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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Our Planet Money team has a story about a man who realized at the time that he was the only person in the world with his job. It was a job selling something almost no one wanted.
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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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An economic indicator commonly called the VIX, volatility index, is also known as the fear index. Whatever you call it, the index is hitting lows not seen since before the financial crisis.
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It's hard to find anything in a store that costs 1 penny. There is one place where people still dream of 1 cent sales: the Internet. NPR's planet money team reports on the value of the virtual penny.
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How much of what we think of as the beautiful sound of a Stradivarius is the instrument itself — and how much is the brand? -
You can trace 4,000 years of economic growth through the history of light. The ways we got from a candle, made from of animal fat, to the LED lights we have today tell a lot about our modern economy.
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Buying insurance doesn't always feel like it makes economic sense, especially for young healthy people. So why are they still willing to pay? -
Nearly 2,000 new top-level Internet domains are becoming available. Which are the most popular so far? And what will become of .com?
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For decades, the Supreme Court ruled that laws regulating things like wages and working conditions were unconstitutional. That changed during the Great Depression, when one of the justices switched sides, paving the way for the Fair Labor Standards Act. -
Decades ago, amid fears of rapid population growth, a biologist and an economist made a bet about how many people the planet could sustain. Global population is now estimated to top 7.1 billion. So who won the famous bet?
