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stephen j dubner

 
Date
Length

Collections: TMSIDK Episode 10

We’ve gathered amazing and surprising facts from the world of Collections. We’re not talking baseball cards and Beanie Babies—we’ve got: glucose, gamma rays, brainwaves, fake art and some very blue Russian.

3/12/17
51:37

Music: TMSIDK Episode 16

Danny Goldberg, Faith Salie and David Hajdu are panelists. The record executive, the comedian/journalist and the music critic face the music, including industrial instruments, female composers and the all-important bridge. Our real-time fact-checker is Dan Zanes, accompanied by his live band.

4/23/17
65:21

Sneak Peek of TMSIDK Season 3

Season 3 of Tell Me Something I Don’t Know is coming to your ears! Prepare yourself for 10 shiny new episodes — full of fresh knowledge — starting June 4.

5/28/17

Rivalry: TMSIDK Episode 17

We kick-off the third season of Tell Me Something I Don’t Know with a show on competition of all kinds: athletic, sexual, geopolitical, and the little-known battle between butter and margarine that landed in the Supreme Court.

6/4/17
58:51

Cities: TMSIDK Episode 19

Eugene Mirman, Ed Glaeser and Amy Glasmeier are panelists. The comedian, the Harvard economist and the MIT professor join us in one of America’s oldest urban centers for a show about cities, including ruins, sewage and ghost towns. Mike Maughan is our fact-checker.

6/18/17
60:44

Family Matters: TMSIDK Episode 20

Amy Chua, Liza Donnelly and Gary Gulman are panelists. The “Tiger Mom,” the New Yorker cartoonist and the comedian join our dysfunctional family for this show on parenting, cousins, genealogy and medical divorce. AJ Jacobs is fact-checker.

6/25/17
53:39

Getting There: TMSIDK Episode 21

Che “Rhymefest” Smith, Ginger Evans and Mary Catherine Curran are panelists. The rapper/political organizer, the commissioner of Chicago’s Department of Aviation and the comedian join us in the City of Big Shoulders for a show on transitions — from here to there, from low to high and from fish to humans. Jesse Dukes is fact-checker.

7/2/17
60:13

Three Sheets to the Wind: TMSIDK Episode 23

John Moe (The Hilarious World of Depression) is our special guest co-host, with Maggie Ryan Sandford (science writer, researcher and producer) as our real-time fact-checker. TMSIDK is in Minneapolis for a show exploring the environment, morning drinking, skyways, hidden figures and more.

7/16/17
49:41

Behavior Change (Ultra Egghead Edition): TMSIDK Episode 24

Angela Duckworth (psychologist and author of Grit) is our special guest co-host, with Mike Maughan (head of global insights at Qualtrics) as real-time fact-checker. TMSIDK is in Philadelphia with a cornucopia of the world’s most renowned behavior change experts presenting original research.

7/23/17
55:55

Creature Comforts: TMSIDK Episode 25

Relax with a TMSIDK episode filled with facts on quiet rooms, pillows, comfort food, and …Spam? Krista Tippett (host of On Being) is our special guest co-host, with Maggie Ryan Sandford (science writer, researcher and producer) as real-time fact-checker.

7/30/17
54:22

Urinetown: TMSIDK Episode 26

Tell Me Something I Don’t Know is on the weird side of the tracks in Philadelphia with everything you’ve ever wanted to know about graffiti, cockroaches, tattoos, pee, and more. James Altucher (host of The James Altucher Show) is our special guest co-host, with Mike Maughan (head of global insights at Qualtrics) as real-time fact-checker.

8/6/17
56:17

Sneak Peek of TMSIDK Season 4

Alex Guarnaschelli, Alexandra Petri, Hari Kondabolu, Mary Roach, and Jemele Hill are some of the brilliant co-hosts joining us during Season 4. Here’s a sneak peek of what you’ll learn in 10 new episodes beginning September 17th.

9/10/17

Womb to Tomb: TMSIDK Episode 27

Alexandra Petri (Washington Post columnist) is our special guest co-host, with AJ Jacobs (author of It’s All Relative) as real-time fact-checker. TMSIDK covers everything from birth to earth, including pregnancy tests, parenting, monogamy, aging better, and, finally, embalming.

9/17/17
52:52

You Say “eye-RACK,” I Say “ear-ROCK”: TMSIDK Episode 28

Hari Kondabolu (comedian and host of Politically ReActive) is our special guest co-host, with Sean Rameswaram (Radiolab Presents: More Perfect) as real-time fact-checker. Tell Me Something I Don’t Know reaches into our “grab bag” for fascinating facts on the downside of keeping secrets, the origin of fantasy sports, what pronunciations say about our politics, and more.

9/24/17
48:27

The Perfect Potato Chip, the Origin of Seltzer, and Why We Eat “Beef” and Not “Cow”: TMSIDK Episode 29

Alex Guarnaschelli (Iron Chef America and Chopped) is our special guest co-host, with Sean Rameswaram (Radiolab Presents: More Perfect) as real-time fact-checker. Tell Me Something I Don’t Know explores the origins of food words, children’s menus, and seltzer.

