The auto industry, along with the Biden administration, has bet billions on the electric vehicle industry, but as 2023 comes to a close the auto industry is scaling back on its investment in EVs, prices are higher than many consumers can afford and charging stations can be hard to find.
NPR's Scott Detrow digs into the state of EVs in the United States with Biden administration Infrastructure Czar Mitch Landrieu and Keith Barry senior writer with Consumer Reports.
The auto industry, along with the Biden administration, has bet billions on the electric vehicle industry, but as 2023 comes to a close the auto industry is scaling back on its investment in EVs, prices are higher than many consumers can afford and charging stations can be hard to find.
NPR's Scott Detrow digs into the state of EVs in the United States with Biden administration Infrastructure Czar Mitch Landrieu and Keith Barry senior writer with Consumer Reports.
Ben Toma is the Republican Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives. We discussed his state's role as the trendsetter for advancing educational freedom for families.
In this episode, Liel Leibovitz joins the podcast to talk about his article, “Pagan Hamas” from January 2024. They evaluate the attacks on Israel and the broader West.
Music by Jack Bauerlein.
A government program in Russia offers pardons to prisoners convicted of serious crime who agree to fight in Ukraine, if they survive. The policy has serious consequences for victims of crimes and their families. We hear more from our correspondent in Moscow.
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We look back on 2023, crown a few winners, and revisit some stories you may have forgotten about!
(00:21) Bill Mann and Jason Moser discuss:
- The data points that capture how 2023 has felt for investors, companies, and homeowners.
- Why 2023 was rosy for NVIDIA and the cruise lines, and not so great for Dollar General.
- The IPO and product launch that were totally forgotten this year.
(19:11) Dave Meyer – the VP of Growth and Analytics and the host of the On The Market Podcast at Bigger Pockets – talks through insights from Bigger Pockets State of Real Estate Investing Report, and some interesting areas to watch in 2024.
Seeds are crucial to human existence – we eat them, we grow them and then we eat what they become. But what is a seed and how come it can sit there doing nothing for ages and then suddenly, when the conditions are right, burst into a plant?
That’s what CrowdScience listener Anke has been wondering. She runs an aquaponic salad farm near Stockholm in Sweden and she germinates thousands of seeds every week. With a bit of moisture and light, seeds that have been dormant for months can become leafy greens in just a few weeks. So are seeds alive, are they on some kind of life support, or is something else going on?
Presenter Caroline Steel sets off to Sweden to meet Anke, before heading for the Nordgen seed bank near Malmö. There she discovers how seeds being stored for future generations are tested for viability, and wonders what’s going on inside a seed that allows it to remain asleep before suddenly coming to life. How does a seed decide that the time is right?
We hear about one of the world’s longest running science experiments - a real-life treasure hunt that takes place every twenty years in Michigan, USA. Plant biologists tramp through the snow looking for bottles of seeds that were buried nearly a century and a half ago. Once found they try to germinate them. What superpowers does a seed need to be able to last that long?
Caroline also meets the woman who tried to grow date seeds that had been discarded at the palace of Herod the Great 2000 years ago, and ended up with previously extinct trees that produce delicious fruit. Surely a seed can’t have been alive for that long. Or can it?
Contributors:
Anke Johanna van Lenteren, Johannas Stadsodlingar, Sweden
Johan Axelsson, Nordic Genetic Resource Center, Sweden
Prof George Bassel, University of Warwick, UK
Dr Grace Fleming, Michigan State University, USA
Dr Sarah Sallon, Hadassah Medical Center, Israel
Presenter: Caroline Steel
Producer: Ben Motley
Editor: Richard Collings
Production Coordinator: Jonathan Harris
It was a year of heroes and zeros, highs and lows, and shocks and fizzles. Mona Charen, A.B. Stoddard, and Will Saletan join Charlie Sykes for a special send-off to 2023.