Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World

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 to help a historically underserved population: disabled children. In this episode, we explore BCI’s potential to transform medicine, the knotty ethical questions at its core and how the tech might just bring us closer together. Featured in this episode: Dr. Adam Kirton is a professor of pediatrics, radiology and clinical neurosciences at the University of Calgary, where he’s also the director of the BCI4Kids program. He is also the director of the Calgary Pediatric Stroke Program and is a practicing pediatric neurologist at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. He co-founded, and is the CMO, of Possibility Neurotechnologies Anne Vanhoestenberghe is a professor of active implantable medical devices at King’s College London and director of MAISi, a facility for the manufacture of active implants and surgical instruments, housed at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London, England. Dion Kelly is a clinical neuroscientist and the co-founder and CEO of Possibility Technologies. Dion and Adam launched the company in 2022 to commercialize their brain-controlled technology, which transforms thoughts into actions.  Stephanie Sonnenberg and her daughter, Claire, live outside of Calgary, Alberta. Claire was one of the first users of Possibility Technologies’ BCI device, Think2Switch. Further reading: The past, present and future of brain-computer interfaces We’ve been connecting brains to computers longer than you’d expect. These three companies are leading the way Adam Kirton’s Lindenlauer lecture, Columbia University, November, 2024 Altman’s Merge raises $252 million to link brains and computers What it’s like to have a brain implant for five years Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 contaminants before they even reach the water. In this episode, Cataldo talks to Manjula Selvarajah about the global water crisis, how her technology works and efforts to get major fashion brands to change their ways. Featured in this episode:  Macarena Cataldo is the CEO and CTO of Viridis Research, which she co-founded in 2019 to solve various global water challenges by eliminating pollutants from water sources. She has a PhD in chemical engineering, and has spent more than 15 years applying electrochemistry to drinking and wastewater treatment working with the European Space Agency, the Metropolitan Water Company of Turin and others. Further reading: Asian rivers are turning black. And our colourful closets are to blame Why colouring clothes has a big environmental impact World enters era of “global water bankruptcy” Water crisis in Chile: Are we close to day zero?  Subscribe to Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World here. And below, find a transcript to “Colour block.” Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 astrophysicist, journalist and the author of More Everything Forever, a book that examines the futuristic ideologies of Silicon Valley’s tech titans. He is a former science journalism fellow at the Santa Fe Institute and was also a science communicator in residence at the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing at UC Berkeley. Marcius Extavour is a scientist, creative technologist and communicator who develops solutions for climate change and clean energy. As a partner at Ode, a technology and creative design firm specializing in geospatial AI. He previously built the energy, climate and carbon removal practice at XPRIZE. Further reading:  Silicon Valley is at an inflection point Tech oligarchs are gambling our future on a fantasy  Travelling to Mars and beating death: The futurist creed of tech’s apostles   More Everything Forever  Subscribe to Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World here. And below, find a transcript to “Infinity quest.” Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 equity.  Featured in this episode: Josh Wong is the former CEO of Opus One Solutions, which was acquired by General Electric. In 2024, Josh founded a new company called ThinkLabsAI and is developing software that will help utilities to integrate renewable sources of energy and improve grid resilience.Destenie Nock is an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University who specializes in public policy, civil and environmental engineering. She’s an expert on how our changing climate is impacting the grid, and what that means for the future. Focusing on energy equity, Destenie explains what’s important to consider in our transition to clean energy.Dana Tizya-Tramm is the former chief of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation in Old Crow, Yukon. Dana helped establish the Old Crow Solar Project — shifting the northern remote community off diesel to renewables. Through his efforts, Old Crow is making inroads toward energy sovereignty. He is now the director of Nadlii and is working on developing a framework for Indigenous data sovereignty and ethical AI.Further reading:  2021 placed exceptional demands on electricity markets around the worldRenewable Energy Is Great—but the Grid Can Slow It DownGlobal heat waves are so bad that utilities are paying their customers to use less energy“Nation-building” investments in electricity grid needed to reach net-zero, experts sayHow Old Crow’s solar farm is changing green energy projects in Yukon | CBC NewsSubscribe to Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World here Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 implications of this revolutionary energy shift — and the complicated way that Canada fits into it all. Featured in this episode: Sara Hastings-Simon is an associate professor in the department of Earth, Energy and Environment and an assistant professor in the School of Public Policy. Her work focuses on understanding how low-carbon energy transitions happen within different sectors of the economy, constrained by existing infrastructure and business models, and how policy response can improve outcomes. She also hosts, alongside David Keith and Ed Whittingham, the live webinar and podcast Energy vs Climate. Mike Andrade is the chairman and CEO of Morgan Solar, a Toronto company whose products improve the performance of solar projects and the energy efficiency of buildings. A former executive at IBM and a founding member of Celestica, he’s also an investor and advisor to several other companies, a member of the Council of Canadian Innovators and a board member of the Next Generation Manufacturing Supercluster. Chris Caners is general manager at SolarShare, a renewable energy co-op in Ontario. He’s also a consultant who advises organizations on climate, energy efficiency and sustainability. Thomas Timmins leads the Canadian energy sector practice at Gowling WLG in Toronto. He specializes in helping clients navigate opportunities in the global energy transition. Deb Chachra is a professor of engineering at Olin College and the author of How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape our World.  Further reading: • Seizing the moment of opportunity • Free electricity. Like, at no cost. For everyone. Now. • Pakistan’s solar boom • There’s a race to power the future. China is pulling away • What if Canada invested in solar energy? • The solar rush Subscribe to Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World here. And below, find a transcript to “Power to the People.”  Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 urban innovation 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. 

