Orlin Wagner/ASSOCIATED PRESS Trade Episode 580: The Other Side Of The Pump November 5, 2014 Gas prices have been falling since early summer, but not everyone is happy about it. Today, stories about the people who get the oil out of the ground. Listen Loading… 12:17 Download Playlist
Amateurs. Al Goldis/AP hide caption itoggle caption Al Goldis/AP Podcast Episode 579: Is The NCAA An Illegal Cartel? October 31, 2014 In big-time college football or basketball, money is everywhere. Coaches are paid millions. Schools make tens of millions. But it's against the rules for schools to pay athletes. Listen Loading… 18:34 Download Playlist
GEORGE OSODI/ASSOCIATED PRESS Trade Episode 578: How To Steal A Million Barrels Of Oil October 29, 2014 Stealing oil takes a global system. Lots of people are in on it - small time crooks, criminal bosses, oil tankers owners and corrupt officials. Listen Loading… 19:30 Download Playlist
iStockphoto Jobs Who Studies What? Men, Women And College Majors by Quoctrung Bui October 28, 2014 Earlier this month we covered the gender gap among computer science students. But what does it look like for other majors?
Quoctrung Bui/NPR Witches, Vampires And Pirates: 5 Years Of America's Most Popular Costumes by Quoctrung Bui October 27, 2014 Thanks to shows like The Walking Dead and movies like World War Z, zombies are climbing the costume charts. The undead have risen from the 13th most popular costume up to No. 4 in just five years.
Calandrea at work. Robert Smith/NPR hide caption itoggle caption Robert Smith/NPR Trade Episode 400: What Two Pasta Factories Tell Us About The Italian Economy October 24, 2014 Italy is two countries — and two economies — in one. Listen Loading… 26:31 Download Playlist
Ricky's employee, George Lanes, shows off one of this year's hottest costumes, Anna, from the movie Frozen. Quoctrung Bui/NPR hide caption itoggle caption Quoctrung Bui/NPR Radio Pirates, Princesses, Witches And Vampires: Stocking Costumes Is Serious Business by Stacey Vanek Smith October 23, 2014 Costume shop owners think about stocking their shelves like investors think about putting together stock portfolios. They need a diverse mix of classic costume favorites and risky hot new things. Listen Loading… 4:41 Download Playlist
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is in a tight election race Charlie Riedel/AP hide caption itoggle caption Charlie Riedel/AP Jobs Episode 577: The Kansas Experiment October 22, 2014 A Republican governor lives the dream. He cuts taxes dramatically in his state, and he promises good times ahead. But the good times do not come. Now he's fighting for his political life. Listen Loading… 20:34 Download Playlist
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. Listen Loading… 4:33 Download Playlist
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. Listen Loading… 17:12 Download Playlist
"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. Listen Loading… 6:55 Download Playlist
Quoctrung Bui/NPR 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. Listen Loading… 14:32 Download Playlist
ClassicStock/Corbis 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. Listen Loading… 16:00 Download Playlist
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. Listen Loading… 4:27 Download Playlist
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. Listen Loading… 4:16 Download Playlist
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. Listen Loading… 17:45 Download Playlist
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. Listen Loading… 14:56 Download Playlist
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. Listen Loading… 4:54 Download Playlist
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?
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. Listen Loading… Download Playlist
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. Listen Loading… 4:52 Download Playlist
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. Listen Loading… 15:28 Download Playlist
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. Listen Loading… 15:02 Download Playlist