There are a lot of ways to imagine how the world will end - but there is a real apocalyptic threat that would grind our global economy to a halt. And almost nobody is talking about it. Natural rubber is a 26 billion dollar industry. It is the backbone of the economy - crammed into everything from our clothing to medical necessities. Without it, planes can't land and trucks can't drive. Host Kal Penn traces the path of this vital commodity from trees to tires and learns about the very real threats to rubber, which could eliminate it from the planet entirely. Kal starts off in Philadelphia, where 12,000-pound monster trucks flip, fly and crash, all on giant rubber monster tires. He then travels from a disease lab in England to a desolate airplane graveyard in the Mojave Desert as he learns from experts about the formidable threats to rubber, and how immediate those threats are. From there, Kal heads to Thailand to follow the path of rubber, beginning with tapping latex at a rubber tree plantation all the way to Singapore, where he learns how it's traded, and how futures contract traders use rubber as a tool for personal enrichment. This episode features appearances by Meghan Trainor, Tone Bell, and Bobby Moynihan.