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 want to believe. In this bonus episode, recorded live on May 8, 2025, at the MaRS Impact Health Conference, Einstein and Woo discuss the complexity of biology, the challenges of funding and why they’re optimistic that things are changing. Featured in this episode: Gillian Einstein is the Wilfred and Joyce Posluns Chair in Women’s Brain Health and Aging and a psychology professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. She’s also an adjunct scientist at Baycrest and Women’s College Hospitals, and an honorary doctor of medicine at Linköping University, Sweden. Her lab’s current focus is on estradiol loss as well as how stigma and immigration affect memory and cognition in diverse populations of women. Minna Woo is currently the director of the Banting and Best Diabetes Centre at the University of Toronto and recently completed a 10-year term as division director of endocrinology and metabolism at the Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network (UHN). She now holds the Ajmera Chair in Molecular Diabetes Research at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and is a clinician scientist and a staff endocrinologist providing diabetes and endocrine care at UHN. Her laboratory focuses on molecular mechanisms that determine the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and related diseases. She has published more than 100 research articles and her research is internationally recognized as a member elect of the American Society of Clinical Investigation. Katherine Ward is an award-winning journalist currently working with Global News in Toronto. She joined the team in 2018 and has covered a wide range of stories taking her all over Ontario. This year, Ward was also part of an investigative team that exposed the prevalence of lead contamination in drinking water. “Tainted Water” went on to win a national award with Canada’s Radio Television Digital News Association. Further reading:  • From body to brain: Understanding how sex and gender contribute to brain health as we age • More women get Alzheimer’s than men. It may not just be because they live longer • Sleep quality and the menstrual cycle • Breaking down sex and gender barriers in search of precision medicine • Canada accelerates diabetes research Subscribe to Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World here.  Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

The hotter it gets outside, the more we use air conditioning, and the more we use air conditioning, the hotter it gets. AC units and refrigeration combined adds up to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. But how can we solve this cooling paradox? Building on last episode’s conversation with the UN’s global chief heat officer, host Manjula Selvarajah meets the experts harnessing novel innovations to keep cities and people cool — from massive infrastructure projects using ice-cold lake water to microscopic solutions to get rid of that sticky, sweltering humidity.  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 (DLWC) project in the world. Pulling near-freezing water from the depths of Lake Ontario, this massive infrastructure system provides alternative cooling to more than 100 buildings in downtown Toronto, including arenas, condos, offices, data centres and hospitals — a clean energy initiative that has been recognized by the United Nations.  Evelyn Allen is the co-founder of Evercloak, a Waterloo-based company that has developed graphene oxide membranes that helps to dehumidify air before it reaches AC and HVAC units, significantly reducing the energy and refrigerants needed to cool a space. The company is currently part of the Mission from MaRS: Better Buildings Adoption Accelerator program.  Daniel A. Barber is a professor of architecture and the environment at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. Barber’s research and work focuses on how changing temperatures have altered our built environment, and how architects can help adapt to the climate crisis. At architecture symposium Biennale Venice, his interactive installation, “Terms and Conditions,” allowed participants to experience the stifling effects of the waste heat that air conditioning units produce.  Further reading:  Air conditioning poses a climate conundrumToronto company using lake water to cool buildings expands systemToronto is home to the world’s largest lake-powered cooling system. Here’s how it works.Air conditioners fuel the climate crisis. Can nature help?How to build an AC that will get the world through hotter summersA rebuke to Modernism: the Venice Architecture Biennale imagines new ways of building to cope with climate changeSubscribe to Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World here. . Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

Extreme heat waves are anything but normal, but they’re quickly becoming the new reality. The 10 hottest years on record have all happened in the last decade. And because temperatures in urban centres can be 10 to 15 degrees Celsius higher than surrounding areas, cities can be dangerous places to be when the mercury rises — particularly for the elderly, those with pre-exisiting health conditions as well as poorer populations who lack access to air conditioning. “Heat has a way of going through the city and finding those who are the weakest,” says Eleni Myrivili, the United Nations’ global heat officer. “It’s a very unfair climate condition.” In this episode, we explore the growing risk posed by heat and what could help us adapt to a hotter world.  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 futureEarth’s 10 hottest years on record are the last 10Extreme heat is deadlier than hurricanes, floods and tornadoes combinedHeat inequality ‘causing thousands of unreported deaths in poor countries’The heat crisis is a housing crisisAncient civilizations countered extreme heat. Here’s what cities borrow from historyToronto's getting hotter. Experts say a chief heat officer could help the city adaptArchitects turning to India’s lattice-building designs to keep buildings cool without air conditioning How India’s lattice buildings cool without air conditioningAthen’s answer to a water supply crunch: an ancient aqueduct  Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

A quarter of Canada’s trees are at risk, and upwards of a million species around the world face extinction in the decades to come. Restoring nature is essential to survival — it can make communities more resilient to climate change, it can regrow areas destroyed by increasingly intense wildfires and it can help reduce atmospheric carbon. But repairing ecosystems is not as simple as planting seeds. In this special episode, experts weigh in on restoration efforts, the global seed storage and why there’s such a thing as planting too many trees.  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 Pearson is the CEO of Seedark, a climate tech venture that is working to modernize the global supply chain of seeds. Its app, Squirrel, connects growers and reforestation experts with seed collectors, while digitally tracking where seeds are coming from. Pearson has more than 20 years of entrepreneurial experience, focusing on harmonizing the application of technology with environmental protection, and is currently part of the RBC Women in Cleantech Accelerator.  Faisal Moola is an associate professor in the department of geography, environment and geomatics at the University of Guelph. Moola oversees research on the ecology and ethnoecology of cultural keystone species with Indigenous Peoples here in Canada and around the world.  Jim Robb is the general manager of the Friends of the Rouge Watershed. The organization partners with communities and volunteers to protect and restore ecosystems, with a focus on Rouge National Urban Park. Robb helps organize nature walks, community planting events and educational programming to inspire the next generation of ecological stewards.  D’Amour Walker is the assistant project coordinator at Friends of the Rouge Watershed, where she ensures trees, shrubs and plants are in healthy condition as part of the reforestation and ecosystem restoration efforts.  Further reading:  Saving nature: WWF study highlights the best places for ecological restoration in CanadaWanted: tree seeds. National seed centre in Fredericton collecting samplesIndigenous Seed Collection Program begins cross-country journey in FrederictonWe need native seeds in order to respond to climate change, but there aren’t enoughWhy Indigenous peoples are raising the alarm on carbon trading at UN climate summitGrasslands store tons of carbon — and there’s a movement to protect themBiodiversity or bust? Here’s what happened at COP16What you need to know about nature-based solutions to climate changeSubscribe to Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World here.  Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

