Episodes

  • How the Sun Won (The Solar Era, Part 1)
    Nov 21 2024

    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.

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    44 mins
  • Drugs in Space
    Nov 14 2024

    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.

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    32 mins
  • The World Is Getting Better (Really)
    Nov 7 2024

    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.

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    45 mins
  • Rabies: When Monsters are Real…from Incubation
    Oct 31 2024

    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.

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    29 mins
  • Using Gene Therapy to Help the Blind See
    Oct 17 2024

    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.

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    36 mins
  • Bringing Back Mammoths and Dodos*
    Oct 10 2024

    *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.

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    40 mins
  • What Elevators Teach Us About Technology, Design, and Human Behavior
    Oct 3 2024

    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.

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    37 mins
  • Can the Plant Microbiome Revolutionize Farming?
    Sep 26 2024

    The invention of synthetic fertilizer was one of the key breakthroughs of the 20th century. It’s the reason we can grow enough food to feed billions of people. It’s also super energy intensive. Karsten Temme is the co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Pivot Bio. Karsten's problem is this: How can you use the tools of gene editing to get microbes in soil to provide more nitrogen for crops?

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    39 mins