The Big Story Frequency Podcast Network

Traditionally, we think of a tip as an acknowledgement of a job well done, usually by someone who performs a service for us. It's become impolite not to tip, of course, but until recently the standards were still mostly understood. Then society began to go cashless...

Over the past few years, tipping has crept into far more transactions than it had previously. Now businesses don't need to rely on tradition, they can simply add a tip prompt to their transaction machines, and presto! Tip creep. This creates confusion, and often resentment, when being asked to tip for handing over some goods across a counter, or ringing up groceries. And it's not the workers' fault—but they're caught in the middle.

So where did tip creep come from? How much and when should you tip now, and what are the forces at work behind this dynamic?

GUEST: Corey Mintz, food reporter, author of The Next Supper

In pop culture, pre-nuptial agreements (or pre-nups) are usually talked about as something that protects a rich person from marrying a gold digger. But these days, most of us don’t have much gold to dig for; that said, there are still things couples need to think about before combining finances.

Jordan talks to Georgina Carson, a family lawyer and partner at Carson, Chousky and Lein to get the low-down on marriage and cohabitation contracts, and find out what steps couples should take when they start to think about sharing bank accounts, property and debt.

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Scientists are very careful about throwing around words like 'breakthrough' or 'cure'—especially when it comes to diseases like ALS that are so devastating to their victims. But the past few months have seen an incredible sense of optimism around research being done by a team at Western University, who seem to have found a way to prevent the cell death that is the core of the disease.

How did they make this discovery? How does it work so far in experiments? And why is this step turning heads around the entire medical world?

GUEST: Dr. Michael Strong, professor of neurology at Western University's Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry; Arthur J. Hudson Chair in ALS Research

On Wednesday the Bank of Canada lowered its key interest rate for the first time in four years, after months spent at a 20-plus year high. The cut was just a quarter-point, but it could be a signal that easier economic times are on the way for millions of Canadians struggling with servicing their debt.

So what does this latest cut mean right now, and what might it mean in the future? And is this the start of a trend, or could the bank decide to walk it back later this year?

GUEST: David, senior economist for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ National Office

Heat pumps could fundamentally shift the way we heat and cool our homes, but high costs and misconceptions about their performance in cold weather have served as barriers to their mass adoption in North America.

So how do they work? How effective could they be in reducing carbon emissions? And what's being done to make them more attainable for the average household?

GUEST: Matt Simon, Senior staff writer, WIRED

There are some large companies in Canada that have a history of breaking environmental laws. But the framework for fining them can be complex, and often struggles to make the larger businesses feel serious financial ramifications.

How does this system work? Or does it? How could we adapt it for a world in which the pursuit of profits that cause environmental harm will become more and more dangerous?

GUEST: Ben Collison, PhD student at Dalhousie University, writing for The Conversation