Podcast Episodes

Is my favorite new tv show this year a ripoff?

Episode 119

The makers of the medical drama The Pitt have been sued. The allegation: that the show is an unauthorized copy of ER. 

This week, investigative reporter Nicholas Kulish walks us through the ensuing d…

Published on 7 hours ago

The Obituary

Episode 118

Not long after Alex’s wife Whitney dies, he looks at her obituary and discovers something strange. A sect of people online has hijacked her story and turned it into a disturbing conspiracy theory.

C…

Published on 6 days, 23 hours ago

How does a rationalist make a baby?

Episode 117

A member of an unusual Bay Area community decides to try to have a baby in an unusual way – by putting out a very large prize for anyone who can help her find a mate. How the internet shaped one pers…

Published on 3 weeks ago

A Dubai Chocolate theory of the internet

Episode 116

Garbage Day's Ryan Broderick traces the rise of this goopy green chocolate, and explains how Chinese social media is beginning to tug on US culture in unexpected ways.

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Published on 1 month ago

Are microplastics really a problem?

Our listener Louisa is very annoyed by her sister’s preoccupation with keeping her children away from microplastics. Louisa wonders: are people with microplastics anxiety kind of overdoing it? 

Searc…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

What does it feel like to believe in God? (classic)

This week, we try to understand an experience that 74% of Americans routinely report having. The first of many conversations (perhaps?). This one, an interview with Zvika Krieger.

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Published on 2 months ago

The Cuddly Killer (classic)

A question that has launched a battle between bird-loving ecologists and ardent, cat-defending activists. What should we do about an invasive species beloved by many Americans -- cats? We hear from p…

Published on 2 months, 1 week ago

Why'd I take speed for twenty years? - Part 2 (classic)

In part two of our story about ADHD medications, we approach the question from a different angle.

We meet a doctor who spent two decades convinced that her brain does not work correctly, and who stru…

Published on 2 months, 2 weeks ago

Why'd I take speed for twenty years? - Part 1 (classic)

One of the millions of millennials given prescription stimulants to treat ADHD decides to quit. And afterwards wonders -- how did these drugs becomes so popular, so fast? This week, the story of amph…

Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago

The Psychic Question

A journalist finds out that many of his vaunted mentors are seeing a psychic. The same psychic. He decides to pay her a visit. 

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Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago