What's Your Problem?

Mariana Matus is co-founder and CEO of Biobot Analytics. Her problem: How do you turn sewage into useful public health data? When she and her co-founder launched the company, wastewater epidemiology was a niche field nobody paid much attention to. The Covid pandemic changed that. Studying wastewater has become one of the most important tools for tracking the pandemic. And Mariana's company, Biobot Analytics, has become a global leader in the field, with tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue. If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to subscribe to our email list.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matt Mullenweg co-created WordPress, the open-source software that powers more than 40% of all the websites in the world. He's also the founder of a for-profit company called Automattic. Matt's problem is this: How do you build a multibillion-dollar company on top of software that your competitors can use for free? If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to subscribe to our email list.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mohammed Ashour is the co-founder and CEO of Aspire Food Group. The company just built the biggest cricket factory in the history of the world. His problem: How do you sell billions of bugs a year? If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to subscribe to our email list.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We put man on the moon before we invented the wheeled suitcase. Why did it take so long? Find out in this episode of Patented: History of Inventions, where host Dallas Campbell is joined by expert Katrine Marçal, whose research has revealed an intriguing hidden chapter in the invention story of rolling luggage. If you're interested in the stories behind the world's greatest inventions — from the mighty steam train to the humble condom - subscribe to Patented: History of Inventions, created by our friends over at History Hit.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rajiv Maheswaran is the co-founder and president of Second Spectrum. Rajiv and his company figured out how to turn raw sports data into useful information for coaches. Today, the company works with basketball and soccer teams in the NBA, the Premier League and Major League Soccer. Rajiv's problem: How do you teach a computer to understand sports? If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to subscribe to our email list.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Neeleman has founded five airlines, including JetBlue. He recently launched a new airline, called Breeze. His problem: How do you use technology to bring down the cost of airfares? He's been working on that problem for decades -- from inventing ticketless travel in the 1980s, to building a 21st century airline where customers never need to call customer service to ask for help. If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to subscribe to our email list.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bill Shufelt is the founder and CEO of Athletic Brewing Company. His problem: How do you turn non-alcoholic beer from a punchline into something people drink all the time? If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to subscribe to our email list.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Green is the author of The Fault in Our Stars and six other novels. He also co-founded a company that makes educational videos that have been viewed billions of times. John's problem: How do you make videos that actually help people make it through college? If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to subscribe to our email list.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Luana Lopes Lara is the co-founder of Kalshi, an exchange that lets ordinary people bet on everything from the path of inflation to what bills Congress will pass by the end of the year. Her problem: How to you build a market like the New York Stock Exchange that lets people bet on real-world events?  If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to subscribe to our email list.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A special preview of the podcast, Unsung Science with David Pogue from CBS News. Journalist and author David Pogue finds the untold creation stories behind the most mind-blowing advances in science and tech—and hears from the characters involved—from their first inspiration to the times they almost gave up. This episode looks at the bad guys who used software bots to sign up for millions of fake email accounts—for sending out spam. Then, PhD student Luis Von Ahn stopped them. He invented the CAPTCHA, that website login test where you have to decipher the distorted image of a word. Or you have to find the traffic lights or fire hydrants in a grid of nine blurry photos. Those tests help to keep down the volume of spam, spyware, and misinformation; they advance the clarity of digitized books and the intelligence of self-driving cars; and, by the way, they made a handsome profit. The only problem: We HATE those tests! Guest: Luis Von Ahn, co-inventor of CAPTCHA, co-inventor and CEO of Duolingo. Hear more episodes of Unsung Science at https://unsungscience.com/.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.