Podcast Episodes

Building a Mass Market Robot

Season 1 Episode 128

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 …

Published on 9 months, 3 weeks ago

Solving Solar’s Biggest Problem

Season 1 Episode 127

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 …

Published on 10 months ago

How Bubbles Power Breakthroughs

Season 1 Episode 126

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 mom…

Published on 10 months, 1 week ago

Teaching AI to Build Stuff in the Physical World

Season 1 Episode 125

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…

Published on 10 months, 2 weeks ago

NVIDIA: At the Heart of the AI Boom

Season 1 Episode 124

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 ar…

Published on 10 months, 3 weeks ago

What Claude Shannon Figured Out

Season 1 Episode 123

 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, …

Published on 11 months ago

Measles: The Cancer Killer?... from Incubation

Season 1 Episode 122

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 ras…

Published on 11 months, 4 weeks ago

RoboPod and the Perpetual Money Machine – Cautionary Questions 2… from Cautionary Tales

Season 1 Episode 121

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 episo…

Published on 1 year ago

Turning Solar Energy Into Fuel (The Solar Era, Part 3)

Season 1 Episode 120

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 c…

Published on 1 year ago

Get Happier, Help Others: Some Good Ideas About Giving

Season 9 Episode 23

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 y…

Published on 1 year ago