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221 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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Can a Cancer Gene Keep Muscles Young?
5 november 2026 · 32 min
Kevin Murach is a professor who studies muscle cells at the University of Missouri. Kevin's problem is this: Can we understand what's going on in our cells when we lift weights – and can we use that knowledge to help people stay healthier as they age? Lees meer
In this episode, Kevin explains:
The technology lets scientists watch individual muscle nuclei during exercise
The significance of a cancer gene called Myc that is activated after lifting weights
How Myc may be linked to cellular age reversal
Why muscle responds less to exercise with age
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How Warren Buffet Built His Legacy By Finding Value No One Else Could See from Business History
2 november 2026 · 44 min
Throughout the next few weeks, every Monday we'll be sharing some of our favorite episodes from Jacob's other show Business History. We hope you enjoy them and if you want to hear more, subscriber to Business History on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Lees meer
With the news of Warren Buffett stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, we are revisiting an episode from our two-part series on Buffet.
Warren Buffett rose from obscurity to become the richest person in the world - and he did it in a unique way. As a boy in Omaha he collected information obsessively - writing down car license numbers and hoarding bottle caps. As a young man, Buffett turned his focus on scouring business accounts to find companies that had hidden value no one else could spot.
We tell the story of young Warren Buffett as he quietly worked building up the expertise and accumulating the wealth that would allow him to become the most famous investor of our age.
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Every Cell in Your Body Has a Clock
29 oktober 2026 · 30 min
Circadian rhythm isn’t just controlled by your brain. Every cell in your body runs on a 24-hour cycle, including your muscle cells. Lees meer
Karyn Esser is the chair of the department of physiology and aging at the University of Florida, and she’s a leading expert on circadian rhythm in muscle cells. Karyn's problem is this: How does the circadian rhythm in muscle cells change as we age, and how does exercise help keep our system in sync?
In this episode, Karyn explains:
How every cell in your body has a clock in it
How muscle clocks prepare cells for work and schedule recovery during rest
How age affects these clocks’ ability to regulate effectively
Why exercise can improve clock function
Why jet lag and late-night eating can put your body clocks out of sync
Connect with us:
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How a Bad Boss Kickstarted Silicon Valley... from Business History
26 oktober 2026 · 48 min
Throughout the next few weeks, every Monday we'll be sharing some of our favorite episodes from Jacob's other show Business History. We hope you enjoy them and if you want to hear more, subscriber to Business History on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Lees meer
William Shockley was an electronics genius - he even won a Nobel Prize - but he was an awful boss. Shockley was a cruel, paranoid micromanager. And this annoyed the staff of brilliant young engineers he'd assembled in a quiet town in Northern California. In fact, they quit and set up a company of their own inventing silicon chips.
Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore and the rest of "The Traitorous Eight" transformed computing, but also blazed a trail for the tech founders who would flock to Silicon Valley and change the world. Members of "The Traitorous Eight" set up Intel and AMD, while also funding businesses such as Google and Slack.
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Solving the Trust Problem in AI Shopping
22 oktober 2026 · 40 min
Note: Today’s show is sponsored by PayPal. Lees meer
Kartik Hosanagar is a professor at the Wharton School. The problems he studies include: What will it take for people to trust AI agents to buy stuff for them? And how should businesses prepare for a world where their customers include AI agents?
In this episode, Kartik explains:
Why trust in agentic shopping will arrive category by category, not all at once
How a single old Reddit post erased a thriving brand from ChatGPT’s recommendations
Why someone needs to take on the liability risk when purchases go wrong
How treating AI as just another sales channel is the mistake the movie studios made with Netflix
How to get a language model to pay attention to your brand
Connect with us:
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Can a Robot Build Better, Cheaper Houses?
15 oktober 2026 · 51 min
Jason Ballard is the co-founder and CEO of ICON. Jason's problem is this: Can you use 3-D printing to build houses that are cheaper, better and more interesting than the houses we build now? Lees meer
In this episode, Jason explains:
Why construction methods are so slow to change
How 3D printing opens up new designs for houses
How building on the Moon shaped the way Icon builds on Earth
The challenge of scaling to printing thousands of houses
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Did AI Write This?
8 oktober 2026 · 39 min
Celebrated novelists, countless students and at least one billionaire have recently been accused of using AI in their writing. The most commonly cited AI detector in these cases is called Pangram. Lees meer
Max Spero is the co-founder and CEO of Pangram. His problem is this: Can you build tools that reliably detect AI-generated text and images? And a few years from now, will anybody care?
