Marketplace Tech

This week, we're talking election security and technology. Today's show is focused on old tech: paper. Remember the 2000 presidential election fiasco and the hanging chads, those tiny bits of paper that stuck to paper ballots? They confused vote counters so much the Supreme Court eventually had to decide the election. Well, in 2002, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act. It set new voting standards and gave election offices a bunch of money, mostly for new electronic voting machines. But within a few years, election security officials were asking for a good old-fashioned paper trail. Dana DeBeauvoir, who runs elections in Travis County, Texas, went on a yearslong quest to design her own electronic voting machine, complete with paper trail. (10/23/18)

The midterm elections are here. Early voting is already happening in some places. We’re spending the rest of the week on election security and technology, starting with voting machines. Candice Hoke, founding co-director of the Center for Cybersecurity and Privacy Protection at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, believes insecure voting machines are the biggest security threat to the midterm elections. Hoke says that voting infrastructure should be regulated and funded like a public utility. (10/23/18)

The Energy Information Administration says the U.S. got about 11 percent of its energy from renewable sources last year. Climate scientists say that's going to have to go up a lot to ward off the worst effects of climate change. The Department of Energy says the U.S. is one of the fastest growing markets for wind power in the world, but that's mostly been on land. Eric Loth, at the University of Virginia, is an engineer who's part of a team building the next generation of offshore wind turbines, inspired by a palm tree. (10/22/18)

The United Nations released a major climate change report last week that said we have to cut emissions even more than we previously thought to avoid catastrophe from global warming. And we have to do it more quickly. Those who doubt that humans can cut emissions enough might point to engineering solutions like carbon capture to take carbon pollution out of the air and store it. But is new technology, on its own, a real fix? Marketplace’s Jed Kim talks with Scott Waldman, a climate change reporter for E&E News. (10/19/18)

Blockchain. It's the buzzword in startups. The digital transaction technology backs cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, that we hear so much about. But business plans abound to give every industry a blockchain makeover, from real estate to drug prescriptions. And companies focused on sustainability see a particular opportunity to verify every step a product takes on the blockchain. Jayson Berryhill is doing that for seafood. Marketplace’s Jed Kim sat down to talk with him about a new project called Fishcoin. (10/18/18)

Each year, Marketplace partners up with polling firm Edison Research to ask Americans how they’re feeling about the economy. This year, Edison found that 78 percent of Americans believe big tech companies like Amazon, Apple or Google have a "good amount" or "great deal" of influence on the economy. What's surprising is that fewer Americans, about 68 percent, think the president or Congress has that much influence over the economy. Molly Wood talks about the findings with Larry Rosin, co-founder and president of Edison Research. (10/17/18)

DNA and genetic testing are big business. But there are real questions about privacy and about what happens to your genetic information after you get tested. Recently, the DNA testing company 23andMe partnered with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline to develop personalized drugs and research treatment for diseases like lupus and Parkinson's. Jen King is director of consumer privacy at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School. King told Marketplace Tech's Molly Wood that, surprisingly, most people who take DNA tests don't think the data is all that personal. (10/16/18)