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PODCAST

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World

MaRS Discovery District

Solve for X uncovers what’s next. Join journalist Manjula Selvarajah as she dives into the latest tech innovations shaping our world. How are satellites revolutionizing the fight against climate change? Could music be the medicine we need? What will it take for Canada to lead the global tech scene and achieve a zero-emission future? Discover the answers to these questions and more in the next season of Solve for X.

technology earth sciences

All Episodes

00:39:42

Innovation hotline: Answering the tech sector’s...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2024/12/19

Featured in this episode: Alison Nankivell has spent more than 25 years moving Canada’s economic needle forward. Before being named CEO of MaRS in early 2024, Alison held pivotal roles at the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Export Development Canada (EDC). At MaRS, she brings an experienced playbook to support startups working in climate, health and emerging technology. Kris Bennatti is the CEO and co-founder of Hudson Labs, a Toronto-based startup

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00:33:46

Soak it up: Can sponge cities save us from flooding?

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2024/11/21

Featured in this episode: Kongjian Yu is a Beijing-based landscape architect and founder of Peking University’s College of Architecture and Landscape. His concept of sponge cities — designing cities to absorb water — is being applied in urban areas across the globe. Further reading:Landscape architect Kongjian Yu, pioneer of the “sponge city" concept, wins the 2023 Oberlander PrizeHow letting water be water can lead to better climate resilienceKongjian Yu has a plan for urban flooding: “Sponge

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00:33:48

Striking a chord: Why neuroscientists believe music...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2024/10/24

Music makes us feel better — for most of us, this is an intuitive truth. But scientists are only now beginning to understand the remarkable ways that music affects our brains. With the help of innovation, researchers are working to assess and codify the whats, whys and hows that could help us harness this power as a therapeutic tool to treat people grappling with everything from mood disorders to Parkinson’s disease. Their data is helping prove that music could be one of our most vital, valuable and

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00:00:51

Solve for X S3 Trailer

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2024/09/27

In season 3 of Solve for X, we meet the innovators and entrepreneurs solving for climate change, economic disparity, diseases and more. Subscribe and listen beginning September 26.Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urbaninnovation hub and a registered charity. MaRS supports startups and accelerates the adoption of high-impact solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. For more information, visit marsdd.com.

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00:25:08

The methane hunter: Meet the man who is tracking down...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2024/09/26

With more than 80 times the short-term warming power of carbon dioxide, methane is a significant climate threat. But finding and fixing methane leaks is no small feat and ground-based detection methods struggle to pinpoint this colourless, odourless gas. In this episode of Solve for X, host Manjula Selvarajah sits down with Stéphane Germain to discuss how his company’s fleet of microsatellites is transforming methane detection. By capturing data from orbit, this satellite technology offers new

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00:25:16

Beast mode: Can technology help protect some of the...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2024/01/04

We’re facing a global ecosystem crisis. Within the last 50 years alone, wildlife populations across the world have declined by a shocking 69 percent. But technology, with help from citizen science, is emerging as one of wildlife’s greatest allies. In this episode of Solve for X, we explore how remote sensing, robot boats and DNA analysis could revolutionize wildlife preservation, offering hope for everything from insects to whales.Featured in this episode: James Snider is the vice president of

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00:22:12

Changing tastes: Can technology sustainably feed the...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2023/12/14

Climate change is putting many of the foods we love at risk. Add in rapid population growth — the planet will be home to 9.7 billion people by 2050 — and it’s clear we need to reimagine how we feed ourselves. As food security expert Leonore Newman says, “we are running short on planet.” But is society ready for replacement proteins and lab-grown meats? Whether it’s cell-grown salmon or chili lime crickets, the plate of the future is going to look a little bit different. In this episode of Solve for

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00:22:54

Decade of decisions: How better infrastructure can...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2023/11/30

From Wi-Fi to power stations, roads to pipelines, our infrastructure is stressed. Built for a climate that no longer exists, our systems are failing at an increasing pace. But to fix what’s broken goes beyond structural repair — we also need to address the inequities baked into our infrastructural systems and injustices from past developments. Amid these challenges, we have the chance to reimagine the future of infrastructure for a better world. On this episode of Solve for X, we sit down with Deb

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00:22:03

The electric afterlife: What are we going to do with...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2023/11/16

The future of the automobile is electric. Yet the surge in electric vehicles raises critical concerns regarding battery creation, disposal and recycling. What will happen once all those cars reach the end of the road? In this episode of Solve for X, we address the environmental footprint of EV batteries, confront the challenges posed by the existing regulatory landscape and highlight opportunities for second-life applications. It turns out that batteries are capable of more than you might expect,

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00:23:10

Drain brain: Meet the man who is fixing our...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2023/11/02

Wastewater, the world’s dirty (not so little) secret, consumes nearly 3 percent of the global electricity demand. It’s a staggering statistic, and yet much of what actually happens with wastewater remains a mystery. Treatment plants typically purify water by infusing it with oxygen, creating an environment where bacteria can break down waste. But without proper sensors or data, the method is incredibly energy-intensive. Plus with an influx of unregulated chemicals, our waste streams are becoming

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00:29:31

Going viral: Can AI predict the next pandemic?

