Solvable

Latest Episodes:

Setbacks: Global Health Inequity is Solvable Apr 14, 2021

Show notes

As part of our Setbacks series examining the impact of COVID-19 on global development, Paul Farmer explains why he is still optimistic after working for 40 years to end global health inequities. Paul Farmer is a professor at Harvard Medical School, Chief of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and Co-Founder of Partners In Health. He believes that solutions flow from addressing social pathologies along with pathogens.

Looking to learn more about global health? Check out these links:

Partners In Health

Fevers, Feuds, And Diamonds: Ebola and the Ravages of History by Paul Farmer

Bending the Arc, Netflix

Pragmatic Solidarity, by Paul Farmer for The Center for Compassion and Global Health

Rwanda starts administering second doses of AstraZeneca vaccines

Partners in Heath, Haiti

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Surgical Site Infections in Developing Countries Can be Solved Apr 07, 2021

Show notes

Dasia Taylor is a senior at Iowa City West High School. She’s working to develop and produce medical sutures, dyed with beets, that can detect infections and alert patients to signs of risk.

According to the WHO patients with surgical site infections are twice as likely to spend time in an intensive care unit, five times more likely to be readmitted after discharge. And twice as likely to die.

Out of nearly 2000 students Taylor was recently named one of 40 finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Scholar program and awarded $25,000 for her work.

Want to learn more about health equity, surigical site infections and Taylor's work? Check out these links.

The difference between a stich and a suture, Healthline.com

Frequently Asked Questions about Surgical Site Infections, CDC.gov

Surgical site infections are the most common and costly of hospital infections, Science Daily

WHO Guidelines for Safe Surgery 2009

17-Year-Old Dasia Taylor Receives Recognition For Developing Color-Changing Sutures to Detect Infection” AfroTech.com

West High senior Dasia Taylor recognized as Regeneron Science Talent Search Finalist, The Daily Iowan

Health equity: challenges in low income countries

Closing the Health Equity Gap, WHO

We Must Enhance—but also Decolonize—America’s Global Health Diplomacy, Scientific American

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Psychological Manipulation is a Solvable Problem Mar 31, 2021

Show notes

Cults and other manipulative groups are an issue of public health and Diane Benscoter has strategies that may help.

Diane Benscoter is the founder of Antidote and the author of Shoes of a Servant: My Unconditional Devotion to a Lie.

Here are some links to additional information about cults and psychological manipulation and how to find support:

Support for Individuals, from Antidote

Support for Families, from Antidote

Freedom of Mind Institute

Cult Deprogramming vs. Strategic Interactive Approach from Steven Hassan

Course: Understand Cults: The Basics, by Steven Hassan

Open Minds Foundation: Resources

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Making Medical Deliveries by Drone is Solvable Mar 24, 2021

Show notes

Keller Rinaudo is the CEO and Founder of Zipline International. Their “sky ambulance” service is delivering medical supplies to hard to reach places via drone delivery.

Here are some links to information and resources that Rinaudo mentioned in this episode.

Zipline International

Factfulness by Hans and Ola Rosling

Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker

Children: Improving Survival and Wellbeing, UN World Health Organization, Sept 8, 2020

Mobile Money Adoption in Kenya, TechCrunch, March 25, 2020

Zipline’s drones are delivering medical supplies and PPE in North Carolina, The Verge, May 2020

Walmart drone deliveries, The Verge, Sept 2020

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Racialized Trauma is Solvable Mar 17, 2021

Show notes

Resmaa Menakem is an author and psychotherapist working in Minneapolis Minnesota. As a specialist focused on racial trauma, Menakem works to help people metabolize intergenerational pain and pay attention to the cues their bodies are communicating rather than burying them.

Here are links that Menakem recommends to learn more about trauma and systemic racism, and links to some tools that can help to address both.

Hotlines for Survivors of Violence and Trauma

My Grandmother’s Hands, by Resmaa Menakem

More about Somatic Abolitionism from Resmaa Menakem

Me and White Supremacy, by Layla F. Saad

White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo

Adrienne Maree Brown: http://adriennemareebrown.net/

Rachel Cargle: https://www.rachelcargle.com/

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Extreme Poverty in New York City is Solvable Mar 10, 2021

Show notes

Andrew Yang is running for Mayor of New York City and he thinks that extreme poverty is a solvable problem. Here are some links to learn more about universal basic income and guaranteed minimum income.

