In the fifth installment of our Moonshot Podcast Deep Dive video interview series, X’s Captain of Moonshots Astro Teller sits down with Google DeepMind’s Chief Scientist Jeff Dean for a conversation about the origin of Jeff’s pioneering work scaling neural networks.

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In the fourth installment of our Moonshot Podcast Deep Dive video interview series, X’s Captain of Moonshots Astro Teller sits down with Andrew Ng, the founder of Google Brain and DeepLearning.AI, for a conversation about the history of neural network research and how Andrew’s pioneering ideas led to some of the biggest breakthroughs in modern-day AI.

00:00 - Introduction

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In the third installment of our Moonshot Podcast Deep Dive video interview series, X’s Captain of Moonshots Astro Teller sits down with Dr. Catie Cuan, robot choreographer and former artist in residence at Everyday Robots, for a conversation about how dance can be used to build beautiful and useful robots that people want to be around.

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In the second installment of our Moonshot Podcast Deep Dive video interview series, X’s Captain of Moonshots Astro Teller sits down with André Prager, former Chief Engineer at Wing, for a conversation about the early days of Wing and how the team solved some of their toughest engineering challenges to develop simple, lightweight, inexpensive delivery drones that are now being used every day across three continents.

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n the first installment of our Moonshot Podcast Deep Dive video interview series, X’s Captain of Moonshots Astro Teller sits down with Sebastian Thrun, co-founder of the Moonshot Factory, for a conversation about the history of Waymo and Google X, the ethics of innovation, the future of AI, and more.

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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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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.

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 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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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.

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 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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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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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.

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 Emily Ma, Mark Mollenkopf, Rey Banatao, Emma Lingle and Chef Monet 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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