David Kestenbaum
David Kestenbaum is a correspondent for NPR, covering science, energy issues and, most recently, the global economy for NPR's multimedia project Planet Money. David has been a science correspondent for NPR since 1999. He came to journalism the usual way — by getting a Ph.D. in physics first.
In his years at NPR, David has covered science's discoveries and its darker side, including the Northeast blackout, the anthrax attacks and the collapse of the New Orleans levees. He has also reported on energy issues, particularly nuclear and climate change.
David has won awards from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
David worked briefly on the show This American Life, and set up a radio journalism program in Cambodia on a Fulbright fellowship. He also teaches a journalism class at Johns Hopkins University.
David holds a bachelor's of science degree in physics from Yale University and a doctorate in physics from Harvard University.
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Decades back, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker had a radical idea to fight against inflation.
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The Internet Archive and the University of Maryland launch such a library, and it's free to anyone with an Internet connection. Kids helped design the library, and they had final say on the books.
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The government is getting $100 billion this year, essentially from nowhere. It is the profit made by the Federal Reserve. The Fed is in charge of managing how many dollars are in the economy. It turns out to be a very profitable business, especially since the financial crisis, when the Fed threw an extra $3 trillion into the economy.
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Economic news coming out of China often rattles or rallies global markets. But how reliable is that news? It turns out basic measures like Gross National Product may be far from accurate.
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You can spend millions on lobbyists or ads to influence the presidential election, but it is mostly illegal to bet on who will win the White House. But centuries ago, people bet on the papal election.
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A group of cancer doctors is trying to create a database on cancer drugs. It would give a score for each drug, reflecting how well the drug works. It would also list how much the drug costs.
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Greece is on the verge of an economic nightmare scenario of the modern world. The financial plumbing in Greece is starting to shut down, and the Planet Money podcast finds out the widespread and weird effects.
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It's been 7 years since the financial crisis nearly took down the global economy. Our Planet Money team wondered what the next big mess might be, so they asked three economists for their thoughts.
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When young people go to casinos, they aren't playing slot machines. Our Planet Money team talks to a man who thinks he can make slot machines that younger people will want to play.
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Some casinos are trying to attract players by switching out games based on luck for games relying on skill. This story originally aired on All Things Considered on April 29, 2015.