A Book I Absolutely Loved: Gang Leader For A Day
…I have read, equal parts comedy and tragedy. How is it that a naive suburban kid ends up running a crack gang (if only for a day) on his way…
When the world went into lockdown, experts predicted a rise in intimate-partner assaults. What actually happened was more complicated….
Palliative physician B.J. Miller asks: Is there a better way to think about dying? And can death be beautiful?…
Ellen Langer is a psychologist at Harvard who studies the mind-body connection. She’s published some of the most remarkable scientific findings Steve has ever encountered. Can we really improve our…
Education is the surest solution to a lot of problems. Except when it’s not.
Among O.E.C.D. nations, the U.S. has one of the highest rates of child poverty. Until recently, it looked as if Washington was about to change that. But then … Washington…
…I have read, equal parts comedy and tragedy. How is it that a naive suburban kid ends up running a crack gang (if only for a day) on his way…
Also: are the most memorable stories less likely to be true? Stephen Dubner chats with Angela Duckworth in this classic episode from July 2020….
An expert on urban economics and co-author of the new book Survival of the City, Ed says cities have faced far worse than Covid. Steve talks with the Harvard professor…
…the most perplexing form of tragedy: one that unfolds entirely as a result of the normal psychology of healthy human beings. When crowds reach a critical density, they automatically become…
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…
Sarah Hart investigates the mathematical structures underlying musical compositions and literature. Using examples from Monteverdi to Lewis Carroll, Sarah explains to Steve how math affects how we hear music and…
It’s not oil or water or plutonium — it’s human hours. We’ve got an idea for putting them to use, and for building a more human-centered economy. But we need…
Ellen Wiebe is a physician who helps seriously ill patients end their lives in Canada, where assisted suicide is legal. Is death a human right?
Also: How do you recover from a bad day?…
Among O.E.C.D. nations, the U.S. has one of the highest rates of child poverty. How can that be? To find out, Stephen Dubner speaks with a Republican senator, a Democratic…
Palliative physician B.J. Miller asks: Is there a better way to think about dying? And can death be beautiful?…
They say they make companies more efficient through savvy management. Critics say they bend the rules to enrich themselves at the expense of consumers and employees. Can they both be…
After a tragedy like the earthquake in Haiti, many people are moved to make financial contributions. For some people, as my friend and colleague John List‘s work has made clear,…
…effects of this tragedy. Here is our attempt to come up with preliminary answers for some of the most frequently asked questions. Q: What is the amount of property loss?…
…do under those circumstances, and trusted the same processes and the same policies that we always do,” Mowery told reporters in Marion, Ind. “And this tragedy unfolded like we could…
Sure, you were “in love.” But economists — using evidence from Bridgerton to Tinder — point to what’s called “assortative mating.” And it has some unpleasant consequences for society….
…global warming causes storms” kind of way.) The bridge collapse, though closer to the storm, is somewhere in the middle — if the Minnesota tragedy is ever attributed to some…
Does Las Vegas increase your risk of suicide? A researcher embeds himself in the city where Americans are most likely to kill themselves.
…bureaucrats in the Indian capital. (FWIW, Slate offers some helpful tips on how to survive your next monkey attack.) Saturday’s tragedy has attracted new attention to Delhi’s decades-old simian scourge,…
Serial entrepreneur Miki Agrawal loves to talk about the bodily functions that make most people flinch. That’s why she’s building a business around the three P’s: periods, pee, and poop.
…of tragedy tends to be a shade more subdued than in the U.S. The fact is, there could hardly be a safer time to ride a tourist helicopter than immediately…
A recent outbreak of illness and death has gotten everyone’s attention — including late-to-the-game regulators. But would a ban on e-cigarettes do more harm than good? We smoke out the…
Sure, you were “in love.” But economists — using evidence from Bridgerton to Tinder — point to what’s called “assortative mating.” And it has some unpleasant consequences for society….
…payment. But this might be a good thing. Taking the gambling profession out of the business of lending money to gamblers might mitigate some of the tragedy of problem gambling….
How has activism evolved in our digital society? In this episode, Sudhir talks to Jade Magnus Ogunnaike about the intersection of big tech and civil rights. She is a senior…