Experts are calling antimicrobial resistance the silent pandemic: Each year, AMR is responsible for more than a million deaths around the world. It’s a threat to our health that’s been exacerbated by the very medications used to treat it. This problem has been growing for decades, and healthcare practitioners have responded by developing new antibiotics. “And then,” says Dr. Scott Weese, a global expert in antimicrobial resistance, “we started running out of antibiotics.” To address the rise of drug-resistant pathogens, we need to examine how we use these medications to treat disease in both humans and animals, says Weese. The question is, how can we safeguard the life-saving drugs we have — while also protecting the health of all creatures on this planet? 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 issue you’ve never heard ofThree million child deaths linked to drug resistance, study showsDo I need that antibiotic?Veterinary medicine is key to overcoming antimicrobial resistanceThe link between pets, people and antimicrobial resistanceCanada introduces new guidelines to tackle antimicrobial resistance Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

Modern medicine has a dirty secret. While plastics have revolutionized healthcare, research increasingly shows that they’re also making us sick. Items such as PPE, syringes, gowns, IV bags and protective wrappings have allowed for a higher standard of sanitary patient care that vastly reduces the risk of cross-contamination. But all that plastic is adding up. Nearly a third of healthcare waste is plastics, and a report on 110 Canadian hospitals revealed the combined waste adds up to 87,000 tons of waste each year. These items break down into microplastics, which accumulate in our bodies and contribute to neurodegenerative, reproductive and overarching health problems. But what will it take to reimagine healthcare without plastic? 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 impact, including the removal of mercury from medical devices.An anesthesiologist for more than 20 years, Dr. Lyndia Dernis has seen first-hand the amount of plastic waste operating rooms produce. Currently practicing at St. Mary’s Hospital Centre in Montreal, Dernis has spearheaded the Anesthesia and Environment Committee, which has drastically reduced and recycled the hospital’s plastic waste since being implemented in 2020.Rashmi Prakash is the CEO of Aruna Revolution, a Halifax-based startup producing sustainable menstrual products. She’s also an adjunct professor at UBC, where she teaches a course on the impact of biomedical engineering on society, sustainability and environmental stewardship. As a biomedical engineer, Prakash has seen the surplus use of single-use plastic medical devices wrapped in single-use plastics, the layers of which she likens to a Russian doll.Aditi Sitolay is a masters student of medical device design and entrepreneurship at Imperial College London. She’s also the founder of Synoro Med, a Vancouver-based startup that specializes in designing sterile, reusable medical devices, including an early-prototype IV bag.Further reading:  Solving healthcare’s emissions problemYour brain could have a spoon’s worth of microplastics. Here’s what to do about itWe tested our blood for microplastics. This is what we foundMicroplastics: Are we facing a new health crisis — and what can be done about it?Prescription for plastic medical waste: How hospitals, medical suppliers are aiming to be greener Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 different now, and fire is different now.” Hotter, drier weather is turning our forests into kindling, and emergency responders are struggling to handle our new reality: intense, unpredictable fires fuelled by a changing climate. In this special episode, host Manjula Selvarajah sits down with Vaillant to better understand how we got here and to see if there is any way out. Featured in this episode:  John Vaillant is a Vancouver-based author and freelance journalist. His latest work, the Pulitzer Prize–nominated Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast, chronicles how the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire turned entire neighbourhoods into firebombs and destroyed 2,400 homes and businesses.  Further reading:  Forged by fire: Fort McMurray 5 years after the disasterCanada needs to get ready for a future fraught with fire: How can the forest sector respond?FACT SHEET: Climate change and wildfiresCanada’s 2023 wildfires emitted more carbon than most countriesLandscapes turned into hellscapes, shock and the ongoing fight against wildfires in Los AngelesLos Angeles wildfires magnify California’s “insurance crisis” as homeowners face billions in lossesSubscribe to Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World here. And below, find a transcript to “Fire alarm: Rethinking innovation in an increasingly volatile world.” This interview was recorded at MaRS Climate Impact on December 4, 2024. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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.” In this special episode of Solve for X, host Manula Selvarajah sits down with von Maltzahn to talk about where the science is now and where it is headed.   Featured in this episode:  Geoffrey von Maltzahn, general partner of  Flagship Pioneering, is an inventor and entrepreneur who works at the intersection of biology and artificial intelligence, a specialization that makes him a world-renowned leader in generative biology.   Further reading:  How generative biology can wipe out our most devastating diseases — for goodHow technology is tackling questions that confound modern medicineHow we can deliver a better tomorrow through generative biologyThe frontiers of generative biology | MaRS Impact Health 2024Subscribe to Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World here. And below, find a transcript to “Cracking the code: How generative biology could transform medicine.” This interview was recorded at MaRS Impact Health in June 2024. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

