Science fiction author, Neal Stephenson, photographed for Solve for X.
In 2014 I worked with the Solve For X team, primarily making a series of videos for them about scientists, engineers, doctors and thinkers of our day—we spoke about their technical work as well as about things they did in their lives, from horseback riding to learning how to weld. This was a dream project that took me and a sound person, usually Shani Aviram, to all corners of the Earth.
The idea for this series
originally came from a lot of discussion and plotting with my friend and colleague, Martine Neider, who agreed that it would be great to see a video series that would show scientists and engineers, especially women and minorities (but without any fanfare about that), in their element—and not just at the lab or in their workshop, but out in the world, soaking up what made them them.
I got the chance to pilot the idea as a filmmaker working with Puneet Ahira while I was just starting out at X, the Moonshot factory, and as I continued to support the work of the Makani team.
Thermally stable vaccines, ending malnutrition, stabilizing food markets… so much to learn about and such a joy to do it.
Even more fascinating and relevant today, I love this film about Asel Sartbaeva, who discusses her moonshot project — thermally stable vaccines.
Howard Shapiro on his moonshot project — ending human stunting through Advanced Genomics. This project is being run by the African Orphan Crops Consortium.
“If you have ‘biologist’ written on your forehead, most people think it means I can’t program. I can’t do electronics. It means I can’t do anything that’s not biology. And I’m trying to shake people out of that feeling. What we do here is we look at nature as a source of inspiration, a pool of design principles, as new and refreshing ideas on how to do things better.”