Welcome to the new episode of the TNW Podcast — the show where we discuss the latest developments in the European technology ecosystem and feature interviews with some of the most interesting people in the industry.

In today’s episode, Linnea and Andrii talk about batteries and life on Earth, very expensive AI research proposals, copyright traps, and of course the Olympics. 

You'll also hear an on-stage conversation with Parag Parekh, Chief Digital Officer at IKEA Retail (Ingka Group), conducted at the TNW Conference by Linnea. The topic of the conversation read “Digital Ethics in Practice” — and Parag was able to offer a good overview of how this is approached by the retail giant across the channels it operates in.

Here are the stories and things mentioned in the episode:

• ‘Battery rock’ discovery challenges understanding of life on Earth 
• Von der Leyen gives nod to €100 billion ‘CERN for AI’ proposal
• In Europe, it's easier to be an Olympic medalist than a unicorn founder
• "Copyright traps" could tell writers if an AI has scraped their work

Music and sound engineering for this podcast are by Sound Pulse.

Feel free to email us with any questions, suggestions, and opinions at podcast@thenextweb.com.