For many in Canada’s tech sector, 2024 was a challenging year. At times, it seemed as if the only constant — whether it was the economy, geopolitical relations or health of the planet — was uncertainty. To take stock of the past year and look ahead to 2025, we reached out to members in the innovation community to hear what’s on their minds. Can tech help fix Canada’s productivity crisis? What will it take to foster real change? In the first call-in episode of the MaRS podcast, Solve for X, MaRS CEO Alison Nankivell answers their questions and shares her perspective on what it will take for Canadian startups to scale, improve inclusion and prepare for a rapidly changing world.  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 that builds specialized financial software to help improve corporate accountability in capital markets.  Lise Birikundavyi is the co-founder and managing partner of BKR Capital, Canada’s first Black-led, institutionally-backed VC fund. Birikundavyi is a finance specialist who has worked with several international institutions, including the Jacobs Foundation where she managed its edtech impact investment strategy.   Corey Ellis is the co-founder and CEO of Growcer. The Ottawa-based startup develops commercial hydroponic systems that help communities grow indoor produce, year-round in any climate.    Charles Plant is a serial entrepreneur, innovation economist, fractional CFO and founder of The Narwhal Project, which helps tech startups raise capital and scale business.   Further reading:  Welcome to the $100-million clubUndervalued and ignored: Why young Canadian firms are looking to foreign investors and buyers Evolving ESG reporting regulations call for co-ordinated executive action in CanadaDEI in Canadian workplaces is hitting a wall, subscriber survey showsNorth American outlook: Uncertain political environment adds to business, consumer fatigueClimate adaptation is as important as climate mitigationSubscribe to Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World here. And below, find a transcript to “Innovation hotline: Answering the tech sector’s burning questions.” This interview was recorded October 17 in the MaRS Studio.  Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

As the effects of climate change trigger record-breaking rainfall and flooding, cities from Montreal to Mumbai are re-thinking how urban design can keep inhabitants safe from natural disasters. Kongjian Yu, a landscape architect based in Beijing, has a counterintuitive idea. Instead of fighting water by building more dams, sewers and pipes, he proposes we let it in, designing nature-based infrastructure that can absorb run-off. His principles have been adopted by the Chinese government and implemented in hundreds of municipalities. Could this nature-based approach help us adapt to a changing climate?  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 cities”Treading water — Toronto is spending billions on flood protection, but experts say it needs to spend billions moreWill a $1-billion flooding bill finally make the GTA take stormwater seriously?Toronto’s Don River floods offer urgent planning lessons for climate-challenged cities Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 accessible forms of medicine.  Featured in this episode: Dan Levitin is a best-selling author, music producer, renowned neuroscientist and professor emeritus in psychology at McGill University. His latest book, I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine was released in August.  Frank Russo is a cognitive neuroscientist and psychologist who serves as the chief science officer at LUCID, a Toronto-based company that uses AI to create personalized music therapy to help people with mental health challenges. He’s also a professor of psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University, where he heads up the Science of Music Auditory Research and Technology (SMART) lab.  Jessica Grahn is a neuroscientist and a professor at Western University. She studies how the brain processes music and its power to activate music in people with mobility issues brought on by neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s.  Charlotte Cumberbirch is a professional choral singer who leads an online vocal health group for older adults at the Cummings Centre in Montreal. Many of her participants are recovering from strokes or dealing with brain diseases, such as Parkinson’s.  Further reading: The sound of science: How music can transform our brainsAI to benefit humanity: Innovations in senior careThe big idea: could we use music like medicine?AI is unlocking the human brain’s secretsHow does music affect your brain? This is your brain. This is your brain on music Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 urban innovation 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. 

