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Quoctrung Bui

When Women Stopped Coding

by Steve Henn

October 21, 2014 • For decades, the share of women majoring in computer science was rising. Then, in the 1980s, something changed.

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Elsie Shutt founded one of the first software businesses in the U.S. in 1958. And the programmers were all women. Courtesy Elsie Shutt hide caption

itoggle caption Courtesy Elsie Shutt

Podcast

Episode 576: When Women Stopped Coding

October 17, 2014 • A lot of computing pioneers, the ones who programmed the first digital computers, were women. For decades, the number of women in computer science was growing. But in 1984, something changed.

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"They'd get the debt. They'd get people on the phone. They'd start dialing, and start collecting." iStockphoto hide caption

itoggle caption iStockphoto

Radio

Spreadsheets, Ex-Cons And A Karate Studio: Life At The Bottom Of The Debt Business

by Jacob Goldstein

October 16, 2014 • Not all debt collectors work at banks or big, corporate agencies. Many work at small, storefront shops. At least one worked in a former karate studio.

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Jobs

The Most Common Jobs For The Rich, Middle Class And Poor

by Quoctrung Bui

October 16, 2014 • What do people up and down the income ladder do for work?

Jestina Clayton, would-be braider. Jim Urquhart/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Jim Urquhart/AP

Episode 381: Why It's Illegal To Braid Hair Without A License

October 15, 2014 • Licensing laws are supposed to protect the public. But they also raise prices and make it harder for people to find work.

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Government

Episode 575: The Fondue Conspiracy

October 10, 2014 • The popularity of fondue wasn't an accident. It was planned by a cartel of Swiss cheese makers, which ruled the Swiss economy for 80 years.

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Quoctrung Bui/NPR

Radio

How College Students Battled Textbook Publishers To A Draw, In 3 Graphs

by David Kestenbaum

October 9, 2014 • The price of new textbooks has gone through the roof. But what students spend on books has barely budged.

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Screen shot of the mobile game Candy Crush Saga. Screen shot of Candy Crush Saga hide caption

itoggle caption Screen shot of Candy Crush Saga

Radio

You Can Create A Hit Video Game About Anything. Even Making Toast

by Stacey Vanek Smith

October 9, 2014 • Game designers get deep inside your brain to keep you playing. We challenged them to design a video game about the most boring thing we could think of: making toast.

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Donovan Graen/flickr

Podcast

Episode 574: The Buffalo Talk-Off

October 8, 2014 • Today on the show: The story of a guy who tried to make something of himself by getting into a rough business. And the story of a time when the world went wild for debt.

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John Liu/Flickr

Podcast

Episode 573: Why Textbook Prices Keep Climbing

October 3, 2014 • Prices of new textbooks have been going up like crazy — faster than food, cars, even healthcare. On today's show: why textbooks have gotten so expensive.

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The details in a homeowners insurance policy are amazing Jacob Goldstein/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Jacob Goldstein/NPR

Radio

Bedbugs, Lava And Bowling Balls: Inside My Homeowners Insurance Policy

by Jacob Goldstein

October 3, 2014 • What the fine print in my policy says about how insurance works.

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Household Income Quoctrung Bui/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Quoctrung Bui/NPR

Demography

40 Years Of Income Inequality In America, In Graphs

by Quoctrung Bui

October 2, 2014 • Households at the top saw the biggest gains. Those at the bottom stagnated. But what about the people in between?

Dancers in front of the Unisphere at the 1964 New York World's Fair, jewelry on display and Civil War soldiers next to a cannon.

Benj Carson/Flickr, Stacey Vanek Smith/NPR

Episode 572: Jewelers, Futurists And Whistleblowers

October 1, 2014 • Today on the show: Stories about the secrets of jewelry stores, the problem with World's Fairs and a law signed by Abraham Lincoln that's being used today to go after the largest banks in the world.

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Union soldiers found that gunpowder was sometimes mixed with sawdust. Mathew B. Brady/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Mathew B. Brady/AP

Radio

How A Law From The Civil War Fights Modern-Day Fraud

by Stacey Vanek Smith

October 1, 2014 • A Civil War-era law that encourages whistleblowers to turn in their employers has been successful at exposing corporate fraud.

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Nurses learn how to use Ebola protective gear in Sierra Leone Michael Duff/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Michael Duff/AP

Government

Episode 571: Why Raising Money For Ebola Is Hard

September 26, 2014 • On today's show, the psychology of giving. Charities raised $1.4 billion to help rebuild Haiti after the earthquake. But when something like Ebola happens, so far, people look the other way.

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The key to Japan's economy? Courtesy of Cartoon Network hide caption

itoggle caption Courtesy of Cartoon Network

Government

Episode 477: Waiting For Robot Nannies

September 24, 2014 • More than half of all Japanese women quit their jobs after giving birth to their first child. That's more than double the rate in the U.S., and it's a problem for Japan's economy.

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Medical workers in Monrovia, Liberia, put on their protective suits before treating Ebola patients Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images