In this episode, Max explains:
Why AI prose so often sounds the same
How often Pangram makes mistakes
How detectors like Pangram compete with humanizer tools
Why the big AI companies may not be interested in detection
The shifting norms around AI-generated writing
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Blockers | A Preview of Michael Lewis's New Audiobook
6 oktober 2026 · 50 min
I'm here with a preview of Blockers, a new audiobook from Michael Lewis, the author of Liars Poker, Moneyball, The Big Short and more. In Blockers, Lewis tells the story of a handful of people who dedicated their careers to public service—until the Department of Government Efficiency decided they were a problem. These were people who believed they had a calling—people who kept American's sensitive tax data out of the wrong hands, made sure that politicians and civil servants played by the rules, and figured out how to stop wildfires from destroying suburban neighborhoods—and then discovered they were no longer wanted. Lees meer
Here's an excerpt from the audiobook. You can buy the audiobook exclusively at blockers.fm.
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Can We Defeat Deepfakes?
1 oktober 2026 · 39 min
We’ve all heard that nothing ever gets deleted from the internet. Luke Arrigoni says that just isn’t true. His company deletes thousands of deepfakes every day. Lees meer
Luke is the founder and CEO of Loti, and his problem is this: How do you turn the Internet into a place where people have more control over their name, image and likeness?
Tens of thousands of famous people pay Loti to scour the internet and take down deepfakes and unapproved endorsements. But in Luke's telling, this is just the beginning. The company will soon allow celebrities to license their likeness for use in AI videos, and it also plans to start offering its services to ordinary people.
In this episode, Luke explains:
The harm that online deepfakes and impersonations can cause
How Loti automates tens of thousands of takedowns per day
Why the law may soon make it easier to fight deepfakes
Why celebrities are beginning to license their likenesses to AI platforms
AI’s role in the future of human creativity
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The Printing Press: The Invention Built on Debt and Sin… from Business History
24 september 2026 · 47 min
Before 1450, books were written out by hand. It was slow and expensive. But Johannes Gutenberg borrowed a ton of money to create a printing press that could crank out Bibles and pamphlets and documents in huge numbers. Science, politics and philosophy were all up-ended. Lees meer
For example, the Catholic Church seized on the invention to sell special certificates absolving people of their sins – a move that made money, but caused a permanent schism in Christianity.
And Gutenberg too found himself in trouble – when a financier sued the inventor to reclaim his loan, plus interest.
Enjoy this episode from Business History, another Pushkin podcast.
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Should We Pause AI?
17 september 2026 · 44 min
Everybody’s worried about the risks of AI. So we called up one of the most insightful writers we know on the subject: Zvi Mowshowitz. Zvi writes about AI and AI risks at his substack, Don’t Worry About the Vase. Zvi’s problem is this: How do we prevent artificial intelligence from killing everyone? Lees meer
In this episode, Zvi explains:
Why it’s often useful to anthropomorphize AI
What this summer’s Hugging Face attack tells us about the nature of AI
What increasing AI capability means for cybersecurity risk
Whether and when we should pause AI development
Why powerful pen-weight models may remove the last reliable points of control
Connect with us:
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Bonus: Planning for Your Financial Future
15 september 2026 · 10 min
On this bonus episode of What’s Your Problem, Jacob talks to Christine Chase, a Vice President, Financial Consultant at Fidelity Investments. Christine’s problem is this: How do you help clients build a plan to achieve their financial goals? Today’s show is sponsored by Fidelity Investments. Lees meer
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Can a Robot Kill Fish Humanely?
10 september 2026 · 38 min
The fish we eat usually die slowly, suffocating after they’re pulled out of the water. Saif Khawaja is the co-founder and CEO of a company called Shinkei. Saif's problem is this: Can he build a machine to efficiently kill fish in a way that is more humane? Lees meer
In this episode, Saif explains:
How he came to believe that our current fishing practices are inhumane
How he adapted the Japanese technique of ikijime for use at scale
Why Shinkei’s process results in better texture and longer shelf life than commodity fish.
Why Shinkei is doing its own technology development, fish processing, and consumer branding.
