Tough Tech Today with Meyen and Miller
36 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago -This is the premiere show featuring trailblazers who are building technologies today to solve tomorrow's toughest challenges.
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Episodes
Reimagining coastal transportation, featuring Billy Thalheimer of REGENT Craft
March 14, 2024 00:00 - 30 minutes - 21.1 MBIt’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… technically a flying boat! When challenged to imagine how to electrify aviation, Billy Thalheimer, CEO and co-founder of REGENT Craft, and his team set to work looking at what has been done with hydroplanes before – and what emerging technologies are available today that change the equation for what is possible and economically achievable. “Building with atoms is harder than building with bits. You can’t just revert to your last code push,” Mr. Thalheimer t...
Deploying undersea explorers, featuring Jeff Smith of Saab
February 13, 2024 17:00 - 54 minutes - 37.8 MBThe blue parts of our planet are beautiful yet stunningly punishing for even our toughest of technologies. Dark, crushing, unexplored, and unknown – the depths of the seas are where an explorer like Jeff Smith has devoted his career to understanding. As the Vice President and General Manager of Autonomous and Undersea Systems at Saab, Inc., Smith has experience developing submersibles of nearly every shape and size, including some of the most advanced systems for remotely-operated and auton...
Tough Tech Today Season 4 Preview: Exploring Oceans, Quantum Realms, and Machine Intelligence
January 09, 2024 10:00 - 13 minutes - 9.36 MBTough Tech Today is transitioning seasons, recapping our Season 3 themes exploring the tough tech domains of biology, space, and fusion energy. We are also preparing for the show's fourth season and we are really excited for it! Upcoming themes: Blue tech – The advanced technologies of the maritime industry. Incredible machines, sustainable oceans, and mysteries to solve in our planet's seas. Quantum sciences – A wild world where physics gets weird, we are super curious about opportunitie...
Fusing atoms with lasers, featuring Thomas Forner and Pravesh Patel of Focused Energy
December 12, 2023 10:00 - 50 minutes - 34.8 MBIf this company perfectly combines lasers and atoms, the reaction could be worth trillions of dollars. Focused Energy’s Thomas Forner, CEO, and Pravesh Patel, CTO, join us to talk about making lasers. Lots and lots of lasers. But for what aim? They are pointing hundreds of directed beams at a tiny target: a millimeter-sized plastic capsule of deuterium and tritium, about the size of a peppercorn. These experiments may reveal a commercial pathway to grid-scale fusion energy. In contrast to o...
Bringing fusion to the grid, featuring Tina Tosukhowong of TDK Ventures
November 14, 2023 10:00 - 45 minutes - 31.4 MBInvestors are betting big on clean energy becoming the norm. Tina Tosukhowong of TDK Ventures joins us for a review of the major approaches to curbing carbon emissions in hard-to-abate industries. A thorough assessment led Tosukhowong to opportunities for practical, grid-scale fusion. TDK Ventures invested in Type One Energy Group, a private fusion company affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Their stellarator-based design is one of several that have emerged in recent years,...
The Star Machine: How Proxima Fusion is Powering the Sustainable Grid! Featuring Francesco Sciortino
October 10, 2023 08:00 - 59 minutes - 40.7 MBHow do we harness the power of the stars to deliver clean energy on Earth? It has been a collective goal – and, perhaps, an impending imperative – for human civilization to secure renewable energy sources for its present and future needs. The team at Proxima Fusion (https://www.proximafusion.com/about), led by co-founder and CEO Francesco Sciortino (https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesco-sciortino-aa340180/), is focused on one approach to build a fusion power plant. Their use of a “stellarat...
