What does it mean to design for life beyond Earth without losing our humanity?

In this episode of The Solve Effect, we sit down with Dr. Ariel Ekblaw, founder and CEO of the Aurelia Institute and General Partner of the Aurelia Foundry Fund, to explore how space innovation can make life on Earth more sustainable.

From leading MIT’s Space Exploration Initiative to advising NASA on the next decade of lunar activity, Ariel has dedicated her career to shaping humanity’s future in space. But her vision isn’t about escape—it’s about expanding what’s possible for all of us.

Together, Hala and Ariel explore:

• How space research can protect and restore Earth’s ecosystems

• Why beauty and belonging matter—even in orbit

• What it takes to build bridges between science fiction and sustainable reality

Ariel’s story reminds us that exploration isn’t about leaving home, it’s about learning how to care for it better.

Full transcript available here.

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What does it mean to innovate when lives depend on it?

In this episode of The Solve Effect, host Hala Hanna sits down with Dr. Mohamed Aburawi, a Harvard-trained surgeon and founder of Speetar, a cloud-based telehealth platform born in the midst of Libya’s civil war that went on to serve millions across five countries. Today, through Atarona Ventures, Mohamed is scaling that impact across health, education, finance, and climate.

From ironing his white coat on his first night in the U.S. to building hospitals in the cloud, Mohamed shares how scarcity shaped his vision for resilient, community-driven solutions. Together, Hala and Mohamed explore:

• Why the “adversity advantage” can produce more durable innovations than abundance

• How trust—not just technology—determines whether solutions scale

• The untapped power of diaspora capital and participatory investing

• Why invisible data may hold the key to more equitable AI

Mohamed’s story proves that the future of innovation will be built not only in centers of abundance, but also in growth markets where failure is not an option.

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Full episode transcript: https://solve.mit.edu/articles/a-visionary-healthcare-innovator-dr-mohamed-aburawi-on-tech-healthcare-and-impact-investing

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What happens when a childhood experience becomes the seed for a global movement?

In this episode of The Solve Effect, host Hala Hanna sits down with Atif Javed, co-founder and Executive Director of Tarjimly, a nonprofit that connects tens of thousands of volunteer translators with refugees and displaced people worldwide.

From interpreting for his grandmother as a child immigrant to building a tech-enabled platform that ensures refugees are heard in moments of crisis, Atif shares how personal experience shaped his mission. Together, Hala and Atif explore:

• Why Tarjimly chooses humans over algorithms in an AI-driven age

• How nonprofits can build financial sustainability amid political and philanthropic headwinds

• What it takes to transform lived experience into scalable impact

• Why Atif believes each of us should find “the one problem we can wake up every day determined to solve”

Tarjimly is proving that the most powerful technology amplifies human connection rather than replacing it.

A full transcript for this episode is available here.

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Email us at ⁠thesolveeffect@solve.mit.edu⁠