623. Can New York City Win Its War on Rats?
Even with a new rat czar, an arsenal of poisons, and a fleet of new garbage trucks, it won’t be easy — because, at root, the enemy is us. (Part two of a three-part series, “Sympathy for the Rat.”) SOU...
21 Feb 202550min
The Show That Never Happened
A brief meditation on loss, relativity, and the vagaries of show business.RESOURCES:Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry, documentary (2021)Genius & Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World, 1847-194...
20 Feb 202513min
622. Why Does Everyone Hate Rats?
New York City’s mayor calls them “public enemy number one.” History books say they caused the Black Death — although recent scientific evidence disputes that claim. So is the rat a scapegoat? And what...
14 Feb 202541min
621. Is Professional Licensing a Racket?
Licensing began with medicine and law; now it extends to 20 percent of the U.S. workforce, including hair stylists and auctioneers. In a new book, the legal scholar Rebecca Allensworth calls licensing...
7 Feb 202555min
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee?
In 2023, the N.F.L. players’ union conducted a workplace survey that revealed clogged showers, rats in the locker room — and some insights for those of us who don’t play football. Today we’re updating...
5 Feb 20251h 8min
620. Why Don’t Running Backs Get Paid Anymore?
They used to be the N.F.L.’s biggest stars, with paychecks to match. Now their salaries are near the bottom, and their careers are shorter than ever. We speak with an analytics guru, an agent, some fo...
31 Jan 20251h 1min
619. How to Poison the A.I. Machine
When the computer scientist Ben Zhao learned that artists were having their work stolen by A.I. models, he invented a tool to thwart the machines. He also knows how to foil an eavesdropping Alexa and ...
24 Jan 202552min
Is San Francisco a Failed State? (And Other Questions You Shouldn’t Ask the Mayor)
Stephen Dubner, live on stage, mixes it up with outbound mayor London Breed, and asks economists whether A.I. can be “human-centered” and if Tang is a gateway drug. SOURCES:London Breed, former mayor ...
22 Jan 202559min
