SUBSTANCE
Stories about the stuff that shapes our world.

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Latest Episode: Hydrogen

Researchers and companies around the globe are racing to tap into an invisible resource often seen as a beacon of hope for achieving climate neutrality—hydrogen. Could the key to a green transformation be right under our noses? And how does BASF produce this valuable gas in a climate-neutral way already today?

In this first episode of SUBSTANCE, host Joe Hanson dives into the surprising and wide-ranging story of hydrogen: from its role in the origins of life to its place in today’s energy transition. Along the way, we meet the scientists and engineers who are rethinking what this element means for society, industry, and a sustainable future.

With his guests, earth scientist Prof. Barbara Sherwood Lollar (University of Toronto), geochemist Olivier Sissmann (IFP Énergies Nouvelles), and production manager Volker Ehret (BASF) host Joe Hanson discusses some of humanity’s most pressing questions:

How can we decarbonize industry?
How do we secure global food supplies in a sustainable way?
And what can the simplest element in the universe teach us about life itself?

Listen now!

Our guest: Professor Barbara Sherwood Lollar

Barbara Sherwood Lollar is a renowned geochemist from the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Toronto, Canada. Her work has contributed to identifying new areas of hydrogen-rich rock with potential to contribute clean energy alternatives. Moreover, her discoveries around habitability of groundwaters in the Earth’s deep subsurface are driving insights into mission planning for Mars, Enceladus and Europa. 

Graduate of Harvard, Waterloo and Cambridge universities, her work has received numerous accolades including the Eni Award in Protection of the Environment, Companion of the Order of Canada and most recently the 2024 Nemmers Prize in Earth Sciences. 

Our guest: Olivier Sissmann, Ph.D.

Olivier Sissmann is Project Manager at IFP Energies Nouvelles, an engineering graduate school in Rueil-Malmaison, France and a co-leader of the International Energy Agency technical collaboration program on native hydrogen. He collaborates with teams from around the world to bring new data and recommendations to the energy industry and the governments that are interested in this potential new source of energy.

Before he worked as a research scientist in geochemistry graduated from the Institute of Earth Physics of Paris, France. He has been studying natural hydrogen, its formation mechanisms and its geological properties for more than 10 years.

Our guest: Volker Ehret

Volker Ehret is Production Manager at BASF, responsible for the electrolyzer in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Powered by green electricity, this electrolyzer produces CO₂-free hydrogen and enables the production of products with a reduced carbon footprint. The electrolyzer went into operation in 2025 and is unique worldwide due to its integration into a chemical production environment.

Volker Ehret began his career at BASF with an apprenticeship as process control electronics technician. He then studied at Mannheim University of Applied Sciences and the University of Maryland, USA, graduating with a master's degree in automation engineering. 
Learn more in our online magazine Creating Chemistry. 

Our host: Joe Hanson, Ph.D. 

Joe Hanson is an internationally recognized science communicator. Before working in science media and education, he researched genetic engineering and cancer biology, obtaining a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Texas.

He is the creator, host, and head writer of Be Smart, a YouTube science education show with more than 5 million subscribers on YouTube.
Hanson has won Webby and Telly Awards and the Kavli Science Journalism Award for his work. 

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