of equations? Award-winning filmmaker Mark Levinson (Particle Fever, The Universe in a Grain of Sand) joins Roger Highfield from the Science Museum Group to answer Kai's biggest questions! Chapters: For the past year, The Quantum Kid has explored quantum technologies through the eyes of Kai, a curious young co-host who started this journey at age nine. In this special anniversary episode, Kai has officially turned 10! To celebrate, we are joined by two exceptional science storytellers:
Together, they explore one of the biggest challenges in science: how do you explain quantum ideas to the next generation? The conversation ranges from CERN and Particle Fever to Mark's latest film, The Universe in a Grain of Sand, which uses art, experimental cinema and stunning visuals to make some of the strangest ideas in physics more accessible. Along the way, Kai shares his own interpretations of superposition and entanglement, leading to a fascinating discussion about whether children may sometimes be better prepared for quantum thinking than adults. This episode celebrates one year of The Quantum Kid and Kai's journey from age nine to ten, proving that some of the biggest questions in science can start with a child's curiosity. The Quantum Kid is a show where 10-year-old Kai asks the world's top scientists and tech leaders to explain quantum computing to him, and if he gets it, so will everyone else. 💬 Leave a comment here on Spotify. Kai reads them all! 🎧 Follow The Quantum Kid on Spotify for new episodes | |||
| How do you build a quantum computing startup? | 04 Oct 2026 | 00:20:53 | |
In this episode of The Quantum Kid, Kai visits a real quantum computing startup, ZuriQ, at ETH Zurich to find out what it takes to build a company in one of the world's most advanced technologies. How do quantum startups begin? Who provides the funding? What makes a good founder? And what happens if your company fails? Kai speaks with:
Explore a quantum lab with Kai to learn how atoms can become qubits, and why building a startup requires much more than just a great idea! Chapters: The Quantum Kid is a show where 10-year-old Kai asks the world's top scientists and tech leaders to explain quantum computing to him, and if he gets it, so will everyone else. 💬 Leave a comment here on Spotify. Kai reads them all! 🎧 Follow The Quantum Kid on Spotify for new episodes | |||
| Why do kids learn quantum faster than adults? John Martinis explains | 04 Oct 2026 | 00:26:05 | |
Why do kids understand quantum concepts faster than adults? Nobel Prize winner John Martinis (2025 Nobel Prize in Physics) and Elisa Torres Durney (founder of Girls in Quantum) join Kai to find out, and to challenge how physics gets taught in the first place. In this episode, we explore why children have a natural advantage with non-intuitive ideas like superposition and entanglement, before anyone's told them physics is supposed to be hard. John shares real advice for parents on how to nurture scientific curiosity through building, playing and asking better questions, not more advanced ones. Chapters: In an upcoming episode: Kai takes on Tamás Varga, the creator of a quantum chess game called Niel's Chess, to see how quantum rules actually govern the board. 💬 Leave a comment here on Spotify. Kai reads them all! 🎧 Follow The Quantum Kid on Spotify for new episodes | |||
| Can quantum computing help unlock fusion energy on Earth? | 04 Oct 2026 | 00:22:19 | |
Why can't we simulate the Sun, and could quantum computers help us build a star on Earth? Watch Kai visit a tokamak to find out. First, though, he heads to the Atacama Desert in Chile, where, among cacti and llamas, two remarkable observatories explore the wonders of the universe. Starting at Paranal and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), Kai ponders how stars shine through nuclear fusion. That question takes him all the way to Japan, to the largest operational fusion reactor in the world, the JT-60SA tokamak, to see how scientists are trying to achieve fusion energy right here on Earth. Back in the studio, MIT physicist Peter Fisher explains why fusion is so difficult, especially when it comes to simulating plasma, where vast numbers of particles interact at extreme speeds. Today's classical computers struggle with this complexity, and that's exactly where quantum computing comes in. Quantum systems could simulate plasma in fundamentally new ways, helping scientists better understand and control fusion reactions. Researchers are already exploring this connection, combining quantum simulations with traditional methods. Chapters: 💬 Leave a comment here on Spotify. Kai reads them all! 🎧 Follow The Quantum Kid on Spotify for new episodes | |||
| Inside CERN: is quantum computing the answer to the next LHC upgrade? | 04 Oct 2026 | 00:15:42 | |
