Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World

00:24:27

Tapping the source: How relics of the industrial age...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2026/09/24

Canada has always run on water. In the 19th-century, thousands of communities developed around the textile, grist and saw mills that harnessed water power from rivers. Today, hydro generates about 60 percent of the country’s electricity. But as demand strains the grid more with each passing year, could the dams that once served those now-dormant mills provide a new source of power? That’s the vision of Andrew Murray and his startup, Aslan Renewables. During COVID lockdowns, Murray went on long walks

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00:35:15

The coming storm: How AI can help us forecast and...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2026/08/27

Recent advances in AI have fundamentally changed how we predict the weather, making forecasting cheaper, faster and better — we can now track even the most unusual weather event with almost pinpoint accuracy. Such accuracy has never been more urgent. With climate change making weather more extreme, unpredictable and dangerous, knowing how much rain a storm may bring, or how long a drought could last, can be a matter of life and death. In this episode, we explore this quiet revolution in forecasting,

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00:40:04

This uncanny moment: AI has us all lurching between...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2026/07/30

Episode summary: The head-spinning ascent of AI is a story of scientific innovation, but it’s also, fundamentally, a story about money. Between 2013 and 2024, AI netted about U.S.$1.6 trillion of global corporate and private investment; it’s estimated that by the end of this year that number will reach U.S.$2.5 trillion. How this massive investment is transforming — and will transform — the way we live and work is a matter of fierce debate and great uncertainty. One person at the centre of this

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00:34:53

Degrees of freedom: Why human dexterity is the holy...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2026/06/25

Thanks largely to advances in AI, robots are now capable of things never before possible: picking delicate vegetables, moving heavy goods deftly around a warehouse, making pizzas. But there are still limitations to even the most sophisticated and expensive machines. Replicating human dexterity, for example, remains a surprisingly fiendish challenge. While some experts talk about an imminent “ChatGPT moment” for robotics — one that has the potential to completely transform society — it’s not quite

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00:41:19

Home remedy: Understanding housing as a medical...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2026/05/26

The housing crisis is fundamentally a health problem. Decades of research show that people experiencing homelessness spend twice as long in the hospital, cost the healthcare system double and have a life expectancy half that of the average Canadian. In this special episode of Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World, recorded live at a MaRS Morning event, host Manjula Selvarajah sits down with primary care physician Dr. Andrew Boozary to discuss a radical shift in Canadian medicine: treating

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00:28:15

Gene genie: New therapeutics are unlocking our...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2026/04/23

There are few neurodegenerative diseases as devastating as Huntington’s. It’s sometimes likened to having Parkinson’s, ALS and Alzheimer’s all at the same time, with symptoms that include progressive motor dysfunction, cognitive decline and behavioural change. It’s also hereditary — if a person has the faulty gene that causes the disease, there’s a 50 percent chance their children will have it, too. In the fall of 2025, however, scientists announced that, for the first time, they could reduce the

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00:38:53

Mind over matter: Could brain-computer interfaces...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2026/03/26

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have been allowing humans to control objects with their minds for nearly half a century. But in recent years, thanks partly to advances in AI, the technology has evolved dramatically; wearable and implantable devices are now being used to restore speech and movement to stroke survivors, alleviate depression and treat pain. While companies like Elon Musk’s Neuralink grab headlines, a somewhat quieter revolution is happening in Canada, where researchers are using BCI

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00:28:37

Colour block: When it comes to water, can the textile...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2026/02/26

The fashion industry has its fair share of dirty secrets, but one of the lesser-known is how much it pollutes our waterways. Every year, garment factories use as much as 2 trillion gallons of water to dye clothes, and most of that water, now filled with harmful chemicals, flows untreated into rivers, streams and lakes. Those pollutants can turn rivers black, harm marine life and cause cancer. Macarena Cataldo, a chemical engineer based in Vancouver, has come up with an ingenious way to remove these

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00:43:23

Infinity quest: Is the hubris of tech billionaires...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2026/01/29

There’s no denying that technology plays — and will continue to play — a critical role in addressing the climate crisis. But could super-intelligent AI actually solve the problem for us, as several tech billionaires claim? Or is this over-reliance on speculative technology simply a way to distract us from tackling big, real-world problems. Manjula Selvarajah sits down with astrophysicist and author Adam Becker to separate the hype from reality. Featured in this episode: Adam Becker is an

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00:28:19

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

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2025/12/18

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, which originally aired September 2022, 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

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00:48:10

Power to the people: How solar energy — cheap,...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2025/11/27

