エピソード

  • The NotebookLM Mini Series #3: Multi-tasking superheroes and going meta on AI (feat. Veljko Prodanovic)
    2025/04/14

    Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google recently released NotebookLM, a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its outputs... and a deep dive into some of the topics that we have covered on the show. We feature previous guests, who are here to join in on the fun!

    Episode #3 delves into "Different perspectives on urban nature-based solutions" - Veljko Prodanovic (ep13) and I react to how NotebookLM produces a deep dive discussion on an opinion piece around human, ecological and AI perspectives of urban nature based solutions, this time guided by a focus prompt.

    Full Reference to the Paper: Prodanovic, V., Bach, P.M. and Stojkovic, M., 2024. Urban nature-based solutions planning for biodiversity outcomes: human, ecological, and artificial intelligence perspectives. Urban Ecosystems, 27(5), pp.1795-1806. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-024-01558-6

    Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Funky Fortune by Danny Shields (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7vRFEGMyTTfeCtc8qiUB82?si=dygdqu9IQLSFYNvVzPNu5w)

    Chapters:
    0:00 Intro
    1:26 Guest Intro and callback to main series
    3:31 How this experiment works
    4:31 Guest's prior experience with AI
    9:50 The human summary
    11:20 Live Reaction
    49:18 Post-discussion
    53:40 Potential Future of AI
    55:54 Wrap up
    57:21 Outro

    Detailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.
    Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!

    Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.
    Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.

    Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on:

    • X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach
    • Instagram: @petermbach87
    • Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/
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    59 分
  • The NotebookLM Mini Series #2: Playing "Urban Tetris" and "Heat Detectives" with Blue Green Systems (feat. João P. Leitão)
    2025/04/08

    Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google recently released NotebookLM, a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its outputs... and a deep dive into some of the topics that we have covered on the show. We feature previous guests, who are here to join in on the fun!

    Episode #2 delves into "Tools for urban heat mitigation" - João Paulo Leitão (ep1, ep40) and I react to how NotebookLM produces a deep dive discussion of a fairly long and comprehensive literature review paper that we co-authored along with colleagues.

    Full Reference to the Paper: Probst, N., Bach, P.M., Cook, L.M., Maurer, M. and Leitão, J.P., 2022. Blue Green Systems for urban heat mitigation: mechanisms, effectiveness and research directions. Blue-Green Systems, 4(2), pp.348-376. https://doi.org/10.2166/bgs.2022.028

    Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Funky Fortune by Danny Shields (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7vRFEGMyTTfeCtc8qiUB82?si=dygdqu9IQLSFYNvVzPNu5w)

    Chapters:
    00:00 Intro
    1:25 Guest Intro
    1:57 Guest’s prior experience with AI
    4:06 How this experiment works
    5:17 Live Reaction
    49:22 Post-discussion
    52:12 Thoughts on the future of AI
    53:49 Final remarks
    54:39 Outro

    Detailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.
    Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!

    Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.
    Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.

    Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on:

    • X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach
    • Instagram: @petermbach87
    • Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/
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    56 分
  • #41 - Don Weatherbee: "Catalyzing" change beyond the mine - scaling up metals regeneration to enable the future circular economy
    2025/03/31

    Don Weatherbee, CEO of Regenx Tech Corp in Alberta, Canada shows us how you can scale up metals recycling (or regeneration as he calls it) sustainably. We discuss his journey from studying accounting to joining the mining and resources industry and how he is now leveraging opportunities to close the loop and create the circular economy around critical metals worldwide, in particular, the opportunity of aligning chemistry, process and supply chains around catalytic converts and Platinum Group Metals.

    Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Starsky by Alex Keren (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vZ3lENfDLjkln8scBJ8mW)

    Chapters:
    0:00 Intro
    1:59 Guest Intro, Snowy Canada and Units
    3:25 Unraveling the broader power of accounting
    7:19 Dealing with post-mine closures challenges
    11:35 Regeneration vs. Recycling of Metals
    13:51 From junior exploration to catalytic converters
    18:46 Catalytic Converters 101
    22:59 Hydrometallurgy for regenerating metals
    25:17 Scaling up from lab to pilot to plant
    30:51 Challenges with eWaste Recycling
    34:03 Long-term trends for Platinum and Palladium
    38:48 Thought experiment on the market size
    40:39 Limitations of mining requires more recycling
    42:25 What's in store for RegenX?
    45:08 Q&A Start
    45:43 What is innovation?
    47:57 Key moment, book, event
    50:46 Time management
    53:50 Favourite childhood memory
    56:06 Biggest challenge to date
    59:11 Advice for young professionals
    1:01:02 What would you like to be remembered for
    1:02:07 Where can people find you?
    1:02:58 Final Message
    1:03:20 Outro

    Detailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.
    Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!

    Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.
    Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.

    Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on:

    • X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach
    • Instagram: @petermbach87
    • Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/
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    1 時間 5 分
  • The NotebookLM Mini Series #1: Cooling establishment time, it's like baking a cake (feat. Lucas Gobatti)
    2025/03/17

    Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google recently released NotebookLM, a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its outputs... and a deep dive into some of the topics that we have covered on the show. We feature previous guests, who are here to join in on the fun!

    Episode #1 delves into "Cooling Establishment Time" - Lucas Gobatti (ep39) and I run this research paper through NotebookLM and record our reaction to the deep dive discussion it produces.

    Full Reference to the Paper: Gobatti, L., Bach, P.M., Scheidegger, A. and Leitão, J.P., 2023. Using satellite imagery to investigate Blue-Green Infrastructure establishment time for urban cooling. Sustainable Cities and Society, 97, p.104768. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2023.104768

    Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Funky Fortune by Danny Shields (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7vRFEGMyTTfeCtc8qiUB82?si=dygdqu9IQLSFYNvVzPNu5w)

    Chapters:
    0:00 Intro
    1:26 Guest Intro
    2:30 How this experiment works
    3:49 Guest prior experience with AI
    4:41 The human summary
    5:55 Live Reaction
    54:37 Post-Discussion
    59:54 Thoughts on the future of AI
    1:01:27 Final remarks


    Detailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.
    Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!

    Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.
    Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.

    Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on:

    • X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach
    • Instagram: @petermbach87
    • Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/
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    1 時間 3 分
  • #40 - João P. Leitão: Studying the extremes - "when it rains, it floods", and "just add water" when "the heat is on"
    2025/03/10

    João P. Leitão, Senior Researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science & Technology (Eawag), Professor at ETH Zurich and the first guest of this podcast returns for a Part 2 to reflect on the podcast 40 episodes later, more fun topics about Portugal and major research topics that we did not cover on the first episode including urban drainage asset management, urban heat mitigation and the central role that water plays in adapting cities to climate change and an uncertain future. As a newly promoted Professor, we also look at what Joao's research plans are with his team going forward into a rapidly changing world.

    Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Starsky by Alex Keren (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vZ3lENfDLjkln8scBJ8mW)

    Chapters:
    0:00 Intro
    2:04 Guest Intro and Reflections on the podcast
    4:45 The return of salted cod (Bacalhau)
    7:02 Portuguese Wine and Cork
    9:23 A curious case of inheritance
    13:30 Getting into the science
    14:58 Updates in the world of flood models
    16:42 Rainfall intensities & flood volumes
    19:12 Balancing model complexity and insight
    22:54 Joao's preferred term for BGI
    24:29 Urban drainage asset management
    29:03 Encouraging more data exchange and joint learning
    31:05 Speaking a different language in disciplines
    33:11 Leveraging time zones for research productivity
    37:34 Beginning our journey on urban heat together
    42:12 Uchimizu
    49:03 Is GIS becoming more relevant?
    52:21 The next stage of Joao's research
    54:32 Q&A Start
    54:59 If you had a magic wand?
    58:29 What do you define as innovation?
    1:00:51 Favourite childhood memory
    1:03:58 What would you like to be remembered for?
    1:04:53 Easter Egg: A not German joke
    1:06:57 Final Message
    1:07:57 Outro

    Detailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.
    Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!

    Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.
    Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.

    Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on:

    • X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach
    • Instagram: @petermbach87
    • Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/
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    1 時間 9 分
  • #39 - Lucas Gobatti: Spinoza, science, spirituality - confronting ‘displacements’ in planning urban nature, climate and heat
    2025/02/10

    Lucas Gobatti, PhD research at ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) goes deep into how Albert Einstein, Benedictus de Spinoza and Karl Marx have shaped his worldview and connection to cities and nature. As a trained architect, civil engineer and urban planner, we discuss how he balances science and spirituality in his research on urban heat and stormwater management and how we can improve the liveability of cities in the global north and south, particularly in Switzerland and Brazil.

    Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Starsky by Alex Keren (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vZ3lENfDLjkln8scBJ8mW)

    Chapters:
    0:00 Intro
    1:59 Guest Intro & Books
    6:38 Einstein, Spinoza, Spirituality and the Laws of Nature
    13:20 Karl Marx, spatial inequalities and cities
    17:28 Late Marx, Kohei Saito and the three displacements
    21:19 Microsimulation and agents as Lucas' entry point
    24:17 From Altruism to Green Roofs and Stormwater
    27:23 Brazil's Nature-based solutions Trajectory
    30:13 Shedding light on a different planning landscape
    35:08 Lucas' Urban Heat Research - Cooling establishment time
    39:48 Lucas' Urban Heat Research - Role of water and irrigation
    43:31 Experimenting with microclimate models
    46:03 The Brasilandia District Project
    50:10 Next steps in Lucas' Research
    52:10 Q&A Start
    52:26 What do you define as innovation?
    54:46 Key event, book, person
    59:49 Time Management
    1:07:54 Favourite childhood memory
    1:09:49 Biggest challenge in career to date
    1:13:14 Advice for young professionals
    1:15:37 What would you like to be remembered for?
    1:23:35 Where can people find you?
    1:24:35 Final Message
    1:25:31 Outro

    Detailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.
    Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!

    Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.
    Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.

    Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on:

    • X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach
    • Instagram: @petermbach87
    • Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/
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    1 時間 27 分
  • #38 - Patricia Cuervo Uría: The human side of planning and flood risk in London - the challenge of embedding history into policy
    2025/01/27

    Patricia Cuervo Uría, Regional Delivery Manager at Binnies in the UK, Chartered Planner and fellow member of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) discusses her experience in planning for flood risk and discussing the impending challenge of mental health in relation to climate change. With over 18 years of experience in delivering local government services and implementation, we reflect on some large-scale infrastructure and small scale sustainable drainage projects across London and delve deep into the limits to planning and the power of stakeholder engagement.

    Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Starsky by Alex Keren (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vZ3lENfDLjkln8scBJ8mW)

    Chapters:
    0:00 Intro
    1:59 Guest Intro and a London Walk
    5:07 From Biology to Planning
    13:37 London's Water in Context
    15:46 Flooding and Flood Risk in London
    23:26 The Thames Tideway Tunnels
    29:46 Stakeholder Involvement in Planning
    36:30 From city council to consulting - a change of hats
    39:37 What about SuDS?
    47:48 Empowerment from the Grenfell Tower Fire
    56:15 Mental health and climate change
    1:00:09 Patri's current endeavours
    1:04:06 Q&A Start
    1:04:54 What is innovation?
    1:06:32 Key Event, Book person
    1:09:22 If you had a magic wand?
    1:10:50 Time management
    1:12:44 Favourite childhood memory
    1:14:43 Advice for young professionals
    1:16:48 What would you like to be remembered for?
    1:19:21 Where can people reach you?
    1:20:05 Final Message
    1:20:39 Outro

    Detailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.
    Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!

    Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.
    Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.

    Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on:

    • X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach
    • Instagram: @petermbach87
    • Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/
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    1 時間 22 分
  • #37 - Brett Ferrin: "Safeguarding the ordinary" - achieving traffic safety planning and management in a data-rich, AI-powered world
    2025/01/13

    Brett Ferrin, Vice President of Sales North America at Traffic Logix discusses the evolving and more complex nature of traffic safety management and gives insight into the many ways we can ensure safety on our roads for vehicle operators and other users. We discuss the implications of rapidly exploding amounts of data and the potential of artificial intelligence to revolutionize and upheave safety planning including driverless cars, generating new insights from data and changing human behaviour in general. Brett also reflects on his career and how several career changes have helped him gain a rich body of knowledge around traffic safety, planning and management.

    Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Starsky by Alex Keren (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vZ3lENfDLjkln8scBJ8mW)

    Chapters:
    0:00 Intro
    1:59 Guest Intro and Languages
    7:10 Getting into traffic and Traffic Logix
    10:23 The complexities of traffic
    12:42 Vision Zero
    16:38 Design with human behaviour in mind
    23:43 Leveraging real-time data insights
    25:03 NIMBY and the complexity of urban planning
    30:49 Traffic Calming Measures
    41:31 Future Challenges for Traffic Calming
    43:35 Influence of AI on the transport system
    49:21 A question of human control and freedom
    52:25 When nothing changes, nothing changes
    54:12 Brett's Future Trajectory
    56:48 Q&A Start
    57:15 What inspires you?
    58:27 Key moment, book, event
    1:02:49 If you had a magic wand?
    1:04:34 Biggest challenge to date
    1:07:57 Time Management
    1:10:38 Advice for young professionals
    1:12:31 Where can people find you?
    1:13:48 Final Message
    1:14:29 Outro

    Detailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.
    Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!

    Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.
    Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.

    Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on:

    • X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach
    • Instagram: @petermbach87
    • Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/
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    1 時間 16 分