“2021 Will Be the Year of Guaranteed Income Experiments,” Bloomberg News, Jan 4, 2021

“Andrew Yang's 'People's Bank' to Help Distribute Basic Income to 55K New Yorkers,”

Newsweek, Feb 17, 2021

“Universal Basic Income: A Thoroughly Wrongheaded Idea,” Forbes, Jan 16, 2019

“Free cash handouts: What is universal basic income or UBI,” CNBC, June 27, 2019

“Payment Guaranteed: How Would Universal Basic Income Affect Business?” Business News Daily, May 11, 2020

“Universal Basic Income: Purpose, Pros and Cons,”The Balance, Aug 19, 2020

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The Lack of Basic Sanitation in the United States is Solvable Mar 03, 2021

Show notes

Catherine Coleman Flowers is the Founder and Director of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice. She was awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2020 for her work researching and documenting America’s waste water failures.

Learn more:

Have you faced local sanitation issues in the US? We want to hear from you, The Guardian, 2021

Waste: One Woman's Fight Against America's Dirty Secret ByCatherine Coleman Flowers

Catherine Coleman Flowers, Class of 2020, MacArthur Foundation

Biden Urged to Back Water Bill in Amid US Worst Crisis in Decades, The Guardian, 2021

The people suffering have to have a seat at the table, Southerly Dec. 2020

At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68 ByTaylor Branch

Solvable's senior producer is Jocelyn Frank. Research and booking by Lisa Dunn.

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The Problems of Regulating Algorithms are Solvable Feb 24, 2021

Show notes

Nathan Matias is a professor at Cornell University and leads the Citizens and Technology Lab. He believes that the strong tradition of scrappy, responsive, citizen science (which has led to positive changes in food safety and quality assurance regulations) can also bring positive changes to how algorithms impact our lives.

The Citizens and Technology Lab, Cornell University

Mozilla Foundation- volunteer opportunities

Algorithmic Justice League

Joy Buolamwini, TED Talk, Fighting Bias in Algorithms

The Markup

Consumer Reports

The History of the Good Housekeeping Institute

Elinor Ostrom’s Work on Governing The Commons: An Appreciation, LSE

Kurt Lewin, American Social Psychologist, Encyclopedia Britanica

Democratic, Authoritarian, Laissez-Faire: What Type Of Leader Are You?, Forbes 2019

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Designing Digital Spaces That Bring Us Together Is Solvable Feb 17, 2021

Show notes

Eli Pariser is a social activist and technology entrepreneur. He sits on the U.S. Programs Board of the Open Society Foundation and the Information and Democracy Commission. He is currently co-director of the Civic Signals project with Talia Stroud, at the National Conference on Citizenship.

To learn more about urban planing and digital design check out these links below:

New Public by Civic Signals

What obligation do social media platforms have to the greater good?, Eli Pariser, TED

Palaces For the People, Eric Klinenberg

The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs

The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, William Whyte

Run Your Own Social, A social media toolkit

The Media is the Message, Marshall McLuhan

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Political Polarization is Solvable Feb 10, 2021

Show notes

Anne Applebaum is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, contributing writer at The Atlantic and a co-host of Solvable and she believes that political polarization is solvable.

Learn more about the topics that Anne discussed with Jacob:

Coexistence is the Only Option, The Atlantic, Jan 20, 2021

Quebec’s landmark 1995 independence referendum, The McGill Tribune, Nov 3, 2020

The Northern Ireland Peace Process, Council on Foreign Relations, March 5, 2020

Infrastructure and Peacebuilding, United Nations 2020 report of the Secretary General, January 2020

Bridging Divides: Trends in Demonstrations, Princeton University

Over Zero, working to prevent identity-based violence

Braver Angels, bringing red and blue together

One in five voters (21%) said they supported the Capitol insurrection, YouGov survey, Jan 2021

Solvable is produced by Jocelyn Frank with research and booking by Lisa Dunn.

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