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Every week on What's Your Problem?, former Planet Money host Jacob Goldstein talks with entrepreneurs and engineers tackling the biggest challenges at the forefront of technology. How do you make a trip to space as routine as a plane flight? How do you turn solar energy into clean fuel? How do you use AI to stop deadly infections before they spread? We hear a lot these days about how the world is ... more

PublishesWeeklyEpisodes190Founded4 years ago
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Artwork for What's Your Problem?

Latest Episodes

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.

David Abraham is the author of the book “The Elements of P... more

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 b... more

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.

Jonny’s problem is this: How do you  capture data from space to help manage wildfires around th... more

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.

In his recent book So Very Small, Tom Levenson, a prof... more

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Recent Guests

Ben Bloom
Co founder and CEO of Atom Computing
Atom Computing
Episode: How Quantum Computers Could Change the World
Johnny Dyer
Co-founder and CEO of Muon Space
Muon Space
Episode: Fighting Wildfires from Space
Tom Levenson
Professor of science writing at MIT and author of the book 'So Very Small'.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Episode: The Killer We Refused to See
Evan Ratliffe
Co-founder of Harumo AI and host of Shell Game podcast
Harumo AI
Episode: The Startup Run by AI Agents
Patrick Hsu
Co-founder of the Arc Institute and Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley
The Arc Institute
Episode: Can AI Help Solve Alzheimer’s?
Eric Topol
Cardiologist and founder of the Scripps Research Translational Institute
Scripps Research Translational Institute
Episode: The New Science of Preventing Heart Attacks
Samir Ibrahim
Co-founder and CEO of SunCulture
SunCulture
Episode: From Solar Pumps to Everything: Building a Market from Scratch
Nabiha Saklayen
Co-founder and CEO of Cellino, working on automating iPSC therapies.
Cellino
Episode: Mass-Producing Stem Cells to Cure Disease
Tim Booker
Farmer and founder of Agtonomy
Agtonomy
Episode: Building a Self-Driving Tractor to Change the Future of Food

Host

Jacob Goldstein
Former host of Planet Money and experienced journalist focusing on economic matters, Jacob Goldstein engages with guests to explore innovative solutions for pressing problems in technology and business.

Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars from 586 ratings
  • Delete the Process, Crash the Car

    The advertisements are annoying, frequent and blaring.

    Interesting topic but turned off when it was revealed the guest was an Elon Musk fan. Sure it’s possible to work faster but when it comes to public safety this can result in cars that crash and kill people, rockets that crash land in areas where rockets shouldn’t crash. Then there is what was done to Twitter and to democracy and government. Very broken and toxic. Delete the process, demolish the rose garden.

    Musk is also a liar who said he ... more

    Apple Podcasts
    1
    acuteangle
    Australia4 months ago
  • Good, but...

    You have really good content. BUT, you like, can't speak an entire like sentence without like using really distracting like language. Like grow up and learn how to like speak. Your language is like way too like distracting

    Apple Podcasts
    3
    disappointed 206
    United States5 months ago
  • Love the podcast...... Jacob covers lots of interesting topics and the length of the episodes are perfect for when I'm out walking. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is the amount of commercials. I get it, you have to generate income to finance the podcast, but a recent episode i listened to had almost 10 minutes of commercials in the 28 minute length.

    Podcast Addict
    4
    kathyaj
    5 months ago
  • Fantastic

    Jacob, come on, Nan kept explaining that their climate capture strategy is the opposite of a marginal investor (they are a first mover investor at much higher than marginal cost ) and you kept repeating marginal several times!

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Charly358
    United Kingdom6 months ago
  • Knowledge and Hope

    This might be my favorite podcast. So many interesting solutions to important current problems. It gives me hope for the future. Jacob has become a great interface between the science, scientist and the listener.

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    🌻Jocelyn🌻
    United States7 months ago

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

The content is described as inspiring and educational, providing hope for future advancements and improvements in various fields.
Feedback highlights the broad range of topics, with listeners enjoying the exploration of technology, science, and entrepreneurship.
Listeners appreciate the insightful conversations about real-world problems and innovative solutions.
There are frequent mentions of the host's engaging interviewing style and thoughtful questions, although some critiques exist regarding interruptions during discussions.

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Apple Podcasts
#116
United States/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#78
Canada/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#246
United Kingdom/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#73
Australia/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#40
Taiwan/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#71
Netherlands/Technology

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

How Quantum Computers Could Change the World
Q: When do you think hardware like Atom Computing's approach will reach practical, real-world use cases in industry?
Bloom suggests a multi-stage trajectory: near-term use by national labs and defense; mid-term expansion to industry through cloud-based access for simulations; long-term broad adoption once error correction scales to practical, fault-tolerant qubit counts.
How Quantum Computers Could Change the World
Q: What is the practical difference between quantum computers and classical ones, in terms of handling multiple particles and their interactions?
Classical computers require enormous amounts of data to model interacting particles; quantum computers natively handle superposition and entanglement, enabling them to represent and process complex correlations with far fewer resources, once scaled and corrected for errors.
How Quantum Computers Could Change the World
Q: Let me see if I have this right? Is it right that each qubit needs to be completely isolated to prevent decoherence?
Yes, maintaining isolation while retaining precise control over the qubits is the central engineering challenge, as any external disturbance can collapse the quantum state and derail computation.
Fighting Wildfires from Space
Q: What sparked the idea to focus on methane mapping and wildfire surveillance from space?
A collaboration with Environmental Defense Fund and Skybox alumni networks highlighted a real data gap in understanding wildfire dynamics, which could be addressed by treating space-derived data as an actionable, near real-time tool for decision makers.
The Killer We Refused to See
Q: Do you think humanity has gotten better at changing our minds?
No evidence at all suggests that human nature has fundamentally changed, despite some improvements in sharing information.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

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Frequently Asked Questions About What's Your Problem?

What is What's Your Problem? about and what kind of topics does it cover?

This podcast focuses on conversations with entrepreneurs and engineers who are addressing pressing challenges in technology and business. Episodes feature a range of topics, from the role of artificial intelligence in healthcare and biotechnology, to innovations in agriculture and energy. Noteworthy discussions often include exploring how groundbreaking solutions can be implemented to solve complex problems such as climate change, heart disease, and food production. This approach not only highlights the creativity and resilience of those in the field but also seeks to provide hope for future advancements that can improve society.

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Which podcasts are similar to What's Your Problem??

These podcasts share a similar audience with What's Your Problem?:

1. Planet Money
2. Freakonomics Radio
3. The Economics of Everyday Things
4. Business History
5. People I (Mostly) Admire

How many episodes of What's Your Problem? are there?

What's Your Problem? launched 4 years ago and published 190 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.

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What guests have appeared on What's Your Problem??

Recent guests on What's Your Problem? include:

1. Ben Bloom
2. Johnny Dyer
3. Tom Levenson
4. Evan Ratliffe
5. Patrick Hsu
6. Eric Topol
7. Samir Ibrahim
8. Nabiha Saklayen

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

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