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Episode 564

How to Succeed at Failing, Part 4: Extreme Resiliency

Everyone makes mistakes. How do you learn from them? Lessons from the classroom, the Air Force, and the world’s deadliest infectious disease. Part of the series “How to Succeed at…

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Episode 10

Suzanne Gluck: “I’m a Person Who Can Convince Other People to Do Things”

She might not be a household name, but Suzanne Gluck is one of the most powerful people in the book industry. Her slush pile is a key entry point to…

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EXTRA

How to Succeed at Failing, Part 4: Extreme Resiliency (Update)

Everyone makes mistakes. How do we learn from them? Lessons from the classroom, the Air Force, and the world’s deadliest infectious disease. (Part four of a four-part series.)…

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Episode 62

Dr. Ashish Jha Anticipated a Pandemic. He Didn’t Think It Would Look Like This.

Bapu talks to White House Covid Czar Dr. Ashish Jha about becoming a household name, studying pandemics, and the frustrations of politics. Also, when will he be out of a…

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Episode 148

How to Have Good Ideas

Sarah Stein Greenberg runs Stanford’s d.school, which teaches design as a mode of problem solving. She and Steve talk about what makes her field different from other academic disciplines, how…

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Episode 233

How to Be Less Terrible at Predicting the Future

Experts and pundits are notoriously bad at forecasting, in part because they aren’t punished for bad predictions. Also, they tend to be deeply unscientific. The psychologist Philip Tetlock is finally…

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Episode 274

Did China Eat America’s Jobs?

For years, economists promised that global free trade would be mostly win-win. Now they admit the pace of change has been “traumatic.” This has already led to a political insurrection…

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Episode 210

Is It Okay for Restaurants to Racially Profile Their Employees?

We seem to have decided that ethnic food tastes better when it’s served by people of that ethnicity (or at least something close). Does this make sense — and is…

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Episode 96

Why Is Chick-fil-A Such a Big Deal?

How did Chick-fil-A become the third-largest restaurant chain in the U.S.? Why does it serve salad? And can Angie’s moral compass override her craving for a chicken sandwich?…

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Episode 49

How Does Facing Death Change Your Life? (Replay)

Are you more likely to experience post-traumatic stress or post-traumatic growth? How does belief in the afterlife affect how you view death? And why did Angela hike a deadly gorge…

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Episode 329

The Invisible Paw (Replay)

Humans, it has long been thought, are the only animal to engage in economic activity. But what if we’ve had it exactly backward?

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Episode 630

On Broadway, Nobody Knows Nothing

A hit like Hamilton can come from nowhere while a sure bet can lose $20 million in a flash. We speak with some of the biggest producers in the game…

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Episode 278

The Taboo Trifecta

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.

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EXTRA

Remembering Susan Wojcicki

The former YouTube C.E.O. — and sixteenth Google employee — died on August 9, 2024. Steve talked with her in 2020 about her remarkable career, and how her background in…

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Episode 59

The Most Valuable Resource in Medicine

Time is precious. How can doctors and patients make the best use of it — especially when there isn’t much left?…

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Episode 582

Why Is Everyone Moving to Canada?

As the U.S. tries to fix its messy immigration system, our neighbor to the north is scooping up more talented newcomers every year. Are the Canadians stealing America’s bacon? (Part…

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Episode 366

This Economist Predicted the Last Crisis. What’s the Next One?

In 2005, Raghuram Rajan said the financial system was at risk “of a catastrophic meltdown.” After stints at the I.M.F. and India’s central bank, he sees another potential crisis —…

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Episode 5

Susan Wojcicki: “Hey, Let’s Go Buy YouTube!”

She was the sixteenth employee at Google — a company once based in her garage — and now she’s the C.E.O. of its best-known subsidiary, YouTube. But despite being one…

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Episode 99

Greg Norman Takes On the P.G.A. Tour

Since his last visit to People I (Mostly) Admire, the formerly top-ranked golfer has become the sport’s most controversial figure. Why has he partnered with the Saudi government — and…

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Episode 477

Why Is U.S. Media So Negative?

Breaking news! Sources say American journalism exploits our negativity bias to maximize profits, and social media algorithms add fuel to the fire. Stephen Dubner investigates. (This is part of the…

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Episode 534

Air Travel Is a Miracle. Why Do We Hate It?

It’s an unnatural activity that has become normal. You’re stuck in a metal tube with hundreds of strangers (and strange smells), defying gravity and racing through the sky. But oh,…

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Episode 589

Why Has the Opioid Crisis Lasted So Long?

Most epidemics flare up, do their damage, and fade away. This one has been raging for almost 30 years. To find out why, it’s time to ask some uncomfortable questions….

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Episode 608

Cannabis Is Booming, So Why Isn’t Anyone Getting Rich?

There are a lot of reasons, including heavy regulations, high taxes, and competition from illegal weed shops. Most operators are losing money and waiting for Washington to get out of…

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Episode 624

The Animal No One Loves, Until They Do

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…

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Episode 190

Time to Take Back the Toilet

Public bathrooms are noisy, poorly designed, and often nonexistent. What to do?

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Episode 631

Will 3 Summers of Lincoln Make it to Broadway?

…the producers still need to raise another $15 million to bring the show to New York. There really is no business like show business. (Part three of a three-part series.)…

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EXTRA

The Downside of Disgust (Update)

It’s a powerful biological response that has preserved our species for millennia. But now it may be keeping us from pursuing strategies that would improve the environment, the economy, even…

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Episode 12

Does “As If” Thinking Really Work?

Also: how effective is the placebo effect?

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Episode 229

Ben Bernanke Gives Himself a Grade

He was handed the keys to the global economy just as it started heading off a cliff. Fortunately, he’d seen this movie before.

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Episode 141

How to Raise Money Without Killing a Kitten (Replay)

The science of what works — and doesn’t work — in fundraising