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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The 1964 World's Fair showcased jet packs and other miracles of science. Here's how people back then thought the future would look (and how it actually turned out).
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It's one of the most popular items, but often it seems to be as far as humanly possible from the entrance. The Planet Money team looks at two very different theories about why that is.
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One hungry reporter goes on a quest to find out why his package of Peanut Butter M&M's weighs 0.06 ounces less than a package of Milk Chocolate M&M's.
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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.
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In the early 1990s, Colombian drug cartels had a problem: They had more money than they knew what to do with. So a pair of federal agents created an offshore bank.
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In the early 1990s, Colombian drug cartels had a problem: They had more money than they knew what to do with. So a pair of federal agents created an offshore bank.
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The race for ever-faster trades has "absolutely no social value," says a billionaire who helped bring computers to financial markets.
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The scandal over interest-rate manipulation seems dry until you consider what happened to Dan Sullivan. He may have lost a million dollars as a result — and he's just one of many who say they've been harmed
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China's foreign-exchange reserves are worth over $3 trillion. That's a problem for China, and for the U.S.
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It sounds ridiculous today. But not so long ago, the prospect of a debt-free U.S. was seen as a real possibility with the potential to upset the global financial system.