Connect with us:
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Using Satellites to Prevent Famines
3 september 2026 · 37 min
Catherine Nakalembe is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland and the head of the Africa program at NASA Harvest, which uses satellite images to track agriculture around the world. Catherine’s problem is this: How do you predict when a famine is coming – and how do you convince leaders to act in time? Lees meer
In this episode, Catherine explains:
How satellite data can predict crop failure months in advance
Why phots can convince decision-makers faster than maps or statistics
Why imaging systems developed for US farmland often don’t work in Africa
Why a half-page memo moves food trucks faster than a scientific paper
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The Quantum Shift in Biomedical Discovery from Smart Talks with IBM
20 augustus 2026 · 44 min
When Dr. Lara Jehi began treating epilepsy patients in the 2000s, critical surgical decisions were driven more by clinician intuition and expertise than data. Today, she is a leader of IBM and Cleveland Clinic’s Discovery Accelerator, using advanced AI and quantum computing to transform how researchers analyze data, simulate molecules, accelerate drug discovery, and develop more precise treatments. Malcolm Gladwell talks with Dr. Jehi about how quantum computing is changing biomedical research, and what these breakthroughs could mean for the future of healthcare and life sciences. Lees meer
This is a paid advertisement from IBM. The conversations on this podcast don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.
Visit us at https://www.ibm.com/think/podcasts/smart-talks
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Can We Slow Down Aging?
13 augustus 2026 · 37 min
Nir Barzilai is a physician and a researcher at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, where he runs the Institute for Geroscience. Nir’s problem is this: How can we use lifestyle changes and drugs to slow the process of aging? Lees meer
In this episode, Nir explains:
The search for biological markers of aging
The existing drugs that might reduce the risk of diseases associated with aging
The four key lifestyle factors that every researcher in the field agrees on
What he learned by studying the genes of people who lived to 100
What “geroscience” means, and why it doesn’t have a Wikipedia page
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Why Doctors Use Evidence but Managers (Mostly) Don’t
6 augustus 2026 · 42 min
Helen Pearson is the author of the book “Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works.” Helen's problem is this: How do you get people to make important decisions based on high-quality evidence, instead of on hunches or habits? Lees meer
In this episode, Helen explains:
How a doctor's fatal mistake sparked the evidence-based medicine movement
Why management is so resistant to evidence-based practices
How systematic reviews changed the way she works as a science journalist
Why global trust in science remains high – outside the US
What a randomized trial of pint glasses revealed about preventing violent injuries.
Check out Helen’s book here.
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The Job AI Was Supposed to Kill
30 juli 2026 · 40 min
In 2016, Geoffrey Hinton, one of the inventors of modern AI, predicted that AI would replace radiologists within years. Ten years later, we have a shortage of radiologists. AI has yet to revolutionize the field. What happened, and what does the story of AI and radiology tell us about AI and the future of work? Lees meer
Saurabh Jha is a radiologist at the University of Pennsylvania. He's written about how he uses AI in his practice, and why radiologists have been slow to adopt AI. Saurabh has also traveled to India and Nepal to understand the very different ways AI is being adopted for radiology in the developing world.
In this episode, Saurabh explains:
Why AI still hasn't made radiologists faster or more productive
The risks of novice radiologists using AI versus the benefits to experts
Why a successful AI model would need to be nearly perfect
How AI is being used to spot tuberculosis in India
Why diagnosing a normal scan is harder than diagnosing disease
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How China Won the Car Industry
23 juli 2026 · 54 min
After spending decades as marginal players in the global auto industry, Chinese carmakers have become the world’s biggest exporters of cars. Chinese cars are some of the best cars on the planet, and they’re available almost everywhere – except in the US. Lees meer
Michael Dunne is the CEO of Dunne Insights, a company that consults on the future of cars. Michael has been working with the Chinese auto industry since 1990. I talked with Michael about how China did it. The problem we discussed was: How can the United States catch up with the Chinese auto industry?
In this episode, Michael explains:
How China went from making terrible cars in 1990 to dominating global exports today
Why China bet big on electric vehicles when nobody wanted them
How Tesla's arrival in China revolutionized their EV industry
Why losing the car industry would be a national security problem for the US
Why the future of a successful American auto industry is on the West Coast
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Using Viruses to Fight Disease
16 juli 2026 · 32 min
Phages are viruses that attack bacteria. People have been using phages to treat infections for over a hundred years, but in most cases they just don't work as well as antibiotics. Lees meer
Paul Garofolo is the co-founder and CEO of Locus Biosciences. His problem is this: How do you genetically engineer phages to be more effective at curing disease?
