This week, our staff takes an interest in data on Cook County expenditures and federal housing programs, how man and dog became intertwined, and the prospect of pumping oil through one of North America’s largest rainforests.

Can we trust even the most seemingly reputable public figures? How will we address the needs of our aging population? Can destroying 70,000 homes actually make a city a better place to live? And, for good measure, what is real? Our staff has a lot to think about this week.

Our staff has been studying failure, it seems: failed industries, failed fortunes, business failures, a “house of the future” destroyed by a flood. More details below:

This week, our staff explored new trends changing the way the worlds of manufacturing, capitalism, and expanding cities and finds out how the internet gifted Detroit with RoboCop.

This week, our staff wonders about disappearing Chicago neighborhoods and vanishing identities, ponders the solution to suburban Sunbelt poverty, finds out that some payday lenders are partnering with Indian tribes to circumvent regulations, and looks for truly delectable Japanese beef in America.

This week, our staff takes an unusual interest in Camden, New Jersey, and its police problems and medical successes, looks for guidance before running a marathon, and discovers that we can now precisely control an army of nematodes. Who knew?