Mastering Billion-Dollar Tech Investments & Galactic Defense 💸🛰️👾 featuring Preston Dunlap
September 12, 2023 10:00 - 58 minutes - 40.5 MBStanding up a space force within the world’s largest bureaucracy is not for the faint of heart. Preston Dunlap – former (and first) Chief Architect / Chief Technology Officer of the United States Air Force and Space Force and present CEO of Arkenstone Ventures – has developed a privileged view into the government machinations necessary to design, develop, and buy the right mix of tough tech capabilities. Mission-focused and multidisciplinary, Dunlap and the organizations in which he engaged...
Tracking weather from space, featuring Scarlett Killer of Mithril Technologies
August 08, 2023 09:00 - 51 minutes - 35.5 MBAn early-stage startup will offer unparalleled weather data when it unfolds its orbital sensors. Captivated by the stars and focused on improving life on Earth, Mithril Technologies founder and CEO, Scarlett Koller, is venturing into weather awareness and storm tracking by launching and commercializing a large space-based sensor. In this episode, we have the privilege of learning how Koller and her co-founder are translating a new technology out of the lab and into a space business. Aviati...
Tracking weather from space, featuring Scarlett Koller of Mithril Technologies
August 08, 2023 09:00 - 51 minutes - 35.5 MBAn early-stage startup will offer unparalleled weather data when it unfolds its orbital sensors. Captivated by the stars and focused on improving life on Earth, Mithril Technologies founder and CEO, Scarlett Koller, is venturing into weather awareness and storm tracking by launching and commercializing a large space-based sensor. In this episode, we have the privilege of learning how Koller and her co-founder are translating a new technology out of the lab and into a space business. Aviati...
Betting on Space, featuring Chad Anderson of Space Capital
July 11, 2023 09:00 - 59 minutes - 40.9 MBIn one sentence: The space economy is booming in more ways than one. Space-based assets are changing the way industries operate on Earth. Chad Anderson – Founder and Managing Partner at Space Capital – is one of those individuals who has a deep perspective on the what it is like backing the entrepreneurs who are launching the newest breed of space companies. An investor by profession and explorer by passion, Anderson relates to us how “the economy of the future” will be built on global posit...
Orchestrating microbes, featuring Cheri Ackerman of Concerto Biosciences
June 13, 2023 12:00 - 55 minutes - 38.1 MBIn one sentence... The interactions of the microbial world within us has been incredibly difficult to see – until now. From the depths of our intestines to the surface of our skin, our bodies are host to trillions of microbial cells spanning thousands of species. While critical to helping us to fend off illnesses and digest complex foods, we know very little about the complex interactions among these microbes. The team at Concerto Biosciences, led by CEO and Cofounder Cheri Ackerman, has p...
Unveiling age-defying proteins, featuring Mark Allen of Elevian
May 09, 2023 13:00 - 1 hour - 42.9 MBIn one sentence... Aging is malleable and there is a particular, mysterious protein of interest that may enable new therapies for age-related diseases such as stroke, diabetes, and obesity. Young blood in old bodies has been demonstrated in several studies to counteract some age-correlated ailments. Mark Allen, a medical doctor by training and an entrepreneur in practice, co-founded Elevian to understand and commercialize therapies using a recombinant growth differentiation factor known as...
Creating new and better medicines, featuring Virginia Burger of New Equilibrium Biosciences
April 11, 2023 15:00 - 53 minutes - 36.8 MBIn one sentence... Computational biology is enhancing our understanding of intrinsically disordered proteins, leading to exciting new medical treatments. Overview From videogames to protein discovery, high performance computing impacts how we understand and engage with each other and the world around us. Virginia Burger, CEO and Co-Founder of New Equilibrium Biosciences, epitomizes the value of interdisciplinary skills applied to a hunch that biology and computer modeling can lead to new ...
Creating new and better medicines, featuring Virginia Burger
April 11, 2023 15:00 - 53 minutes - 36.8 MBIn one sentence... Computational biology is enhancing our understanding of intrinsically disordered proteins, leading to exciting new medical treatments. Overview From videogames to protein discovery, high performance computing impacts how we understand and engage with each other and the world around us. Virginia Burger, CEO and Co-Founder of New Equilibrium Biosciences, epitomizes the value of interdisciplinary skills applied to a hunch that biology and computer modeling can lead to new ...