In this episode, Paul explains:
Why wild phages never completely wipe out a bacterial infection
How to engineer phages with CRISPR to kill bacteria more effectively
The clinical trial testing phage therapy for chronic, recurrent UTIs
Why persistent bacteria may contribute to autoimmune conditions like Crohn's disease
How to use robots and AI to create phage cocktails from wastewater
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How AI Could Reduce Inequality
9 juli 2026 · 44 min
David Autor is a labor economist at MIT. He has written about how the arrival of personal computers increased inequality among American workers. But when it comes to AI, David thinks there could be a different outcome. Lees meer
Read David’s article about AI in Noema Magazine.
In this episode, David explains:
How computers increased the wage gap between college and non-college educated workers
Why AI’s ability to supplement expertise may open up expert fields to more people
How AI could make healthcare and legal services cheaper
What fields will still experience rapid devaluation of skills due to AI
The “no regrets” policies that the US could enact to help ease the impact of AI
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Racing Wildfires to Warn the Public
2 juli 2026 · 52 min
John Mills is the CEO and co-founder of a nonprofit called Watch Duty. His problem is this: How do you build an app to warn people when they are in immediate danger from a natural disaster? Watch Duty has millions of users and played a key role in the Los Angeles fires of 2025. In the show, John talks about how he built his app with the help of an army of volunteers, and why the government hadn’t already built something like Watch Duty. Lees meer
In this episode, John explains:
Why one-quarter of Los Angeles residents downloaded Watch Duty during the 2025 fires
Why the all-clear message matters almost as much as the initial warning
How they are expanding into flood warnings
How to decode firefighter’s radio chatter, and his favorite bit of jargon
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How AI Could Actually Make the World Better
25 juni 2026 · 44 min
Josh Tyrangiel is the author of “AI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That Matter.” On today’s show, Josh talks about some of these real people and the problems they’re working on: a professor trying to understand her nonverbal son, a general who delivered millions of Covid vaccines in 2021, and a hospital CEO trying to reduce the rate of deadly infections. Lees meer
In this episode, Josh explains:
Where AI is helping to reduce hospital infections (and where it’s struggling)
Why distributing the Covid vaccine was almost as hard as creating it
Why convincing people to use AI is often the hardest problem to solve
Why we should use nuclear weapons as a model for regulating AI
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Finding Meaning (and Money) in the AI Age
18 juni 2026 · 48 min
Betsey Stevenson is a labor economist at the University of Michigan, and she was an economic adviser to President Obama. Betsey’s problem is this: How can we create a world where the benefits of AI are broadly shared? Lees meer
Betsey draws on history – including how the invention of household appliances created a crisis of meaning for American women – to understand how we should respond to the challenge of AI. And she suggests policies to help spread the wealth AI could bring.
In this episode, Betsey explains:
How Engels’ Pause serves as a warning for workers
How 20th century women adapted to automation
How AI has changed life for college students
The argument for taxing AI firms and distributing the proceeds to the public
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Using Pokémon Go to Map the World
28 mei 2026 · 36 min
Maps have gotten much better over the past few decades. But they're still mostly two dimensional, and they struggle to keep up with a world that is always changing. Brian McClendon is the Chief Technology Officer of Niantic Spatial, a spinout of the company that makes Pokémon Go. Brian's problem is this: How do you build a three-dimensional map of the world that both robots and humans can use to find their way? Lees meer
In this episode, Brian explains:
What he learned building Google Earth
How Pokémon Go players helped build the foundation for robot navigation
What it will take to teach AI to understand the physical world.
Why GPS is so bad in cities
Why trees are such a big problem for digital mapmakers
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The Company Where Everyone Has Their Own AI Agent
21 mei 2026 · 41 min
Dan Shipper is the co-founder and CEO of Every, a company that publishes newsletters about AI, develops AI-related software, and helps other companies use AI. Dan has two problems. One, how do you build a company where almost everybody has their own AI agent? And two, how do you use AI as a tool to improve your writing, rather than as a replacement for writing? Lees meer
In this episode, Dan explains:
Why managing agents will be a core skill of the future
Why AI agents won’t replace you anytime soon
How writers learn faster than AI models
How to give AI the social skills to work in group settings
How AI can help you better understand yourself
Check out Every at their website: https://every.to/
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Inventing a Better Apple
14 mei 2026 · 34 min
The apples you can buy at the grocery store have gotten profoundly better over the past few decades. It’s a kind of everyday, hiding-in-plain sight innovation. Kate Evans is an apple breeder and professor at Washington State University. Kate's problem is this: How do you invent a better apple? Lees meer
With her team, Kate has in fact invented a new kind of apple called the Sunflare. It’s arriving in stores in a few years. She also helped to invent the Cosmic Crisp, which is out already.
