Quartz Obsession

Quartz Obsession

We’re fascinated by everyday objects and what they can tell us about the global economy. Join us every week as reporters from our global newsroom dig into the most fascinating facets of an object: where it came from, how it got to us, and what it can tell us about the forces that are changing the way we live and work.

Episodes

Trailer: The Quartz Obsession podcast

September 24, 2021 • 1 min
Let's go down the rabbit hole, together. Coming Oct. 12, 2021.
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Cash: We just can't quit you

October 12, 2021 • 25 mins
It’s anonymous, it’s stable, and it’s accepted pretty much everywhere. And despite the rise of mobile payments and the ubiquity of credit cards, it’s still moving everything around us; more cash is in circulation than ever. We talk about the pros and cons of cash in a world increasingly dominated by mobile payments, and try to figure out if cash is here to stay. Photo by Eric Helgas; styling by Alex Citrin-Safadi Transcript: https:...
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Randomness: A need for chaos

October 12, 2021 • 23 mins
The global economy needs true randomness to encrypt messages and make sure elections are honest. But not all randomness is random enough, and humans and computers alike are really bad at generating it. So we turn to natural sources like seismic waves, radioactive decay, and lava lamps (yes, lava lamps) to generate it for us. Photo by Eric Helgas; styling by Alex Citrin-Safadi Transcript: https://qz.com/2062955
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CAPTCHA: Made you look

October 19, 2021 • 23 mins
Those internet security tests that ask you to retype blurry numbers or pick out photos of traffic lights have an important job: They stop robots from gumming up the internet. But by using them everywhere, we’re training computers to see the world like we do, and they’re getting really good at it. What happens as it gets harder to prove our humanity online? Photo by Eric Helgas; styling by Alex Citrin-Safadi Transcript: https://qz.c...
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Afrobeats: A global sound

October 26, 2021 • 27 mins
The beat-heavy, electronic music from Nigeria has been gaining a global fan base and is a point of pride across Africa. It’s also finally helping local artists make real money. But is Afrobeats establishing a path to global domination that other genres can follow, or is an entire continent being reduced to one country’s signature sound? Photo by Eric Helgas; styling by Alex Citrin-Safadi Transcript: https://qz.com/2074060
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Business class: Luxury in the sky

November 2, 2021 • 25 mins
Bigger seat, more legroom, even silk pajamas: Flying business class comes with major perks for travelers. It’s also crucial to the entire airline business model. But given the seats’ outsized carbon footprint, how ethical is it to keep flying business class? Photo by Eric Helgas; styling by Alex Citrin-Safadi Transcript: https://qz.com/2077489
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Oat milk: Don't call it creamy

November 9, 2021 • 27 mins
If you’re concerned about sustainability and wellness, chances are you’re a consumer of oat milk, the latest star in the alternative milk scene. But does oat milk have appeal around the world? And who will lose out as big dairy muscles into the alt milk space? Photo by Eric Helgas; styling by Alex Citrin-Safadi Transcript: https://qz.com/2077496
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Kudzu: We've made a big mistake

November 16, 2021 • 24 mins
Kudzu, an ornamental vine from Japan, first appeared on US soil in 1876. More than a century later, the plant has proliferated so uncontrollably that it threatens to choke out native plants in the American South. As the world looks for creative solutions to confront climate change, are we fated to keep repeating our same mistakes? Photo by Eric Helgas; styling by Alex Citrin-Safadi Transcript: https://qz.com/2084567
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Rare earths: Scarcity at your fingertips

November 23, 2021 • 22 mins
A group of 17 elements make up a little-known group called rare earth metals. They are notoriously tricky to extract, which is unfortunate since they’re key components in smartphones, batteries, motors, and wind turbines, and essential to a clean-energy future. China has a near monopoly on the mining and processing of rare earth metals, but as demand for them rises, other countries are looking to get into the game. Photo by Eric He...
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Japanese whisky: One steep sip

November 30, 2021 • 25 mins
After spending decades in relative obscurity, Japanese whisky is finally getting global appreciation for its masterful flavors. Global demand is high, with prices to match. There’s just one problem: There’s no technical definition of Japanese whisky, or formal system to regulate it. Does it matter if not all Japanese whisky is strictly from Japan? Episode art: Photograph by Eric Helgas, styling by Alex Citrin-Safadi Transcript: htt...
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Office chairs: Engineered for extreme sitting