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 insights into methane sources, reshaping how we monitor and reduce emissions for a cleaner future. Featured in this episode: Stéphane Germain is the CEO and founder of GHGSat, a global leader in satellite-based methane monitoring. With a background in aerospace engineering, he leads the development of microsatellites that detect greenhouse gas emissions from space, delivering critical data for climate action.Further reading:  UN climate summit host Azerbaijan’s gas flaring hits decade-high, study showsHow MethaneSAT Will Track an Invisible Climate Menace From SpaceGlobal methane emissions rising at fastest rate in decades, scientists warnMethane emissions from gas flaring being hidden from satellite monitorsNew satellite will detect and share CO2 data from individual facilities Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 science, knowledge and innovation at World Wildlife Fund Canada.  Elizabeth Clare is an associate professor of biology at York University in Canada. Her research studies biodiversity at all levels, developing novel genetic methods that address some of the biggest challenges in biodiversity science.Peter Fretwell is a scientist at the British Antarctic Survey. He’s the principal investigator of the Wildlife From Space Program, studying wildlife using satellite imagery.Madeleine Bouvier-Brown is a marine project scientist at Open Ocean Robotics. She handles the deployment of robot boats, retrieving data and analyzing it to deepen our understanding of the oceans.Further reading: Loss of sea ice causes catastrophic breeding failure for emperor penguinsAdventure on high seas inspired ocean droneGlobal wildlife populations have declined by 69 percent since 1970, WWF report findsScientists can suck animal DNA literally out of thin airCaribou are vanishing at an alarming rate. Is it too late to save them? Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 X, we discuss the revolution in what we eat — and why it’s as much about technology as it is about safeguarding our planet’s future. Featured in this episode: Lenore Newman, director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, is an expert in food security and technology and holds a UFV Research Chair in Food and Agriculture Innovation.Preeti Simran Sethi teaches sustainable food systems at the University of Gastronomic Sciences. She’s also the author of an award-winning book on agrobiodiversity, Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love.Journalist and author Larissa Zimberoff explores the evolving relationship between food and technology in her work. Her book, Technically Food: Inside Silicon Valley’s Mission to Change What We Eat, delves into the transformations in our diets and the startups driving this shift.Darren Goldin is a co-founder of Entomo Farms, an insect-based farming company that produces cricket flour, cricket powder and insect protein. He’s also the vice president of farming operations, overseeing the three barns on Entomo’s property.Further Reading: Protein shakeup: Are crickets and lab-grown meat the future of food?The foods humans ate into extinctionHow to grow fish from stem cellsOur global food system is the primary driver of biodiversity lossThe future of food: What will you be eating in 2050?Lab-Grown Meat Approved for Sale: What You Need to Know Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 Chachra, author of the new book How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World, to rediscover the hidden beauty of infrastructure and how we can harness the collective power these systems bring to our lives.  Featured in this episode: Deb Chachra, professor of engineering at Olin College and author of How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World. Her work spans across multiple disciplines, including engineering education, gender issues, materials science and the intersection of technology and culture.Further Reading: It’s time for a radical rethink on Canada’s infrastructure planningHow changes in building infrastructure can truly combat climate changeHow infrastructure has historically promoted inequalityNew report finds costs of climate change impacts often underestimatedThree Infrastructure Issues To Solve In 2023 Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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, and can teach us a lot about how to design for the future. Featured in this episode: Andy Latham is the founder and CEO of Salvage Wire, an auto recycling consultancy based in the United Kingdom. As an automotive engineer and entrepreneur, he teaches auto salvagers how to safely handle EV batteries, aiming to promote advancements in auto recycling globally.Jessica Dunn is a senior analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Her research looks at the potential of recycling and repurposing of lithium-ion batteries.Claus Eckbo is the owner and director of God’s Pocket Resort, an off-grid scuba lodge in British Columbia that uses repurposed EV batteries for both energy generation and storage.Edward Chiang is the co-founder and CEO of Moment Energy. The company’s  innovative solution converts electric vehicle batteries into sustainable energy storage systems for microgrid, commercial and industrial customers.Further Reading: Canada is pouring billions of dollars into the electric vehicle industryCars Are Going Electric. What Happens to the Used Batteries?Guiding Principles for EV Battery Recycling PolicyGod’s Pocket Scuba Diving Resort Goes Green with Moment EnergyHow old electric car batteries could power the future Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 more toxic and harder to clean. In this episode of Solve for X, environmental microbiologist Patrick Kiely shares his unusual solution that harnesses the power of bacteria to help solve our wastewater problem. Unpleasant yet fascinating, Kiely’s work offers a glimpse into what it takes to clean our water and why treating wastewater is the next big climate problem.  Featured in this episode: Patrick Kiely is the CEO and founder of SENTRY, a real-time monitoring biosensor system for wastewater treatment. With extensive training in environmental microbiology, his unique knowledge of bacterial growth across diverse environments forms the basis for advanced decision-making in water and wastewater technologies.Further Reading: How tackling wastewater can help corporations achieve climate goalsPhosphorus saved our way of life — and now threatens to end it“Water scarcity on a scale that we haven’t seen before” is comingThe energy sector should care about wastewaterGovernment of Canada backs innovative company pioneering new wastewater treatment technology Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 work 24 hours a day. In this episode of Solve for X, host Manjula Selvarajah sits down with Khan to explore the connections between infectious disease and climate change — and how we can best harness the technology to help us prepare. Featured in this episode: Kamran Khan is an infectious disease physician and founder and CEO of BlueDot, a startup that has created a tool that maps the spread of infectious diseases. BlueDot’s AI software uses natural language processing to interpret global health outbreak reports, integrating this data with flight patterns, demographic statistics, and human verification processes to alert and monitor disease risks worldwide.Further Reading: My Prediction: We’re due for another global health emergencyOver half of known human pathogenic diseases can be aggravated by climate changeThis AI will help us get ahead of the next pandemicFrom Gateways to Sentinels: How Airports Can Use Detection to Control InfectionAn AI Epidemiologist Sent the First Warnings of the Wuhan Virus Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 be figured out. Featured in this episode: Claudia Benitez-Nelson is an oceanographer who teaches at the University of South Carolina’s School of Earth, Oceans and Environment. Her research focuses on the ocean’s role in sequestration of greenhouse gasses, and the processes that shape the movement of materials from the ocean’s surface to its depths.Will Burt is the chief ocean scientist at Planetary Technologies. As a biogeochemist and oceanographer by training, he devises strategies on how we can measure and add alkalinity to the ocean.Eddie Halfyard is the co-founder and chief technology officer at Carbon Run. He’s also a research scientist with the Nova Scotia Salmon Association, pursuing freshwater alkalinity enhancement to restore salmon habitats.Sara Nawaz is a social scientist who studies the public perception of ocean-based negative emissions technology. She’s also the director of research at the Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy at American University, and is affiliated with UBC and Oxford University.Matthew Long, oceanographer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, serves both as co-founder and Executive Director of [C]Worthy. He and his team are developing the tools required for safe and effective ocean-based carbon removal.Further Reading: Using new research techniques scientists find Atlantic salmon are still returning to many Nova Scotia riversHalifax scientists have a plan to capture carbon from the atmosphere using mining materialsDoes ocean acidification alter fish behavior? Fraud allegations create a sea of doubtWarning on Mass Extinction of Sea Life: 'An Oh My God Moment'Take Care Before Enlisting the Oceans in the Climate Fight    MaRS works closely with ventures to help them scale their innovations. It created the Mission from MaRS initiative to help speed up the adoption of climate solutions. Mission from MaRS thanks its partners, HSBC Bank Canada, Grantham Foundation, RBC Tech for Nature and Peter Gilgan Foundation. Learn more about the program at missionfrommars.ca. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 engineer, Lara Torvi and Heather O’Brien are the associate producers. David Paterson is the senior editor. Mack Swain composed the theme song and all the music in our series. Kathryn Hayward is the executive producer. MaRS helps entrepreneurs looking to scale solutions in climate tech, health and software. We offer targeted support through our Capital and Growth Acceleration programs. We want to hear from you — drop us a line to share your ideas, questions and feedback. Email us at [email protected], and to learn more visit us at marsdd.com. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 policy and the impact of carbon pricing.  