 Ed Conway is an economics journalist and author of the book “Material World: The Six Raw Materials that Shape Modern Civilization.” 

On today’s show, Ed reveals how three of those often-overlooked materials—iron, copper, and sand—shaped human advancement from the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution to the digital age. And he talks about what they mean for our future.

Ed Conway is an economics journalist and author of the book &ldquo;Material World: The Six Raw Materials that Shape Modern Civilization.&rdquo; On today&rsquo;s show, Ed reveals how three of those often-overlooked materials&mdash;iron, copper, and sand&mdash;shaped human advancement from the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution to the digital age. And he talks about what they mean for our future.

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.

Every week on What's Your Problem?, former Planet Money host Jacob Goldstein talks with&nbsp;entrepreneurs and engineers&nbsp;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.

What's Your Problem?

Every week on What’s Your Problem, entrepreneurs and engineers talk about the future they’re trying to build – and the problems they have to solve to get there.

How do you take a drone delivery service you’ve built in Rwanda and make it work in North Carolina? How do you convince people to buy a house on the Internet? How do you sell thousands of dog ramps to weiner dogs all across America when a pandemic breaks the global supply chain? 

Hosted by former Planet Money host Jacob Goldstein, What’s Your Problem helps listeners understand the problems really smart people are trying to solve right now.

iHeartMedia is the exclusive podcast partner of Pushkin Industries.

The Ordinary Stuff Behind Technological Breakthroughs

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/e678f7ed-98f4-40a8-9c9d-b354015372a8/transcript

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 Washington State University. Kate's problem is this: How do you invent a better apple?

With her team, Kate has in fact invented a new kind of apple called the Sunflare. It’s arriving in stores in a few years. She also helped to invent the Cosmic Crisp, which is out already.

In this episode, Kate explains: 
Why grocery-store apples have gotten so much better
Why some of the most delicious apples never make it into stores 
Why it takes decades to invent a new kind of apple
How much more we have to learn about apple genetics 
How the apple industry is adapting to climate change 

Connect with us:
Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram 
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm 
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn or X 
Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History 
To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for Pushkin+

The apples you can buy at the grocery store have gotten profoundly better over the past few decades. It&rsquo;s a kind of everyday, hiding-in-plain sight innovation.  Kate Evans is an apple breeder and professor at Washington State University. Kate's problem is this: How do you invent a better apple?
With her team, Kate has in fact invented a new kind of apple called the Sunflare. It&rsquo;s arriving in stores in a few years. She also helped to invent the Cosmic Crisp, which is out already.
In this episode, Kate explains:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Why grocery-store apples have gotten so much better</li>
<li>Why some of the most delicious apples never make it into stores&nbsp;</li>
<li>Why it takes decades to invent a new kind of apple</li>
<li>How much more we have to learn about apple genetics&nbsp;</li>
<li>How the apple industry is adapting to climate change&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Connect with us:
<ul>
<li>Follow Jacob Goldstein on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-goldstein-888a2441/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://x.com/jacobgoldstein?lang=en">X</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jacobjulius/?hl=en">Instagram&nbsp;</a></li>
<li>Email us at <a href="mailto:problem@pushkin.fm">problem@pushkin.fm</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Follow Pushkin on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/pushkinpods/">Instagram</a>,<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/pushkin-industries/posts/?feedView=all"> LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://x.com/pushkinpods?lang=en">X</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Listen to Jacob&rsquo;s other show, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-history/id1844409167">Business History&nbsp;</a></li>
<li>To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for <a href="https://www.pushkin.fm/join-pushkin">Pushkin+</a></li>
</ul>

Inventing a Better Apple

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/578033bf-91bc-45ec-b59b-b44300fad70b/transcript

