Podcast Episodes
Back to Search618. Are Realtors Having an Existential Crisis?
Episode 618
Their trade organization just lost a huge lawsuit. Their infamous commission model is under attack. And there are way too many of them. If they go the way of travel agents, will we miss them when the…
Published on 11 months, 1 week ago
617. Are You Really Allergic to Penicillin?
Episode 617
Like tens of millions of people, Stephen Dubner thought he had a penicillin allergy. Like the vast majority, he didn’t. This misdiagnosis costs billions of dollars and causes serious health problems,…
Published on 11 months, 2 weeks ago
Highway Signs and Prison Labor
Incarcerated people grow crops, fight wildfires, and manufacture everything from prescription glasses to highway signs — often for pennies an hour. Zachary Crockett takes the next exit, in this speci…
Published on 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Can Academic Fraud Be Stopped? (Update)
Episode 573
Probably not — the incentives are too strong. But a few reformers are trying. We check in on their progress, in an update to an episode originally published last year. (Part 2 of 2)
SOURCES:Max Bazer…
Published on 11 months, 4 weeks ago
Why Is There So Much Fraud in Academia? (Update)
Episode 572
Some of the biggest names in behavioral science stand accused of faking their results. Last year, an astonishing 10,000 research papers were retracted. In a series originally published in early 2024,…
Published on 1 year ago
Your Brain Doesn’t Work the Way You Think
David Eagleman upends myths and describes the vast possibilities of a brainscape that even neuroscientists are only beginning to understand. Steve Levitt interviews him in this special episode of Peo…
Published on 1 year ago
616. How to Make Something from Nothing
Episode 616
Adam Moss was the best magazine editor of his generation. When he retired, he took up painting. But he wasn’t very good, and that made him sad. So he wrote a book about how creative people work— and,…
Published on 1 year ago
615. Is Ozempic as Magical as It Sounds?
Episode 615
In a wide-ranging conversation with Ezekiel Emanuel, the policymaking physician and medical gadfly, we discuss the massive effects of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. We also talk abou…
Published on 1 year ago
How the Supermarket Helped America Win the Cold War (Update)
Episode 386
Last week, we heard a former U.S. ambassador describe Russia’s escalating conflict with the U.S. Today, we revisit a 2019 episode about an overlooked front in the Cold War — a “farms race” that, deca…
Published on 1 year ago
614. Is the U.S. Sleeping on Threats from Russia and China?
Episode 614
John J. Sullivan, a former State Department official and U.S. ambassador, says yes: “Our politicians aren’t leading — Republicans or Democrats.” He gives a firsthand account of a fateful Biden-Putin …
Published on 1 year ago