What's Your Problem?

This week, Nate and Maria discuss AI 2027, a new report from the AI Futures Project that lays out some pretty doom-y scenarios for our near-term AI future. They talk about how likely humans are to be misled by rogue AI, and whether current conflicts between the US and China will affect the way this all unfolds. Plus, Nate talks about the feedback he gave the AI 2027 writers after reading an early...

Blake Scholl is the founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic. Blake's problem is this: Can you build a commercial airplane that flies faster than the speed of sound – and that makes economic sense? Get early, ad-free access to episodes of What's Your Problem? by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm . Pushkin+ subscribers can access ad-free episodes, full audiobooks, exclusive bi...

Fiorenzo Omenetto is a professor of biomedical engineering at Tufts University and the director of Silklab. Fiorenzo's problem is this: How do you turn a material people have been using for thousands of years into useful, cutting edge tools that  improve everything from vaccine delivery to food waste? Get early, ad-free access to episodes of What's Your Problem? by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple...

A few years ago, a ransomware gang called LockBit rose from obscurity to extort over $100 million from organizations around the world. A security strategist named Jon DiMaggio wanted to understand how the organization worked. So he used the techniques of World War II-era spycraft to make contact with the hackers. On today’s show, Jon tells the story of LockBit – from the way it borrowe...

Christopher Kirchhoff helped launch a Defense Department office that aimed to bring Silicon Valley technology to the US military.  Christopher’s problem is this: How can the giant bureaucracy that is the US military keep up with technological change? Get early, ad-free access to episodes of What's Your Problem? by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm . Pushkin+ subscribers...

Jared Baeten is senior vice president in virology at Gilead Sciences. Jared's problem is this: In a world without a vaccine, how do you make a medicine that people will actually take to help prevent HIV? There’s already a daily pill that reduces the risk of getting HIV, but a majority of people who are at high risk are unwilling or unable to take it. So Jared and his colleagues are developin...

Carlos Araque is the co-founder and CEO of Quaise Energy. Carlos' problem is this: How do you make drilling for geothermal energy as routine, widespread, and profitable as drilling for oil or gas? The answer involves digging deeper into the Earth than anyone has ever dug before. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ben Rapoport is the co-founder and CSO of Precision Neuroscience. Ben's problem is this: Can you build a device that allows a paralyzed person to use a computer with only their thoughts – without damaging their brain? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jeff Cardenas is the co-founder and CEO of Apptronik. Jeff's problem is this: Can you make a safe, reliable humanoid robot – for less than $50,000? In the short term, Apptronik’s robots will work in factories. But Jeff’s long-term goal – based on the experience of his own grandparents – is to build robots that can help care for the elderly. See omnystudio.com/listener...

We need better, cheaper ways to store solar and wind energy when it’s dark out and the wind isn’t blowing. One option: Compressing air in underground caverns when energy is abundant, then blowing it back out to create energy when you need it. It’s an old idea, but it has some fundamental problems. Curtis VanWalleghem, the co-founder and CEO of Hydrostor, thinks his company has so...

There are moments in history when people make huge technological advances all of a sudden. Think of the Manhattan Project, the Apollo missions, or, more recently, generative AI. But what do these moments have in common? Is there some set of conditions that lead to massive technological leaps? Byrne Hobart is the author of a finance newsletter called The Diff, and the co-author of Boom: Bubbles and...

AI works well in the virtual world. That’s partly because the internet provides so much data to train AI models. But there’s no analogous data set for the physical world – and as a result, AI doesn’t work as well there… yet.  Edward Mehr is the co-founder and CEO of Machina Labs. Edward's problem is this: How can you use AI to turn robots from dumb, inflexible machin...

In the past few years,  NVIDIA has become one of the most valuable and important companies in the world by making GPUs, the chips powering the AI boom. But where did the company come from, and why are NVIDIA chips the ones that dominate AI? Tae Kim is the author of a new book called The Nvidia Way. In his book, he tells the story of how NVIDIA’s founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, set NVIDIA on t...

 Claude Shannon is a major figure in the history of technology. Known as the father of information theory, Shannon spent decades at Bell Labs and MIT. But what exactly did Claude Shannon figure out, and why is it so important? To answer that question, Jacob talked with David Tse, a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford who studied under one of Shannon’s students, and who teaches Sh...

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...

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.

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 cle...

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, reli...

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...

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.

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....

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...

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.

*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...

The elevator made the modern city possible: No elevators, no skyscrapers. Today, people are working on entirely new kinds of elevators that can go higher and faster than ever. On today’s show, we talk about those innovations with Lee Gray, who is possibly the world’s leading elevator historian and definitely a professor of architectural history at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. See...