In rural North Dakota, an old, coal-fired power plant is being retrofitted to capture emissions before they enter the atmosphere and store them underground. $890 million from the 2022 bipartisan infrastructure law will go towards that and two similar projects in California and Texas. Critics take issue with spending taxpayer money to kick the tires on “carbon capture and storage” technology. Among those critics are Catherine McKenna, Canada’s former minister of environment and climate change. She’s now CEO of Climate and Nature Solutions, an advisory firm, and chairs the UN’s expert group on net-zero commitments.

On the show today, Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds have parked a whole lot of money in Silicon Valley. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, for one, spent more than $31 billion on 49 venture deals, up 33% in 2023. Why does the tech industry find it so hard to break up with Middle East money? Plus, Netflix changes up its business model — again. We look at why the streaming giant sees even more ads in its future. But first, job cuts continue across the tech landscape. Even TikTok, with its $225 billion valuation and 150 million active users in the U.S. alone, is letting people go. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali is joined by Natasha Mascarenhas, reporter at The Information, for her take on these stories.

The World Court is expected to rule Friday on whether to grant emergency measures to stop the war in Gaza. South Africa has accused Israel of carrying out genocide in the Palestinian enclave. Israel says it’s targeting Hamas militants – not civilians – in response to the deadly Hamas attack of Oct. 7. But more than 25,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes, and according to Corey Scher of the City University of New York and Oregon State University’s Jamon Van Den Hoek, nearly half the buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali spoke to Scher and Van Den Hoek about their work mapping the destruction with satellite radar technology.

It’s hard to disappear these days. Everything from renting property and using a credit card to working a job leaves a digital footprint. But just because it’s hard to vanish from the virtual world doesn’t mean people aren’t trying. Some do it out of necessity, to escape violence or persecution. Others do it out of curiosity, pursuing total anonymity just to see how far they can take things. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali spoke with Hal Triedman, a privacy engineer who recently wrote about the “extreme privacy” community for the online magazine Reboot.

AI can be used for unsavory things, like any technology. But researchers at the nonprofit Global Fishing Watch have revealed a promising use case — enlisting AI to accurately track human activity on the oceans, according to its new study published in the journal Nature. There’s a lot out there that has long floated under the radar of monitoring systems, including the so-called dark fleets involved in illegal and unregulated fishing. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali spoke with David Kroodsma, director of research and innovation at Global Fishing Watch, about the group’s work.

It’s been almost two weeks since several investment products tied to bitcoin started trading on old-school financial markets. These bitcoin ETFs have made it easier for everyday investors to place bets on the crypto market, and in the days since federal regulators gave the green light, investors have poured nearly $2 billion into the new bitcoin funds. But probably not the crypto purists, says Joel Khalili, who reports on the industry for Wired. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Khalili about crypto early adopters, who, he says, are quite happy to stay on the fringes of the financial system.

On the show today, the Food and Drug Administration expanded its approval for CRISPR gene-editing therapies. We look at the affordability of these treatments, which can cost well into the millions of dollars. Plus, is bad marketing stunting health tech companies? More on how startups can up their game. But first, at this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, there were 32 scheduled events devoted to AI. When they weren’t comparing private jets, business executives were busy asking, “How do you make money off AI?” Marketplaces’ Lily Jamali is joined by Christina Farr, a health tech investor at OMERS Ventures, for her take on these stories.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent approval of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds means that for the first time, people can invest in funds that include bitcoin with no crypto wallet required. Demand for the original cryptocurrency is only expected to grow, and bitcoin mining operators are in position to satisfy it. Two years ago, Marketplace’s Lily Jamali visited one in upstate New York. Stacks of computers burned through tons of power to generate new bitcoins, she reported. Texas is now a preferred hub, and Ben Hertz-Shargel of the consultancy Wood Mackenzie says the SEC’s move will be felt there.

While Marketplace’s Lily Jamali was at CES last week in Las Vegas, she took her first ride on the Vegas Loop, built by Elon Musk’s the Boring Co. In 2013, Musk floated the concept of a hyperloop as a way for people to travel long distances at superfast speeds via pods in vacuum-sealed tubes. The Vegas Loop, as Lily found out, is not that. Developing actual hyperloop technology is hard and costly. Just ask Hyperloop One, a startup that recently shut down after a decade of trying. Lily recently spoke with Bloomberg’s Sarah McBride about Hyperloop One’s demise and what it means for the tech sector’s larger ambition to create hyperloop transport systems.

One consequence of climate change is more frequent and severe droughts. And that has water-stressed communities looking for new sources of drinking water. Today, Marketplace’s climate podcast “How We Survive” and host Amy Scott take a look at how technology can help.