Axios reporter Brady Dale explains why the cryptocurrency industry is spending millions on down-ballot races and supporting candidates from both sides of the political aisle.

“It’s hard to be a woman in tech,” says Lisa Mae Brunson, founder of Wonder Women Tech. Pre-pandemic, the industry was eager to invest in DEI. But culture change proved difficult, she says, and the political climate shifted.

In our “Decoding Democracy” series, Danielle Lee Tomson, research manager at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, explains that rumors of noncitizen voting are fueling uncertainty around the election.

NASA astronauts have been stuck in space since June. Steven Feldstein, senior fellow at Carnegie’s Democracy, Conflict and Governance program, explains why the space agency leaned on SpaceX to help bring them back home by next February.

Wall Street Journal senior personal technology columnist Joanna Stern joins Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino for Tech Bytes: Week in Review.

Kristin Bride’s son Carson died by suicide at 16 after being a victim of cyberbullying. Since then, she’s advocated for better online guardrails.

Tech companies asked for regulation of artificial intelligence, but there’s little agreement on the California Legislature’s approach. Chase DiFeliciantonio of The San Francisco Chronicle says Gov. Newsom faces a difficult decision and isn’t showing his hand.

Users need to learn to identify these design tricks on websites and apps, says Yanely Espinal of Marketplace’s “Financially Inclined.”

When it comes to writing jokes, artificial intelligence isn’t ready for prime time, says the BBC’s Megan Lawton. But comedians are finding other ways to use the technology in shaping their acts.