JMill & Forrest's Epic Reveal: New Tough Tech Today Season, Monthly Groove & Upcoming Themes! 🚀🧬🔋
April 07, 2023 12:00 - 3 minutes - 2.73 MBJoin a tag-up among JMill and Forrest as we reveal something really exciting for what’s ahead: the launch of the newest season of Tough Tech Today! Plus, we mention work and babies. We set the stage for our new monthly cadence, with a new release occurring on the second Tuesday of each month. Each quarter (3 months), we focus on a theme. The next three themes are Biology (2023Q2), Space (2023Q3), and Energy (2023Q4). We really appreciate your support and enthusiasm for Tough Tech Today, a...
M12 bets big on the digital frontier with Matt Goldstein
June 22, 2021 16:00 - 58 minutes - 40.3 MBDigitization of the physical world brings new synergies and expanding attack surfaces – so it is key to invest in those who defend us. ————— Overview: Probing the cybersecurity of 3D printing, scaling the digital transformation of manufacturing, and developing quantum-safe encryption for the next evolution of the Internet, Matt Goldstein, Managing Director at M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund, shares with us the criticality of investing in companies exploring the frontiers of cybersecurity ...
Synthesizing High-Tech Food is TOUGH, featuring Kate Krueger of Helikon
April 08, 2021 14:00 - 52 minutes - 36.3 MBIn one sentence: “Synthesizing” and “food” are uncommon word pairings, but the engineered dishes they serve may be an appetizing feast for the senses. Overview: Climate change, a growing global population, and maturation of new biotechnologies are driving the motivation for – and means of – producing more food. Engineering is improving traditional agricultural means for food production, yet, in our conversation with Kate Krueger of Helikon, emerging synthesization techniques are bringing f...
Exposing cancer with bioengineering, featuring Cyriac Roeding of Earli
March 23, 2021 16:00 - 1 hour - 45.2 MBIn one sentence: We can make cancer cells tell us exactly where they are. ————— Overview: Consumer internet entrepreneurs lack many of the skills for the life sciences revolution – or do they? Cyriac Roeding, CEO and co-founder of Earli, shows us what his team of bioengineers are accomplishing by applying fast-learning software development discipline to hard life science problems. Earli’s mouse and canine models are producing exciting results inducing cancer cells to expose their location...
Jmill goes glamping while Forrest lands on Mars and launches a new company.
March 02, 2021 20:00 - 7 minutes - 5.43 MBJust a quick Tough Tech Today update as we take a bye week and prepare for our guest in two weeks.
Google Maps for gold? AI-Assisted Mine Prospecting is Tough!
February 18, 2021 05:00 - 53 minutes - 37 MBIn one sentence: When the frontiers of geology overlap with the frontlines of contested regions, international collaborations help protect minerals core to our civilization. ————— Overview: There’s a world of minerals in every electronic device. Anything that cannot be grown must be mined, Emily King tells us. A global mining expert and founder of Prospector Portal, Emily shares stories and advancements in the finding, protecting, and stewarding of minerals. From digitizing and structuring...
Unlocking new mRNA Treatments with Jake Becraft, CEO of Strand Therapeutics
February 02, 2021 20:00 - 59 minutes - 41.2 MBIn one sentence: Unlocking new mRNA treatments will save lives, but it's not as simple as that. ————— Overview ————— Jake Becraft of Strand Therapeutics is an expert in designing and programming mRNA, critical strands of genetic material that provide instructions for making proteins. As one suite of tools in the emerging synthetic biology toolkit, mRNA is a twenty-first century harbinger of life. Yet, with all powerful tools, there are risks of accidental or intentional misuse. It is this ...
