Our most precious resources are dwindling, but author Robert Bryce suggests that breakthrough technologies will actually improve the environment – and continue to make peoples’ lives better. Read More...

Inventor Percy Spencer originally worked on radars for Raytheon, but his discovery – and subsequent experiments – produced a household appliance that changed the way we consume food. Read More...

At hundreds of dollars each, college textbooks are becoming prohibitively expensive. Business administration professor Linda Williams and Ariel Diaz, founder and CEO of Boundless, are working to change that. Read More...

 
Here are three things to know about this week's show:

1. Researcher Elsa Youngsteadt crunched the numbers and found that a group of West Side Manhattan ants could eat 60,000 hotdogs a year.

2. Telemedicine laws from the 1800s are stifling modern healthcare. Doctors Ateev Mehrotra and Rushika Fernandopulle explain why updating a few laws and traditions could make a big difference for patients.

3. Seven-year-old violin prodigies don't have their gene pool to thank, argues author Geoff Colvin. Kids and adults that we think of as talented have really just practiced the right way, according to researchers.

Accountants might get a bad rap. But in an economy that’s gotten by for decades without including the real costs of production, they might also be our only hope, argues Jane Gleeson-White, author of Six Capitals, or Can Accountants Save the Planet?. Read More...

From long waits to high prices, our current primary care system is failing too many patients. Doctors Ateev Mehrotra and Rushika Fernandopulle examine ways to overhaul the system. Read More...

There may be no such thing as innate talent. Geoff Colvin, author of Talent is Overrated, has looked at the research and argues that there’s a clear – though challenging – path to the top. Read More...

They might ruin a picnic, but new research shows that ants are actually a vital part of our urban centers. Read More...

 
Here are three things to know about this week's show:

1. Convention buffets of the future could have trays of mussels instead of salmon fillets. “Four Fish” author Paul Greenberg argues that the sustainability of our oceans may depend on rethinking the kind of seafood we eat.

2. “Dropping out of high school is the new dropping out of college.” As least it seems that way, says Forbes editor Randall Lane, who studied the rise of the new tech billionaires.

3. The world's most famous perfume was caught between the Axis and the Allies. And that was just part of the drama that surrounded Chanel No. 5, explains author Tilar Mazzeo.

Tech billionaires may be the royalty of the 21st century. Randall Lane, editor of Forbes and author of You Only Have to Be Right Once describes their world and what makes them tick. Read More...