This podcast episode features Francisco Ferreira, a former World Bank economist now at the London School of Economics, discussing inequality of opportunity and Sustainable Development Goal 10. Ferreira shares his personal motivation stemming from witnessing street children in São Paulo and explores the wasted human potential caused by early-life inequalities. He discusses progress toward reducing inequality within and among countries, measurement challenges, and how machine learning tools help identify key predictors of societal divisions and income distribution. The episode is part of “How to Save Humanity in 17 Goals,” a series profiling scientists addressing the SDGs, produced in partnership with Nature Water.