UnCommon Law

Bloomberg Industry Group•news.bloomberglaw.com

On UnCommon Law, legal issues, public policy, and storytelling collide. We'll explore the most important legal stories of the day: Is affirmative action in college admissions constitutional? Is it time to kill the bar exam? Should social media face special legal scrutiny? What are law firms doing to fix their lack of diversity? This podcast, hosted by Matthew S. Schwartz, was the winner of the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award for Media and the Arts.

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Episodes

Business, Interrupted

Businesses all across the country have been shutdown for days, weeks, or even months at a time due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many assumed their insurance policies would help them defray some of their lost revenue. But those assumptions were, by and large, wrong. In this special audio documentary, “Business, Interrupted” we look at why insurers denied the claims of their shuttered policyholders. A team of reporters from Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Tax look into the so-called “virus exclusion” ...

Nov 12, 2020•41 min•Ep. 1

7. Business of Bees: Live in Seattle [Bonus Episode]

A discussion of the state of pollinator ecology and economics hosted by Adam Allington at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting. Guests include Peter Nelson, director of the documentary film, “The Pollinators,” and Donna McDermott, a PhD candidate at Emory University studying the impact of pesticides on bumble bee behavior.

Feb 26, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 7

6. Of Pollinators and Pesticides

Bees are up against a lot these days: a shrinking habitat, invasive mites, Colony Collapse Disorder, and even the pesticides on the crops they help pollinate. Hosts Adam Allington, Tiffany Stecker and David Schultz dig into recent studies that show nectar and pollen contaminated with insecticides may be harming bees much more than previously thought.

Jun 20, 2019•28 min•Season 1Ep. 6

5. Invasion of the Beehive Bodysnatchers

The drastic decline in honeybee populations is no secret. For years, pesticides were thought to be the leading cause of increased die-offs. But new studies suggest that the parasite Varroa destructor, which sounds like it belongs in a sci-fi film, might be affecting bee health more than we thought.

Jun 13, 2019•24 min•Season 1Ep. 5

4. Honeybees Don’t Need to be ‘Saved’

Fluffy black and yellow-striped honeybees are the poster species for environmentalists working to save these struggling insects. But what about the other thousands of bee species pollinating crops and flowers? Hosts Adam Allington and David Schultz explore how the honeybee came to be the classic bee.

Jun 06, 2019•20 min•Season 1Ep. 4

3. How Bees and Farmers Got Together

Commercial honey bees take laps around the U.S. to pollinate fruits, veggies and nuts – and their services aren’t cheap. But they are essential. Hosts Adam Allington and Tiffany Stecker talk with farmers in California about the rising costs of hives and how those traveling bees could be pushing native pollinators out of their habitats.

May 30, 2019•22 min•Season 1Ep. 3

2. Apis Mellifera

Hosts Adam Allington and David Schultz take us back to the earliest days of beekeeping in Egypt and tell us how humans and honeybees formed a partnership that has spanned thousands of years and several continents. In addition to the obvious benefits of producing honey, Apis Mellifera, also known as the European honeybee, has also inspired the imagination of thinkers and philosophers from the “land of milk and honey,” up to a 19th century minister who invented the modern beehive.

May 23, 2019•18 min•Season 1Ep. 2

1. The Big Business of Bees

In the premiere episode of Business of Bees, we dive deep into the modern bee-conomy. Hosts Adam Allington and Tiffany Stecker start in the almond fields of California, where farmers need bees for the largest managed pollination event in the world. The effects of Colony Collapse Disorder are still being felt, but we find out that the business of bees is actually booming.

May 16, 2019•21 min•Season 1Ep. 1

Introducing: Business of Bees

These days about one in three bites of food you eat wouldn’t be possible without commercial bee pollination. And the economic value of insect pollination worldwide is estimated to be about $217 billion. But as important as bees have become for farming, there’s also increasing signs that bees are in trouble. In the decade-plus since the first cases of Colony Collapse Disorder were reported, bees are still dying in record numbers, and important questions remain unanswered. Over the course of one y...

May 02, 2019•2 min

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