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Remember Cambridge Analytica? You probably wish you could forget. But 10 and a half months from the next presidential election, Brittany Kaiser says there’s still more we all need to know about Big Data and how companies like her former employer are using it to steer democracy. She used to work at CA, and after writing a book and appearing in a documentary about it, she’s publishing a bunch of internal documents showing how the company worked and its reach beyond the United States. For our first episode of the new year, we talk with Kaiser about election interference and her new Own Your Data Foundation. Plus, we’ll catch up on some of your emails and voice memos from the holiday break.

The potential for real war in 2020 might make the trade disputes of 2019 seem quaint and distant. But cast your mind back, if you can, to three weeks ago, when the fate of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement seemed to rest in part on a semi-obscure passage of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. It says online platforms are not legally liable for what people say or do in the spaces they run. Trillions of dollars in company valuation and the sharing of content as we know it rests on the rule, which would expand to Mexico and Canada under the trade deal. So is it time to revisit Section 230? If you got rid of it, what kind of rules would replace it? And what platforms would even be left? Last summer, we asked Jeff Kosseff, a professor of cybersecurity law at the U.S. Naval Academy and the author of “The 26 Words That Created the Internet.”

The potential for real war in 2020 might make the trade disputes of 2019 seem quaint and distant. But cast your mind back, if you can, to three weeks ago, when the fate of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement seemed to rest in part on a semi-obscure passage of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. It says online platforms are not legally liable for what people say or do in the spaces they run. Trillions of dollars in company valuation and the sharing of content as we know it rests on the rule, which would expand to Mexico and Canada under the trade deal. So is it time to revisit Section 230? If you got rid of it, what kind of rules would replace it? And what platforms would even be left? Last summer, we asked Jeff Kosseff, a professor of cybersecurity law at the U.S. Naval Academy and the author of “The 26 Words That Created the Internet.”

Americans face more than $1.3 trillion in student debt, with less and less assurance the job market’s going to provide salaries to cover it. For all the students home for the holiday break (and their parents) we’re revisiting and interview we did last January with Maura Reynolds, a senior editor at Politico. She’s reported extensively on the school-skills-jobs pipeline. Plus, part two of our annual predictions episode: Last year Kai said “Nothing will change”. Was he right? We talk about it and look ahead to 2020.

Finally, our end-of-year fundraiser ends today. Don’t wait: Become a Marketplace investor right now at Marketplace.org/donate.

Americans face more than $1.3 trillion in student debt, with less and less assurance the job market’s going to provide salaries to cover it. For all the students home for the holiday break (and their parents) we’re revisiting and interview we did last January with Maura Reynolds, a senior editor at Politico. She’s reported extensively on the school-skills-jobs pipeline. Plus, part two of our annual predictions episode: Last year Kai said “Nothing will change”. Was he right? We talk about it and look ahead to 2020.

Finally, our end-of-year fundraiser ends today. Don’t wait: Become a Marketplace investor right now at Marketplace.org/donate.

It’s Christmas Eve and we’re all out of town. But we’re also in your feed today? It’s almost as if we exist in some kind of quantum state … the perfect time to bring you one of our favorite interviews from the past year: UC Berkeley’s Steven Weber on quantum computing. Plus, we’re breaking our annual predictions episode into three parts. Today, we assess Molly’s 2019 predictions and get her take on what’s coming in 2020.

It’s Christmas Eve and we’re all out of town. But we’re also in your feed today? It’s almost as if we exist in some kind of quantum state … the perfect time to bring you one of our favorite interviews from the past year: UC Berkeley’s Steven Weber on quantum computing. Plus, we’re breaking our annual predictions episode into three parts. Today, we assess Molly’s 2019 predictions and get her take on what’s coming in 2020.

In a few short years, artificial “meat” has gone from co-op curio to heavily hyped menu item at giant chains like Dunkin’ and Burger King. America consumes more meat than any other country, but new widespread awareness of meat’s heavy environmental toll has accelerated the race to find a more sustainable alternative. Larisa Rudenko, a research affiliate in the Program on Emerging Technologies at MIT, joins us to talk about Impossible Burger, lab-grown meat and where this exploding industry is headed. Plus: Kai Ryssdal and Molly Wood taste test edible insects and answer a holiday listener question.

By the way, this is our last show before we go on break for the holidays. But don’t worry — for the next three weeks we’ll be revisiting some of our favorite interviews of the year, revisiting our 2019 predictions and creating new ones for 2020. We’ll have new daily Alexa explainers and email newsletters all through the holidays.

In a few short years, artificial “meat” has gone from co-op curio to heavily hyped menu item at giant chains like Dunkin’ and Burger King. America consumes more meat than any other country, but new widespread awareness of meat’s heavy environmental toll has accelerated the race to find a more sustainable alternative. Larisa Rudenko, a research affiliate in the Program on Emerging Technologies at MIT, joins us to talk about Impossible Burger, lab-grown meat and where this exploding industry is headed. Plus: Kai Ryssdal and Molly Wood taste test edible insects and answer a holiday listener question.

By the way, this is our last show before we go on break for the holidays. But don’t worry — for the next three weeks we’ll be revisiting some of our favorite interviews of the year, revisiting our 2019 predictions and creating new ones for 2020. We’ll have new daily Alexa explainers and email newsletters all through the holidays.

Every single day here at Marketplace, Kai Ryssdal “does the numbers,” talking about how the stock market fared at close. When they are up, we play the happy music. Same with monthly jobs numbers and the GDP. We’ve had a few listeners write in to ask: Why? Does the economy always need to get bigger, all the time, forever? Here to help us sort through this kind of existential question and maybe even figure out some better numbers to “do” is Josh Bivens with the Economic Policy Institute. By the way: We’re still looking for your 2020 predictions! Send them to [email protected], and we’ll play some on our last episode of the year.