Featured in this episode: Jessica F. Green is a professor of political science at the University of Toronto and is cross-appointed at the School of Environment. With extensive research in political science, public policy and environmental studies, Green focuses on the politics of decarbonization, transnational private regulation, the interactions between public and private regulation. She is also a published author, blogger and recipient of multiple awards including “best book” from the ISA and the Emerging Young Scholar Award from APSA’s Science Technology and Environmental Policy Section.Further reading:  How research can shift our approach to climate changeTaxpayers should not foot the bill for carbon captureDoes carbon pricing reduce emissions? A review of ex-post analysesHierarchy in Regime Complexes: Understanding Authority in Antarctic GovernanceUsing Earnings Calls to Understand the Political Behavior of Major PollutersFollow the Money: How Reforming Tax and Trade Rules Can Fight Climate ChangeThe Mission from MaRS initiative was created to help scale carbon reducing innovations by working to remove the barriers to adopting new technology. Mission from MaRS thanks its founding partners, HSBC, Trottier Family Foundation, RBC Tech for Nature and Thistledown Foundation. It has also received generous support from Peter Gilgan Foundation, BDC, EDC and Mitsubishi Corporation Americas. Learn more about the program at missionfrommars.ca. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 transition to a clean energy future. From using AI to speed up discovery to developing the applications of a shape-shifting metal alloy, we explore the emerging technologies that will help us harness clean energy. Featured in this episode: Molly Wood is the managing director at a venture capital firm called Launch. A former technology and business journalist, she specializes in funding climate solutions. Alán Aspuru-Guzik, a professor of chemistry and computer science at the University of Toronto, works at the interface of AI, chemistry and material science. He is working to speed up the discovery of molecules and materials to address climate change through “self-driving laboratories.”Ibraheem Khan is the founder and CEO of Extract Energy. He’s developing a heat engine that captures low-grade waste heat using the properties of a smart metal alloy and his patented Multiple Memory Material technology. Further reading:  A sustainable future: How materials science can make the planet cleanerAlán Aspuru-Guzik is reimagining the discovery of materialsEstimating the global waste heat potentialDear policymakers: to decarbonise, you need flow batteriesThe Renewable-Energy Revolution Will Need Renewable StorageThe Mission from MaRS initiative was created to help scale carbon reducing innovations by working to remove the barriers to adopting new technology. Mission from MaRS thanks its founding partners, HSBC, Trottier Family Foundation, RBC Tech for Nature and Thistledown Foundation. It has also received generous support from Peter Gilgan Foundation, BDC, EDC and Mitsubishi Corporation Americas. Learn more about the program at missionfrommars.ca. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 to learn how food scraps are being transformed into biogas and explore how the concept of circularity could help us manage our resources better. It’s time to face the waste.  Featured in this episode: Marc Garneau is a former astronaut and current Member of Parliament. During his space career, he logged nearly 700 hours in orbit, learning firsthand the value of maximizing resources and repurposing waste.Annie Meier, a chemical engineer and principal investigator at NASA, is the team lead on a trash-to-gas project called OSCAR (Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor), a technology that provides a new way of managing waste in space.Tammara Soma is an assistant professor at SFU and research director at The Food Systems Lab. As a food systems and waste expert, she researches the impact food waste has on the climate as well as solutions that could help bring greater circularity to the food system.Brandon Moffatt is the co-founder and vice president of StormFisher Hydrogen, a company focused on utilizing waste streams to create better uses for waste products. One of those areas: food-waste diversion. He walks us through the process of transforming organic waste to sources of energy.Chris Bataille is an independent consultant and applied policy researcher, working for Columbia University, Simon Fraser University and IDDRE in Paris. Focusing on industrial decarbonization and the low-carbon transition, Chris speaks to the role of biogas in climate strategy.Further reading:  Canada Throws Out Half the Food It Produces. What If We Ate It Instead?Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissionsYour Trash Is Emitting Methane In The Landfill. Here's Why It Matters For The ClimateExpanded London biogas company now nation's largest food-waste diversion plantTeam Prepares OSCAR Technology for Suborbital Flight Test | NASAThe Mission from MaRS initiative was created to help scale carbon reducing innovations by working to remove the barriers to adopting new technology. Mission from MaRS thanks its founding partners, HSBC, Trottier Family Foundation, RBC Tech for Nature and Thistledown Foundation. It has also received generous support from Peter Gilgan Foundation, BDC, EDC and Mitsubishi Corporation Americas. Learn more about the program at missionfrommars.ca. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 episode, we learn about two companies that are harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to retrofit what already exists. By optimizing heating and cooling systems and re-tooling public transit, these two ventures are already helping shrink the carbon footprint of cities. It’s a good reminder of the power of incremental change.  Featured in this episode: Sarah Moser is a professor of urban geography at McGill University. She heads up the New Cities Labs and researches these new developments — what they promise and what actually gets built. She speaks to the need of digital literacy to evaluate technology and make sure it serves the needs of the community.David Rolnick is an assistant professor and Canada CIFAR AI Chair in the School of Computer Science at McGill University and at Mila. He also is a co-founder and chair of Climate Change AI, and scientific co-director of Sustainability in the Digital Age. Specializing in machine learning and climate change, he talks us through how machine learning can be used to help us mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis.Sam Ramadori is the CEO of BrainBox AI. We learn about his smart platform, why reducing energy emissions of buildings are so important and why we need to scale this kind of technology.Remi Desa is the co-founder and CEO of Pantonium — a on-demand ride-share app designed for buses. Pantonium’s platform brings real-time insights to public transportation and helps address the challenges faced in fixed-route systems.Marty LeDuc is a bus driver in the city of Fort Erie, and currently drives one of the vehicles utilizing the Pantonium software. With more than 20 years of experience under his belt, he speaks to the differences on-demand transit has made, and how change can be difficult.Further reading:  Toronto wants to kill the smart city foreverNine million people in a city 170 km long; will the world ever be ready for a linear metropolis?The Reality of Abu Dhabi's Unfinished UtopiaMila announces a partnership with BrainBox AI to support the launch of the company's first meta-learning projectAddressing climate change by retrofitting Canada’s existing buildings To make U.S mobility more sustainable, improve access to public transit  The Mission from MaRS initiative was created to help scale carbon reducing innovations by working to remove the barriers to adopting new technology. Mission from MaRS thanks its founding partners, HSBC, Trottier Family Foundation, RBC Tech for Nature and Thistledown Foundation. It has also received generous support from Peter Gilgan Foundation, BDC, EDC and Mitsubishi Corporation Americas. Learn more about the program at missionfrommars.ca. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 CEO of Opus One Solutions, a company that is working to optimize the grid and make it easier for utilities to integrate renewable sources of energy with its data analysis software. Josh is working to address the energy trilemma (reliability, resiliency, decarbonization) by offering greater transparency on the supply and demand of electricity.Destenie Nock is an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University who specializes in public policy, civil and environmental engineering. She’s an expert on how our changing climate is impacting the grid, and what that means for the future. Focusing on energy equity, Destenie explains what’s important to consider in our transition to clean energy.Dana Tizya-Tramm is the chief of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation in Old Crow, Yukon. Dana helped establish the Old Crow Solar Project — shifting the northern remote community off diesel to renewables. Through his efforts, Old Crow is making inroads toward energy sovereignty.Further reading:  2021 placed exceptional demands on electricity markets around the worldRenewable Energy Is Great—but the Grid Can Slow It DownGlobal heat waves are so bad that utilities are paying their customers to use less energy“Nation-building” investments in electricity grid needed to reach net-zero, experts sayHow Old Crow's solar farm is changing green energy projects in Yukon | CBC News  The Mission from MaRS initiative was created to help scale carbon reducing innovations by working to remove the barriers to adopting new technology. Mission from MaRS thanks its founding partners, HSBC, Trottier Family Foundation, RBC Tech for Nature and Thistledown Foundation. It has also received generous support from Peter Gilgan Foundation, BDC, EDC and Mitsubishi Corporation Americas. Learn more about the program at missionfrommars.ca. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 [email protected] — and don’t forget to turn on alerts for our upcoming episodes! Catch you soon.   The Mission from MaRS initiative was created to help scale carbon reducing innovations by working to remove the barriers to adopting new technology. Mission from MaRS thanks its founding partners, HSBC, Trottier Family Foundation, RBC Tech for Nature and Thistledown Foundation. It has also received generous support from Peter Gilgan Foundation, BDC, EDC and Mitsubishi Corporation Americas. Learn more about the program at missionfrommars.ca. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