Freedom Without Fear - Making injections effortless with autoinjector tech to saves lives, with Conor Cullinane of Pirouette Medical
January 13, 2021 18:00 - 1 hour - 45 MBIn one sentence: A needle shaped like a hockey puck is a ‘revolutionary’ medical device that can deliver epinephrine during a severe allergic reaction on Earth or in space. ————— Overview ————— EpiPens and other emergency auto-injectors have changed little for decades, though there are known limitations in their accidental (mis)use. Conor Cullinane, co-founder of Pirouette Medical, shows us his team’s surprisingly non-needlelike auto-injector that is shaped smooth, flat, and round, and eas...
Tough Tech Today in 2020 and Beyond (Year in Review)
January 01, 2021 04:00 - 42 minutes - 29.2 MBA chat to review the first year of Tough Tech Today.
$2.5B Exit Entrepreneur, Sujal Patel, is Creating a Proteomics Startup to Upgrade Human Health
December 15, 2020 23:00 - 55 minutes - 37.9 MBIn one sentence... Human health upgrades may be unlocked by a data storage expert focused on probing the proteome. Overview: It’s not everyday that one hears about the crucial relationship between digital data storage and biology, yet this is core to Sujal Patel’s work leading Nautilus Biotechnology. By any measure already an accomplished tech entrepreneur, Sujal’s experience building Isilon Systems (acquired by EMC for $2.5 billion) became a perfect, if non-obvious, ingredient for dise...
A moon rover startup gears up for launch, featuring Justin Cyrus of Lunar Outpost
December 01, 2020 15:00 - 41 minutes - 28.8 MBIn one sentence... Living on the Moon requires infrastructure that Justin Cyrus of Lunar Outpost knows can be helpful here on Earth. Overview Earth’s moon is viewed as the upcoming base of operations for humanity’s further exploration of the cosmos. Justin Cyrus, founder of Lunar Outpost, shares what it is like building a suite of technologies that not only meet space objectives, but also address terrestrial challenges. Incredible initiatives are underway to develop our moon into a pied-...
When tough tech and dual-use ventures collide, with the U.S. Air Force Banshee Program
November 17, 2020 21:00 - 34 minutes - 23.4 MBBanshees of the United States Air Force hunt for mission-enhancing technologies. The world's largest startup accelerator, MassChallenge, teamed up with the Air Force Labs to establish the Banshees training program. Members are U.S. Department of Defense acquisitions officers who are learning how to find tough tech and nurture dual-use ventures. Such startups are jointly serving the private commercial sector and the government as clients. Forrest and jmill discuss tech commercialization ch...
Bringing heroes home, featuring Caleb Carr of Vita Inclinata
November 03, 2020 22:00 - 48 minutes - 33 MBIn one sentence... A helicopter rescue mission gone awry fuels this man’s mission to bring heroes home safely with drones built for aircraft load stabilization. Overview As a Black Hawk helicopter’s rotors whop-whop-whopped overhead in their fight for command of the winds amid a stormy – and ultimately failed – rescue mission, a teenage Caleb Carr had a life-shaping experience that led him, many years later, to launch Vita Inclinata, a mission-focused company pioneering aerial load stabil...
Bootstrapping mass spectrometry, featuring Mazdak Taghioskoui of Trace Matters
October 20, 2020 18:00 - 45 minutes - 31.1 MBHe built a mass spectrometer from scratch and reinvented it in the process! Bearing a smile, Mazdak “Maz” Taghioskoui says he immigrated to the United States from Iran for a good education and same-day shipping, two key features that have supported his focus on building – from scratch – a sophisticated next-generation analytical tool: the Trace Matters SPion mass spectrometer. Maz is the Founder and CEO/CTO of Trace Matters, and we sat down with him for show-and-tell to discuss how he and ...