Drilled, a new addition to the Pushkin network, is a true-crime climate change podcast exposing how corporate corruption and political operatives built decades of climate denial and delay. Award-winning investigative journalist Amy Westervelt unravels evidence of deception, disinformation, and the power structures keeping real climate solutions out of reach. Her new season, Carbon Cowboys, traces how the ethanol kingpin of Iowa became the king of corn in Brazil. In September 2025, a group of Brazilian ministers trekked all the way to chilly North Dakota to see a presentation on a new type of clean energy project, one that promised to help them deliver Brazilian President Lula’s dream of turning Brazil into "the Saudi Arabia of sustainable aviation fuels." It was the latest in a string of projects from Midwest Republican kingmaker Bruce Rastetter, whose investments in Brazil might just transform him into a global carbon czar, even as his Summit pipeline carbon project faces fierce opposition from Iowa to North Dakota. The problem? It all requires loads of land and none of it does a thing about climate change.

Here's episode 1. Find more of Drilled: Carbon Cowboys wherever you get podcasts.

<a href="https://apple.co/4eEJ9zA">Drilled</a>, a new addition to the Pushkin network, is a true-crime climate change podcast exposing how corporate corruption and political operatives built decades of climate denial and delay. Award-winning investigative journalist Amy Westervelt unravels evidence of deception, disinformation, and the power structures keeping real climate solutions out of reach. Her new season, Carbon Cowboys, traces how the ethanol kingpin of Iowa became the king of corn in Brazil. In September 2025, a group of Brazilian ministers trekked all the way to chilly North Dakota to see a presentation on a new type of clean energy project, one that promised to help them deliver Brazilian President Lula&rsquo;s dream of turning Brazil into "the Saudi Arabia of sustainable aviation fuels." It was the latest in a string of projects from Midwest Republican kingmaker Bruce Rastetter, whose investments in Brazil might just transform him into a global carbon czar, even as his Summit pipeline carbon project faces fierce opposition from Iowa to North Dakota. The problem? It all requires loads of land and none of it does a thing about climate change.
Here's episode 1. Find more of <a href="https://apple.co/4eEJ9zA">Drilled: Carbon Cowboys</a> wherever you get podcasts.

Welcome to Carbon Cowboys | From Drilled 

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/925d2d4e-fb75-4b9b-9b13-b43a015cee3c/transcript

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 bringing a gas called helium-3 back from the moon to sell on earth. 

Earlier in his career, Rob was the president of Blue Origin, the rocket company founded by Jeff Bezos.

In this episode, Rob explains: 
 Why reusable rockets are only the first step for going back to the moon
What it's going to take to actually manufacture things in space
How to build a business by sifting through moon dirt
How nuclear fusion and quantum computing could rely on mining the moon 

Connect with us:
Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram 
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm 
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn or X 
Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History 
To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for Pushkin+

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 bringing a gas called helium-3 back from the moon to sell on earth.&nbsp;
Earlier in his career, Rob was the president of Blue Origin, the rocket company founded by Jeff Bezos.
In this episode, Rob explains:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li> Why reusable rockets are only the first step for going back to the moon</li>
<li>What it's going to take to actually manufacture things in space</li>
<li>How to build a business by sifting through moon dirt</li>
<li>How nuclear fusion and quantum computing could rely on mining the moon&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Connect with us:
<ul>
<li>Follow Jacob Goldstein on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-goldstein-888a2441/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://x.com/jacobgoldstein?lang=en">X</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jacobjulius/?hl=en">Instagram&nbsp;</a></li>
<li>Email us at <a href="mailto:problem@pushkin.fm">problem@pushkin.fm</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Follow Pushkin on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/pushkinpods/">Instagram</a>,<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/pushkin-industries/posts/?feedView=all"> LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://x.com/pushkinpods?lang=en">X</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Listen to Jacob&rsquo;s other show, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-history/id1844409167">Business History&nbsp;</a></li>
<li>To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for <a href="https://www.pushkin.fm/join-pushkin">Pushkin+</a></li>
</ul>

Building a Business on the Moon

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/f5568379-606a-455c-a35a-b43b014f67e6/transcript

The Ordinary Stuff Behind Technological Breakthroughs

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