December 7, 2021 • 31 mins
Everyone working from home knows just how painful it is to sit in the wrong kind of chair. Over the course of centuries, the modern office chair has emerged as the pinnacle of ergonomic comfort and support. Today, as a growing number of jobs are behind desks and computers, that design is more important than ever. Photo by Eric Helgas; styling by Alex Citrin-Safadi Transcript: https://qz.com/2084580
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Six Sigma: Manufacturing perfection

December 14, 2021 • 21 mins
In the early 2000s, GE was the world’s most powerful company, and its CEO Jack Welch was a firm believer in the Six Sigma system for eliminating errors in manufacturing. With GE as its poster child, management consultants spread the gospel of Six Sigma to companies everywhere. Now, as GE’s fortunes diminished, so has interest in Six Sigma. But what made this system so special in the first place, and how much is still useful today? ...
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Season 1 recap: Our favorite fun facts

January 18, 2022 • 3 mins
We learned a lot over the course of season 1. Here are some of our favorite nuggets of information.
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Trailer: Season 2

January 25, 2022 • 1 min
A podcast so nice we're doing it (at least) twice. In season two, Kira and Quartz journalists from around the world dig into the fascinating backstories behind everyday ideas, and what they tell us about the forces changing the way we live and work today.
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Puffer jackets: The price of staying warm

February 1, 2022 • 25 mins
Puffer jackets have been worn by outdoorsmen, rappers, the military, luxury shoppers, and—eventually—everyone. Today, the market is still heating up. But as puffer jackets are worn by more people around the world, the difference between high- and low-end options can be increasingly difficult to parse. Are North Face jackets worth their price tag? Does "puffiness" automatically equal warmth? What do puffers from Prada and Uniqlo hav...
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Egg freezing: Put it on ice

February 8, 2022 • 27 mins
As more people aren’t sure whether or when to have kids, a growing number of them are turning to egg freezing, a relatively new and expensive procedure that could help women become parents outside their biological bounds. But how realistic is any promise of parenthood entirely on your terms? Sponsored by Alumni Ventures Photo by Eric Helgas, styling by Alex Citrin-Safadi Transcript: https://qz.com/2122021
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Google docs: Life in the cloud

February 15, 2022 • 28 mins
Google docs has revolutionized the way we work, and now it even functions as a tool for social sharing and political dissent. This is all because the world shifted from saving files locally to storing them in the cloud. But does life in the cloud present risks we aren't thinking about enough?  Sponsored by Alumni Ventures Photo by Eric Helgas; styling by Alex Citrin-Safadi Transcript: https://qz.com/2127812
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Indian weddings: The priciest party of your life

February 22, 2022 • 25 mins
It’s the stuff of Bollywood dreams, come to life—the big fat Indian wedding has withstood the test of time, economic turbulence, social reform, and even modern technology. But when you factor in pent-up pandemic demand, can India’s $50 billion industry possibly keep it up? Sponsored by Alumni Ventures Episode art by Eric Helgas; styling by Alex Citrin-Safadi Transcript: https://qz.com/2130303
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Fish sticks: The ocean's little problem solvers

March 1, 2022 • 24 mins
Fish sticks are more than just an easy way to get kids to eat healthy food. They’re the ocean’s little problem solvers, swimming in to solve a seafood glut after World War II, and to help working parents in need of cheap and easy meals. Now fish sticks might even help solve our latest challenge: an epidemic of global overfishing. Sponsored by Alumni Ventures Photo by Eric Helgas; styling by Alex Citrin-Safadi Transcript: https://qz...
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Disco: Choosing joy

March 8, 2022 • 29 mins
They tried to kill disco, but it will never die. The stubbornly upbeat genre came out of an economically turbulent moment—one to which we see a lot of parallels today. So what is it about a crisis that just makes us want to dance? Sponsored by Alumni Ventures Episode art by Eric Helgas, styling by Alex Citrin-Safadi Transcript: https://qz.com/2138049
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