Humor & Fun

Over 500 million Rubik's Cubes have been sold.

The Rubik's cube is turning 50. This is how the iconic puzzle really works

The Rubik's Cube was created 50 years ago by Hungarian inventor Ernő Rubik. Since then, over 500 million of them have been sold. We dive into this global phenomenon that's captured the imagination of countless people around the world and inspired all kinds of competitions — even solving with your feet! But no matter the cube, the process of solving one involves math — specifically, algorithms. Roman Chavez loved Rubik's Cubes so much, he founded the Jr. Oakland Cubers in high school. Now a mathematics student at Cornell University, Roman talks to host Emily Kwong about how to solve the cube and what life lessons he's learned from the cube.

Interested in more math episodes? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.
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Sam Reich is the CEO of Dropout, a streamer which has fresh takes on the gameshow format and has been updating the content business model.

Quality chills and feel good content on Dropout

It seems like there are countless streamers these days – there's Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, Max, Peacock, Roku, just to name a few. Still, success and profit remain elusive to even some of the biggest in the biz. However there is one smaller streamer that seems to have found a path to prosperity: Dropout. In this encore episode, IBAM host Brittany Luse sat down with Dropout CEO Sam Reich earlier this year to find out how his company is forging a path to success in a successful market, all while revamping the gameshow format. The pair also play a little gameshow game.

Want to be featured on IBAM? Record a voice memo responding to Brittany's question at the end of the episode and send it to ibam@npr.org.
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