Latest Interviews

Degree programme: stopping heat deaths

Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Rachel Dobbs, Mark Johnson, Annie Crable

Record global heatwaves have exposed severe climate inequalities, prompting urgent adaptation measures such as worker protections and cooling infrastructure to address disproportionate risks for low-income populations and the elderly. Concurrently, a major demographic shift in international higher education sees Indian students overtaking their Chinese counterparts as the primary growth engine, fundamentally altering tuition revenue models and immigration policies in the US and UK. In the consumer goods sector, a rapidly expanding $6.6 billion market for full-body deodorants is challenging traditional hygiene norms, driving sales through anxiety-inducing marketing while raising medical concerns regarding the safety of applying fragrances to sensitive skin areas.

Rule and divide: Donald Trump is judged immune

Donald Trump, Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Stephen Mazey, Katrine Braig, Nicole Phan

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling granting former President Donald Trump partial immunity from federal prosecution for official acts, a decision critics warn may establish a monarch-like "president for life." Concurrently, scientists are debating polar geoengineering projects to halt ice sheet melting, though experts predict these extreme interventions will fail due to logistical impossibility and high environmental risks. Meanwhile, the iconic Hoi Fong Sriracha brand faces prolonged production halts stemming from a 2017 supply dispute, prompting consumers to switch to competitors while the rancher who supplied the chili launched a rival product.

The Weekend Intelligence: The state of Britain

Andy Miller, Jason Palmer, Andrew Miller, Daniel Callaghan, Colin Grant, Sir Verdon Boldenor, Jack Thorne, Stuart Patterson, Richard McShane, Professor John McKendrick, Jessica Power, David Kynaston

Ahead of the July 4 general election, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer prepares to assume power over a nation grappling with systemic decay defined by record public debt, stagnant real wages, and the lowest public satisfaction in NHS history since 2010. The country faces a legacy of political instability, economic stagnation, and regional inequality exacerbated by Brexit and austerity, resulting in a demographic where 41% of citizens believe their children will face a worse quality of life. Despite these profound challenges, observers note that Britain retains its constitutional stability while transitioning into a "poor, rich" era marked by eroded trust and a public expectation of significant reform under new leadership.

Debate and switch? Biden’s stumble

Biden, Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Idris Kholoun, Emily Steinmark, Lane Green

President Joe Biden faces intensifying scrutiny and succession speculation after a CNN debate marked by significant memory lapses, while Donald Trump countered with mixed policy shifts and historical inaccuracies. Simultaneously, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument released preliminary data suggesting dark energy density fluctuates over time, potentially invalidating the standard cosmological model. In Spain, the San Isidro Festival demonstrated bullfighting's cultural resilience despite declining participation rates and rising political opposition from left-wing officials.

Marc Andreessen on Inventing The Internet Browser (How We all Access the Internet)

Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz

Drawing from Mark Andreessen's journey from a rural Wisconsin farm to the University of Illinois, the event details the 1992-1993 creation of Mosaic, which defied the era's academic consensus by introducing a graphical web interface that prioritized openness over binary efficiency. Following a contentious split with the University of Illinois and its commercial licensee Spyglass, Jim Clark recruited Andreessen to found Netscape in 1994, catalyzing a legal battle and a Microsoft counter-offensive that ultimately collapsed Spyglass's business model while democratizing global internet access. The narrative extends beyond this history to warn of current risks, contrasting the successful "hyperstition" of early web pioneers with modern fears of regulatory capture and the incompetence of established experts in predicting technological evolution.

Rocketing science: China’s newest superpower

Rosie Bloor, Ainsley Johnston, Lane Green

Chinese research institutions have achieved global leadership in high-impact scientific output through massive state investment and large-scale laboratory structures, though this rapid ascent raises concerns regarding citation manipulation and military dual-use technologies. Simultaneously, Southern European nations demonstrate that longevity is driven more by physical activity, urban density, and social cohesion than by wealth, challenging the modern erosion of traditional dietary habits. In the United States, a rare convergence of 13- and 17-year cicada broods has triggered the emergence of one trillion insects across the East, presenting critical research opportunities to understand evolutionary adaptation mechanisms amidst the threat of climate change.

Elon gets paid, Apple's AI pop, OpenAI revenue rip, Macro debate & Inside Trump Fundraiser

Elon, Trump, Chamath, Jason, Friedberg, Nick, Tim

The panel hosted a high-stakes $24,000 blackjack event that awarded a viewer a $15,000 win to fund an Italy trip while simultaneously analyzing a massive Trump fundraiser and Tesla shareholder votes that reinstated Elon Musk's pay package and moved incorporation to Texas. Deep dives into the artificial intelligence sector covered Apple's $300 billion market cap surge via OpenAI integration and OpenAI's rising valuation against emerging open-source threats, alongside a macroeconomic warning that current stock records mask underlying stagflation risks. The session concluded with an urgent appeal for patients with a rare sarcoma to join a Dana-Farber clinical study, framing the discussion within a broader context of technological disruption and economic instability.

