Teaching Robots How to Do Everything
AI is better than humans at a lot of things, but physical tasks – even seemingly simple ones like folding a shirt – routinely stump AI-powered robots. Chelsea Finn is…
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2025 Update: Gregor
While the new season is under construction, we’re revisiting some of our favorite episodes and calling up former guests to see what’s happened since. This week: #2 Gregor. 20 years…
An Elon Musk Report Card
Elon Musk has left the Trump administration. Nate and Maria talk about his brief but influential tenure, and discuss why overconfidence is a particular problem for people like Musk. Plus,…
Introducing Hot Money Season 3: Agent of Chaos
When reporter Sam Jones asks questions about disgraced financial executive Jan Marsalek, he discovers a world of warlords, espionage, and disinformation. Coming June 10 from Pushkin Industries and The Financial…
The Optimism of Jefferson DeBlanc
When fighter pilot Jefferson DeBlanc survived being shot at in a crazy dogfight over the Solomon Islands in World War Two, his adventure was only beginning. What happened after he…
Shirley Manson
Shirley Manson rose to ’90s fame as the magnetic front woman of Garbage, but she was already a seasoned singer when guitarist Steve Marker spotted her in a music video…
Episode 5: The Wife
One overlooked detail in Sarah’s story: she was married. Her wife, Nicole, never spoke to the press or the feds. She remained a mystery—until now. Get early, ad-free access to…
How Smartphones Changed Childhood (And What to do About it)
The happiness of young people has taken a big hit since the advent of the smartphone – and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt argues that there is a direct link. He…
Give Politicians a Raise, Smuggle Smartphones into School, and go Full Donk! Cautionary Questions with Risky Business
Can game theory be used to win a world cup? Can you pay the way out of political corruption? And are there winning strategies in life we don’t use because…
The Formula
In our season finale, we team up with the Culinary Institute of America to reverse engineer the secret recipe for Thomas’s English Muffins. You can read our top secret muffin…
Making a Universal Flu Vaccine
Jacob Glanville is the founder and CEO of Centivax. Jacob’s problem is this: Can you create a vaccine that protects people against almost all strains of flu – even strains…
Heavyweight Short: A Sobering Thought
For the better part of his adult life, drinking was Jonathan’s great comfort. But after getting laid off, something changed.