Foundering

A growing number of experts believe that a promising technology, known as carbon capture, will be an essential part of any plan to confront climate change. But until now the science of removing carbon from the air has only ever been demonstrated at a small scale—and the process of turning that carbon into useful products, such as fuel, has cost too much to make a real difference. This week on Decr...

Jason Boyce built a successful business selling sports equipment on Amazon. As the platform has grown, Amazon has pushed sellers to lower prices, shorten delivery times and compete harder for every sale. This week on Decrypted, we explore whether entrepreneurs like Jason have reached a breaking point. They now face a competitor who's potentially unbeatable: Amazon itself.  See omnystudio.com/liste...

On this new show from Bloomberg, hosts Mike Regan and Sarah Ponczek speak with expert guests each week about the main themes influencing global markets. They explore everything from stocks to bonds to currencies and commodities, and how each asset class affects trading in the others. Whether you’re a financial professional or just a curious retirement saver, What Goes Up keeps you apprised of the...

 With 40 million users, Blued is a popular dating app for gay men in China. This week on Decrypted, we explore the company's next venture: a service to help gay couples have babies by surrogate in California.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A company called Ambrosia Health signed up about 150 patients for a novel anti-aging procedure: young blood plasma transfusions. The only problem was the FDA. This week on Decrypted, the story of a startup that claimed it could restore lost youth with young people's blood. We’ll hear from a patient who got the treatment, the researchers who say it endangered patients, and the scientists who believ...

The Pay Check is back for a second season! For the next six weeks, we’re going to dig into the number one reason women still make less money than men: Motherhood. Women start their careers earning just about the same as men do, but once they have their first kid, that pay gap grows to a chasm. This season, we’ll show you how this “motherhood penalty” plays out for real women, in real life and how...

Instagram is full of vacation pics, brand campaigns and celebrity posts. But it's also a place where people go to find counterfeit prescription drugs and illegal street drugs. This week on Decrypted, we follow the story of Eileen Carey, who has tried for years to bring this troubling issue to Instagram's attention. Thanks in part to her efforts, Instagram has taken some steps to curbing drug-relat...

Decrypted will be back next week. Here's an early peek at the stories we'll be covering this season.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Pay Check is collecting stories for our upcoming season, and we want to hear from you! Did having a kid change your career trajectory or the way you work? If you have anything you want to share, call and leave us a voicemail at (212) 617-0166. Stay tuned for more very soon! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this new show from Bloomberg, hosts Francesca Levy and Rebecca Greenfield navigate the productivity industry by way of their own experiences. In each episode, one of the two becomes a human guinea pig as she tries to solve a specific work-related problem. Using the advice of so-called productivity experts, the duo tackles obstacles like ineffective to-do lists, overflowing inboxes and unruly me...

Jody Pagliocco drives for Uber and Lyft in Maine. Like many working mothers, she depends on the income and the flexibility of the job—but she can't stand the constant harassment from male passengers. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Selina Wang and Brad Stone hear from women in the gig economy. Selina and Brad also discuss one study that examines the gender disparities that are putti...

'Tis the season to give your loved ones the latest and greatest tech gadgets. The only problem: a lot of them are now listening, watching and tracking us. As part of Decrypted's exploration of the unintended consequences of technology, this week Pia Gadkari and Mark Gurman look at the potential dark sides of your holiday generosity. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Theo Patt was 15 he built a software program that displayed his Google location data on a map online. For the teenager, it was a sentimental keepsake. But since then, hundreds of thousands of people have used it -- often in ways Theo never intended. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Alistair Barr and Pia Gadkari explore the myriad secrets that our location data can reveal and som...

In August, Apple was worth a trillion dollars and analysts wondered when the other tech giants would join its ranks. But over the last three months, the stock prices of Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google have all plunged. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Joshua Brustein and Brad Stone explore what's driving the losses and ask whether it's a sign the tech boom may finally be coming to...

This week on Decrypted, we're bringing you an episode from Bloomberg's newly-launched health and medicine podcast: Prognosis. Bloomberg's Kristen V Brown takes you on a tour of a biohacker's DNA experiment to change how frogs -- and possibly people -- grow muscles. It's an experiment he insists anyone can try at home. He'll even sell you a kit (frogs included) to do it. See omnystudio.com/listener...

Facebook’s ad platform is quick to learn, easy to use and incredibly profitable. But the complex algorithms that make the ads run are still a black box for most people, and that can create problems—particularly when it comes to politics. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology’s Sarah Frier and Brad Stone  take a look at how the system works and explain why fixing issues on the platform is ha...

What’s the most sure-fire way to get a flight upgrade? How can you find the best, secret local restaurants by asking just one question? What's the first thing you should do when you get into a hotel room? On Bloomberg's new podcast Travel Genius, we'll give you those answers—and plenty more—as hosts Nikki Ekstein and Mark Ellwood quiz the world’s most experienced globetrotters for their tried-and-...

Cottage Grove, Minnesota, has had a 3M factory in town since 1947. It makes everything from Post-It Notes and Scotch Tape to reflective road signs. In 2017, the city found out the state was lowering the acceptable level of PFAS, a chemical made and used at the factory, in its drinking water. Scientific studies show there could be serious health consequences for people exposed to it. And now dozens...

Where does a medical cure come from? 100 years ago, it wasn't uncommon for scientists to test medicines by taking a dose themselves. As medical technologies get cheaper and more accessible, patients and DIY tinkerers are trying something similar—and mainstream medicine is racing to catch up. Prognosis explores the leading edge of medical advances, and asks who gets—or should get—access to them. We...

Electric scooter-sharing programs have become very popular, and very polarizing. With companies like Bird and Lime operating in over 100 cities globally, an increasing number of grisly accidents have made it into the headlines. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Olivia Carville and Joshua Brustein ask whether scooters are as safe as they should be, and who bears responsibility when acc...

In 1987, a young couple was killed in Washington state. This case, and others like it, were unsolved for decades — until a new technology emerged. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg's Kristen V. Brown visits CeCe Moore, who's at the forefront of using genetic genealogy to hunt killers. Her work is made possible by consumers who upload their DNA test results to the internet to learn about their fami...

The e-cigarette maker Juul has seen stratospheric sales since early 2017, making it one of the buzziest startups in Silicon Valley. But now a backlash over the company's popularity with teenagers could jeopardize that. This week on Decrypted, Olivia Zaleski and Pia Gadkari trace the company's story from its origins. Juul says it only ever wanted to help adults quit smoking. Instead, it's become a...

Facebook is used to dealing with rogue actors antagonizing politicians on its platform. But what happens when a country's own government is the one bending the rules? This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Sarah Frier and Pia Gadkari look at what happened when officials in Sri Lanka reached out to Facebook to help build the government's online presence, and Facebook's responsibility when a...

For years, Elon Musk had been testing the limits of acceptable decorum for a public company CEO. This summer, he may have finally gone too far. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Brad Stone and Dana Hull trace how the two words "funding secured" helped trigger a more than 20 percent decline of Tesla's stock price, and led the government to open two separate investigations into the comp...

Advances in photo and video editing technology have enabled fake news, birthed viral hoaxes and even empowered corrupt governments. But they've also had a less publicized consequence: complicating mankind's search for extraterrestrial life. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Austin Weinstein and Pia Gadkari examine the recent boom in UFO sightings -- and how they've become more convinc...