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2023/10/19

The next pandemic — it’s a question of when not if. Climate change is shifting the patterns of how and where diseases spread, and our insatiable love of travel means that viruses are now showing up in places they’ve never been before. Forecasting future outbreaks is becoming increasingly complex. But as infectious disease specialist Kamran Khan explains, this is where AI can help. Machine learning algorithms can detect patterns in data, model risk and project outcomes — and unlike humans they can

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00:24:21

Sea change: Can we alter the chemistry of the ocean...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2023/10/11

Scientists are finding that ocean alkalinity enhancement is one of the more promising solutions for permanently storing carbon from the atmosphere. And not only could this emerging technology help with the climate crisis, it could also address another key problem: acidity in the ocean, which is endangering ecosystems. In this premiere episode of the second season of Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World, host Manjula Selvarajah explores how this technology could help and what still needs to

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00:00:55

Solve for X S2 Trailer

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2023/09/26

Solve for X is your window on the future. Each episode, journalist Manjula Selvarajah goes behind the hype and headlines to make sense of how new technologies are reshaping our world. Can we predict the next pandemic? What if we geoengineer the oceans to stop climate change? Could robots help preserve wildlife? Find answers to these questions and more in the new series of Solve for X.Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS. All episodes were produced by Ellen Payne Smith. Gab Harpelle is our mix

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00:16:34

Follow the money

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2023/02/13

Jessica F. Green was among 400 Canadian climate scientists who called for the government to scrap a proposed tax credit for carbon capture last year, claiming it would underwrite the oil and gas industry. Yet policy is a key component to a successful transition away from fossil fuels — and we need regulation. In this special episode of Solve for X, the University of Toronto political scientist and environment professor sits down with host Manjula Selvarajah to discuss her research into climate

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00:30:44

The race to discover new materials

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2022/10/27

What will it take to get to a world where we have all the energy we need — without the emissions, smog and other climate impacts? The shift requires a rapid draw-down on carbon-based fuels and the use of energy storage technologies. And while lithium batteries have been instrumental in the transition, supply chain and sustainability issues are of increasing concern. We need to think beyond the battery. In this episode, we’re looking into how new materials might get us one step closer in the on-going

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00:23:57

Confronting waste: Getting to a circular economy

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2022/10/13

Humans generate an incredible amount of trash. In Canada alone, 35 million tonnes of food is wasted every year. That’s a lot of energy spent growing, processing, packaging and delivering food that ultimately goes uneaten — and all that waste creates a lot of greenhouse gases. To fix the climate, we have to redefine our relationship with waste; that means doing more with what we already produce. In this episode, we head up into space to see how astronauts deal with their waste, travel to a facility

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00:24:49

Can AI help build a more liveable city?

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2022/09/29

As we start to feel the effects of climate change, it’s clear we need to find ways to adapt our communities and lighten the impact on the planet. It can be tempting to just start over somewhere fresh — to build a fully optimized city that’s decked out with the latest technology to be sustainable and efficient. But as we’ve seen in one smart city development after another, these projects often fail to live up to the hype. It might be time to rethink what a smart solution actually looks like. In this

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00:27:43

The grid: Is it time to rethink our power systems?

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2022/09/15

Our energy grid is something most of us only think about when it isn’t working. But growing demand for electricity is placing an even greater strain on a system that’s already facing increased pressure from extreme weather events. Can we build a more sustainable and dependable grid? In this episode, we explore how when it comes to climate change, the challenge of greening the grid is as much an issue of complex engineering as it is about policy and equity. Featured in this episode:Josh Wong is the

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00:01:26

Solve for X Mid-season Trailer

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2022/09/01

This week we’re on pause, returning September 15th to our regular schedule. Exciting things are in the works: in coming episodes I’ll be talking to a scientist behind a robot lab and exploring how we can extract value from waste — even in space. But we also want to hear from you: what climate solutions are you interested in? Is there a certain technology that needs decoding? Send us a note at media@marsdd.com — and don’t forget to turn on alerts for our upcoming episodes! Catch you soon. The Mission

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00:14:22

How to speed up cleantech development

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2022/08/18

To take new climate solutions from the lab out into the world can take hundreds of millions of dollars in investment. But as the pressure intensifies to hit our climate targets, the rapid commercialization of clean technologies is critical. On this special bonus episode, guest host Lara Torvi sits down with cleantech investor Susan Rohac to discuss the opportunities and challenges Canada faces to commercialize climate technologies at full scale. Featured in this episode:As the vice president of the

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