This week, Encyclopedia Britannica celebrates its 250th birthday. That’s remarkable, but what may be more surprising is the simple fact that it’s still around. The company went fully digital six years ago. No more tomes on shelves. That pivot is part of the company’s history of being pretty revolutionary. When it began, Encyclopedia Britannica’s founders published in English instead of Latin, making it a resource for the masses. Today, given that pretty much everyone gets most of their information on the internet, Encyclopedia Britannica is literally inserting itself online, wherever possible, to provide context and stay relevant. Marketplace’s Jed Kim talks with Karthik Krishnan, CEO of Encyclopedia Britannica. Today’s show is sponsored by Colgate University and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

The United Nations’ International Maritime Organization is committed to cutting shipping emissions in half by 2050. That matters because shipping moves 90 percent of global trade. Right now, if shipping were a country, its emissions would rank sixth in the world. Part of the solution will be tech. Marketplace’s Jed Kim talks with James Corbett, a professor in the School of Marine Science and Policy at the University of Delaware, about high-tech sails. And, no, these aren’t the flapping sheets you’re thinking of. Corbett mentioned one solution being developed in Japan — a rigid surface covered with solar panels. Today’s show is sponsored by Colgate University and Logi Analytics.

In the United States, would-be internet stars turn to YouTube, Twitch or Instagram. In China, it’s a livestreaming platform called YY, where creators sing or tell jokes to an audience that pays them directly in the form of digital gifts. Top streamers can make $100,000 a month or more, and lots of people now want in on the action. A new documentary about China’s livestreaming economy, “People’s Republic of Desire,” is in some U.S. theaters now. It’s about loneliness, fame and greed. Molly Wood talks with the film’s director Hao Wu about how China’s livestreamers are mostly looking for a better life.

It’s been almost six months since the Federal Communications Commission repealed net neutrality rules. Today is the deadline for the House of Representatives to overturn that decision, although no one expects that to happen. But what has the repeal meant for ordinary people? Well, according to new research, it’s meant wireless carriers potentially slowing down your video streams. Molly Wood talks with David Choffnes, one of the researchers. He’s assistant professor of computer and information science at Northeastern University. Today’s show is sponsored by Mozilla  and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

Earlier this week, Google’s self-driving car spinoff, Waymo, launched a commercial self-driving taxi service in the Phoenix area. It’s limited, but it’s technically a public launch, not just testing. And this is a case where the tech moved faster than the laws. Proposed federal rules for regulating self-driving cars called the AV START Act have been stuck in neutral for about a year. But this week senators updated the language in the bill. They’re even considering attaching it to the must-pass budget legislation that Congress will decide on before the end of the year. Molly Wood talks about it with Aarian Marshall, who covers autonomous vehicles for Wired magazine. Today’s show is sponsored by Colgate University.

For a time it seemed like tech might free us from the bonds of geography. In theory, fast internet meant new economic opportunity in any city. And telecommuting and video conferencing meant we could work from anywhere. But in reality, the geographic digital divide is as wide, and in fact even wider than it ever was. Recently Amazon decided its new headquarters could only go in big cities with a big tech workforce. That just solidified the fact that technology and the digital economy are less evenly distributed than ever. Molly Wood talks with Mark Muro, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and lead author of the 2017 report “Digitalization and the American Workforce.” Today’s show is sponsored by Colgate University.  

More than 40 percent of Americans still have a landline, at least according to a 2017 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People keep them for convenience, reliability and emergencies so they can still make calls if the power goes out due to an earthquake, fire or other disaster. But only about 20 percent of households have good old copper phone lines, according to the trade group USTelecom. The rest are digital connections or voice over internet protocol. AT&T has been pushing for almost a decade to drop analog landline service and move to an all-digital network for landlines. Telecom companies say it’s a lot cheaper to operate just one network. But are IP phone lines as reliable as the old tech? Molly Wood talks with Joan Engebretson, executive editor at Telecompetitor, an industry publication focused on broadband and telecom.

At the heart of the creator economy is video, whether it’s YouTube videos in a home studio or online documentaries or social videos. And, at some point, everybody realizes you can only do so much on a phone. But high-end digital cameras and proper audio gear are expensive and in the past were made more for moviemaking than for creating short, shareable web videos. Enter Kristina Budelis, co-founder and president of KitSplit, a startup that got $2 million in funding earlier this year. It lets creators and businesses who own camera and audio gear rent it out to others. Molly Wood talks with Budelis about how the creator economy is even changing how manufacturers make their stuff. Today’s show is sponsored by the University of Florida Warrington College of Business and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

We all had a party on Twitter last week when NASA landed a new probe on Mars. But for people to land or live on Mars, they’ll have to survive in a hostile environment where you can’t just run to the hardware store for new tools … or a new satellite or new habitat. So some companies are trying to move manufacturing to space. NASA contracted with one company, Made in Space, to use a 3D printer to make tools on the International Space Station. One day it may be able to “print” satellites in space. Molly Wood talks with Andrew Rush, president and CEO of Made in Space.