Luminexus
Ciara and Rachel
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Top 10 Luminexus Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Luminexus episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Luminexus for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Luminexus episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Why Diversity Is More Important Than The Next Big Tech (and how to increase diversity in STEM)
Luminexus
08/22/22 • 39 min
Anie Akpe | African Women in Tech (AWIT) | IBOMLLC | Innov8tiv
Silicon valley (and the rest of the world) get’s caught up in the ‘next big thing’. The next big technology or breakthrough, weather that be blockchain, web3 or NFTs. Founders and investors alike chase these technologies in hopes of mining some of the metaphorical gold that each technology brings.
But what if the real gold lies right in front of investors eyes? It’s not a flashy new technology or complicated scientific breakthrough - it’s diversity. Could different ethnicities, races, cultures, genders and backgrounds provide a new perspective among founders that could drive an even larger impact then the next big tech could?
Anie Akpe, founder of African Women In Tech says that the answer to this question is yes. Currently, less than 0.7% of all VC funding goes to female black founders, and Anie is on a mission to raise this number by empowering African women to unlock their full potential in technology, through mentorship, workshops, hackathons and more.
Here’s why diversity is more important than the next big technology.
1 Listener
03/10/22 • 38 min
Out of the many tech buzz words that have been gaining attention in the media lately, Web3 and blockchain are the two biggest.
So in this episode of the Luminexus podcast we talk with Matt Espinoza, a web3 and blockchain developer, and founder and CEO of Agora Labs. This conversation is designed perfectly for someone with no knowledge of web3/blockchain to become familiar with the basics of how each technology work. Think of this episode like a workshop to take you from 0 to 1 in web3 and blockchain, and open your eyes to practical use cases of both technologies apart from just NFTs. (And how NFTs could be used to make a big impact as well.)
1 Listener
11/29/21 • 43 min
Laura Boykin | Cassava Virus Action Project
The whitefly is a deadly pest that destroys close to half the total yields in Africa. Take the cassava plant for example, a staple crop that 800 million people rely on for their daily calories. The whitefly transmits diseases that kill the cassava, like cassava mosaic disease, and cassava brown streak disease.
This is what we call on the Luminexus Podcast a “non obvious problem.” The problem of pests destroying the majority of cassava plants leaves millions of farmers with low yields to sell, no food to put away for the winter, contributing to an endless poverty loop.
Today we talk with Dr.Laura Boykin, whose research and work is about solving this problem. She has spent her life studying the evolution of whiteflies and the viruses they transmit, and she has mapped the genome of the cassava whitefly to better understand how it works.
Now, Laura is the founder of the Cassava Virus Action Project, where she works with small scale farmers in Sub Saharan Africa to teach them how to use genomic sequencing devices to catch infestations of the whitefly early on. In this conversation, we talk about the problem of the whitefly in Sub Saharan Africa, intergenerational poverty that stems from agriculture, and Laura’s research with genomic sequencing devices to give farmers the tools to detect and stop infestations of the whitefly.
1 Listener
11/08/22 • 51 min
Eva Goulbourne | ReFED website | Littlefoot Ventures
In the USA, 35% of all food produced ends up in the dump. This is 90 billion meals worth of food annually, equaling out to the same climate footprint as the entire U.S aviation industry. When I first learned these facts my mind was blown. All I could think about was why do we let this happen?
So to answer this question, we break down the problem of food waste and food loss with the World Economic’s Forum food waste/loss expert, Eva Goulburne. We run through a route cause analysis exercise to break down the problem, and understand different route causes. We follow the journey of a little potato from seed to table, and all the possible places throughout this system where out little potato will get wasted. And we also explore solutions that have been implemented, and ways that these solutions have been sucessfull, but also how they have failed.
This is a classic Luminexus episode, where we spend an hour connecting the dots between the route causes of a problem and failed solutions, and come out the end of our conversation with more clarity and understanding about why the problem exists, and what we need to do about it to help address the problem.
08/03/22 • 46 min
"If you don't try, you fail. And if you want to succeed, you at least have a chance by trying. If you try enough times and have the right team to support you, the right attitude, and the right mentors, you might actually change the world.” - Shely Aronov
These are the kinds of knowledge bombs Shely drops in this conversation. Shely is the co founder and CEO of InnerPlant, a company combing AI, drone technology and gene editing to detect pest infestations on crops in real time. They genetically engineer the plant to fluoresce under certain external conditions (like a pest is attacking them), and this fluorescence is detected by drones in the sky which sends the data to the InnerPlant app to alert farmers immediently. With this approach, every single plant can be individually cared for, and specific nutrients, water, fertilizer and pesticides can be tailored to every single plant instead of entire fields.
