Economist Podcasts The Economist

No energy source has ever increased as fast as solar photovoltaics. The technology will transform humanity’s energy consumption–even when the sun doesn’t shine. Many people associate champagne with success but wine collectors often shun it. Now global sales are fizzing (10:51). And many chief executives are early birds, not night owls. Does it really pay to be up with the larks (18:32)?
Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+
For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. 


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Boeing’s business is a mess, following two plane crashes in 2018-19 and a string of safety scares. The aerospace manufacturer has not received a single 737 Max order in two months. The FAA has imposed a production go-slow on safety grounds. The share price is down 60%. And the departing CEO Dave Calhoun was hauled before Congress earlier this week to apologise for the 346 deaths he acknowledged the company was responsible for. What can Mr Calhoun’s eventual successor do to bring Boeing out of its nosedive?

Hosts: Alice Fulwood, Tom Lee-Devlin, and Mike Bird. Guests: Ed Pierson, founder of the Foundation for Aviation Safety; Peter Robison, author of “Flying Blind: The 737 MAX Tragedy and the Fall of Boeing”; Ron Epstein, an aerospace and defence analyst at Bank of America; and The Economist’s Simon Wright.

Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.

Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.

For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Both the left and right are likely to do well in France’s upcoming parliamentary poll, with President Emmanuel Macron’s party squeezed in the middle. The snap election could leave the country in chaos. In America, recreational use of weed is now commonplace, but what impact does it have on users’ wellbeing (10:06)? And the joy of short books: the intense pleasure of a quickie (17:40).
Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+
For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A new economy is emerging in space. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has driven down launch costs, helping to revolutionise space travel. As the cost of reaching Earth orbit falls, ideas for new businesses that could operate there are gathering steam—from manufacturing drugs to hotels and tourism. At the more exhilarating end of the spectrum is asteroid mining. Once a staple of science fiction, could it soon become reality?

Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Contributors: Peter Diamandis, founder of the XPRIZE Foundation; Sara Russell of Britain’s Natural History Museum; Lindy Elkins-Tanton of Arizona State University; Mitch Hunter-Scullion of the Asteroid Mining Corporation; The Economist’s Geoff Carr and Laurence Knight.

For more on this topic, see our podcast on Starship at www.economist.com/starship-pod

Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.

Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.

For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

The post-war generation reaped the benefits of peace and prosperity. Yet rather than spend that bounty, retired boomers are hoarding their riches–and upending economists’ expectations. The science of menstruation is baffling, partly because most animals don’t do it. Now clever innovations may help improve women’s health (9:13). And how old-fashioned wind-power is blowing new life into the shipping industry–and cutting its emissions (16:13).
Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+
For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. 


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Philippines could be the next big flashpoint in the South China Sea, the world’s most contested waters. China claims nearly the entire sea as its territory, asserting rights over waters and islands that South-East Asian countries consider their own. While most neighbouring countries avoid confronting China, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, the Philippines' president, is taking a stand.

David Rennie, The Economist's Beijing bureau chief, and Sue-Lin Wong, our South-East Asia correspondent, ask: what is China up to in the South China Sea? And can the Philippines do anything about it?

Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.

Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.

For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.