Tough Tech Venture Capital and America's Innovation Engine with Orin Hoffman
October 06, 2020 20:00 - 51 minutes - 35.7 MBWhile aboard a plane nosediving into Baghdad, one may be forgiven for pondering how one’s life path could lead from vacuum cleaners to minesweeping robots. Yet, not only does Orin Hoffman, of MIT’s The Engine venture capital firm, share this humbling connection, but also how it advances an overarching narrative of the United States national industrial innovation base, VCs, and the crucial roles served by tough tech entrepreneurs. Public-private partnerships may not be what immediately come...
Venturing into federal tech, featuring Will Dickson and Trinity Torres of FedTech
September 22, 2020 20:00 - 53 minutes - 36.6 MBWhat happens to the ideas generated across the United States federal government’s research initiatives? Will Dickson and Trinity Torres walk us through the pathways of taxpayer-funded technological advancements and opportunities for a diverse pool of private citizens-entrepreneurs to find commercial success licensing patents owned by the U.S. government. The United States government generates vast amounts of intellectual property across its many research organizations, national laboratories...
Launching dual-use ventures, featuring Katy Person of the MIT Innovation Initiative
September 08, 2020 19:00 - 41 minutes - 28.3 MBDual-use ventures – tough tech startups pursuing commercial relationships with the private sector and federal government, are a unique class of companies with whom Kathryn "Katy" Person, of the MIT Innovation Initiative, works daily. "[Working with the United States government, such as the Department of Defense,] is not for everyone and not for every business. It depends on whether you come in mission-focused... and it depends on your business strategy," says Katy. As a military veteran wit...
Commercializing Satellite Propulsion, featuring Louis Perna
August 25, 2020 18:00 - 54 minutes - 37.5 MBNo longer the domain of strictly nation-states, 'new space' is undergoing a wave of commercialization and growth. Two key engineering challenges, observed Louis Perna, are in-space communications and propulsion. He and his co-founder, Natalya Bailey, launched Accion Systems to provide cost-effective electrospray propulsion for satellites. While the complexities of space travel are something that many members of society may recognize, less obvious may be the terrestrial challenges spacefarin...
Commercializing Satellite Propulsion, featuring Louis Perna of Accion Systems
August 25, 2020 18:00 - 54 minutes - 37.5 MBNo longer the domain of strictly nation-states, 'new space' is undergoing a wave of commercialization and growth. Two key engineering challenges, observed Louis Perna, are in-space communications and propulsion. He and his co-founder, Natalya Bailey, launched Accion Systems to provide cost-effective electrospray propulsion for satellites. While the complexities of space travel are something that many members of society may recognize, less obvious may be the terrestrial challenges spacefarin...
Storing your data in DNA, with James Banal of Cache DNA
August 11, 2020 16:00 - 55 minutes - 38.5 MBThe building blocks of life, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), can be used for computational advantage, posits Dr. James Banal, postdoctoral research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Biological Engineering, in the Bathe Lab. “I work on the wackiest things in computing and storage right now, which is quantum computing and DNA data storage,” says James. From ultra-dense, ultra-long storage of digital data (think: storing exabytes for fifty years) to bui...
Storing Your Data in DNA, with James Banal
August 11, 2020 16:00 - 55 minutes - 38.5 MBTough Tech Today Episode 001 with James Banal, Ph.D. Hosts: Jonathan "jmill" Miller and Forrest Meyen Overview The building blocks of life, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), can be used for computational advantage, posits Dr. James Banal, postdoctoral research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Biological Engineering, in the Bathe Lab. “I work on the wackiest things in computing and storage right now, which is quantum computing and DNA data storage,” s...
Storing your data in DNA, with James Banal
August 11, 2020 16:00 - 55 minutes - 38.5 MBThe building blocks of life, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), can be used for computational advantage, posits Dr. James Banal, postdoctoral research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Biological Engineering, in the Bathe Lab. “I work on the wackiest things in computing and storage right now, which is quantum computing and DNA data storage,” says James. From ultra-dense, ultra-long storage of digital data (think: storing exabytes for fifty years) to bui...