The Economist. So I'm going to start us in the past.
And I hope the doors are unlocked.
If not, we'll get them unlocked.
I'm being given a tour of a museum of glass by its president, Carol White.
We start with the origins of glassmaking in ancient Mesopotamia,
then it spreads to Egypt and then across the Mediterranean.
White has a PhD in Roman glass.
If she hosted a podcast, it would be called Boss Glass.
And if you can think of a type of glass, her museum probably has it.
These are perfume vessels, more perfume vessels.
More fabulous Italian glass.
That's amazing.
So you see a Pyrex measuring cup in here as well.
These look like jellyfish.
Yes, exactly.
Jellyfish and sea slugs and sea anemones, little octopi and squid.
This is actually a prayer rug made of glass.
Oh, wow.
I'm in a town called Corning in upstate New York.
It's a quiet place of about 10,000 people with tree-lined streets,