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What’s Your Problem?

What’s Your Problem?

NewCan You Fix Insurance?November 12, 2026 · 31 min
Episodes
222
Released
weekly
Latest episode
Nov 12, 2026

About the podcast

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 getting worse. What's Your Problem? learns from the thinkers and doers trying to make our future better.

iHeartMedia is the exclusive podcast partner of Pushkin Industries.

Episodes 222

  1. Can You Fix Insurance?

    31 minSeason 1 · Episode 199

    Sid Jha is the CEO of an insurance company called Arbol. Sid's problem is this: Can you make insurance cheaper and more accessible by using new technology, new sources of capital, and new ways of thinking about …

  2. Can a Cancer Gene Keep Muscles Young?

    32 minSeason 1 · Episode 198

    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 …

  3. How Warren Buffet Built His Legacy By Finding Value No One Else Could See from Business History

    44 minSeason 1

    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 …

  4. Every Cell in Your Body Has a Clock

    30 minSeason 1 · Episode 197

    Circadian rhythm isn’t just controlled by your brain. Every cell in your body runs on a 24-hour cycle, including your muscle cells. Karyn Esser is the chair of the department of physiology and aging at the …

  5. How a Bad Boss Kickstarted Silicon Valley... from Business History

    48 minSeason 1

    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 …

  6. Solving the Trust Problem in AI Shopping

    40 minSeason 1

    Note: Today’s show is sponsored by PayPal. 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 …

  7. Can a Robot Build Better, Cheaper Houses?

    51 minSeason 1 · Episode 196

    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? In this episode …

  8. Did AI Write This?

    39 minSeason 1 · Episode 195

    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. Max Spero is …

  9. Blockers | A Preview of Michael Lewis's New Audiobook

    50 minSeason 1

    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 …

  10. Can We Defeat Deepfakes?

    39 minSeason 1 · Episode 194

    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. Luke is the founder and CEO of Loti, and his …

  11. The Printing Press: The Invention Built on Debt and Sin… from Business History

    47 minSeason 1Bonus

    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 …

  12. Should We Pause AI?

    44 minSeason 1 · Episode 193

    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 …

  13. Bonus: Planning for Your Financial Future

    10 minSeason 1 · Episode 192

    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 …

  14. Can a Robot Kill Fish Humanely?

    38 minSeason 1 · Episode 191

    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 …

  15. Using Satellites to Prevent Famines

    37 minSeason 1 · Episode 190

    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 …

  16. The Quantum Shift in Biomedical Discovery from Smart Talks with IBM

    44 minSeason 1Bonus

    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 …

  17. Can We Slow Down Aging?

    37 minSeason 1 · Episode 189

    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 …

  18. Why Doctors Use Evidence but Managers (Mostly) Don’t

    42 minSeason 1 · Episode 188

    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 …

  19. The Job AI Was Supposed to Kill

    40 minSeason 1 · Episode 187

    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 …

  20. How China Won the Car Industry

    54 minSeason 1 · Episode 186

    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 …

  21. Using Viruses to Fight Disease

    32 minSeason 1 · Episode 185

    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. Paul Garofolo is the …

  22. How AI Could Reduce Inequality

    44 minSeason 1 · Episode 184

    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 …

  23. Racing Wildfires to Warn the Public

    52 minSeason 1 · Episode 183

    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 …

  24. How AI Could Actually Make the World Better

    44 minSeason 1 · Episode 182

    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 …

  25. Finding Meaning (and Money) in the AI Age

    48 minSeason 1 · Episode 181

    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 …

  26. Using Pokémon Go to Map the World

    36 minSeason 1 · Episode 180

    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 …

  27. The Company Where Everyone Has Their Own AI Agent

    41 minSeason 1 · Episode 179

    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 …

  28. Inventing a Better Apple

    34 minSeason 1 · Episode 178

    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 …

  29. Building a Business on the Moon

    33 minSeason 1 · Episode 177

    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 …

  30. Building a Robot People Actually Want

    41 minSeason 1 · Episode 176

    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 …

These are the latest 40 of 222 episodes. You’ll find older episodes in the podcast’s feed.

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