In November, the U.S. stopped production of the humble penny after 232 years in circulation. On today’s show, a former U.S. Mint director shares the fiscal math that doomed the penny, and an artist pay tribute to this American icon.
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Corey Bridges. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
Donald Trump—or at least the tech guys who have his ear—is ready to clear the regulatory runway for A.I. but other Republicans aren’t too sure. Can he bring them around? Or will the bubble burst first?
Guest: Gerrit De Vynck, tech reporter for the Washington Post.
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Around the world, many countries are concerned about tackling the decline in birth rates and total fertility rates.
The US is no exception.
To tackle this issue the US government announced that it would provide subsidies for Americans seeking IVF treatment. The announcement was accompanied by one suspect sounding stat from US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
"Today the average teenager in this country has 50% of the sperm count, 50% of the testosterone as a 65-year-old man," he said.
We speak to Professor Allan Pacey, Professor of Andrology at the University of Manchester, and Adith Arun, a researcher at Yale University to find out whether this statement is accurate.
Producer/Presenter: Lizzy McNeill
Series Producer: Tom Colls
Editor: Richard Vadon
Sound Mix: James Beard
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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive episodes of What Next —you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
The Mexican-War resulted in more territory for the new American empire, but the US government started it under false pretenses. A young US soldier who fought—Ulysses Grant—knew better, exposing the lies from Washington.
The Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, released a new survey this week in an attempt to figure out who, exactly, is a Republican these days. The takeaways? Newer Republican voters are more conspiratorial, more likely to be racist and antisemitic, and more likely to support the use of political violence. And they are pulling the GOP in their direction. This trend worries South Carolina Democratic Representative Jim Clyburn, who has written a new book, “The First Eight,” about the eight Black South Carolina Congressmen who preceded him in office. All of them were Republicans at a very different time for the party. Representative Clyburn became the ninth Black Congressman from the state when he was elected in 1992 – nearly a century after the last of the First Eight served in office. We spoke with Representative Clyburn about why it felt so urgent to write this book now.
And in headlines, the Supreme Court allows Texas to use its gerrymandered Congressional map in the midterms, President Donald Trump holds a photo op to misleadingly tout peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and new data reveals the dramatic scale of our affordability crisis.
A tech mogul who made bank from Paypal with his Stanford buddies and has endeared himself to right-wing politicians and enriched himself the same way? No not him; this one’s South African..no, not him either.
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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Corey Bridges and Julia Ritchey. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
The Lane Kiffin saga has dominated sports headlines this past week, highlighting the sea changes that have come over college sports—an especially college football—in the past decade. Much of this change is being driven by the easy money regime of the Federal Reserve.