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 Cleantech Practice at BDC (the Business Development Bank of Canada), Susan Rohac sees the potential for global impact in climate tech. She leads her team in helping cleantech companies get the support and funding they need to scale successfully. With the responsibility of managing a $600-million fund, she’s one of the largest climate tech investors in the country.Further Reading:  Canadian food tech companies could lead the global food revolutionClean Slate: How Canada Can Spur Growth by Procuring From Its Own Cleantech StartupsGenecis Raises US$10 Million in Funding to Commercialize Biodegradable Plastic ProductsClean tech could be worth more than oil by 2030  The Mission from MaRS initiative was created to help scale carbon reducing innovations by working to remove the barriers to adopting new technology. Mission from MaRS thanks its founding partners, HSBC, Trottier Family Foundation, RBC Tech for Nature and Thistledown Foundation. It has also received generous support from Peter Gilgan Foundation, BDC, EDC and Mitsubishi Corporation Americas. Learn more about the program at missionfrommars.ca. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

Humans are wired to want more. More time, more resources, more money. But what if we could do more with what we already have? When we innovate for resilience, we often think big — bypassing solutions in our own homes. Today, we’re looking at the design of objects (like electric cars and heat pumps) and discovering their purpose can go far beyond the original intent. As we move to more sustainable forms of power, energy storage is becoming increasingly important. Here, we explore novel ways we can address energy intermittency in the future and also look back in history for lessons in making those kinds of changes.    Featured in this episode: François Lefèvre is a senior manager of market intelligence and corporate planning at Nissan Canada. He’s watched the evolution of EVs in Canada — and is an expert on the many models of Nissan LEAF.Ruth Sandwell is an energy historian who teaches at OISE and the University of Toronto. She researches the changes in household behaviour that resulted from the adoption of new forms of energy systems.Imran Noorani is the CSO of Peak Power and a clean energy enthusiast. Peak Power’s AI-based technology optimizes buildings through the intelligent management of energy use, energy storage and EV-grid integration.Wayne Grosko is an applied research scientist who studies renewable energy. Wayne focuses on the piloting of new technologies, one of them being the Stash Energy heat pump.Daniel Larsen, co-founder & CPO of Stash Energy. Stash has created a heat pump that goes further than the traditional. Not only does it heat and cool homes, it actually stores heat energy and uses it during peak hours to offset demand on the grid (and consumer’s wallets).Further Reading:  Why You (and the Planet) Really Need a Heat PumpHow storing energy without batteries could be key to N.S. giving up fossil fuelsHow electric vehicles could transform the power gridHow Households Shape Energy TransitionsDriving Change: Transportation And Electric Utility Industries Will Soon Collide – In A Good Way  The Mission from MaRS initiative was created to help scale carbon reducing innovations by working to remove the barriers to adopting new technology. Mission from MaRS thanks its founding partners, HSBC, Trottier Family Foundation, RBC Tech for Nature and Thistledown Foundation. It has also received generous support from Peter Gilgan Foundation, BDC, EDC and Mitsubishi Corporation Americas. Learn more about the program at missionfrommars.ca. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

