Archives

Go Starliner!

Bob Dempsey, NASA flight director at the Johnson Space Center, provides an overview of NASA’s Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2, the second uncrewed test flight of the Starliner spacecraft. HWHAP Episode 205.

The Public Commons

How can we create public places that feel welcoming and safe for everyone? This hour, TED speakers examine our physical and digital spaces—how they run, who they serve, and how to make them better. Guests include community organizer Shari Davis, researcher Eli Pariser, Wikipedia Library founder Jake Orlowitz, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, and artist Matthew Mazzotta.

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Special: Solana (with CEO Anatoly Yakovenko)

We sit down with the hottest new protocol layer in crypto today: Solana, and its cofounder Anatoly Yakovenko, who is the CEO of Solana Labs. If you listened to our Ethereum episode or follow crypto even at a cursory level, you’ve likely heard of Solana and its ability to scale transactions thousands of times higher than Ethereum. And, unlike other so-called “ETH killers”, Solana is doing so in production today with large and real applications. We dive into the project’s history coming out of the 2017-18 crypto winter, how it works and what’s ahead now that they’ve recently raised $314m (yes that is Pi $million) from a16z and Polychain Capital, with their native SOL tokens currently trading at a market cap around $10B (!). 

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Topics covered:

  • Anatoly’s background as a wireless engineer at Qualcomm, and how it led to a fundamental discovery of how to improve crypto system scalability
  • Solana’s role in the crypto protocol ecosystem and why there’s a need for it (and why it can and will exist) alongside Ethereum versus “killing” it
  • Starting Solana during the 2017-18 crypto winter, and how it forced them to focus just on building and shipping versus raising and posturing
  • Bootstrapping adoption with the mining community (Solana’s “true believers”) and the early and ardent support they provided
  • Where Solana falls on the Vitalik “Scalability – Security – Decentralization” trilemma, and why Solana’s superpower of maintaining composability is so attractive

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 Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

Women in STEM

Sophia Hahn, Shelita Hall, and Emily Anderson, NASA interns from across the agency, discuss being women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, or math), their journey to work at NASA, and the unique opportunities they have experienced during their internship. HWHAP Episode 204.

Listen Again: The Biology Of Sex

Original broadcast date: May 8, 2020. Many of us were taught biological sex is a question of female or male, XX or XY … but it’s far more complicated. This hour, TED speakers explore what determines our sex. Guests on the show include artist Emily Quinn, journalist Molly Webster, neuroscientist Lisa Mosconi, and structural biologist Karissa Sanbonmatsu.

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The Best of Year 4

Houston We Have a Podcast celebrates its fourth birthday with memories and clips of the team’s favorite episodes to reminisce on another year filled with weekly episodes covering launches, NASA’s Artemis program, the International Space Station, science and research, Mars, and so much more. HWHAP Episode 203.

Listen Again: The Power Of Spaces

Original broadcast date: July 24, 2020. How do spaces shape the human experience? In what ways do our rooms, homes, and buildings give us meaning and purpose? This hour, TED speakers explore the power of the spaces we make and inhabit. Guests include architect Michael Murphy, musician David Byrne, artist Es Devlin, and architect Siamak Hariri.

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Ethereum

We close out Season 8 with the most ambitious organization we’ve ever covered on Acquired: Ethereum, and it’s celebrity wunderkind founder Vitalik Buterin. If you thought Mark Zuckerberg IPO-ing Facebook at $100B by age 27 was something, just wait until you hear the story of this high school junior creating $500B (!!) of market cap by the same age — and oh yeah, maybe seeding the future dethroning of Facebook, Google, Amazon and all of big tech in the process. Regardless whether you’re a crypto neophyte, a die-hard bull, or a skeptical bear, this is a story you need to hear, and Ethereum is an innovation you need to understand. Buckle in for a wild ride… and some special surprises from a few Acquired friends. 🙂 

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Uncommon Origins

Shawn Cvetezar, Laura Paulino, and Don Caluya, NASA interns representing NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Ames Research Center, and Johnson Space Center, respectively, reflect upon their non-traditional paths that led them to NASA and share the many areas and projects that are benefitting from their experience. HWHAP Episode 202.

Listen Again: Uncharted (2020)

Original broadcast date: March 27, 2020. There’s so much we’ve yet to explore—from outer space to the deep ocean to our own brains. This hour, Manoush goes on a journey through those uncharted places, led by TED Science Curator David Biello.

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