Kai visited CERN just before the Large Hadron Collider shut down for one of the biggest upgrades in its history. The High-Luminosity LHC will dramatically increase collision density: stronger magnets (up to around 12 tesla), far more particle interactions, and an explosion in data that will push computing infrastructure to its limits. So 9-year-old Kai went to CERN to ask a direct question: if nature is quantum, and the data is growing beyond anything we've handled before, could quantum computers help? Inside CMS, 100 metres underground, protons collide every 25 nanoseconds. Millions of detector channels record events at microscopic precision. Physicists simulate quantum field theory on classical machines, and know exactly where approximations start to strain. Chapters: This episode covers serious scientific questions emerging from the next phase of high-energy physics. Follow the show to catch future episodes, and watch the previous ones! Oh, and leave a comment here on Spotify. Kai is looking forward to each and every one! 🎧 Follow The Quantum Kid on Spotify for new episodes | |||
| A kid 3D-printed a human ear — then found out how quantum computers discover new drugs | 04 Oct 2026 | 00:27:17 | |
Would you like to print a new ear? How about a new heart? In this episode of The Quantum Kid, 9-year-old Kai goes somewhere very few kids ever get to go: a real bioprinting lab at ETH Zurich. With the help of a researcher, Kai 3D-prints a mini human ear 🦻 made from living cells, and learns how scientists use printed tissue to study the body and test new medicines. Back in the studio, Kai has a fascinating discussion about another big "wow" in science: the use of quantum computing for drug discovery. He chats with two quantum experts:
They explain how quantum computers are different from regular computers, and why they could help scientists discover new drugs by understanding molecules in much more detail. To help Kai and viewers understand quantum, we use analogies like LEGO bricks with mini brains 🧱🧠: tiny building blocks that can hold lots of possibilities at once, which is exactly what chemistry and biology need. Chapters: Real labs. Real scientists. Big ideas, explained so viewers of any age can follow along. 🎧 Follow The Quantum Kid on Spotify for new episodes | |||
| John Preskill & Ken Goldberg: can quantum computers make robots smarter? | 08 Jan 2026 | 00:29:33 | |
Here's the Spotify version. Spotify has episode comments too, so I kept the "Now your turn" section. You could also turn one of those questions into a Spotify poll (there's a Polls tab on the episode page), which listeners can answer with one tap. Kai, The Quantum Kid, explores what happens when quantum computing meets robotics! We have two amazing guests: We discuss how quantum computers could help robots make smarter decisions and solve problems faster, and what this could mean for the future of intelligent machines. We also talk about uncertainty, both in quantum physics and in robotics. Kai also heads to a super cool robotics lab in Zurich, ANYbotics, to talk to Ayla Watsuji, Robotics Mechanical Engineer. There, he meets ANYmal, a robot dog the size of a Labrador that can walk, climb stairs, and go where it's dangerous for humans. And, as Kai puts it, "it's veeeeeryyyy cute!" Quantum computers don't just calculate faster. They think differently. Could that give robots new abilities? Chapters: 👇 Now your turn: 💬 Leave a comment here on Spotify. Kai reads them and may answer yours in the next episode! 🎧 Follow The Quantum Kid on Spotify for new episodes | |||
| Scott Aaronson's Chat with Kai: Time Travel, Wormholes, Paradoxes, and the Future of Physics | 08 Jan 2026 | 00:23:54 | |
In this episode of The Quantum Kid, 9-year-old Kai explores one of the most fascinating frontiers in modern physics: time travel, and what quantum mechanics and relativity really say about it. Our guest is Scott Aaronson, one of the world's leading experts in quantum computing, the Schlumberger Centennial Chair of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin, and director of UT's Quantum Information Center. Together, we dig into the science behind the movies, from Back to the Future to Interstellar, and unpack what physics actually allows. Scott explains:
Along the way, Kai asks what every curious kid wants to know: Can you bring your homework back from the future? Could Marty McFly really fade out of existence? How much of Interstellar is true? And will we ever time-travel for real? To bring the cosmic perspective to life, this episode also features original footage from the ALMA Observatory in the Atacama Desert, one of Earth's most advanced instruments for exploring the structure of space-time. Chapters: Whether you're a kid discovering physics for the first time or a researcher wondering how quantum mechanics might resolve time-travel paradoxes, this conversation offers a clear and insightful journey through some of the biggest open questions in science, from wormholes to quantum gravity. 🎧 Follow The Quantum Kid on Spotify for new episodes | |||
| Nobel laureate Steven Chu & Peter Shor on quantum computing vs climate change | 08 Jan 2026 | 00:24:58 | |
In this episode of The Quantum Kid, Kai travels to Easter Island to explore one of the biggest questions of our time: can quantum computing help the environment and make our world just that tiny bit more sustainable? For the chat, Kai is joined by two legendary scientists:
Together, they discuss how quantum technologies could transform energy systems, climate solutions, and sustainable innovation, and how curiosity and creativity can drive real-world progress. Chapters: It's a rare, intergenerational dialogue that connects qubits and climate, mathematics and meaning, and the future of science and the planet, through the eyes of a child and the minds of two of the world's most visionary scientists. 🎧 Follow The Quantum Kid on Spotify for new episodes | |||