10/1/17
58:06

How to Count to Infinity: TMSIDK Episode 30

Mary Roach (author of Stiff, Spook, Bonk, Gulp, and Grunt) is our special guest co-host, with AJ Jacobs (author of It’s All Relative) as real-time fact-checker. If the promise of tractor beams doesn’t pull you in, our guests also explore robotic fish, counting to infinity, and more.

10/8/17
48:44

School Start Times, Brand Names, and Too Much Ground Beef: TMSIDK Episode 31

We filled this episode with insights about the true value of ground beef, sleeping in, company names, and more. Alex Wagner (CBS This Morning Saturday, The Atlantic) is our special guest co-host, with AJ Jacobs (author of It’s All Relative) as real-time fact-checker.

10/15/17
43:43

All About Bugs (of the Animal and Computer Varieties): TMSIDK Episode 32

Musical crickets, crop-saving wasps — and why you should pre-bug your software. John McWhorter is co-host; the live fact-checker is Bari Weiss.

10/22/17
58:19

Jon Batiste, Gail Simmons, and Strange Smells: TMSIDK Episode 33

Things we learn this week: dogs aren’t so great at sniffing, men aren’t so lazy, and New York doesn’t smell so bad (anymore). Gail Simmons (Top Chef) is co-host; Jon Batiste plays his melodica for us; the live fact-checker is Mike Maughan.

10/29/17
57:13

Mind Games: TMSIDK Episode 34

How to make people like you, why you should lick rocks, and what an awkward person is really thinking. Angela Duckworth (Grit author) is co-host; Mike Maughan (Qualtrics) is live fact-checker.

11/5/17
48:59

Farming Without Sun or Soil and Eating Manna From Heaven: TMSIDK Episode 35

This week, we work on our survival skills: in the desert, on the tundra, and growing food in abandoned warehouses. Actress Sas Goldberg is co-host; A.J. Jacobs (author of It’s All Relative) is live fact-checker.

11/12/17
40:15

Why Are We Still Using Cash? (Replay)

Season 7, Episode 16 This week on Freakonomics Radio: cash facilitates crime, bribery and tax evasion – and yet some governments (including ours) are printing more cash than ever. Other countries, meanwhile, are ditching cash entirely. Plus: why thinking of Bitcoin as just a digital currency is like thinking about the Internet as just email. To find out more, check out the . . .

12/21/17

Could Solving This One Problem Solve All the Others? (Replay)

Season 7, Episode 17 This week on Freakonomics Radio: the biggest problem with humanity is humans themselves. Too often, we make choices — what we eat, how we spend our money and time — that undermine our well-being. Stephen J. Dubner asks, “How can we stop?” And this radio hour has two answers: think small, and make behavior change stick. To find out . . .

12/28/17

Why Is the Live-Event Ticket Market So Screwed Up?

Season 7, Episode 19 This week on Freakonomics Radio: The public has almost no chance to buy good tickets to the best events. Ticket brokers, meanwhile, make huge profits on the secondary markets. Here’s the story of how this market got so dysfunctional, how it can be fixed – and why it probably won’t be. To find out more, check out . . .

1/11/18

There’s A War On Sugar. Is It Justified?

Season 7, Episode 26 This week on Freakonomics Radio: Some people argue that sugar should be regulated, like alcohol and tobacco, on the grounds that it’s addictive and toxic. How much sense does that make? We hear from a regulatory advocate, an evidence-based skeptic, a former F.D.A. commissioner — and the organizers of Milktoberfest. To find out more, check out . . .

3/1/18

Letting Go

Season 7, Episode 31 ​If you’re a C.E.O., there are a lot of ways to leave your job, from abrupt firing to carefully planned succession (which may still go spectacularly wrong). In this final episode of our “Secret Life of a C.E.O.” series, we hear those stories and many more. Also: what happens when you no longer have a corner . . .

4/5/18

Has Lance Armstrong Finally Come Clean?

Season 7, Episode 48 He was once the most lionized athlete on the planet, with seven straight Tour de France wins and a victory over cancer too. Then the doping charges caught up with him. When he finally confessed to Oprah, he admits, “it didn’t go well at all.” That’s because he wasn’t actually contrite yet. Now, five years later, . . .

8/2/18

An Astronaut, a Catalan, and Two Linguists Walk Into a Bar…

Season 8, Episode 2 In this live episode of “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know,” we learn why New York has skinny skyscrapers, how to weaponize water, and what astronauts talk about in space. Joining Stephen J. Dubner as co-host is the linguist John McWhorter; Bari Weiss (The New York Times) is the real-time fact-checker. To find out more, check . . .

9/13/18

Who Decides How Much a Life Is Worth?

Season 8, Episode 14 After every mass shooting or terrorist attack, victims and survivors receive a huge outpouring of support — including a massive pool of compensation money. How should that money be allocated? Stephen J. Dubner speaks with the man who’s done that job after many tragedies, including 9/11. The hard part, it turns out, isn’t attaching a dollar . . .

12/6/18

Season 8, Episode 51

The International Monetary Fund has long been the “lender of last resort” for economies in crisis. Christine Lagarde, who has led the institution since 2011 and will step down to head the European Central Bank later this year, has tried to prevent those crises from ever happening. To find out more, check out the podcasts from which this hour was drawn: . . .

8/22/19

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