What’s Your Problem?
Shashank Samala is the CEO and co-founder of Heirloom, a carbon capture start-up.
His problem is this: Can you use crushed up rocks to permanently suck carbon out of the atmosphere? And can you do it cheaply enough to have a global impact?
On today’s show, Shashank explains why he believes rocks could be the backbone of carbon capture, how his childhood in India shaped his outlook on climate change, and how government policy is shaping today’s direct air capture industry.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How Refrigeration Changed the World
Refrigeration is an underrated technology. It completely transformed what billions of people eat every day. Today’s guest, Nicola Twilley, tells the story of refrigeration in her new book, Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our…
Detecting Deepfakes With AI
As generative AI tools improve, it is becoming easier to digitally manipulate content and harder to tell when it has been tampered with. Today we are talking to someone on the front lines of this…
Turning Old Cans Into Clean Energy
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…
Moneyball, Soccer, and the Gap Between Analytics and the Real World
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…
Using Computer Vision to See What Coaches Can’t
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…
Scanning Every Muscle to Help Olympians Get Stronger
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…
Making Blood Vessels in a Factory
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?…
Creating the Second Atomic Age
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…
Lifetime Terms, Lifetime Bans, and the Return of Roaring Kitty from Risky Business
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…
When the Robots Take Over… from Cautionary Tales
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…