In this episode, Kate explains:
Why grocery-store apples have gotten so much better
Why some of the most delicious apples never make it into stores
Why it takes decades to invent a new kind of apple
How much more we have to learn about apple genetics
How the apple industry is adapting to climate change
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Building a Business on the Moon
7 mei 2026 · 33 min
Rob Meyerson is the co-founder and CEO of Interlune. Rob's problem is this: How do you help build an economy on the moon? Eventually, Rob hopes Interlune will help build a moon base. For now, he is focused on bringing a gas called helium-3 back from the moon to sell on earth. Lees meer
Earlier in his career, Rob was the president of Blue Origin, the rocket company founded by Jeff Bezos.
In this episode, Rob explains:
Why reusable rockets are only the first step for going back to the moon
What it's going to take to actually manufacture things in space
How to build a business by sifting through moon dirt
How nuclear fusion and quantum computing could rely on mining the moon
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Building a Robot People Actually Want
30 april 2026 · 41 min
Aaron Edsinger left his job as director of robotics at Google to start a company called Hello Robot. Aaron’s problem is this: How do you build an affordable robot that people can use to solve real problems at home? The result is a robot that looks nothing like a person. In fact, it’s closer to a Roomba with an arm. Lees meer
In this episode, Aaron explains:
Why home robots have barely progressed since the Roomba
Why simpler robots can be more useful than complex humanoids
Why the physical world is so much harder for AI than language
How robot safety is fundamentally a physics problem
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Turning Waste Wood Into Buildings
23 april 2026 · 37 min
Ben Christensen is the co-founder and CEO of Cambium, the largest seller of salvaged wood in America. Ben's problem is this: How can we turn the trees that are falling to the ground all around us, into usable wood? Lees meer
In this episode, Ben explains:
Why so much wood goes unused
Why Cambium created demand before building the supply chain
How building a data layer across the fragmented lumber industry reduces waste
Why salvaged wood can compete on price with conventional lumber
The best mantra to use 80 miles into an ultramarathon
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The Great Fusion Debate: How Far Away Are We Really?
16 april 2026 · 42 min
Investors are pouring billions of dollars into nuclear fusion companies. The dream: transform human civilization (and power AI data centers) by providing cheap, abundant energy. But nobody’s figured out how to make it work yet. Lees meer
What will it take to make fusion work at scale – and how will the world be different if it does? To answer this question, Jacob recently hosted a conversation at SXSW between Greg Piefer of SHINE Technologies, Melanie Windridge of Fusion Energy Insights, and Luke Ward of investment firm Baillie Gifford.
In this episode, the guests explain:
The incredible promise of fusion
What it will take to realize that promise
How the AI boom and the demand for power is shaping the fusion industry
Why having a ton of money flowing into the field is not necessarily a good thing
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How SharkNinja Keeps Going Viral
9 april 2026 · 35 min
Mark Barrocas is the CEO of SharkNinja, a company that sells everything from vacuums, to blenders, to beauty products. Mark’s problem is this: How do you invent new products that people want to rave about on social media? Lees meer
In this episode, Mark explains:
How SharkNinja finds product ideas
The tradeoffs at the heart of product development
How the Ninja Creami became a viral hit
Why some products fail and others succeed.
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Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History
To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for Pushkin+
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Growing New Livers to Save Lives
19 maart 2026 · 41 min
Michael Hufford is the co-founder and CEO of LyGenesis, a company working on a new treatment for end stage liver disease. Michael’s problem is this: How do grow a new liver inside the body of a sick patient? Lees meer
In this episode, Michael explains:
The liver's unique power of regeneration
The organ transplant crisis and how regeneration can help
The science behind using lymph nodes to grow new organs
The status of LyGenesis’ human trials
The future of regenerative medicine
Learn more:
Check out LyGenesis’ website
Connect with us:
Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn or X
Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History
To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for Pushkin+
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Can the US Break China's Grip on Rare Earths?
