A Reluctant Note on the Virginia Tech Shooting
…all sorts of motives to opine and rant against their pet targets — media, guns, mental illness, privacy, etc. — when in fact what happened was a tragedy and an…
When you want to get rid of a nasty pest, one obvious solution comes to mind: just offer a cash reward. But be careful — because nothing backfires quite like…
Also: why do we hoard? (Rebroadcast From Ep. 28)…
To most people, the rat is vile and villainous. But not to everyone! We hear from a scientist who befriended rats and another who worked with them in the lab…
…all sorts of motives to opine and rant against their pet targets — media, guns, mental illness, privacy, etc. — when in fact what happened was a tragedy and an…
…But what, if anything, can we learn from the recent bridge collapse? One thing I suspect we will learn about is the government’s response to tragedy. No doubt there will…
…Permissive Society” (lecture), March 22, 1972. I am sure that Megarry did not originate the England-Germany-France triad. Bev Smith asked: “One death is a tragedy. A million deaths are a…
…first Major League at-bat ended in tragedy. There is now a movement afoot, called One At Bat (more here), to take the edge off that tragedy, but so far it…
Also: how does a comedian cope with tragedy? With Eugene Mirman….
We all like to throw around terms that describe human behavior — “bystander apathy” and “steep learning curve” and “hard-wired.” Most of the time, they don’t actually mean what we…
We all like to throw around terms that describe human behavior — “bystander apathy” and “steep learning curve” and “hard-wired.” Most of the time, they don’t actually mean what we…
We worship the tradition of handing off a family business to the next generation. But is that really such a good idea?
What does it mean to pursue something that everyone else thinks is nuts? And what does it take to succeed?
He argues that personal finance is so simple all you need to know can fit on an index card. How will he deal with Steve’s suggestion that Harold’s nine rules…
We worship the tradition of handing off a family business to the next generation. But is that really such a good idea?
Reginald Dwayne Betts spent more than eight years in prison. Today he’s a Yale Law graduate, a MacArthur Fellow, and a poet. His nonprofit works to build libraries in prisons…
Are modern parents too protective? Why do we worry so much about things that almost never happen? And how did Mike learn about bus stops?…
Michael Roth of Wesleyan University doesn’t hang out with other university presidents. He also thinks some of them have failed a basic test of good sense and decency. It’s time…
From the Manhattan Project to the Challenger investigation, the physicist Richard Feynman loved to shoot down what he called “lousy ideas.” Today, the world is awash in lousy ideas —…
Thanks to legal settlements with drug makers and distributors, states have plenty of money to boost prevention and treatment. Will it work? (Part two of a two-part series.)…
Reginald Dwayne Betts spent more than eight years in prison. Today he’s a Yale Law graduate, a MacArthur Fellow, and a poet. His nonprofit works to build libraries in prisons…
John Green returns to the show to talk about tuberculosis — a disease that kills more than a million people a year. Steve has an idea for a new way…
Seth Berkley used to run the world’s largest vaccine funding organization. He and Steve talk about the incredible value of vaccines, the economics of immunizing the developing world, and the…
G.M. produces more than 20 times as many cars as Tesla, but Tesla is worth nearly 10 times as much. Mary Barra, the C.E.O. of G.M., is trying to fix…
He’s one of the world’s leading neuroscientists, with a focus on the physiological effects of stress. (For years, he spent his summers in Kenya, alone except for the baboons he…
The International Monetary Fund has long been the “lender of last resort” for economies in crisis. Christine Lagarde, who runs the institution, would like to prevent those crises from ever…
Lessons from Tom Petty’s rise and another rocker’s fall: A conversation with Warren Zanes, former member of the Del Fuegos and the author of Petty: The Biography ….
Fire deaths in the U.S. have fallen 90 percent over the past 100 years, a great and greatly underappreciated gain. How did it happen — and could we ever get…
…work better than the standard “No Parking” warnings? A study by John G. Cope, Linda J. Allred, and Joseph M. Morsell of East Carolina University found that handicapped parking spots…
…stadium view” (where the Commodores, which produced Jay Cutler, play) or a “Parthenon view,” I laughed at her — because I was sure she said “parking lot view.” Why, I…
…Avenue in Brooklyn, especially the stretch between 70th and 30th Streets, appears to be host not only to the Double Parking Championship of the World, but also, as a bonus…