Fight for his party to the right: Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage, Jason Palmer, Matthew Holhouse, Simon Rabinovich, Anne Rowe

Political analyst Nigel Farage is positioning his Reform UK party to fracture right-wing support and potentially cost the Conservatives forty parliamentary seats, while economists warn that billions in new public subsidies will likely fund US sports stadiums despite evidence of their poor economic returns. Meanwhile, the legacy of William Anders continues to resonate as the late astronaut's accidental "Earthrise" photograph from the 1968 Apollo 8 mission remains a foundational symbol for the global environmental movement. These distinct narratives highlight the ongoing struggles over democratic representation, fiscal responsibility, and the cultural impact of space exploration.

Regions with OCaml's Local Types | OCaml Unboxed

Jane Street researchers introduce a `regional` variant within the OCaml compiler's `locals` feature that treats function parameters as variables permitted to escape their enclosing region exactly once. This mechanism enforces strict type constraints on return values while enabling critical stack allocation optimizations in recursive tail calls and loop iterations. By defining regions around function and loop bodies, the system prevents $O(N)$ space complexity for local data without compromising the language's type safety guarantees.

Labour's pains: Britain’s growth problem

Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Archie Hall, Sophie Petter, Max Norman

Amidst the 80th anniversary of D-Day commemorations in Normandy, UK political analysts anticipate a decisive Labour victory under Keir Starmer, though the campaign has prioritized avoiding specific economic pledges over defining a bold mandate. While Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Starmer debated cultural topics, the broader British economy faces stagnation driven by low productivity and demographic shifts that may necessitate tax hikes unless modest EU integration occurs. Simultaneously, Venice has launched a controversial €5 day-tripper fee intended to deter over-tourism and protect its shrinking resident population, despite significant operational costs and exemptions that limit its immediate crowd-reducing impact.

The Top 100 GenAI Consumer Apps

Olivia Moore, Steph Smith

Consumer teams will biannually publish a "Generative AI 100" list by screening tens of thousands of data points from SimilarWeb and Sensor Tower to identify the top 50 web and mobile companies. Recent analysis reveals a stark divergence between platforms, with minimal overlap between winners, while mobile trends highlight specific gains in EdTech, avatar generation, and companion apps that rival major social networks in user intensity. Looking forward, the industry is shifting toward a globalized talent base and voice-first interfaces, with Discord community growth serving as a leading indicator for companies like Midjourney and ElevenLabs.

The big gag: Hong Kong’s crackdown on freedom

June Mendoza, Rosie Bloor, Emma Irving, Simon Rabinovich, Anne Rowe

Following the 2020 national security law and subsequent Article 23 implementation, Hong Kong authorities have secured 14 convictions out of 17 defendants in the "Hong Kong 47" trial while arresting activists for social media posts, effectively aligning the territory's political freedoms with mainland China. Concurrently, the US startup ecosystem is experiencing a surge in business formation that has increased by approximately 80% since 2020, driven by a geographical shift toward smaller cities and a pivot toward AI-focused ventures despite tight interest rates. In the cultural sector, British artist June Mendoza died at age 99 after a career defined by painting over 400 likenesses of subjects ranging from royalty to strangers, often utilizing barter systems to exchange her art for goods.

I, Claudia: Mexico’s new leader

Claudia, Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Sarah Burke, Kinley Salmon, Erin Braun, Daniela Levine-Cava, Dr. Rick Spinrad

Claudia Sheinbaum secured Mexico's presidency as the nation's first female leader, inheriting a legacy marked by Andrés Manuel López Obrador's polarizing reforms and a Morena coalition poised to gain a two-thirds majority in Congress. Concurrently, NOAA forecasts a hyperactive 2024 Atlantic hurricane season driven by record sea surface temperatures and a shifting El Niño pattern, creating severe risks for major landfalls and potential disruptions to the November U.S. election timeline. In media developments, Rosie Bloor joined The Economist Intelligence as a co-host, bringing decades of international correspondent experience to focus on human-centric storytelling amid these global events.

Choose this podcast: abortion and the election

Charlotte Howard, Sacha Nauta, Idrees Kahloon, Mary Ziegler, Stevie Hertz, Daniella Raz, Sasha Nada, Idris Kalloun, Deanna Fellows, Lisa Dan, Lauren Brunzel

Following Donald Trump's conviction for falsifying business records, the upcoming election centers on abortion rights, a defining issue in sixteen states including the critical swing states of Florida, Arizona, and Nevada. Grassroots efforts in Florida have secured a constitutional amendment for abortion up to viability, though it faces a 60% supermajority threshold while Democrats leverage high spending to mobilize young and female voters despite abortion ranking as the top issue for only 7% of the electorate. Amidst these campaigns, legal experts warn that a potential Trump administration could exploit the 1873 Comstock Act to impose a federal ban, while the Supreme Court simultaneously prepares to rule on Mifepristone access and federal emergency care statutes that could further entrench the post-Dobbs landscape.

Are the largest US stocks too dominant?

Ben Snider, Peter Callahan, Allison Nathan

Ben Snyder and Peter Callahan analyze record-breaking market concentration where the S&P 500's top ten stocks now hold 33% of total capitalization, a level unmatched since the 1930s despite current valuations being supported by robust earnings growth rather than speculation. While the "Magnificent Seven" face pressure to sustain revenue gains amid rising AI infrastructure costs, active managers are capitalizing on increasing sector dispersion and finding alpha outside the dominant tech tier. Historical precedents and ongoing investor strategies suggest that such concentrated rallies often conclude with broader market participation rather than immediate collapse, provided the economic backdrop remains stable.