Podcast:The Economics of Everyday Things Published On: Mon Mar 31 2025 Description: We reach for it twice a day — without thinking about the decades of research and engineering that went into that squeezable tube of minty goo. Zachary Crockett extracts the last bit. SOURCES:Stephan Habif, chief technology officer at Colgate-Palmolive.Sergio Leite, global head of Oral Care R&D at Colgate-Palmolive.Peter Miskell, professor of international business history at the University of Reading. EXTRAS:"History of Toothpaste" (Delta Dental of Arkansas, 2019)."Cavity Protection or Cosmetic Perfection? Innovation and Marketing of Toothpaste Brands in the United States and Western Europe, 1955–1985," by Peter Miskell (Business History Review, 2011). RESOURCES:"9,000-Year-Old Dentistry," by WIRED Staff (WIRED, 2006).