Podcast Episodes

What Happens in Vegas...Might Tell Us Something About the US Economy

Season 1 Episode 84

With traffic down, gambling down, and hotel prices bottoming out, everyone’s asking: Is Las Vegas dead? Nate and Maria wade into the frenzy with some real data and hard-won experience. They talk abou…

Published on 2 months ago

What to Make of the NBA Sports Betting Scandal

Season 1 Episode 83

Last week, two federal indictments and several high-profile arrests rocked the NBA. One indictment accused defendants of sharing insider information to cheat at sports betting, and the other accused …

Published on 2 months ago

Lessons From A Marathoner (with Nicholas Thompson)

Season 1 Episode 82

Nate and Maria sit down with the elite amateur runner Nicholas Thompson (who also happens to be the CEO of The Atlantic) to talk about his new book The Running Ground. They discuss what running can t…

Published on 2 months, 1 week ago

The Canal, the Crash and the Ketamine - Pushkin's Reign of Error

Season 1

We have a special episode for you today! In which Nate and Maria join their fellow Pushkin hosts to dive deep into the art of failure.

Tim Harford of Cautionary Tales shares stories of minor mistakes…

Published on 2 months, 1 week ago

What Democrats Should Take from No Kings Protests

Season 1 Episode 81

Over the weekend, some 5 million people across the United States marched in ‘No Kings’ protests. Nate and Maria sit down to talk about why this matters, the psychology of protests, and how Democratic…

Published on 2 months, 2 weeks ago

What the Nobels Tell Us About the World Right Now

Season 1 Episode 80

The 2025 Nobel Prizes have now been announced, and Maria convinces Nate to learn about the winners. They discuss the selection process, the economic award for research on “creative destruction,” and …

Published on 2 months, 2 weeks ago

Good Call/Bad Call: Bari Weiss as CBS’s New Editor-in-Chief

Season 1 Episode 79

Last week, Paramount bought digital news site The Free Press for $150 million, and made one of its founders, Bari Weiss, the new editor-in-chief of CBS. Everyone has opinions on Weiss…and so do Nate …

Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago

Adam McKay is Still Angry About 2008 from Against the Rules: The Big Short Companion

Season 1

When Adam McKay decided to make a movie based on The Big Short, he was mainly known for his comedies. But he managed to get a bevy of star actors — among them Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Steve Carell an…

Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago

What Jane Goodall Teaches Us About Outsider Thought

Season 1 Episode 78

Pioneering primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall died last week at 91. Nate and Maria talk about Jane’s career path and how her research influenced the fields of both animal and human cogniti…

Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago

With Sora 2, We’re Climbing Higher on the Dystopia Scale

Season 1 Episode 77

Nate and Maria discuss how and when the government shutdown is most likely to end. Then, they turn to OpenAI’s newest release: Sora 2, an AI video generation app that allows users to create a video f…

Published on 2 months, 4 weeks ago