12 maart 2026 · 42 min
Rare earth elements are inside pretty much everything with an on-off switch: Phones, laptops, cars. Even missiles. And China controls the world’s supply of components made from rare earths. Lees meer
David Abraham is the author of the book “The Elements of Power: Gadgets, Guns, and the Struggle for a Sustainable Future in the Rare Metal Age.” David’s problem is this: What should the US do about China's chokehold on the rare earth supply chain?
According to Abraham, the current US strategy could wind up costing billions of dollars without solving the problem. And he has a big idea for what we should do instead.
In this episode, David explains:
How China quietly built a monopoly on rare earth materials
Why the 2010 Japan crisis was a preview of today's trade war
China’s export restriction strategy
Why the problem goes deeper than billions in spending can solve
Why electric vehicles are the key to reinvigorating the U.S. rare earth industry
Learn more:
Find David at his website
Buy the Elements of Power
Check out David’s article in the new Republic
Connect with us:
Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn or X
Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History
To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for Pushkin+
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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How Quantum Computers Could Change the World
5 maart 2026 · 40 min
Ben Bloom is the co-founder and CEO of Atom Computing, a company building quantum computers out of individual atoms. Ben’s problem is this: How do you build a quantum computer that is actually useful for everything from discovering new medicines to building better batteries? Lees meer
In this episode, Ben explains:
The practical applications of quantum computers
Atom Computing’s approach using individual neutral atoms as qubits
The key engineering challenge of scaling while maintaining accuracy
The playbook for commercializing quantum computing
Connect with us:
Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn or X
Listen to Jacob’s other show, (00:21:23) Business History
To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for Pushkin+
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Fighting Wildfires from Space
26 februari 2026 · 49 min
Jonny Dyer is the founder and CEO of a satellite company called Muon Space. The company’s first big project is a satellite constellation called FireSat. Lees meer
Jonny’s problem is this: How do you capture data from space to help manage wildfires around the world in near-real time?
In this episode, Jonny explains:
How smartphone tech inspired smaller, cheaper satellites.
Why fighting wildfires is still shockingly primitive.
Why China does not distinguish between commercial and military satellites.
Why data centers in space might arrive by 2035.
Connect with us:
Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn or X
Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History
To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for Pushkin+
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The Killer We Refused to See
19 februari 2026 · 39 min
After bacteria were discovered, it took scientists 200 years to figure out that they cause disease. If scientists had made the link sooner, hundreds of millions of lives could have been saved. Lees meer
In his recent book So Very Small, Tom Levenson, a professor of science writing at MIT, tells the amazing story of germ theory, and argues that our worldview can prevent us from seeing what is right in front of us – even when lives are at stake.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The Startup Run by AI Agents
12 februari 2026 · 54 min
Evan Ratliff co-founded a publishing startup in 2011. Now he hosts a podcast called Shell Game. In the latest season of the show, Evan creates a company run by AI agents. The project is absurdly funny – Evan calls it an office satire – but it also illuminates the power and limits of AI agents. Lees meer
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Can AI Help Solve Alzheimer’s?
5 februari 2026 · 34 min
Patrick Hsu is the co-founder of Arc Institute, which is integrating AI models and biological research. Patrick’s problem is this: How can you use AI to make biological research more efficient – and ultimately to find cures for Alzheimer’s and other complex diseases? Lees meer
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The New Science of Preventing Heart Attacks
29 januari 2026 · 33 min
In recent decades, medical research has fundamentally changed how we think about heart disease. This fresh understanding has opened up new ways to prevent heart attacks. Eric Topol is a cardiologist and the founder of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in San Diego. Eric’s problem is this: How can doctors use recent technological developments to do a better job at preventing heart attacks? Lees meer
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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From Solar Pumps to Everything: Building a Market from Scratch
22 januari 2026 · 41 min
Samir Ibrahim is the co-founder and CEO of SunCulture. When he started the company, he thought he was solving a simple problem: How do you sell solar-powered pumps to help poor farmers irrigate their land? It turned out, he was working on something much bigger: How do you help poor farmers get richer, and create a giant new market from scratch? Lees meer
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Mass-Producing Stem Cells to Cure Disease
15 januari 2026 · 34 min
Nabiha Saklayen is the co-founder and CEO of Cellino. Nabiha’s problem is this: How can you make personalized stem cell therapies quickly and cheaply? Lees meer
Induced pluripotent stem cells, or IPSCs, have shown tremendous promise as treatments for illnesses like Parkinson’s, leukemia, and heart disease.
