How the Media Failed Its COVID Test: The Truth Behind the Lab Leak and Masking Debates

How the Media Failed Its COVID Test: The Truth Behind the Lab Leak and Masking Debates

Today’s episode is a long one: It’s about the debate over media coverage of COVID. Three years after the fateful March of 2020, when it feels like the world shut down for COVID, we are revisiting two of the most contentious debates in this space. No. 1: The lab leak hypothesis; which is the debate over the possibility that COVID originated at a laboratory in China and not, as the official story went, at a wet market in Wuhan. And no. 2: the mask debate. And why a seemingly simple question—do masks work—is so hard to answer. Today’s guests are Dan Engber, a science writer and editor at The Atlantic who has chronicled the ups and downs of the media’s relationship to the lab leak. And Jason Abaluck, a Yale economist who has conducted masking research in Bangladesh. Host: Derek Thompson Guests: Dan Engber & Jason Abaluck Producer: Devon Manze Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episoder(362)

America's Tax System Is Broken

America's Tax System Is Broken

If you're a typical worker with a salary, you have almost no control over how much tax you owe. But if you own a company worth billions of dollars, the income tax is, in the words of my guest today, "...

24 Mar 1h 4min

The Casino-ification of America

The Casino-ification of America

In 2017, Americans legally bet about $5 billion on sports. Last year, that number rose to $160 billion. Gambling hasn’t just taken over sports. It’s invaded culture, politics, and even international w...

20 Mar 1h 11min

"Yes, AI Is a Bubble. There Is No Question."

"Yes, AI Is a Bubble. There Is No Question."

The AI buildout continues to break records, as the hyperscalers pour hundreds of billions of dollars into chips and data centers, even as investors punish their stock prices. But the revenue side of t...

17 Mar 1h 9min

The Pill That Works Even When You Know It's Fake

The Pill That Works Even When You Know It's Fake

Why do placebo effects work, even when patients know that they're taking a sugar pill? How do "nocebo" effects work, and why do some people hold onto beliefs that they suspect might bring them pain an...

13 Mar 1h 11min

The Economic Crisis of the Iran War Goes Far Beyond Oil

The Economic Crisis of the Iran War Goes Far Beyond Oil

The Strait of Hormuz is the tiny bottleneck that could destabilize the global economy. As a critical passageway for crude oil, natural gas, and critical inputs for fertilizer, computer chips, and plas...

10 Mar 55min

"American Democracy as We Know It Might Not Survive This Technology"

"American Democracy as We Know It Might Not Survive This Technology"

What happens when the two biggest stories in the world—the Trump White House and the development of advanced artificial intelligence—collide? Well, nothing good, apparently. When contract negotiations...

9 Mar 1h 4min

Trump Is Doubling Down on Iran. How Should Democrats Respond?

Trump Is Doubling Down on Iran. How Should Democrats Respond?

Donald Trump’s polling has continued to edge down week after week. And yet approval of the Democratic Party is still stuck near its all-time low, according to Gallup and other surveys. One interpreta...

6 Mar 42min

The Four Ways That the Iran War Could End

The Four Ways That the Iran War Could End

Dramatic regime change. Moderate regime evolution. A calamitous regional conflict. Or … no change at all. Today we consider how the Iran conflict might evolve following the killing of Supreme Leader K...

3 Mar 55min

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