In this conversation we talk with Shely about the importance of agriculture, and the big problems with our agricultural system that must be addressed to feed our growing population. We talk about Shely’s path to founding InnerPlant, and the technicalities of how InnerPlant operates. And we wrap up our conversation with Shely’s take on the mindsets of a changemakers, and skills all changemakers should equip themselves with if they want to make an impact in the world.
05/31/22 • 50 min
What drew Dana to the field of location based entertainment and VR is that it allows the creator to see the big picture. Dana says “VR and AR can give you insight into the future. Future trends. And even draw connections about problems that you wouldn’t have been able to see before.”
Dana a creative director and VR/AR specialist at The VOID, where she is designing the future of gaming, entertainment and virtual and augmented reality every day. In this conversation we talk about Dana about where her inspiration comes from when literally creating the future, and what she does each day to get her creative juices flowing.
We also talk with Dana about the future of AR and VR, and all the areas of our everyday lives that AR/VR will disrupt, and the massive societal changes coming down the road as AR/VR is integrated into [almost] every aspect of society.
Stefania Druga | X Moonshot Factory
Our current education is an outdated, archaic, system. And while most people accept that education will never change, Stephania Druga, PhD resident at Google X, is designing the future of education.
This episode is our conversation with Stephania, weaving in her work and research about computer supported coding, smart toys, AI literacy and educational platforms with AI.
The central question Ciara and Rachel seek to gain perspective on is: will the current education system ever change? And Stephania says yes.
We dive into the exciting world of how a technology can be applied to solve a problem (how AI and smart toys can change an outdated education system, or how computer supported coding can give thousands of children in Sub Saharan Africa an education.) This is the perfect example of a cool technology being leveraged to solve a hard problem (changing education in the West and access to education in developing countries).
Hear the future of education from the woman building it’s future.
The CRISPR Revolution: The Past, Present and Future of CRISPR and What This Means For Humanity
Luminexus
04/18/22 • 61 min
The crazy thing about revolutions is that no one knows if you’re living through one until dozens of years later. Kevin Davies, internationally recognized author and journal editor, argues that we are currently living through a revolution. The CRISPR revolution. Quite similar to the scientific revolution through the 15th and 16th century, Kevin says that the CRISPR revolution will be as impactful as the scientific revolution.
We start this conversation where every good story should start: at the beginning. And we understand how CRISPR-Cas9 was discovered, and how the system works together to edit DNA. As our conversation progresses, we fast forward from the past (CRISPR’s discovery), to the present: what CRISPR is currently being used for, research CRISPR is currently being applied to, and success stories of CRISPR curing diseases. And at the end of our conversation, we move to the future of CRISPR. The possibilities and things that CRISPR has the potential to do in the next 10, 20, 50 years. Massive things like curing cancer, reversing aging and creating perfect crops which could fundamentally change how humanity operates.
04/01/22 • 41 min
Aadeel Akhtar is the founder and CEO of PSYONIC, a revolutionary bionic limb company which has created the world’s fastest, first ever touch sensing bionic hand that is covered under Medicare in the United States. In this conversation we talk with Aadeel about PSYONIC - why Aadeel transitioned from medicine to found a bionic limb company, how the ability hand works, and how the ability hand will improve lives for millions of prosthetics users worldwide.
It is incredible inventions like the ability hand which change the course of history, and we are honored to have had the opportunity to talk with Aadeel about the ability hand and how it will change the course of history moving forwards.
Christine Gould | Thought For Food
We hear about problems like climate change, poverty and malnutrition all the time in the media. But what if I told you that there is an overlying problem which contributes to each of the three problems I just listed? That overlying problem is agriculture.
Agriculture affects every industry on the planet, and is the most important sector in the world. It sustains humans (food) and provides billions of people with a livelihood.
But agriculture is also damages the environment, contributing to climate change and lacking to provide food for close to one billion people worldwide. Why is this happening? It’s simple - agriculture is a failed system. It is outdated and needs to change.
We currently use 33% of land worldwide to grow food for animals. We currently use 70% of global freshwater for agriculture. Currently, close to 15% of global greenhouse gases is due to agriculture. This is just the tip of the iceberg of the problems with agriculture. There are so many, and each problem in ag directly effects (or even causes) other global problems like malnutrition.
So in this episode we talk with Christine Gould, a global thought leader, food innovator and founder of Thought For Food about the massive problems in our agricultural system, and what needs to change to feed 10 billion people on a hotter planet.
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FAQ
How many episodes does Luminexus have?
Luminexus currently has 29 episodes available.
What topics does Luminexus cover?
The podcast is about Podcasts and Technology.
What is the most popular episode on Luminexus?
The episode title 'The Buzz Words: 0 to 1 in Web3 and Blockchain' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Luminexus?
The average episode length on Luminexus is 48 minutes.
How often are episodes of Luminexus released?
Episodes of Luminexus are typically released every 17 days, 4 hours.
When was the first episode of Luminexus?
The first episode of Luminexus was released on Oct 28, 2021.
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