Make Me Smart

Hey smarties! We’re on a break for the holidays, so we’re revisiting some favorite episodes from 2020. We want to say a big thank you for being part of the Make Me Smart family this year — every voicemail, question and donation makes a huge difference. None of us is as smart as all of us, and we couldn’t do this show without you. There’s still time to help us raise $500,000 for Marketplace before the end of the year! Donate here. Thanks, happy holidays and we’ll see you in the new year!

The rock walls, sushi bars and student center bowling alleys at colleges around the country will likely sit empty this fall. The spring semester has shown that online learning has significant limitations, said NYU marketing professor Scott Galloway, and welcoming back students and faculty is going to be like “Contagion 2.” But there’s also an opportunity here, he says, to increase budgets, cut costs and leverage technology to make higher education as accessible as it used to be.

Here’s a list of everything we talked about today:

“Here’s a List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall” from the Chronicle of Higher Education

“What the Shift to Virtual Learning Could Mean for the Future of Higher Ed” from Harvard Business Review

“The Coming Disruption,” Galloway’s recent piece for New York magazine

“Goldman Sachs says a national mask mandate could slash infections and save economy from a 5% hit” from CNBC

“Is it safe to send kids back to school?” from MIT Technology Review

“A Look Back On Shirley Chisholm’s Historic 1968 House Victory” from NPR

Finally, this painting by Rhonda Brown

This is our last episode of the year! After nine months of daily episodes, we’re gonna take a short break. We can’t thank you enough for hanging with us every day, sending voicemails and questions, and chipping in to support us. This show doesn’t work without all of you. Before we go though, we have one more edition of “Economics on Tap” where we’ll talk about vaccine algorithms, media consolidation and, yes, Space Force.

Here’s links to everything we covered today:

“Only Seven of Stanford’s First 5,000 Vaccines Were Designated for Medical Residents” from ProPublica

“Biden’s Transition Team Protests Pentagon’s Halt in Briefings” from Bloomberg

“From BuzzFeed to Axios, Digital Media Players Prepare for Deal Frenzy” from The Wall Street Journal

“Pence announces Space Force members will be called ‘guardians’” from Politico

Thanks again everyone, and don’t forget to pick up a newly restocked KaiPA pint glass and help us hit our $500,000 goal. Once it hits midnight on New Year’s Eve they’re gone!

In what feels like a flashback to New York in March, field hospitals are sprouting up around Southern California as the region hit an alarming milestone: ICU capacity at 0%. It’s a grim reminder that even with one approved COVID-19 vaccine and more on the way, we are still in the darkest days of this pandemic. We hope you’re staying home and staying safe for the holidays. But before we talk about that, Molly Wood will break down the latest about that huge, probably Russian hack into the U.S. government. Plus, your chance to implode President Donald Trump’s Atlantic City casino.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

“More Hacking Attacks Found as Officials Warn of ‘Grave Risk’ to U.S. Government” from The New York Times

“I Was the Homeland Security Adviser to Trump. We’re Being Hacked.” from The New York Times

“Bar complaint filed against Trump attorneys in Arizona” from 12News

“ICU availability in Southern California at 0% amid deluge of COVID-19 patients” from the Los Angeles Times

“In New York City, snowfall tops all of last winter’s.” from The New York Times. Check out that photo!

“Win a Chance to Destroy Trump’s Casino Like He Destroyed Our Country” from Rolling Stone

Here’s the link to that auction

“In Historic Move, Biden To Pick Native American Rep. Haaland As Interior Secretary” from NPR

This beautiful, musical Christmas dispatch from Camp Davids

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We’ve got some really memorable calls from listeners today, y’all. There’s the guy who’s staring down a huge milestone in his life, but can’t stop thinking about eggnog. There’s the listener who asked us to stop and reflect on this crazy year. And, of course, there’s a question about vaccines. We’ll talk about it all on this, our last Whadda Ya Wanna Know Wednesday of the year.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

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As President-elect Joe Biden mulls forgiving $10,000 in student loan debt — and leading Democrats and others on his left push for more — one of our listeners wants to know: What would that do to the economy, and is it even possible for the White House to do it on its own? To find out, we called University of Michigan public policy, education and economics professor Susan Dynarski. She helps us look beyond the obvious micro-economic benefits and inject some nuance into the conversation about what it actually takes to get out of this $1.6 million hole.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

“Student Loan Cancellation Sets Up Clash Between Biden and the Left” from The New York Times

“Would canceling $10,000 in student debt really help that much?” from Marketplace

An interactive map of debt in America

“Americans want to cancel student loans — but not all of them” from Vox

“The student loan trap” from Marketplace’s podcast “This Is Uncomfortable”

“Google CEO delays office return to next September, but axes idea of permanent remote work” from CNBC

“USPS ‘gridlocked’ as historic crush of holiday packages sparks delays” from The Washington Post

