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How refrigeration took over the world
The next time you open your fridge, take a second to behold the miracles inside of it: Raspberries from California, butter from New Zealand, steak from Nebraska. None of that would have been remotely…
Published on 1 month ago
How Jane Street’s secret billion-dollar trade unraveled
On Wall Street, fortunes are often won and lost with the tiniest advantages. And for the past few years, one trading firm has stood out from the rest for both huge profits and careful secrecy — Jane …
Published on 1 month, 1 week ago
In Gaza, money is falling apart
Israel has been blocking the flow of physical money into Gaza since the start of the war. So whatever paper cash was in Gaza before the war, that’s all that’s been circulating. It's falling apart fro…
Published on 1 month, 1 week ago
When CEO pay exploded (update)
(Note: A version of this episode originally ran in 2016.)
It’s no secret that CEOs get paid a ton – and a ton more than the average worker. More than a hundred times than what their average employee m…
Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago
The U.S. now owns a big chunk of Intel. That’s a huge deal.
Last month, President Donald Trump announced an unusual deal. Intel, the biggest microchip maker in America, had agreed to give the United States a 10 percent stake in its business. That means the U.…
Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago
Asking for a friend … which jobs are safe from AI?
There’s one question we seem to be hearing everywhere: “Is my job safe from AI?”
Dozens of you, our listeners, have written to us about this. Saying things like, “Maybe my yoga teacher side gig is ac…
Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago
What happens to central banks under pressure?
President Donald Trump has been pressuring the Federal Reserve from a few angles. So we wanted to look at other examples of political pressure on central banks, to see what it might mean for us and f…
Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago
The million dollar mystery behind Milk.com
When we stumbled upon Milk.com, we were mystified. It appears to be someone’s personal website. But memorable domain names can be worth a million dollars or more. So, why is someone using this valuab…
Published on 1 month, 4 weeks ago
Lisa Cook and the fight for the Fed
The Federal Reserve has been under intense pressure from President Donald Trump as he pushes for more control over the historically independent agency. The Fed is tasked with keeping inflation and un…
Published on 2 months ago
Summer School 8: Graduation LIVE!
Get your own personalized summer school diploma here.
Today on our final episode of Summer School 2025, we will test your knowledge. We will salute the unsung heroes of government service. And we will…
Published on 2 months ago