Marketplace All-in-One - Bytes: Week in Review — Gecko’s $71M contract with U.S. Navy, BuzzFeed doubts its business viability, and Amazon offers faster delivery

This week, Amazon speeds up delivery even more. Plus, will BuzzFeed stay in business?


But first, Gecko, a robotics startup, landed a $71 million contract with the U.S. Navy. The 13-year-old Pittsburgh-based company says it'll be using its drones and wall-climbing robots to help find defects on ships. Then, it will use artificial intelligence to model current and future structural issues.


Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Anita Ramaswamy, financial analysis columnist at The Information, about all these headlines for this week’s “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.”

Unexpected Elements - In the name of science

After the end of a near 17-year legal battle between popstar Katy Perry and fashion designer Katie Perry, the Unexpected Elements team has been inspired to explore the question at the heart of the case – what's in a name?

First, we hear how marmosets use their calls as a way of naming which friend they’re talking to. Then, we discover why a phenomenon known as auditory pareidolia means you can’t necessarily believe your ears.

We're then joined by David Kaiser, professor of physics and history of science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who explains just how hard it is to put physics into words.

Also, the disappearance of indigenous languages, the law for naming laws, and where did all our hair go?

All that, plus many more Unexpected Elements.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton with Andrada Fiscutean and Michael Kaloki Producers: Imy Harper, with Lucy Davies and Sophie Ormiston

Headlines From The Times - Cesar Chavez’s Legacy Under Question After Sexual Abuse Allegations and Disney Has a New CEO

Cesar Chavez's name adorns city streets and university buildings, but later this month, Californians for the first time will celebrate Farmworkers Day after lawmakers voted on Thursday to change the name of the state holiday. This comes after a New York Times investigation came out Wednesday under the headline "Cesar Chavez, a Civil Rights Icon, Is Accused of Abusing Girls for Years." It was a watershed moment and a time of reckoning with Chavez's legacy. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is racing to contain a growing global energy crisis as the war with Iran pushes oil prices further. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business on Thursday that the U.S. government could lift sanctions on Iranian oil, freeing up more than 100 million barrels stranded in the Strait of Hormuz. In business, Josh D’Amaro has officially succeeded Bob Iger as CEO of Disney, and travelers face increasing ticket prices as jet fuel costs surge globally. Read more at https://LATimes.com.

The Daily - Trump Wants to Change How We Vote. Will He Succeed?

This week, the Senate is debating the contentious SAVE America Act, a strict voter identification bill that could overhaul who gets to vote.

President Trump has called it his “No. 1 priority,” threatening to not sign any other legislation until it is passed.

Michael Gold and Nick Corasaniti, reporters for The New York Times, discuss why some Republicans are standing against the president to block it, and the administration’s other plans to try to reshape the electoral process.

Guests: Michael Gold, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times, and Nick Corasaniti, a Times reporter covering national politics. 

Background reading: 

Photo: Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


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The Book Review - Andy Weir on Writing the Hit Book Behind the Movie ‘Project Hail Mary’

Andy Weir’s first time at the Hollywood rodeo was a singular trip. His debut novel, “The Martian,” went from self-published project to blockbuster, best picture-nominated film starring Matt Damon.

His most recent book, “Project Hail Mary,” was also a sensation, and its adaptation, starring Ryan Gosling as a middle school science teacher tasked with saving humanity from slow extinction, charts warmly familiar territory: a lone man, stuck in space far from Earth, solving science problem after science problem with many a humorous aside.

Weir joined the Book Review’s podcast and spoke to the host, Gilbert Cruz, about the similarities and differences between Mark Watney and Ryland Grace (the main characters of “The Martian” and “Project Hail Mary”), his second novel, “Artemis,” and the alien character that readers have fallen in love with.

We would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Review’s podcast in general. You can send them to thebookreview@nytimes.com.

“The Book Review Podcast” is hosted by Gilbert Cruz and produced by Sarah Diamond and Amy Pearl. The show is edited by Larissa Anderson and mixed by Pedro Rosado.

Special thanks to MJ Franklin, Dahlia Haddad, and Paula Szuchman.

Illustration by The New York Times; Photo: Taylor Glascock for The New York Times

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


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The Daily Detail - The Daily Detail for 3.20.26

Alabama

  • The bodies of 3 Crew members from Birmingham have returned to US soil
  • Spain authorities have found the body of missing U of A student
  • State senate committee passes bill to protect CHOOSE act student athletes
  • AL House passes bill that closes party primary voting to registered members
  • Macon County jury finds Ibrahim Yawed guilty in murder of Aniah Blanchard

National

  • President Trump says no US boots on ground in Iran, calls on Israel to stop bombing Iranian oil fields
  • Journalist now raising question about AI videos of Israeli Prime Minister
  • Former CIA analyst defends Joe Kent and decision to oppose war with Iran
  • US Senate to work over weekend on SAVE America Act and funding of DHS
  • DOJ issues subpoena to James Comey and 130 other involved in "Russiagate"
  • 3 men with microchip company in CA charged with exporting tech to China

The Ezra Klein Show - Naomi Klein on Trumpism and Our Age of ‘Unlikely Bedfellows’

Naomi Klein saw where our politics was headed before most people on the left. Her 2023 book “Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World” is hard to describe. But among other things, it traces the new coalitions Klein saw forming on the right, the ways they were co-opting issues long associated with the left, and finding huge audiences and influence outside existing institutions.

The people and coalitions that Klein wrote about run our world now. We are all living in the mirror world. As she put it, it’s “doppelgangers at the wheel.” So I wanted to have Klein on the show to help understand how that happened, what the left failed to see at the time and the lessons the left should take from it now.

As Klein told me: “The thing about doppelgangers is, in literature, they’re always a message telling you a warning: You have to look at yourself. There’s something about yourself that you’re not seeing.”

Note: We recorded this episode before the war in Iran.

Mentioned:

Doppelganger by Naomi Klein

No Logo by Naomi Klein

Minnesota Proved MAGA Wrong” by Adam Serwer

End Times Fascism by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor

Book Recommendations:

Empire of AI by Karen Hao

Here Where We Live Is Our Country by Molly Crabapple

Fire Alarm by Michael Löwy

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.

You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


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