Category: 3-DailySometimeCommentary

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The Indicator from Planet Money - The cost of saving a species

Animals are going extinct at an alarmingly fast rate, largely due to human activity. Same for plants. This is bad for all kinds of reasons, not least of which is that breakthrough drugs often come from nature. But there isn’t consensus on how to save these species. 

Part of the debate asks the economic question: with limited money going to the work, where will it have the most impact? Today on the show, the cost-effective plan to maximize biodiversity that asks ecologists to approach the question more like economists. 

Related episodes: 
The Habitat Banker 
The echo of the bison 
Savings birds with economics 

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 Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.  

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - The Democrats Have Leverage. Will They Use It?

With Republicans holding both houses of Congress and the White House, Democrats don’t have a lot of ways to stall Donald Trump’s agenda—except for refusing to further fund the government and triggering a shutdown. They already passed on the opportunity once, but is the situation now so desperate that the opposition party needs to do something—anything?

Guest: Rep. Jamie Raskin, U.S. representative for Maryland's 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

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What A Day - Georgia To Vote On Energy Costs

A crucial race for Georgia's Public Service Commission is coming up in November. And though the name sounds boring, it's a race that really matters. That's because the commission is in charge of regulating public utilities in the state, including electric, gas, and telecommunications. Right now, all five commissioners are Republicans…but two of them are up for election this fall. And the Democratic challengers are strong. To learn more about the importance of this race, we spoke with John Taylor, Executive Director of the Black Male Initiative, a nonprofit focused on civic engagement in Georgia.

And in headlines, President Donald Trump continues to threaten Chicago…but this time with war, Russia attacks Ukraine in its latest aerial strike, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the U.S. might have to refund some money it's collected from Trump's infamous tariffs.

Show Notes:

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Can You Get a COVID Vaccine?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tenure as HHS Secretary has meant turmoil for the CDC: thousands of employees have either been let go, or are unclear on their employment status; leadership has been stepping down; and there was a shooting at their Atlanta building in August. The result is RFK being yelled at in the Senate, thousands of CDC employees calling for his resignation, and a country less prepared for the next pandemic. 

Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, science and global health reporter at the New York Times. 

Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

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The Indicator from Planet Money - Teamwork actually does make the dream work

Behavioral scientist Jon Levy’s new book — Team Intelligence: How Brilliant Leaders Unlock Collective Genius — argues that, in the workplace, leadership is overrated and teamwork is underrated. Today on the show: How super chickens and NBA All-Stars demonstrate the perils of individual performance.

Related episodes:
Why women make great bosses 
The Virtual Office 
The Science of Hoops

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 Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.  

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - TBD | End of an Electric Avenue

An Inflation Reduction Act subsidy for electric vehicles is being shut down by the Trump administration at the end of September, and automakers are preparing for sales of EVs to slow. Can this nascent industry survive? 


Guest: Ryan Felton, reporter covering the automotive industry for the Wall Street Journal


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More or Less: Behind the Stats - Do 11,000 sharks die every hour?

Hollywood has given sharks a terrible reputation. But in reality, the finned fish should be far more scared of us, than we of them.

Millions of sharks are killed in fishing nets and lines every year.

One statistical claim seems to sum up the scale of this slaughter – that 100 million sharks are killed every year, or roughly 11,000 per day.

But how was this figure calculated, and what exactly does it mean?

We go straight to the source and speak to the researcher who worked it out, Dr Boris Worm, a professor in marine conservation at Dalhousie University in Canada.

Presenter: Lizzy McNeill Producer: Nicholas Barrett Series producer: Tom Colls Production coordinator: Brenda Brown Sound mix: Annie Gardiner Editor: Richard Vadon

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The Indicator from Planet Money - Why moms are leaving their paid jobs

Moms are quitting — or getting pushed out. Workforce participation for mothers in the U.S. has been dropping for most of this year, and the reasons are more complicated than return-to-office mandates. Today on the show, we talk to moms about why they left their jobs and to economist Misty Heggeness, who has studied the phenomenon. 

Find more of Misty’s research here. 

Related episodes:  
How insurance is affecting the cost of childcare 
Women, work and the pandemic  
That time America paid for universal daycare 

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 Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.  

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What A Day - How Trump’s Hatred For Windmills Is Hurting All Of Us

President Donald Trump really, really, really hates wind and solar power. He made sure to make that point very clear during a Cabinet meeting last week, where he ranted about windmills for…way too long. At the end of August, the Trump team ordered construction be stopped on a 4-billion-dollar wind farm project off the coast of Rhode Island that was nearly finished. The administration alluded vaguely to national security threats, suggesting, among other things, that wind farms could be used to launch drone attacks on the U.S. None of this is good. Not just for, you know, preventing the very worst outcomes of climate change that could put billions of lives at risk and alter the very nature of human existence. But also for Americans dealing with spiraling energy bills. So we spoke to Bill McKibben, environmentalist and author of a new book, Here Comes The Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization, about climate change, to help us feel more optimistic about the future of the Earth.

And in headlines, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vs. the Senate Finance Committee, and former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has some thoughts on how we got here.

Show Notes:

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - TBD | Is the A.I. Bubble Bursting?

We’ve been told that artificial intelligence can write, code, generate images—it can do everything…except feasibly turn a profit. But investing in A.I. has nevertheless become a pillar of the U.S. economy. Where is this leading us?


Guest: Ed Zitron, author of the newsletter Where’s Your Ed At and host of the podcast Better Offline.


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