This episode is presented by eBay.

Rob, everyone loves a deal and a bargain from time to time, don't they? Absolutely, mate. And you know where you can grab a great deal? Talk to me. Where? The eBay app. Yes, you are correct. You didn't need to talk to me. I already knew it. I love eBay. When you're buying, you can discover loads of hidden gems. there's so many items where you think I would have never found that anywhere else.

Then when you're buying, you can discover loads of hidden gems. There's so many items where you think I would have never found that anywhere else. Then when you're selling, it's so simple and most

importantly, free. It's free, Rob. When it's this easy to sell for free and there's great deals

on things you love. You can't help but say when it's eBay. It excludes vehicles and business

sellers.

Welcome to Science Talk, the weekly podcast of Scientific American.

On this episode, we'll talk to Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Tom Friedman about his newest book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded, Why We Need a Green Revolution,

and How It Can can renew America,

which was published on September 8th.

Plus, we'll test your knowledge about some recent science in the news.

Tom Friedman is the Foreign Affairs columnist for the Times.

His first beat for the Times was in 1981 as a financial reporter specializing in coverage of OPEC and oil-related issues.

I spoke to him back on July 24th, just before he left for an extended visit to the melting glaciers of Greenland.

I called him at his office in Washington, D.C.

Tom Friedman, hot, flat, and crowded. Tell us what that means.

Well, you know, basically what it means is that what we're seeing out in the world today,

it seems to me, is that the convergence of three, you know, big, big seismic events.

The first is obviously global warming. The second is what I call global flattening, which is really just my shorthand for the rise of middle classes all across the world in bigger numbers than ever before, from China to Brazil to India to Russia,

middle classes that increasingly have the kind of energy and consumption patterns, demands, and aspirations of Americans.

And at the same time, global crowding, global population growth, the fact that when I was

born in 1953, there were about 2.68 billion people on the planet.

...