What's Your Problem?

Pushkin Industries

Every week on What’s Your Problem, entrepreneurs and engineers talk about the future they’re trying to build – and the problems they have to solve to get there. How do you take a drone delivery service you’ve built in Rwanda and make it work in North Carolina? How do you convince people to buy a house on the Internet? How do you sell thousands of dog ramps to weiner dogs all across America when a pandemic breaks the global supply chain?  Hosted by former Planet Money host Jacob Goldstein, What’s Your Problem helps listeners understand the problems really smart people are trying to solve right now. iHeartMedia is the exclusive podcast partner of Pushkin Industries.

  • 30 minutes 30 seconds
    Measles: The Cancer Killer?... from Incubation

    We thought we knew everything there was to know about measles. But in recent years, new research has revealed that the virus attacks the immune system and creates effects far more dramatic than a rash and fever. For this episode we’re joined by Michael Mina, a former Harvard epidemiologist now at eMed, who helped discover how measles was causing “immune amnesia.” Our second guest is Stephen Russell, a former Mayo Clinic researcher who co-founded a company called Vyriad. Russell is trying to use the measles virus to treat cancer. Enjoy this episode from Incubation, another Pushkin podcast.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    19 December 2024, 5:30 am
  • 43 minutes 20 seconds
    RoboPod and the Perpetual Money Machine – Cautionary Questions 2… from Cautionary Tales

    What really drove the 2008 financial crash? What’s a shadow bank? And what’s the connection between NIMBYs and BANANAs? Tim Harford and Jacob Goldstein answer more of your questions. Enjoy this episode from Cautionary Tales, another Pushkin Podcast.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    12 December 2024, 5:30 am
  • 50 minutes 38 seconds
    Turning Solar Energy Into Fuel (The Solar Era, Part 3)

    Solar power and batteries are becoming cheap and ubiquitous. Great. But there are problems batteries can’t solve – like fueling ships and planes. One way to solve those problems: Use solar power to create hydrogen, and turn that hydrogen into fuel.

    Today’s guest is Raffi Garabedian, the co-founder and CEO of Electric Hydrogen. Raffi’s problem is this: How do you turn solar and wind energy into clean hydrogen that’s cheap enough to compete with fossil fuel?

    This is the last of three episodes we’re doing about the solar-power revolution. Listen to the previous episodes on your podcast player or at our website: https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/whats-your-problem

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    2 December 2024, 5:30 am
  • 51 minutes 9 seconds
    Get Happier, Help Others: Some Good Ideas About Giving

    It's the season of giving: colorful paper and shiny bows, sure, and charitable giving, too. In this special episode, Jacob Goldstein, the host of What's Your Problem, gets smart about donating.

    Did you know that spending money on others makes you happier than spending money on yourself? Or that altruistic nerds have discovered four of the most impactful charities in the world (per dollar spent)? Have you ever wondered how poker players think about giving?

    Dr. Laurie Santos from The Happiness Lab, Elie Hassenfeld of GiveWell, and Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova from Risky Business talk about how to maximize your giving – and why you’ll be happy you did.

    Link to donate: https://givingmultiplier.org/happinesslab

    Listen to The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos

    Listen to Risky Business

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    2 December 2024, 5:01 am
  • 31 minutes 17 seconds
    Can Hot Bricks Save the World? (The Solar Era, Part 2)

    This is the second of three episodes about the solar-power revolution. Last week, we talked about how solar power got so cheap. This week, we’re talking with someone who is building giant plants around the world to take advantage of all that cheap, intermittent energy.

    John O'Donnell is the co-founder of Rondo Energy. John’s problem is this: How do you turn intermittent energy into the cheap, reliable, intense heat that companies around the world need to make everything from steel beams to t-shirts?

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    28 November 2024, 5:30 am
  • 44 minutes 8 seconds
    How the Sun Won (The Solar Era, Part 1)

    In the past 20 years, the price of solar panels has fallen by more than 97 percent. This extraordinary decline is good news for the world – and it’s transforming the way energy is produced and consumed.

    For the next few episodes, we’ll be talking to people who are in the middle of this solar power revolution to find out how it happened, and what it will mean for the world.

    Today, Jenny Chase, the author of Solar Power Finance Without the Jargon, tells the story of how solar power got so cheap and where it’s exploding today, and she explains what problems we still need to solve to pull off a worldwide energy transition. 

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    21 November 2024, 5:30 am
  • 31 minutes 54 seconds
    Drugs in Space

    Paul Reichert is a research scientist at Merck, working on improvements to how we administer drugs to patients. Paul's problem is this: How can you run experiments in space to learn how to make better drugs on Earth?

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    14 November 2024, 5:30 am
  • 44 minutes 32 seconds
    The World Is Getting Better (Really)

    Hannah Ritchie is a data scientist and the deputy editor of Our World in Data. She is also the author of Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet. Hannah’s problem is this: How do you use data to get past the doomsday headlines and solve big problems to achieve sustainability?

    Check out Our World in Data: https://ourworldindata.org/

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    7 November 2024, 5:30 am
  • 28 minutes 32 seconds
    Rabies: When Monsters are Real…from Incubation

    Why has rabies invaded our nightmares for centuries? Author and veterinarian Monica Murphy tells us about the cultural history of rabies (which involves vampires and werewolves!) and how our long nightmare with the disease came to an end. Then, wildlife biologist Kathy Nelson tells us about a surprising program that works to control raccoon rabies… from the sky. Enjoy this episode from Incubation, another Pushkin podcast. 

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    31 October 2024, 4:30 am
  • 36 minutes 26 seconds
    Using Gene Therapy to Help the Blind See

    After decades of research, gene therapy is starting to work. Shannon Boye is a professor of cellular and molecular therapeutics at the University of Florida. She is also the co-founder and chief scientific officer of Atsena Therapeutics. Shannon’s problem is this: How do you use gene therapy to cure certain forms of blindness? 

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    17 October 2024, 4:30 am
  • 40 minutes 3 seconds
    Bringing Back Mammoths and Dodos*

    *Or at least, sort of bringing back mammoths and dodos.

    Beth Shapiro is the chief scientific officer at Colossal Biosciences and the author of How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction. Beth's problem is this: How do you use the tools of modern biology – and hundreds of millions of dollars – to bring back species that have been extinct for centuries? And on another level, Beth’s problem is explaining to the world what it really means (and doesn’t mean) to bring back an extinct species.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    10 October 2024, 4:30 am
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