Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi is a host and reporter for Planet Money, telling stories that creatively explore and explain the workings of the global economy. He's a sucker for a good supply chain mystery — from toilet paper to foster puppies to specialty pastas. He's drawn to tales of unintended consequences, like the time a well-intentioned chemistry professor unwittingly helped unleash a global market for synthetic drugs, or what happened when the U.S. Patent Office started granting patents on human genes. And he's always on the lookout for economic principles at work in unexpected places, like the tactics comedians use to protect their intellectual property (a.k.a. jokes).
The U.S. is seeing a surge in avian flu. It's in chickens and cows and even sickened a few humans. Here's how other countries have dealt with the virus.
On Thursday morning, Mike Mills said that it would take "a comet" for R.E.M. to get back together. But on Thursday night, R.E.M. got back together to perform the band's unexpected 1991 hit at the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony.