Podcast: Can a 92 year-old inventor break the battery impasse and save the world?

John Goodenough came up with the battery that is most likely powering the device you’re reading this on.
John Goodenough came up with the battery that is most likely powering the device you’re reading this on.
Image: AP Photo/University of Texas at Austin
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Update, 6.12.15: The podcast has now launched, and you can listen or subscribe to Actuality in iTunes.

Quartz and Marketplace are collaborating on a new podcast. It’s still in preview mode, but we’re releasing the last week’s episode for your enjoyment and feedback. Listen as hosts Tim Fernholz and Sabri Ben-Achour get charged up about the unheralded genius who invented the battery behind all your gadgets—and thinks he can make history again.

We’re joined by Steve Levine, who wrote about battery inventor John Goodenough for Quartz and in his new book, The Powerhouse. Later, we discuss the materials science behind popcorn and are enlightened by this research.

Please send us your thoughts on the episode and what we should discuss in the future. You can also listen to our first preview episode and, soon, find future episodes wherever fine podcasts are distributed.