Technology

The Moonshot Podcast

The Moonshot Podcast chronicles the untold stories of innovation – both highs and lows – from inside Google’s Moonshot Factory. In Season 2, Captain of Moonshots Astro Teller sits down with a new crop of moonshot takers exploring the next frontiers in health, biology, computing and more. From energy kites and robotic pants, to sea fuel and digital immune systems, go behind the scenes with the inventors and creators working to turn “what if” into what’s next.

Latest Episodes:

Prototyping The Future, live from SXSW 2025 May 12, 2025

Show notes

Astro joins an all-star cast of inventors, futurists and creatives for a live conversation about radical innovation on-stage at SXSW 2025. These pioneers and problem-solvers pull together the threads of our series, revealing how imagination and prototyping can come together to tackle global challenges like transportation, energy, food security and human health. Recorded in front of a live audience in Austin, Texas, this special episode explores how creativity, curiosity, and a maker's spirit have the power to transform bold ideas into reality.

Hosted by Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots, The Moonshot Podcast goes behind the scenes with the engineers and inventors using breakthrough technologies to try to find radical solutions to the world’s biggest problems. These are the untold stories from 15 years of Google’s innovation lab.

Thank you to Nicholas Thompson, Adam Savage and Catie Cuan for joining us on stage at SXSW 2025.

The Moonshot Podcast is a Blanchard House production for X, The Moonshot Factory. It’s produced by Ellie Sans and Sophie Eastaugh. Original music by Louis Nanke-Mannell and Daniel Lloyd-Evans. Sound design and mix engineering by Toby Matimong. The executive producers are Amica Sciortino Nowlan and Rebecca Maxted.

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Supersenses May 05, 2025

Show notes

What if, rather than making you distracted, your smart device helped you be more present?

In this episode, we revisit the early days of Google Glass: a bold Moonshot that opened up new ways of seeing and being in the world. We go behind the scenes with the designers and engineers who shaped it – and hear how their insights helped inspire IyO, a next-generation audio wearable designed to integrate our digital and physical lives while also liberating us from screens. From skydiving, to the real-life “babel fish”, this is a story about the power of invention, the importance of timing, and how to design and build technology that fits humanity – not the other way around.

Thank you to Ivy Ross, Isabelle Olsson, Ivo Stirovic, Jason Rugolo and Joe Sargent for featuring in this episode.

The Moonshot Podcast is a Blanchard House production for X, The Moonshot Factory. It’s produced by Ellie Sans and Sophie Eastaugh. Original music by Louis Nanke-Mannell and Daniel Lloyd-Evans. Sound design and mix engineering by Louis Nanke-Mannell. The executive producers are Amica Sciortino Nowlan and Rebecca Maxted.

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Powering Up Apr 28, 2025

Show notes

Energy might just be the ultimate moonshot – because if we can make it affordable, abundant and dependable long-term, it could improve life for all 8.2 billion people on Earth. In this episode, we follow two bold projects from X: Blixt, a fusion Moonshot that took a high-risk bet on a decades-old scientific mystery, and Tapestry, a new set of AI powered tools that are helping grid operators manage the world’s largest machine. From lightning bolts and frozen hydrogen, to mapping the electricity networks of entire countries, this is a story about risk, reward, and the invisible systems we all depend on.

Thank you to Matt Forkin, Brian Adolf, Will Regan, Ivo Stivoric, Page Crahan and Juan Carlos Olmedo for featuring in this episode.

The Moonshot Podcast is a Blanchard House production for X, the moonshot factory. It’s produced by Ellie Sans and Sophie Eastaugh. Original music by Louis Nanke-Mannell and Daniel Lloyd-Evans. Sound design and mix engineering by Toby Matimong. The executive producers are Amica Sciortino Nowlan and Rebecca Maxted.

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Fires, Floods and Future-Proofing Apr 21, 2025

Show notes

Natural disasters will keep coming — but what if we could stay one step ahead? That’s the mission of Bellwether, a moonshot working to build a “crystal ball” for the natural world. Their team is uniting the talents and expertise of firefighters and physicians to turn messy geospatial data into real-time forecasts for fire, flood and beyond, helping communities prepare for the unpredictable. We also meet the inventors behind 280 Earth, a project that uses waste heat from data centres to pull CO₂ from the air and produce clean water in the process. This is a story about resilience — technological, economic and human — and the power of radical foresight.

Hosted by Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots, The Moonshot Podcast goes behind the scenes with the engineers and inventors using breakthrough technologies to try to find radical solutions to the world’s biggest problems. These are the untold stories from 15 years of Google’s innovation lab.

Thank you to Robert Baird, Sarah Russell, Jacques Gagne and Helen Riley for featuring in this episode.

The Moonshot Podcast is a Blanchard House production for X, the moonshot factory. It’s produced by Ellie Sans and Sophie Eastaugh. Original music by Louis Nanke-Mannell and Daniel Lloyd-Evans. Sound design and mix engineering by Toby Matimong. The executive producers are Amica Sciortino Nowlan and Rebecca Maxted.

