Revitalizing American innovation

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2022

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Since World War II, the United States has prided itself on being a global leader in technological innovation. But shepherding those innovations from the lab to the masses has proven to be a sticking point.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR.
0:07.0	Derek Thompson, staff writer for The Atlantic magazine. Welcome to the show.
0:16.0	Yeah, hi.
0:17.0	You have an article out today looking at something you'd coin the Ureca myth, the idea that
0:22.0	we lionize inventors, but we ignore the good work of getting those inventions out to people.
0:28.8	You argue it's a particular problem in the US, but you start in 18th century England
0:33.6	with the story of the first vaccine.
0:35.8	So tell me that story.
0:38.3	May 14th, 1796 is a golden day in the history of science.
0:43.5	The physician Edward Jenner sticks a blade that is slick with the ooze of a kelp pox blister
0:51.6	into the arm of the young boy named James Febs.
0:54.0	Yummy.
0:55.0	This is not a particularly moral thing to do, by the way.
0:58.0	The ethics board was a little looser back in those days.
1:00.9	It was a lot looser back in those days.
1:02.8	In any case, everyone gets lucky.
1:05.9	Young James comes down with a bit of the chills, but he recovers very swiftly.
1:10.4	And Edward Jenner realizes that he has done something remarkable.
1:13.6	He has immunized this boy from smallpox by injecting him with the postural of cowpox.
1:21.2	This is this pivotal moment in history.
1:23.5	And then we fast forward to today and smallpox is eliminated.
1:28.4	Well, wait, let me stop you there.
	...

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