What’s Your Problem?

Aluminum is the most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust. It’s cheap, ubiquitous, and surprisingly energy dense. Peter Godart is the co-founder and CEO of Found Energy. Peter’s problem is this: How can you use aluminum as a source of clean, renewable energy? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sarah Rudd is the co-founder and CEO of the soccer analytics company src | ftbl (It’s pronounced “Source Football.”) Sarah’s problem is this: How do you model a sport as fluid and complex as soccer and translate the analytical insights from the model into meaningful changes on the pitch?  This is the third and final … Read more

Jimmy Buffi is the CEO and co-founder of Reboot Motion, which uses biomechanics to help athletes in Major League Baseball and the NBA. Jimmy’s problem is this: How do you turn data about how professional athletes move into knowledge that helps them perform better? This is the second episode of our series about people who … Read more

On the next few episodes of What’s Your Problem, Jacob Goldstein is talking with people working at the frontiers of technology to help elite athletes perform better.  Today’s guest is Silvia Blemker, a professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Virginia and the co-founder of Springbok Analytics. Silvia’s problem is this: How do you … Read more

Laura Niklason is the co-founder and CEO of Humacyte. Laura’s problem is this: How can you use human cells to create blood vessels that surgeons can pull out of a bag and implant into patients? Although still awaiting FDA approval in the U.S., Humacyte’s vessels have already been used to treat wounded soldiers in Ukraine. … Read more

As demand for clean energy grows, engineers around the U.S. are working on a new generation of nuclear reactors. These designs reflect how nuclear energy could fit into the power grid – and our lives – in new ways. Yasir Arafat is the Chief Technology Officer at Aalo Atomics. Yasir’s problem is this: How do … Read more

This week on Risky Business, Nate and Maria discuss whether Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor should retire, the perils of sports betting among professional athletes, and what the return of Roaring Kitty means for traditional market analysis.  Further Reading: “Sonia Sotomayor Should Retire Now” from The Atlantic “Should Sonia Sotomayor Retire?” from Slate “MLB bans Padres’ … Read more

Tim Harford is joined by Jacob Goldstein to answer your questions. Does winning the lottery make you unhappy? Is Bitcoin bad for the economy? When does correlation imply causation? And what will Tim and Jacob do when the robot overlords come for their jobs? Enjoy this episode from Cautionary Tales, another Pushkin podcast. See omnystudio.com/listener … Read more

Palm oil is a cheap and remarkably versatile vegetable oil. It’s in a ton of products, from food to cosmetics, detergent, and chewing gum. But producing so much palm oil is really bad for the planet. Shara Ticku is the co-founder and CEO of C16 Biosciences. Shara’s problem is this: Can you get yeast to … Read more

Last year, the FDA approved a treatment for sickle cell disease using a revolutionary new gene editing technology called CRISPR. Rachel Haurwitz conducted pioneering research on CRISPR as a graduate student. Now she’s the co-founder and CEO of Caribou Biosciences. Rachel’s problem is this: How can you improve CRISPR and use it to engineer human … Read more