Adding Ten Healthy Years to Your Life
Physician Peter Attia returns to the show to talk about the science of longevity — which focuses not only on extending life but on maintaining good health into old age. He explains the possibilities...
View ArticleRick Rubin on How to Make Something Great
From recording some of the first rap hits to revitalizing Johnny Cash’s career, the legendary producer has had an extraordinary creative life. In this episode he talks about his new book and his...
View ArticleThe Joy of Math With Sarah Hart
Steve is on a mission to reform math education, and Sarah Hart is ready to join the cause. In her return visit to the show, Sarah explains how patterns are everywhere, constraints make us more...
View ArticleCan Data Keep People Out of Prison?
Clementine Jacoby went from performing in a circus to founding a nonprofit that works to shrink the prison population. The post Can Data Keep People Out of Prison? appeared first on Freakonomics.
View ArticleWill A.I. Make Us Smarter?
Kevin Kelly believes A.I. will create more problems for humanity — and help us solve them. He talks to Steve about embracing complexity, staying enthusiastic, and taking the 10,000-year view. The post...
View ArticleBringing Data to Life
Talithia Williams thinks you should rigorously track your body’s data. She and Steve Levitt trade birth stories and bemoan the state of STEM education. The post Bringing Data to Life appeared first on...
View ArticleNinety-Eight Years of Economic Wisdom
Robert Solow is 98 years old and a giant among economists. He tells Steve about cracking German codes in World War II, why it’s so hard to reduce inequality, and how his field lost its way. The post...
View ArticleDavid Simon Is On Strike. Here’s Why.
The creator of The Wire, The Deuce, and other shows is leading the Writers Guild on the picket lines. He and Steve break down the economics of TV writing, how A.I. could change television, and why he’s...
View ArticleExtra: An Update on the Khan World School
Sal Khan returns to discuss his innovative online high school’s first year — and Steve grills a member of the school’s class of 2026 about what it’s really like. The post Extra: An Update on the Khan...
View ArticleDrawing from Life (and Death)
Artist Wendy MacNaughton knows the difficulty of sitting in silence and the power of having fun. She explains to Steve the lessons she’s gleaned from drawing hospice residents, working in Rwanda, and...
View ArticleCan a Moonshot Approach to Mental Health Work?
Obi Felten used to launch projects for X, Google’s innovation lab, but she’s now tackling mental health. She explains why Steve’s dream job was soul-destroying for her, and how peer support could...
View ArticleReading Dostoevsky Behind Bars
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 so that more incarcerated...
View ArticleDo We Have Evidence of Alien Life?
Avi Loeb is a Harvard astronomer who argues that we’ve already encountered extraterrestrial technology. His approach to the search for interstellar objects is scientific, but how plausible is his...
View ArticleIs Perfectionism Ruining Your Life?
Psychologist Thomas Curran argues that perfectionism isn’t about high standards — it’s about never being enough. He explains how the drive to be perfect is harming education, the economy, and our...
View ArticleThe Future of Therapy Is Psychedelic
For 37 years, Rick Doblin has been pushing the F.D.A. to approve treating post-traumatic stress disorder with MDMA, better known as Ecstasy. He tells Steve why he persisted for so long, why he doesn’t...
View ArticleBONUS: Nobel Laureate Claudia Goldin on “Greedy Work” and the Wage Gap
Claudia Goldin is the newest winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics. Steve spoke to her in 2021 about how inflexible jobs and family responsibilities make it harder for women to earn wages equal to...
View ArticleAbraham Verghese Thinks Medicine Can Do Better
Abraham Verghese is a physician and a best-selling author — in that order, he says. He explains the difference between curing and healing, and tells Steve why doctors should spend more time with...
View ArticleNate Silver Says We’re Bad at Making Predictions
Data scientist Nate Silver gained attention for his election predictions. But even the best prognosticators get it wrong sometimes. He talks to Steve about making good decisions with data, why he’d...
View Article“My God, This Is a Transformative Power”
Computer scientist Fei-Fei Li had a wild idea: download one billion images from the internet and teach a computer to recognize them. She ended up advancing the state of artificial intelligence — and...
View ArticleHigher Education Is Broken. Can It Be Fixed?
Economist Michael D. Smith says universities are scrambling to protect a status quo that deserves to die. He tells Steve why the current system is unsustainable, and what’s at stake if nothing changes....
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