Podcast Episodes
Back to Search1. Steven Pinker: "I Manage My Controversy Portfolio Carefully”
Episode 1
By cataloging the steady march of human progress, the Harvard psychologist and linguist has become a very public intellectual. But the self-declared …
2 months, 1 week ago
173. Steve Levitt Says Goodbye to People I (Mostly) Admire
Episode 173
In the last episode of the podcast, Stephen Dubner turns the microphone on Steve Levitt. They talk about Levitt’s favorite — and least favorite — mom…
2 months, 3 weeks ago
Ninety-Eight Years of Economic Wisdom (Replay)
Episode 108
The late Robert Solow was a giant among economists. When he was 98 years old he told Steve about cracking German codes in World War II, why it’s so h…
3 months ago
172. A New Kind of University
Episode 172
Michael Crow is the president of Arizona State University, which U.S. News & World Report has called the most innovative school in the country for 11…
3 months, 1 week ago
171. Measuring Pollution on Parallel Earths
Episode 171
Michael Greenstone knows it’s corny, but he wants to make the world a better place — by tracking the impact of air quality, developing pollution mark…
3 months, 2 weeks ago
Suleika Jaouad’s Survival Mechanisms (Replay)
Episode 132
Suleika Jaouad was diagnosed with cancer at 22. She made her illness the subject of a New York Times column and a memoir, Between Two Kingdoms. She a…
3 months, 3 weeks ago
170. Finding the God Particle
Episode 170
Physicist and former pop star Brian Cox tells Steve about discovering the Higgs boson, having a number-one hit, and why particle physics research wil…
4 months ago
169. Decoding the World’s First Writing
Episode 169
Irving Finkel is an expert on cuneiform — the oldest known writing system. He tells Steve the amazing story of how an ancient clay tablet unlocked th…
4 months, 2 weeks ago
Is There a Fair Way to Divide Us? (Update)
Episode 146
Moon Duchin is a math professor at the University of Chicago whose theoretical work has practical applications for voting and democracy. Why is striv…
4 months, 3 weeks ago
168. Chemistry, Evolved
Episode 168
Frances Arnold pioneered the process of directed evolution — mimicking natural selection to create new enzymes that have changed everything from agri…
5 months ago