On today’s show, Nabiha explains why IPSC manufacturing is still mostly done by hand, how her background in physics and lasers led her into biology, and what it takes to try and build tiny, automated cell factories.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Building a Self-Driving Tractor to Change the Future of Food
18 december 2025 · 43 min
Please take our survey https://tinyurl.com/wyplistenersurvey about the show! Tell us what you want to hear, and what would make it better. Lees meer
Tim Bucher is a farmer, and the founder and CEO of Agtonomy. Tim's problem is this: How do you build an autonomous tractor that can work for specialty crops like grapes, olives, apples, and almonds?
On today’s show, Tim explains what makes certain farming processes so difficult to automate, and how autonomy may soon change how we eat.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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We’re Going to Need a Better Boat
11 december 2025 · 36 min
Mitch Lee is the co-founder and CEO of Arc Boats. Mitch's problem is this: How do you build competitively priced electric boats? Lees meer
On today’s show, Mitch explains why water makes electrification so hard, the techno-economic puzzle of building giant battery packs, and how Arc’s high-end wake sport boat opened the door for a new generation of hybrid-electric tugboats.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The App Where Strangers Lend Each Other Money
20 november 2025 · 45 min
Nina Mohanty is the founder and CEO of Bloom Money. Nina’s problem is this: How do you build an app to help immigrants manage their money? Lees meer
On today’s show, Nina talks about bringing a saving and lending practice into the 21st century, navigating regulators who’ve never seen anything like it, and what global traditions can teach us about the future of money.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Introducing Business History: The Edison Invention People Don't Talk About
18 november 2025 · 50 min
What's Your Problem? host Jacob Goldstein has a new show: Business History. Lees meer
How did Hitler’s favorite car become synonymous with hippies? What got Thomas Edison tangled up with the electric chair? Did someone murder the guy who invented the movies? On Business History, Jacob and fellow former Planet Money host Robert Smith examine the surprising stories of businesses big and small and find out what you can learn from those who founded them.
In this episode: The inventor that transformed America and the world. Thomas Alva Edison registered over one thousand patents before he died in 1931—and we can thank him for advances in electric power, communications technology, music recording and even the movies. But his biggest breakthrough doesn't get nearly enough attention. In many ways, Edison invented modern inventing. Jacob and Robert they trace the life story of a scrappy young boy with bad hearing who almost singlehandedly invented R&D. This is the first of a three part series on Edison—if you want to hear the full series, ad-free, right now, join Pushkin+ on the Business History show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus.
Find Business History (00:10) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get podcasts.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Using Sound Waves to Destroy Tumors
13 november 2025 · 34 min
Mike Blue is the CEO of HistoSonics. The company recently developed a device that uses ultrasound to destroy tumors. Lees meer
On today’s show, Mike talks about how a garage-built prototype became an FDA-approved machine; changing the company’s story after a failed clinical trial; and why he loves being a salesman but hates most sales pitches.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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From Desert Robots to Driverless Trucks
6 november 2025 · 44 min
Chris Urmson is the co-founder and CEO of Aurora, a company trying to bring autonomous driving to commercial trucking. Lees meer
Chris led a team at the 2004 DARPA challenge that launched the autonomous vehicle industry. Then he held a senior role at Google’s self-driving car project, which later became Waymo.
On the show today, he talks about the long arc of autonomous driving, why he left Google, and the future of autonomous trucking.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Is the Future of Fresh Water Under the Sea?
30 oktober 2025 · 32 min
Michael Porter is the Chief Technology Officer of OceanWell. Lees meer
Michael's problem is this: How can you desalinate water at the bottom of the ocean – and deliver it to land at a cost that’s competitive with other sources of fresh water?
On today’s show, Michael explains how he built OceanWell’s prototype in his kitchen, what it takes to make a system that’s less disruptive to marine life, and why innovations from the oil and gas industry are making his work possible.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Could Home Batteries Save the Grid?
23 oktober 2025 · 31 min
Justin Lopas is the COO and co-founder of Base Power, a battery and power company based in Texas. Lees meer
Justin’s problem is this: How can you deliver more energy to more people without having to build so much more grid?
On today’s show, Justin explains why the grid needs a major upgrade, and how putting batteries next to homes could help. Also: what Texas’ embrace of renewable energy could mean for the future of power in the U.S.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.