Andrew untangles the vast web of Alex Jones's bankruptcy and uses it as an opportunity to educate us on bankruptcy law! Chapter 7 vs 11 vs... 5? Find out what it all means and why no one is buying Alex Jones's maneuvering.
Dietary supplements — the vitamins, herbs and botanicals that you'll find in most grocery stores — are everywhere. More than half of U.S. adults over 20 take them, spending almost $50 billion on vitamins and other supplements in 2021. Yet decades of research have produced little evidence that they really work. Aaron Scott talks to Dr. Jenny Jia about the science of dietary supplements: which ones might help, which ones might hurt, and where we could be spending our money instead.
The pandemic accelerated the digitization of our lives. Work, school, dating, even worship – we learned to access and navigate all of it through our screens. But is that actually a good thing? In his new book, The Future Is Analog, writer David Sax argues that there's a lot we miss out on when we over-rely on our devices in our everyday lives. He tells NPR's Ayesha Rascoe that maybe by being a little more intentional, we can find a better balance between innovation and actual connection.
Qe talk about the UC contract and how rank and file union members feel about bargaining, then discuss how to build an inclusive union that benefits everyone
Outgoing Republican Representative Peter Meijer of Michigan would like to see Congress reassert powers over war from the executive branch and address its own dysfunction. We discussed what he’s learned in his term in Congress, if his party plans to engage in any form of introspection, and what’s next for him.
We continue our analysis of all things green by looking deeper at the operations of a core mechanism directing cash flows into sustainable investments: ESG. What is ESG? How does it work? You think you know? You assume you understand it? Does the acronym stand for environmental and social governance? Or does it actually stand for environment, social, and governance? Would you believe that the placement of “and” makes all the difference? If there is confusion about the very acronym, then what other things are not what they seem with these ESG metrics, ratings, and indexes? You’ve confronted cynicism? Not like this you haven’t.
Stuff we reference:
••• The ESG Mirage https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-what-is-esg-investing-msci-ratings-focus-on-corporate-bottom-line/
••• The Wall Street Consensus at COP27 | Daniela Gabor https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/the-wall-street-consensus-at-cop27/
••• Neoliberalizing Space | Jamie Peck, Adam Tickell http://overgaardtonnesen.dk/TEKSTERNE/03-Peck-Tickell-Neoliberalizing-Space.pdf
••• Fossilised Capital: Price and Profit in the Energy Transition | Brett Christophers https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13563467.2021.1926957
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If you're impatient, then value investing's probably not for you. But for those interested, there's probably no one better to listen to than Aswath Damodaran, professor of corporate finance and valuation at the Stern School of Business at New York University.
Motley Fool CEO Tom Gardner talks with the “Dean of Valuation” about: - Inflation’s new questions for investors - The most important investor you can learn from - Incentives, correlations, and costs in ESG scoring
Stocks mentioned: MO, BLK
If you're a member of any Motley Fool service you can access the full conversation here:
Fusion milestone - the science behind the headlines.
Laser fusion expert Kate Lancaster walks us through the technology that produced energy gain at the US's National Ignition Facility NIF
Whirlwinds on Mars
What the sounds of a dust devil passing over NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover tells us about the Martian atmosphere
75 years of the transistor electronics revolution - where next for Moore's Law?
December 16th 1947 was the day the first ever transistor device passed an electrical current. Trillions are made every day these days, powering our interconnected world. Roland recalls meeting some of the pioneers for the 50th anniversary, including Gordon Moore, and hears from Berkeley Dean of engineering Tsu-Jae King Liu how the revolution will continue for another 25 years.
CrowdScience listener David was sanding down a door frame when he began wondering: Why it was that a rough thing like sandpaper is used to make another thing smoother? And furthermore, why does the process produce so much heat?
We try to reduce friction in some cases by using lubricants, whilst at other times like braking at a traffic junction we depend upon friction entirely. Anand Jagatia heads to Edinburgh in Scotland, UK, to meet some true masters of this mysterious force: Curling players. What exactly is friction, and does thinking about it tell us something deeper about the universe?
This is just to let people know what's happening with the podcast over the next few weeks, as we head into a season which has holiday celebrations for many people, including me. The podcast has been keeping to a fortnightly schedule for the last few months, but at this time of year I have commitments to visit family and friends for Christmas and New Year, and I've learned that when I'm away from home I can't record and shouldn't even make the attempt. Also, a lot of people don't have time to listen to new podcasts over the Christmas period.
So here's what's going to happen with the podcast between now and the beginning of the year. I'm recording a full podcast episode today, and that will be going up either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, depending how long it takes to edit, so two weeks after the last episode, and then there will be a gap for Christmas and New Year. I will be doing Patreon bonuses during that time on a weekly basis as normal -- they take much less recording time than the main episodes, and I can prerecord them in advance -- but the next main episode of the podcast after this week's will go up on Monday the ninth of January, a little less than three weeks after the last one, rather than the normal two.
However, to fill in the gap I'm going to put up a few old Patreon bonus episodes over Christmas week. Every year around this time my Patreon bonus episodes tend to be about something seasonal, and so I'll put up a few of the old ones on the main feed for those of you who haven't heard them. These are older bonus episodes, some from four years ago, and so not in the same style as my more recent work, and mostly around ten minutes or so in length, but they'll hopefully be of interest to anyone who is looking for something seasonal to listen to.
Happy holidays to those who celebrate a winter holiday at this time of year, and my sympathies to those who don't or for whom it's a difficult time for whatever reason. I'll see you in a couple of days for the next proper episode.