Net-zero commitments are a critical first step in the fight against climate change. But to stave off the worst effects of a warming planet, we actually have to ensure countries and corporations live up to those promises. In this episode, we chat with Catherine McKenna, head of the UN Task Force against greenwashing, about regulations and accountability when it comes to net-zero targets, as well as how  incentives might help. We need to quickly scale climate solutions; which means tackling bureaucratic hurdles. Nothing is off limits.   Featured in this episode: Catherine McKenna, Canada’s former Minister of the Environment and Climate Change. Catherine’s current role (as founder and principal) focuses on scaling Climate and Nature Solutions. She’s also the Chair of the UN Secretary General’s new High-Level Expert Group on Net-Zero Commitments of Non-State Entities, and if that wasn’t enough — Catherine is an avid open water swimmer and mother of three. She shares her perspective on what it takes to make progress on the climate file.Further Reading:  Corporate net-zero pledges have a long way to goJust 100 companies responsible for 71% of global emissionsClimate Emergency, Calling Intergovernmental Panel’s Report ‘a File of Shame’Catherine McKenna to chair UN panel on climate change progressFour key climate change indicators break records in 2021  The Mission from MaRS initiative was created to help scale carbon reducing innovations by working to remove the barriers to adopting new technology. Mission from MaRS thanks its founding partners, HSBC, Trottier Family Foundation, RBC Tech for Nature and Thistledown Foundation. It has also received generous support from Peter Gilgan Foundation, BDC, EDC and Mitsubishi Corporation Americas. Learn more about the program at missionfrommars.ca. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

Trees have an incredible ability to absorb carbon — which means protecting, planting and restoring forests are a (relatively) easy way to address global warming. Climate change, however, is making it more complicated. Our forests are (quite literally) going up in smoke, which has far worse consequences than one might expect. In this episode, we explore the role forests play in carbon sequestration, how increasingly intense fires are threatening to turn them into a carbon bomb, and how technology (think drones, satellites and lasers) can assist in our replanting and conservation efforts. The forests have helped us, it’s time to help them.    Featured in this episode: Lola Fatoyinbo-Agueh is a NASA scientist. Working in the biospheric sciences lab, she studies forest ecology and ecosystem structure, using LiDAR to GEDI (more on that later) to map and measure the amount of carbon sequestered by trees.Faisal Moola, a biologist. He’s an associate professor at the University of Guelph, and an expert on forest conservation, biodiversity (conducting inventory of areas using drones) as well Indigenous partnerships. He helps us understand what we’ve done in the past to hurt forests, and how we can heal them.Amy Cardinal Christianson is a fire research scientist, who specializes in Indigenous fire stewardship and talks about the role of fire in the overall health of trees. She is also a host of a podcast called “Good Fire.”Stephen Elliott is the co-founder and research director of the Forest Restoration Research Unit of Chiang Mai University (FORRU-CMU) in Northern Thailand. He works with communities in replanting efforts and has a particular interest in automated forest restoration.Further Reading:  How to build forests to combat climate changeTree Planting Is Booming. Here’s How That Could Help, or Harm, the PlanetOne of Canada’s biggest carbon sinks is circling the drainClimate change could expand forests. But will they cool the planet? | ScienceDrone-based technology remotely assesses health of trees impacted by climate changeLandsat’s Critical Role in Forest Management  The Mission from MaRS initiative was created to help scale carbon reducing innovations by working to remove the barriers to adopting new technology. Mission from MaRS thanks its founding partners, HSBC, Trottier Family Foundation, RBC Tech for Nature and Thistledown Foundation. It has also received generous support from Peter Gilgan Foundation, BDC, EDC and Mitsubishi Corporation Americas. Learn more about the program at missionfrommars.ca. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

In the last 250 years, we’ve released more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than in the previous 20,000 years. To make serious headway in meeting climate-change deadlines, experts are looking at technologies that go beyond simply curbing emissions to those that can also take carbon dioxide out of the air. In this premiere episode of Solve for X, tech journalist Manjula Selvarajah explores what we can do with all this carbon dioxide from burying it underground to turning it into vodka.    Featured in this episode:  Roger Highfield, science director at the Science Museum in London, England, who talks about the importance of carbon capture and objects that can store carbon dioxide released by human activity — from toothpaste to yoga mats — as well as a noisy mechanical tree named Cranky that is 1,000 times faster at removing CO2 from the air than a natural tree.Katharine Hayhoe is a Canadian atmospheric scientist, professor of political science at Texas Tech University and the chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy, a global conservation organization known as Nature United in Canada. She explains the potential benefits — and pitfalls — of trying to “fix” the planet.Anna Stukas, vice president of business development at Carbon Engineering, talks about how the B.C. company can take CO2 out of the atmosphere.Stacy Kauk, the head of sustainability at Shopify, talks about carbon pricing and what to know when evaluating carbon offsets.Further reading:  The device that reverses CO2 emissionsCarbon Engineering Makes Gasoline by Capturing Carbon Dioxide From the AirCan We Suck Up Enough CO2 to Cool the Planet?Removing emissions directly from the air might be Canada’s best hope for net zero  The Mission from MaRS initiative was created to help scale carbon reducing innovations by working to remove the barriers to adopting new technology. Mission from MaRS thanks its founding partners, HSBC, Trottier Family Foundation, RBC Tech for Nature and Thistledown Foundation. It has also received generous support from Peter Gilgan Foundation, BDC, EDC and Mitsubishi Corporation Americas. Learn more about the program at missionfrommars.ca. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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. 

It’s now or never. Canada is warming at double the rate of other countries, and we have one of the highest GHG emissions footprints per capita in the world. The good news is much of the technology needed to solve the climate crisis already exists. A special new podcast series, Solve for X delves into these Canadian ideas and innovations that could help prevent the most disastrous consequences of climate change and build a cleaner future. From A.I. to advanced materials to energy optimization, tech journalist Manjula Servarajah digs into the big questions and explores some of the challenges innovators face in scaling their solutions. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS. All episodes were produced by Ellen Payne Smith. Gab Harpelle is our mix engineer, Lara Torvi and Heather O’Brien are the associate producers. David Paterson provided editing support and Mack Swain composed our theme song and all the music in our series. Kathryn Hayward is the executive producer. The Mission from MaRS initiative was created to help scale carbon reducing innovations by working to remove the barriers to adopting new technology. Mission from MaRS thanks its founding partners, HSBC, Trottier Family Foundation, RBC Tech for Nature and Thistledown Foundation. It has also received generous support from Peter Gilgan Foundation, BDC, EDC and Mitsubishi Corporation Americas. Learn more about the program at missionfrommars.ca. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation 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.