Encore: The King of Tears
Why does country music make you cry, but rock and roll doesn’t? We revisit a musical interpretation of a divided America in this episode from 2017. Get ad-free episodes to…
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A Billion-Dollar Bet on Carbon Removal
Nan Ransohoff is the head of climate at Stripe. The company is known mainly for facilitating online payments, but it’s become a key driver of the nascent carbon-removal industry. On…
Why did COVID Decision-Making Go So Wrong? (with David Zweig)
Early in the COVID pandemic, the US closed schools and sent kids home. And then, the schools stayed closed—even as they began to reopen in other parts of the world.…
2025 Update: Joey
This week, we check back in with Joey to answer everyone’s burning question: does he still have a mullet? Years ago, Joey had a very bad day — all due…
Charlie Plumb’s Unexpectedly Long Mission
J. R. Martinez interviews an old friend of his — Captain Charlie Plumb, a U.S. Navy fighter pilot who was shot down in Vietnam and spent six years in the…
Mike Shinoda
Mike Shinoda took a bold step last fall when he reintroduced Linkin Park with a new lineup featuring drummer Colin Brittain and singer Emily Armstrong as lead vocalist—taking on the…
When Productivity Becomes Pathological
These days, psychiatrist Judith Joseph knows joy. It’s the feeling she has after eating a delicious meal, celebrating the completion of a successful study in her lab, or watching her…
The Jimi Hendrix of the Cello (with Joshua Roman)
Joshua Roman has been playing the cello everyday since he was three – but then on a concert tour he caught Covid. The illness wouldn’t go away and sapped his…
Grand Theft Automated: How to Save a Trillion Lives
A radical thought experiment transforms the lives of a new breed of philanthropists, as they follow the logic of altruism to extraordinary lengths. The most famous convert to the Effective…
Encore: Hallelujah
How does genius emerge? Kicking off our summer series, Malcolm digs into the Revisionist History archive to revisit Elvis Costello’s song “Deportee” and explore the power of innovation. Get ad-free…
Live from Aspen! Zohran Mamdani’s Win, and How To Communicate Probabilities
Nate and Maria take a quick break from the World Series of Poker to tape a live episode at the Aspen Ideas Festival. They give some updates on a scandal…
2025 Update: The Marshes
This week, we talk to Steve Marsh from our episode, The Marshes. The family has changed in ways they could never have guessed at when the story was first published…