Marketplace Tech with Ben Brock Johnson

A trillion-ton iceberg broke off the western coast of Antarctica this week. The news raised questions like: Will the chunk disrupt shipping routes? But aside from the physical consequences, there are also digital ones: like the changes mapping services will now have to make. On today's show, we'll chat with Denis Dean — a professor at the University of Texas at Dallas — about what services do in situations like these. Then, we'll cap off the week by playing Silicon Tally with Sara Fischer, a media reporter with Axios. 

The gadget that saved a refugee in the middle of the Aegean Sea, how an agent uses technology to patrol the U.S. border with Mexico, and how a journalist in exile broadcasts the news with WhatsApp. Listen, decode, and decide: Can technology crossing borders save us?

How encryption hides all around us, how it was used in 18th century Paris to separate merchants from their money and the difference between your brain and your fingertip. Listen, decode, and decide: Can encryption save us? Stay updated on all things Codebreaker.

A proposal to bioengineer shorter humans with cat eyes, a decades-old idea for a totally new kind of power, a battery made from trash and Bill Nye the Science Guy tries to get us in gear. Listen, decode, and decide: Can world-building save us? Stay updated on all things Codebreaker.

A small city known for its Amish population and surveillance cameras, an old lady in Northern Ireland who watches video feeds in Brazil and getting footage from the fin of a shark. Listen, decode, and decide: Can watching save us? Stay updated on all things Codebreaker.

The man who collected too much data, cyborgs who want to make their body-hardware mainstream, robots that rebuild your hairline and a conversation with Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge aka LeVar Burton. Listen, decode, and decide: Can the augmented self save us? Stay updated on all things Codebreaker.

A therapist who creates virtual reality experiences for people with dangerous disorders, a grandmother who uses a headset to escape her surroundings and Ernest Cline on virtual reality in fact and fiction. Listen, decode, and decide: Can alternate realities save us? Stay updated on all things Codebreaker.

A toddler who saved her mother's life with Siri, a man whose mysterious ailment opened up a world of voice recognition technology and a dating service that wants to scan the faces of all your exes. Listen, decode, and decide: Can recognition software save us?Stay updated on all things Codebreaker.

We're getting closer and closer to ultra-fast travel. Hyperloop One recently completed a test that sent a vehicle down a vacuum track at 70 miles per hour. On today's show, we'll talk to the company's co-founders about their goals and what this technology can actually be used for. Next, we'll speak with Tina Sharkey, cofounder of the new online grocery store Brandless, about their company's unique business model — everything at the store is just 3 bucks. 

Several tech giants are coming together today to protest a roll back of net neutrality rules. Advocates for net neutrality support the idea that internet service providers should treat all websites the same — without favoring or blocking certain ones — while opponents say that the price of a resource should reflect its value. On today's show, we'll get some perspective on the issue from the president and CEO of the Internet Association, Michael Beckerman, and the president of the Technology Policy Institute, Scott Wallsten.