“Is Louis DeJoy’s XPO Logistics divestiture a sham?” from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

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You’d be forgiven for missing it in the firehose of news, but let’s stop a second to talk about today’s drip, drip, drip about a likely Russian cyberattack against the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies. Ahead of tomorrow’s “Marketplace Tech” episode, Molly Wood will get us up to speed, and we’ll talk about the latest flap at Apple TV. But first: We’ll quickly run some of the big news stories of the day, including the first American COVID-19 vaccines and Attorney General Bill Barr’s ouster.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

“Suspected Russian Hack Said to Have Gone Undetected for Months” from The Wall Street Journal

“Apple TV Was Making a Show About Gawker. Then Tim Cook Found Out.” from The New York Times

“Voting technology company sends legal notices to Fox News and other right-wing media outlets over ‘disinformation campaign’” from CNN

Finally, this mask PSA

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We talked a bit yesterday about the lawsuit out of Texas, cosigned by a surprisingly huge number of Republicans, seeking to turnover the presidential election. Well today — during our taping, as a matter of fact — the Supreme Court took just a few paragraphs to shoot the case down. On today’s show, Kai and Molly react in real-time. Plus: What Facebook can learn from Microsoft’s antitrust case, where unused FSA money goes and a peek into Kai’s DMs.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

“What can Facebook learn from the attempt to break up Microsoft?” from Marketplace Tech

“What You Can Do to Protect Your Dependent-Care FSA Cash” from the Wall Street Journal

Let’s do the numbers on the certified election results

“The Supreme Court Rejected Texas’s Last-Ditch Legal Challenge To Biden’s Win” from BuzzFeed News

“Editorial: Don’t just deny Texas’ original action. Decimate it.” from SCOTUSblog

“Facebook Announces Plan To Break Up U.S. Government Before It Becomes Too Powerful” from The Onion

And this video.

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Some very important research into dog cognition came across our desk today, and we can’t wait to tell you all about it. But before that, we’re still unpacking the implications of the new COVID-19 vaccine, and how race plays into anxiety around getting it. Oh, and the Republicans mobilizing to try and overturn the results of the presidential election. It’s hollowed-out-shell Thursday after all.

Here’s everything we’re talking about today:

“Why did the U.S. turn down vaccine doses?” from the New York Times podcast “The Daily”

“A C.D.C. official says she was ordered to destroy an email showing a Trump appointee interfering with a report’s publication.” from The New York Times

These remarks from Dr. Anthony Fauci

This important dog research

“Minnesota’s Okee Dokee Brothers withdraw from all-white Grammy Awards list” from the Star Tribune

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We’ve been talking a lot about coronavirus vaccines on the show lately, and for good reason. But it’s also the holiday season, so for this Whadda Ya Wanna Know Wednesday, we’re tackling a perennial question: What’s better for the environment, real or fake Christmas trees? Plus we’ll talk about solar power and bring in a ringer to talk about a certain logo Kai can’t stand. But first, yes, a little more about vaccines.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

“A Vaccine Is Coming: Can Employers Require Employees to Take it?” from The National Law Review

“Yes, your boss can fire you if you refuse to get a Covid vaccine” from CNBC

“Pandemic Is Ray of Light for Solar Industry” from The Wall Street Journal

“What’s greener: a real Christmas tree or a fake one?” from Marketplace

“Christmas tree sales are booming as pandemic-weary Americans seek solace.” from The New York Times

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The United Kingdom administered its first COVID-19 vaccine today, a little less than a year from the first recorded cases. Back then, the effectiveness of this kind of vaccine was an open question. These new shots use messenger RNA to give the immune system an “instruction sheet” for fighting off COVID-19. This mRNA technology has been around for about a decade, but hasn’t been used successfully in a vaccine before now. On today’s show, biotech investor and author Safi Bahcall walks us through something like 150 years of pharmaceutical history and how mRNA will change vaccine development. Oh, and we’ll ask him why that Pfizer vaccine has to be kept so dang cold.

Here’s everything we talked about today (if these links don’t work, check out our episode page at makemesmart.org):

“We had the vaccine the whole time” from New York Magazine

Bahcall’s interview about vaccine technology on “Marketplace Tech”

And his op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, “The Conference Call to Cure Covid-19.”

“A gamble pays off in ‘spectacular success’: How the leading coronavirus vaccines made it to the finish line” from The Washington Post

“Low Prices for Vaccines Can Come at a Great Cost” from The New York Times

“How much could Pfizer make from a COVID-19 vaccine?” from “Marketplace”

“Uber Is Giving Self-Driving Car Project to a Start-Up” from The New York Times

“Palantir Wins FDA Contract to Power Drug Review, Inspections” from Bloomberg

“Coronavirus vaccines may be less effective for Black and Asian recipients, MIT study suggests” from The Week

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