| This 9-year-old ran his own program on a real quantum computer | 08 Jan 2026 | 00:19:06 | |
In this episode, 9-year-old Kai codes on a real quantum computer! Join us as we visit an actual quantum computing lab at ETH Zurich, Albert Einstein's alma mater, with Kai, The Quantum Kid. We step inside the cutting-edge world of superconducting qubits and meet Dr. Anatoly Kulikov, one of the ETH researchers pushing the limits of physics. And we even see Kai run his very own quantum algorithm on a live quantum processor! What to expect in this episode:
Whether you're completely new to quantum or already working in the field, you'll get a close-up look at the technology that's reshaping computing, and the curiosity that drives the next generation of scientists. Chapters: Want to go deeper? By slowly changing the length of that pulse and measuring where the arrow ends up, we see a beautiful wave pattern in the results. This is the Rabi oscillation, the qubit's way of showing how it moves between its two possible states. The Bloch sphere is simply the scientist's map for that motion, letting us picture the qubit's dance in 3D space. Seeing the wave appear in the data is proof that the qubit is behaving exactly as quantum physics predicts. Watch the video to see the results! The Quantum Kid is made by Tesseract Quantum. On our YouTube channel you'll also find our Qubits & Coffee webinars, which teach everyone to program a quantum computer. 🎧 Follow The Quantum Kid on Spotify for new episodes | |||
| Could quantum computers help us find alien life? | 08 Jan 2026 | 00:21:59 | |
In this episode of The Quantum Kid, 9-year-old Kai and his science writer mom, Katia Moskvitch, travel to the Atacama Desert in Chile, the driest place on Earth. They visit the Paranal Observatory, home to the Very Large Telescope, which combines four 8.2-meter telescopes into a single virtual mirror, giving it the highest optical resolution in the world. The Atacama is so free of light pollution that the night sky is stunning, with the Milky Way stretching overhead like a magical blanket. Chapters: With guests:
Kai and Katia look at how quantum technologies and AI could transform space exploration, astronomy, the search for signals of extraterrestrial life, and even our understanding of reality itself. From simulating black holes and the Big Bang to quantum sensing and quantum communication, Kai asks: can quantum and AI help us answer the biggest question of all? Are we alone in the cosmos? In a very down-to-earth way, Avi and Karen explain how quantum computing and AI could help scientists process massive amounts of telescope data, explore galaxies, and probe mysteries like dark matter and dark energy. The episode also tackles another big question: could these technologies one day replace human scientists, or are they tools that amplify human curiosity and discovery? Quantum sensors could detect faint gravitational waves or measure tiny changes in space environments with unprecedented precision. Quantum communication may one day link spacecraft across vast distances with secure signals, while quantum-designed materials may protect astronauts from cosmic radiation on long journeys to Mars and beyond. 🎧 Follow The Quantum Kid on Spotify for new episodes | |||
| The 3D-printed panda: can quantum computing reinvent manufacturing? | 08 Jan 2026 | 00:16:15 | |
In this episode of The Quantum Kid, 9-year-old Kai and Katia explore how quantum computing is beginning to reshape how we build, design, and optimize everything, from materials to supply chains. Kai and Katia are joined by two brilliant guests:
Whether you're a tech leader, educator, or just quantum-curious, this episode makes deep tech both accessible and inspiring. Chapters: 🎧 Follow The Quantum Kid on Spotify for new episodes | |||
| Can Quantum Computers Fly a Plane? | 04 Jul 2025 | 00:19:34 | |
Welcome to The Quantum Kid, where 9-year-old Kai and his physicist mom, Katia Moskvitch, talk to scientists, innovators, and entrepreneurs building tomorrow's world. Big questions, real answers, all explained simply. In this first episode, Kai explores big questions with:
We've all heard the buzz around quantum computing, but what are quantum computers, really? They're not just faster. They think differently, which helps them solve complex problems like modeling weather or optimizing flight routes. Could they fly a plane remotely? Not today, but one day they might help make better, faster decisions in unpredictable environments. Why does this matter for business? Quantum could unlock major value in logistics, materials science, and beyond, but only if we ask the right questions now and invest in educating bright, curious minds. Simple questions lead to deep insights, and Kai proves that curiosity might just be the ultimate quantum tool. Chapters:0:00 Introduction to quantum1:06 Understanding the quantum world3:54 Quantum computing basics5:52 Potential applications8:57 Optimization and logistics12:00 Investment and challenges14:47 Algorithms and the future17:04 Quantum networks and conclusion 🎧 Follow The Quantum Kid on Spotify for new episodes▶️ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJA_FyC7jWsid3hkVQdhvMA🌐 tesseractquantum.com | |||