Series - The Quartz Obsession podcast

AI hallucinations: Turn on, tune in, beep boop

Chatbots aren't always right. Researchers call these faulty performances "hallucinations."

The Quartz Obsession podcast

Online voting: Yes or no

Estonia pioneered online voting in its elections almost two decades ago. Could the US replicate its success?

Quartz Staff

The Quartz Obsession podcast

Single-use plastics: The message in a bottle

Single-use plastics are a problem, but why is it often the duty of consumers to do something about it?

Quartz Staff

The Quartz Obsession podcast

AI hallucinations: Turn on, tune in, beep boop

Chatbots aren't always right. Researchers call these faulty performances "hallucinations."

Quartz Staff

The Quartz Obsession podcast

Superapps: There can be only one

Despite antitrust scrutiny, the dream of building a superapp in the US persists.

Smart homes: Built to crash

We fill our houses with the Internet of Things, but the technology leaves much to be desired.

The World’s Fair: Tech’s bygone showcase

World's Fairs provided a glimpse into new inventions and technologies from across the globe.

Season 4

Tree planting: Sowing complacency

Not only is tree planting not that helpful in offsetting carbon emissions—it might even be counterproductive

Fusion power: Don't overreact

This new source of energy could revolutionize our approach to consumption and climate change

Green burials: Leave no trace

Inside the industry devoted to handling death in an ecologically sustainable way

Firetech: A match for Silicon Valley

Inside the startups focused on developing technology to control and prevent fires

Earth observation: Taking the long view

Inside the most impactful industry to launch into space over the past decade

Your chart: A body of information

Epic, the maker of MyChart, is the keeper of health records for 200 million Americans

The invisible hand: Capitalism's misunderstood metaphor

Adam Smith, the legendary 18th century Scottish philosopher, coined the usage of this economics term

Mushroom leather: Fungi saves fashion

Mycelium leather could be the greenest solution to a big problem for the planet

Season 3

Tech & Innovation

Asynchronous, on-demand talk radio was a bold proposition back in 2004, when podcasts first started making waves. Less than 20 years later, podcasting is a big business. But monetization has its downsides: What began as a freewheeling,…

Markets

Inflation: The price isn’t right

Prices for goods, from furniture to meat, have been steadily rising for months. It’s the most obvious symptom of inflation, which is when money buys less than it used to. But there’s no need to panic: This is far from the first time inflation has…

Lifestyle

Perfume: The strangest supply chain

Shipping snafus have hit everything from Pelotons to paper towels, and they’re also coming for perfume. From Chanel No. 5’s secret recipe to the modern proliferation of DIY scents, this global industry has supply chains as delicate as the scents…

Energy Transition

Dyslexia: Thinking differently

Though scientists first identified dyslexia over a century ago, politicians, parents, and educators still struggle to teach students that suffer from it. In the English-speaking world, dyslexia has become a great unequalizer, pushing those with…

Economics

Replacement rate: Counting our chickens

2.1—that’s how many children every woman “needs to have.” Any fewer, and a country’s population will eventually stop growing, age, and shrink, which could inhibit its economic growth and drain government coffers. But it’s easier said than done:…

Lifestyle

Pasta: A global staple

Pasta’s path to pantries all over the world is inextricably tied to Italy, the country that used technology and mass production to turn a homemade food into a commercial product. Even as pasta-makers market an idealized version of the Italian…

Markets

National debt: Acceptable imbalance

As individuals, we know it’s not great to have too much debt. But at the macro level, that narrative falls apart. In fact, most governments need some debt to take care of their people, especially in the wake of a crisis like a pandemic. How a…

Tech & Innovation

Edible bugs: The original superfood

Between lab-grown meat and veganism going mainstream, we’re in an age of abundance for alternative protein options. But one hasn’t been getting as much attention as the others: Edible insects, popular in places like Ghana and Mexico, are nutritious,…

Season 2

Lifestyle

Puffer jackets: The price of staying warm

Puffer jackets have been worn by outdoorsmen, rappers, the military, luxury shoppers, and—eventually—everyone. Today, the market is still heating up.

Lifestyle

Sequels: Here we go again

After the release of a great film, it seems natural to us now that they’d want to make another. But this was not always the case. Now that Hollywood seems to almost compulsively turn successful films into franchises, reboots, and cinematic…

Tech & Innovation

Prosthetics: Upgrade available

Athletes at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics had prosthetics perfectly designed to help them run, jump, or swim as the events required. Now the technology behind those prosthetics is coming to everyday people who need it—and, possibly, to people who…

Lifestyle

Disco: Choosing joy

They tried to kill disco, but it will never die. The stubbornly upbeat genre came out of an economically turbulent moment—one to which we see a lot of parallels today. So what is it about a crisis that just makes us want to dance?

Business News

Fish sticks: The ocean’s little problem solvers

Fish sticks are more than just an easy way to get kids to eat healthy food. They’re the ocean’s little problem solvers, swimming in to solve a seafood glut after World War II, and to help working parents in need of cheap and easy meals. Now fish…

Lifestyle

Indian weddings: The priciest party of your life

It’s the stuff of Bollywood dreams, come to life—the big fat Indian wedding has withstood the test of time, economic turbulence, social reform, and even modern technology. But when you factor in pent-up pandemic demand, can India’s $50 billion…

Tech & Innovation

Google docs: Life in the cloud

Google docs have revolutionized the way we work, and now it even functions as a tool for social sharing and political dissent. This is all because the world shifted from saving files locally to storing them in the cloud. But has Google docs made us t…

Energy Transition

Egg freezing: Put it on ice

As more people aren’t sure whether or when to have kids, a growing number of them are turning to egg freezing, a relatively new and expensive procedure that could help women become parents outside their biological bounds. But how realistic is any…