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Trash to Treasure Apr 14, 2025

Show notes

What if waste wasn’t the end of the story – but the start of something new? In this episode of The Moonshot Podcast, we explore Delta, a Moonshot to help feed the millions of Americans facing food insecurity, and X’s Moonshot for Circularity which is working to design waste systems that are more resilient, more adaptable, and more intelligent from the outset. This isn’t just about cleaning up – it’s about building a world where nothing useful gets thrown away.

Thank you to Emily Ma, Mark Mollenkopf, Rey Banatao, Emma Lingle and Chef Monet for featuring in this episode.

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Living With Robots Apr 07, 2025

Show notes

Robots are at the heart of sci-fi, visions of the future, but what if that future is now? And what if those robots, helping us at work and at home, are simply an extension of the tools we’ve used for millions of years? That’s what artist and engineer Catie Cuan thinks, and it’s part of the reason she teaches robots to dance. In this episode we meet the people at the frontiers of the future of robotics and Astro Teller introduces two groundbreaking projects, Everyday Robots and Intrinsic, that have advanced how robots could work not just for us but with us.

Thank you to Catie Cuan, Hans Peter Brondmo, James Manyika and Wendy Tan White for featuring in this episode.

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Feeding The World Mar 31, 2025

Show notes

Agriculture is the world’s oldest industry – and it’s racing to meet one of the newest and biggest challenges of our time: how to feed a growing global population that will soon hit 10 billion people. In this episode, Astro Teller explores how two moonshot teams set out to reinvent the way we grow food, using cutting-edge technology in some unexpected places. We follow the team behind Mineral, who began their journey with a pair of bicycles and a radical idea for rethinking farming from the ground up. And we head underwater with Tidal, where the team is using computer vision to transform ocean aquaculture.

Thank you to Elliott Grant, David Guerena, Evan Rapoport, Rajesh Jadhav, Joe Sargent, Paul Nnko, Elifura Nassari and Elinansha Nanyaro for featuring in this episode.

The Moonshot Podcast is a Blanchard House production for X, the moonshot factory. It’s produced by Ellie Sans and Sophie Eastaugh. Original music by Louis Nanke-Mannell and Daniel Lloyd-Evans. Sound design and mix engineering by Louis Nanke-Mannell and Toby Matimong. The executive producers are Amica Sciortino Nowlan and Rebecca Maxted.

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Machines That Think – The AI Moonshot Mar 24, 2025

Show notes

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping everything - but how did we get here? Dive deep with Astro Teller into the origins of Google Brain, meeting Andrew Ng and Jeff Dean, two of AI’s early pioneers. Their innovations helped shatter a decades-long computing block and catapulted deep learning from the academic arena to the commercial prime time. We’ll also explore Codey, an AI system that writes and rewrites software. How do those designing AI’s next generation think about its opportunities and challenges? Could AI revolutionize the process of innovation itself?

Hosted by Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots, The Moonshot Podcast goes behind the scenes with creators and inventors trying to find radical solutions and breakthrough technologies to the world’s biggest problems. These are the untold stories of innovation from 15 years of Google’s moonshot factory.

Thank you to Andrew Ng, Jeff Dean, Scott Huffman, Benoît Schillings and Olivia Hatalsky for featuring in this episode.

The Moonshot Podcast is a Blanchard House production for X, The Moonshot Factory. It’s produced by Ellie Sans and Sophie Eastaugh. Original music by Louis Nanke-Mannell and Daniel Lloyd-Evans. Sound design and mix engineering by Louis Nanke-Mannell and Toby Matimong. The executive producers are Amica Sciortino Nowlan and Rebecca Maxted.

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Essential Connections Mar 17, 2025

Show notes

Nearly 3 billion people still don’t have a reliable internet connection. In this episode of The Moonshot Podcast, Astro Teller dives into X’s decade-long mission to bring fast, reliable and affordable connectivity to people everywhere. We uncover the inside story of Loon - the audacious attempt to use high-altitude balloons for internet access - and how its legacy lives on in Taara, a revolutionary way to deliver fast, affordable connectivity over long distances using beams of light. Expect balloons in jail, monkeys causing mischief, and a digital leap over the world’s deepest river.

Thank you to Mahesh Krishnaswamy, Nick Kohli, Strive Masiyiwa and Sal Candido for featuring in this episode.

The Moonshot Podcast is a Blanchard House production for X, the moonshot factory. It’s produced by Ellie Sans and Sophie Eastaugh. Original music by Louis Nanke-Mannell and Daniel Lloyd-Evans. Sound design and mix engineering by Louis Nanke-Mannell and Toby Matimong. The executive producers are Amica Sciortino Nowlan and Rebecca Maxted.

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Driving The Future Mar 10, 2025

Show notes

Fifteen years ago, the world thought self-driving cars were impossible - even the experts doubted it. Today, they’re on the road. In this inaugural episode of The Moonshot Podcast, join Astro Teller inside X, Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory, to discover the early days of Waymo’s self-driving vehicles and Wing’s autonomous drone deliveries. Astro meets Sebastian Thrun, co-founder of X, to revisit the origin story of this innovation lab and, with leaders from Waymo and Wing, explores what’s next for driverless cars and drone delivery.

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