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David Kestenbaum David Kestenbaum is a science correspondent for NPR. His job allows him to combine his extensive background in physics with his love of broadcast journalism.
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David Kestenbaum

The Great Handbell War

Malmark handbells on the left and Schulmerich bells on the right. malmark.com/schulmerichbells.com hide caption

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malmark.com/schulmerichbells.com

Planet Money

The Great Handbell War

For decades, the world's two biggest handbell companies — headquartered down the street from each other in Pennsylvania — were at each other's throats.

The Great Handbell War

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We Found This 20-Year-Old T-Shirt In Kenya. The Internet Found The Original Owner

Paul Warambo holds up a used T-shirt for sale in Nairobi, Kenya. With the help of the internet, we found the original owner Gregory Warner/NPR hide caption

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Gregory Warner/NPR

Planet Money

We Found This 20-Year-Old T-Shirt In Kenya. The Internet Found The Original Owner

Clothes donated to charity in the U.S. often wind up for sale in African markets. Here's the story of one shirt that started out at a bat mitzvah in Michigan and wound up in a market in Nairobi.

We Found This 20-Year-Old T-Shirt In Kenya. The Internet Found The Original Owner

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Meet The Humble Container That Moves The Global Economy

The container carrying the Planet Money women's T-shirts is loaded onto a ship in Cartagena, Colombia. Eric Helton for NPR hide caption

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Eric Helton for NPR

Planet Money's T-Shirt Project

Meet The Humble Container That Moves The Global Economy

NPR's Planet Money team is manufacturing its own T-shirt. After the women's shirt was assembled in Colombia, they voyaged by container ship to Miami. The container, a big standardized box that moves easily from truck to ship to train, is the unsung hero of the global economy.

Meet The Humble Container That Moves The Global Economy

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The Afterlife Of American Clothes

Bales of imported clothing are wheeled into the Gikombo Market in Nairobi, Kenya. Sarah Elliott for NPR hide caption

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Sarah Elliott for NPR

Planet Money

The Afterlife Of American Clothes

The U.S. exports a billion pounds of used clothes every year. Much of that winds up in used clothing markets in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Afterlife Of American Clothes

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A Bitcoin Insider On Crime, Congress And Satoshi Nakamoto

This is not a bitcoin. eagleapex's posterous/Flickr hide caption

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eagleapex's posterous/Flickr

Planet Money

A Bitcoin Insider On Crime, Congress And Satoshi Nakamoto

"This little baby — what my wife used to call my 'pretend money project' — is really going mainstream," says the chief scientist at the Bitcoin Foundation.

A Bitcoin Insider On Crime, Congress And Satoshi Nakamoto

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What's A Bubble?

Robert Shiller and Eugene Fama shared this year's Nobel Memorial Prize. AP hide caption

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AP

Planet Money

What's A Bubble?

Two Nobel laureates disagree on a basic economic question: Is it possible to reliably spot bubbles before they burst?

What's A Bubble?

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What Happens When You Just Give Money To Poor People?

Bernard Omondi got $1,000 from GiveDirectly. Jacob Goldstein/NPR hide caption

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Jacob Goldstein/NPR

Planet Money

What Happens When You Just Give Money To Poor People?

Kenyans who received money with no strings attached started businesses and bought food for their kids, according to a new study. They didn't spend it on alcohol or cigarettes.

What Happens When You Just Give Money To Poor People?

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What A U.S. Default Would Mean For Pensions, China And Social Security
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Planet Money

What A U.S. Default Would Mean For Pensions, China And Social Security

Whatever happens to a the global economy, one thing is clear: If the U.S. defaults, people all over the world who have loaned the government money won't get paid on time.

What A U.S. Default Would Mean For Pensions, China And Social Security

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One Key Thing No One Knows About Obamacare
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Planet Money

One Key Thing No One Knows About Obamacare

With online health-insurance markets set to open this week, it's still unclear whether healthy people will sign up. Yet the success of the program depends on them.

One Key Thing No One Knows About Obamacare

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Ecuador To World: Pay Up To Save The Rainforest. World To Ecuador: Meh.

An aerial view of the Yasuni National Park, in Ecuador's northeastern jungle. Dolores Ochoa/AP hide caption

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Dolores Ochoa/AP

Planet Money

Ecuador To World: Pay Up To Save The Rainforest. World To Ecuador: Meh.

Oil sits under a pristine swath of the rainforest. Ecuador promised to leave the forest untouched — if the rest of the world would pay up.

Ecuador To World: Pay Up To Save The Rainforest. World To Ecuador: Meh.

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Cash, Cows And The Rise Of Nerd Philanthropy

A family in western Kenya received this cow as part of a Heifer International program. NPR hide caption

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NPR

Planet Money

Cash, Cows And The Rise Of Nerd Philanthropy

Most charities get money from donors and spend it on things they think will help people — schools, medicine, farm animals. GiveDirectly just gives money away. And that poses a challenge to the more traditional charities.

Cash, Cows And The Rise Of Nerd Philanthropy

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The Charity That Just Gives Money To Poor People

Bernard Omondi got $1,000 from GiveDirectly. Jacob Goldstein/NPR hide caption

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Jacob Goldstein/NPR

Planet Money

The Charity That Just Gives Money To Poor People

There are no strings attached. People can spend the money on whatever they want, and they never have to pay it back.

The Charity That Just Gives Money To Poor People

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Economy

Better Accounting Will Boost U.S. GDP

On Wednesday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis will release new statistics on the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the second quarter. The main number — the total value of all goods and services produced in the United States — will be about 3 percent bigger than it would have been. It won't be bigger because of a change in the economy, but rather a change in accounting.

Better Accounting Will Boost U.S. GDP

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