Month: March 2017

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Bay Curious - It’s a Mushroom Bonanza This Year! What’s the Deal?

It’s been a wet winter across Northern California this year, and that means a bounty of mushrooms. Get ready for a lesson in fungi from KQED Science reporter Lesley McClurg.


Reported by Lesley McClurg. Bay Curious is Olivia Allen-Price, Vinnee Tong, Paul Lancour, Suzie Racho, Jessica Placzek and Julia McEvoy. Vice President for News is Holly Kernan. Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller.


Ask us a question at BayCurious.org.


Follow Olivia Allen-Price on Twitter @oallenprice.

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Containers - Episode 5: The America-First Ships

American companies pioneered container shipping, but now the ocean freight business is dominated by foreign firms. Thanks to the Jones Act, a 1920 law, all cargo between American ports must be carried on American-made ships, so we do still have a fleet. But the ships are old and outdated. In episode five, we explore the tragic consequences of this "America-first" trade policy, beginning with the El Faro, which sank in October 2015.

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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy - Gramophone

“Superstar” economics – how the gramophone led to a winner-take-all dynamic in the performing industry. Elizabeth Billington was a British soprano in the 18th century. She was so famous, London’s two leading opera houses scrambled desperately to secure her performances. In 1801 she ended up singing at both venues, alternating between the two, and pulling in at least £10,000. A remarkable sum, much noted at the time. But in today’s terms, it’s a mere £687,000, or about a million dollars; one per cent of a similarly famous solo artist’s annual earnings today. What explains the difference? The gramophone. And, as Tim Harford explains, technological innovations have created “superstar” economics in other sectors too. Producer: Ben Crighton Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon (Image: Thomas Edison Phonograph, Credit: James Steidl/Shutterstock)
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Bay Curious - What Would It Take to Make Lake Merritt Swimmable?

It would take a lot of money, work and imagination to turn Lake Merritt into a swimmable body of water.


Reported by Jessica Placzek. Bay Curious is Olivia Allen-Price, Vinnee Tong, Paul Lancour, Suzie Racho and Julia McEvoy. Our Vice President for News is Holly Kernan. Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller.


Ask us a question at BayCurious.org.

Follow Olivia on Twitter @oallenprice and use the #BayCurious hashtag.

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Containers - Episode 4: The Hidden Side of Coffee

The coffee world has changed since Starbucks rose to prominence. Not

only has the sourcing of beans acquired wine-like precision, but now

there are many small, local roasters. How'd this all happen? Episode 4

brings you into the infrastructure underpinning third-wave coffee from

a Kenyan coffee auction to a major coffee importer to a secret coffee

warehouse in San Leandro with beans from every coffee-growing nation

in the world. We’re guided by Aaron Van der Groen, the green coffee

buyer for San Francisco’s legendary roaster Ritual Coffee.

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