The Big 2025 Economy Forecast: AI and Big Tech, Nuclear’s Renaissance, Trump vs. China, and What’s Eating Europe?
Happy new year! And what better way to celebrate the freshly torn calendar page than by welcoming one of Derek's favorite writers to the show to tell us what's in store for the 2025 economy. Michael C...
7 Jan 20251h 10min
The Year's Biggest Breakthroughs in Science and Tech (Feat.: OK, But Seriously, What Is Quantum Computing?)
Our final episode of the year is also my favorite annual tradition: conversations with scientists about the most important and, often, just plain mind-blowing breakthroughs of the previous 12 months. ...
31 Dec 20241h 16min
A Mysterious Health Wave Is Breaking Out Across the U.S.
Why do Americans die younger than citizens of other rich countries? The most important reason is that life in America is inexcusably dangerous. The U.S. has more fatalities from gun violence, drug ove...
27 Dec 20241h 7min
The Productivity Paradox: Why Less Is More With Oliver Burkeman
So, here’s a scenario: It’s Monday. And you open up whatever calendar or planner or to-do list you use to organize the essential activities of the upcoming week. There’s a large project due Thursday. ...
20 Dec 20241h 1min
Why American Health Care Is a "Broken System"
Last week, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot to death outside a hotel in Manhattan by a young man motivated by rage at the insurance industry. His rage is clearly felt widely. In the afterm...
13 Dec 20241h 21min
Is Crypto Entering a New Golden Age—or Just a New Era of Failed Promises?
The crypto industry seems poised for a new golden age. But what exactly does that mean? Who would benefit? And, oh by the way, what does this technology do other than serve as a set of assets to bet t...
6 Dec 202450min
Megapod: Why Is There So Much BS in Psychology?
In the last decade, several major findings in social psychology have turned out to be hogwash—or, worse, even fraud. This has become widely known as psychology's "replication crisis." Perhaps you have...
27 Nov 20241h 48min
Vaccine Conspiracies, Fluoride Myths, and America’s Broken Public-Health Discourse
Emily Oster, professor of economics at Brown University, joins the show to talk about Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his theories about fluoride and vaccines, and how the media and science community should tr...
22 Nov 202439min
