Search the Site

Search Results for: earth 2.0

Episode image
Follow this show

Freakonomics Radio Live: “Where Does Fear Live in the Brain?”

Our co-host is comedian Christian Finnegan, and we learn: the difference between danger and fear; the role of clouds in climate change; and why (and when) politicians are bad at…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 337

How to Build a Smart City

We are in the midst of a historic (and wholly unpredicted) rise in urbanization. But it’s hard to retrofit old cities for the 21st century. Enter Dan Doctoroff. The man…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 236

How Can This Possibly Be True?

A famous economics essay features a pencil (yes, a pencil) arguing that “not a single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me.” Is the pencil…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 252

Confessions of a Pothole Politician

Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, has big ambitions but knows he must first master the small stuff. He’s also a polymath who relies heavily on data and new…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 11

How Much Does the President Really Matter? (Replay)

The U.S. president is often called the “leader of the free world.” But if you ask an economist or a Constitutional scholar how much the occupant of the Oval Office…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 183

Tell Me Something I Don’t Know (Replay)

The debut of a live game show from Freakonomics Radio, with judges Malcolm Gladwell, Ana Gasteyer and David Paterson….

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 11

How Much Does the President Really Matter?

The U.S. president is often called the “leader of the free world.” But if you ask an economist or a Constitutional scholar how much the occupant of the Oval Office…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 50

The Truth Is Out There…Isn’t It?

There’s a nasty secret about hot-button topics like global warming — knowledge is not always power.

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 199

This Idea Must Die

Every year, Edge.org asks its salon of big thinkers to answer one big question. This year’s question borders on heresy: what scientific idea is ready for retirement?

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 40

Have We All Lost Our Ability to Compromise?

Also: is it better to be right or “not wrong”?…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 55

Jared Diamond on the Downfall of Civilizations — and His Optimism for Ours

He’s the award-winning author of hugely popular books like Guns, Germs, and Steel; Collapse; and Upheaval. But Jared actually started his varied career as an expert on gallbladders and birds….

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 183

Tell Me Something I Don’t Know

The debut of a live game show from Freakonomics Radio, with judges Malcolm Gladwell, Ana Gasteyer, and David Paterson….

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 6

Nathan Myhrvold: “I Am Interested in Lots of Things, and That’s Actually a Bad Strategy.” (Replay)

He graduated high school at 14, and by 23 had several graduate degrees and was a research assistant with Stephen Hawking. He became the first chief technology officer at Microsoft…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 68

“No One Can Resist a Jolly, Happy Pig.”

Naturalist Sy Montgomery explains how she learned to be social from a pig, discovered octopuses have souls, and came to love a killer that will never love her back.

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 88

Ken Burns on Heroism, Horror, and History

The documentary filmmaker, known for The Civil War, Jazz, and Baseball, turns his attention to the Holocaust, and asks what we can learn from the evils of the past….

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 429

Is Economic Growth the Wrong Goal? (Update)

The economist Kate Raworth says the aggressive pursuit of G.D.P. is trashing the planet and shortchanging too many people. She has proposed an alternative — and the city of Amsterdam…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 136

Is Sloth a Sin or a Virtue?

How can we distinguish between laziness and patience? Why do people do crossword puzzles? And how is Angie like a combination of a quantum computer and a Sherman tank? Take…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 151

Neurobiologist, Philosopher, and Addict

Owen Flanagan’s newest book details his 20-year dependence on alcohol and pills — and outlines his research on what addiction can tell us about the nature of consciousness….

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 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…

Episode image
Follow this show
EXTRA

An Economics Lesson from a Talking Pencil (Update)

A famous essay argues that “not a single person on the face of this earth” knows how to make a pencil. How true is that? In this 2016 episode, we…


Betting the Weather

…Smeal College of Business and College of Earth and Mineral Sciences are testing whether futures markets can be used to accurately forecast the weather, and, so far, they’ve found the…



Why Are Kids So Crazy About Animals?

…among all four K classes about how to spend this money, “Animals” received the most votes. (Other choices were Kids, Grown-Ups, and the Earth.) Please let us know if you…



Space Bubble Real Estate

…without violating international laws, a longstanding concern. In the midst of a continuing housing meltdown on Earth, a lunar real estate boom might be the perfect space program stimulus. Here’s…






The X-Files, Economics Edition: A Guest Post

…and he has agreed to guest-blog here this week. This is his first of three posts. Flying saucers and little green men? The idea that extraterrestrials might be visiting earth



Ron Paul Answers Your Questions, Part Two

Earth experienced a warming period during which Greenland was literally green and served as rich farmland for Nordic peoples. There was then a mini ice age, the polar ice caps…



Biodiversity Is Always a Goal, Right?

Photo: Angela7dreams Apparently not. Consider this interesting passage from The Revenge of Gaia: Earth’s Climate Crisis and the Fate of Humanity, by James Lovelock: Stable unchanging climates lasting for several…