FREAK-TV: ‘Do Doctors Wash Their Hands?’
…here’s some recent bad news. For a real time warp, read this 1859 essay by Ignaz Semmelweis, and ask yourself why on earth we are still talking about hand washing….
…here’s some recent bad news. For a real time warp, read this 1859 essay by Ignaz Semmelweis, and ask yourself why on earth we are still talking about hand washing….
It’s an acutely haphazard way of paying workers, and yet it keeps expanding. We dig into the data to find out why.
A breakthrough in genetic technology has given humans more power than ever to change nature. It could help eliminate hunger and disease; it could also lead to the sort of…
Fareed Zakaria says yes. But it’s not just political revolution — it’s economic, technological, even emotional. He doesn’t offer easy solutions but he does offer some hope….
For a singularly grim, if fiercely literary, assessment of the earth’s environmental fate, the grizzled wisdom of Cormac McCarthy is always there to deliver the dark pronouncement that we’re flat-out…
…I thought you would have explained this aspect of the social cost & benefit. Why on earth would I boo in a setting where I thought I instead would be…
Corporate Social Responsibility programs can attract better job applicants who’ll work for less money. But they also encourage employees to misbehave. Don’t laugh — you too probably engage in “moral…
What’s the difference between being popular and being cool? How has social media changed the trend cycle? And what do Taylor Swift and Walmart have in common?…
Stephen Dubner appears as a guest on Fail Better, a new podcast hosted by David Duchovny. The two of them trade stories about failure, and ponder the lessons that success…
Author and YouTuber John Green thought his breakout bestseller wouldn’t be a commercial success, wrote 40,000 words for one sentence, and brought Steve to tears….
…one? And who’s got a good-news story to share about electric vehicles? Also: Levitt weighed in a while back on “the unappealing economics of electric vehicles” and the rare-earth conundrum….
Americans are so accustomed to the standard intersection that we rarely consider how dangerous it can be — as well as costly, time-wasting, and polluting. Is it time to embrace…
…mood lighting and a soundtrack in the bathrooms? Not an earth-shattering idea; but still, a new approach in the airline business. As the best financed new U.S. airline of all…
Is it dangerous to live in the past? Why is Disney remaking all of its classic movies? And why does Angela get sentimental over a cup of soup and a…
…my house into a decathlon course, my friend Carl James and I very nearly chopped off some limbs while wrestling the lawnmower over a patch of earth that was plainly…
…1969, Aldrin, along with Neil Armstrong, spent 21 hours on the lunar surface while some 600 million people watched from Earth. He later had an asteroid and a crater named…
Kevin Hassett, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, explains the thinking behind the controversial new Republican tax package — and why its critics are wrong. (Next week, we’ll hear…
A wide-open conversation with three women who guided Richard Feynman through some big adventures at the Esalen Institute. (Part of our Feynman series.)…
…most liquid and plentiful natural resource on the planet is almost completely illiquid as an asset. Consider some of the most-traded commodities on Earth: corn, wheat, coffee, orange juice, timber….
…for the first time ever, broadcast an advertisement directly into space; it’s a Doritos ad aimed at a star 42 lightyears from Earth. What happens if they get an answer?…
A conversation with 2008 Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson, recorded for the Freakonomics Radio series “The Hidden Side of Sports.”…
…of the earth and asked them to pick one language in which to communicate with someone they knew nothing about, which language would each person choose? The language they’d pick…
…probably be hearing a lot more about how sulfur dioxide in the stratosphere — whether put there by nature or by scientists — cools the earth. (Hat tip: Daniel Lippman.)…
There are a lot of factors that go into greatness, many of which are not obvious. A variety of Olympic and professional athletes tell us how they made it and…
That’s what some health officials are saying, but the data aren’t so clear. We look into what’s known (and not known) about the prevalence and effects of loneliness — including…
Stephen Dubner’s conversations with members of the San Francisco 49ers offense, recorded for Freakonomics Radio episode No. 350, part of the “Hidden Side of Sports” series….
He’s been an Arctic scientist, a sports journalist, and is now a best-selling author of science books. His latest, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, makes the argument…
Executives shell out millions of dollars for the privilege of flying private — but that convenience comes at a steep cost to the rest of us. Zachary Crockett prepares for…
Stephen Dubner’s conversation with the Facebook founder and C.E.O., recorded for the Freakonomics Radio series “The Secret Life of a C.E.O.”…
Trump says it would destroy us. Sanders says it will save us. The majority of millennials would like it to replace capitalism. But what is “it”? We bring in the…