As you may have heard, solar energy is having a moment. Thanks to several technological breakthroughs, it’s now the cheapest form of energy generation in most places on Earth. This past summer, for the first time ever, it became the EU’s main source of electricity, and many other parts of the world — Pakistan, Nigeria and most famously, China — are likewise in the midst of a solar boom of astonishing speed and scale. In this episode, experts weigh in on the social, political and economic

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00:01:54

Solve for X S4 Trailer

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2025/11/20

Get ready for Solve for X season four! Join journalist Manjula Selvarajah as she goes behind the hype and headlines to make sense of how new technologies are reshaping our world. This season we learn about the solar revolution, robot dexterity, a device that zaps forever chemicals and more. Subscribe and listen beginning November 27. 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

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00:20:02

It’s different all over: Embracing the complexity of...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2025/09/18

By uncovering critical sex-based differences related to brain and metabolic health, researchers Gillian Einstein and Minna Woo are making the case that tailored interventions are key to improving health outcomes for women — and everyone else. Through their work exploring how conditions from Alzheimer’s to kidney disease can have varied effects depending on a patient’s sex, they underscore what the medical community as a whole can learn from experts in women’s health: Things aren’t as simple as we

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00:27:13

Cold comfort: How to keep cool without destroying the...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2025/07/17

David MacMillan is a manager in the City of Toronto’s Environment, Climate and Forestry division. He and his team are focused on planning for low-carbon development and energy systems, which includes implementing the Toronto Green Standard, which aims for net-zero new buildings by 2028, and renewable energy programs such as SolarTO and Wastewater Energy. Cameron Leitch is the director of solutions and innovations at Enwave Energy Corporation, which oversees the largest deep lake water cooling

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00:34:23

Heat warning: Are we ready for a hotter climate?

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2025/06/24

Eleni Myrivili is the United Nation’s first-ever global chief heat officer. An anthropologist by training, Myrivili understands how heat waves discriminate against older, less-wealthy and under-served demographics. Before being named to her UN post in 2022, Myrivili was Athens’ heat officer, where she coordinated the capital’s response to heat waves and helped renovate an ancient Roman aqueduct to bring water into the city.Further reading: What will it take to save our cities from a scorching

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00:34:00

Regrowth strategy: To adapt to a changing climate,...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2025/05/29

Featured in this episode: Martina Albert is a technician with the National Tree Seed Centre, based in Fredericton, N. B. The NTSC’s library holds more than 13,000 seed collections, with the purpose of protecting them from invasive pests, disease and climate change. Albert works on the Centre’s Indigenous Seed Collection Program, working with First Nations communities to collect and preserve tree seeds for generations to come. Blaine Peason is the CEO of Seedark, a climate tech venture that is

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00:23:36

Compounding the cure: How our overzealous efforts to...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2025/04/24

Featured in this episode: Dr. Scott Weese is a veterinary internal medicine specialist, chief of infection control and director of the Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College. Weese is a member of the Global Leaders Group on antimicrobial resistance and has helped craft antimicrobial use guidelines for veterinarians in Canada. Further reading: The global threat of antibiotic resistanceAt the UN, world leaders are negotiating the biggest health

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00:29:39

Waste opportunity: Can we design plastic out of...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2025/03/20

Featured in this episode: Journalist Susan Freinkel is the author of Plastics: Toxic A Love Story, a book that traces the history of plastics through eight different objects, from the Frisbee to the IV bag, and examines how plastic negatively affects our lives. Dr. Ted Schettler is a physician and expert on the health risks of plastics and phthalates. He’s the scientific advisor at Health Care Without Harm, an organization that has dedicated more than 30 years to reducing healthcare’s environmental

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00:25:03

Fire alarm: Rethinking innovation in an increasingly...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2025/02/13

The wildfire that devastated Fort McMurray in 2016 burned more than 579,000 hectares of land, drove 88,000 people from their homes and caused nearly $10 billion in damages. It’s often seen as an outlier, a freak natural disaster. But extreme wildfires, like those that tore through Los Angeles earlier this year, are becoming more intense and harder to control. “We all saw the smoke, and too many of us have seen the fire,” says John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast. “Weather is

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00:25:23

Cracking the code: How generative biology could...

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World ·

2025/01/23

Can AI unravel the mysteries of human biology? Could it help design specialty treatments and cures for disease? Geoffrey von Maltzahn and his team at Generate:Biomedicines are bullish on both counts. AI has greatly accelerated progress in genome engineering, bioengineering and nanotechnology and they are getting closer to developing tailored therapeutics. “Six years ago, this was a crazy idea,” he says. “We’re now convinced that 100 percent of protein therapeutics are going to get created this way.”

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