Description
Freakonomics co-author Steve Levitt tracks down other high achievers for surprising, revealing conversations about their lives and obsessions. Join Levitt as he goes through the most interesting midlife crisis you’ve ever heard — and learn how a renegade sheriff is transforming Chicago's jail, how a biologist is finding the secrets of evolution in the Arctic tundra, and how a trivia champion memorized 160,000 flashcards.
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Episodes
- 2025 / 12 / 20173. Steve Levitt Says Goodbye to People I (Mostly) AdmireIn the last episode of the podcast, Stephen Dubner turns the microphone on Steve Levitt. They talk about Levitt’s favorite — and least favorite — moments from the show’s five-year run, his quest to reform...
- 2025 / 12 / 13Ninety-Eight Years of Economic Wisdom (Replay)The late Robert Solow was a giant among economists. When he was 98 years old he told Steve about cracking German codes in World War II, why it’s so hard to reduce inequality, and how his field lost its...
- 2025 / 12 / 6172. A New Kind of UniversityMichael Crow is the president of Arizona State University, which U.S. News & World Report has called the most innovative school in the country for 11 years running. He tells Steve about why higher education...
- 2025 / 11 / 22171. Measuring Pollution on Parallel EarthsMichael Greenstone knows it’s corny, but he wants to make the world a better place — by tracking the impact of air quality, developing pollution markets in India, and … starting a podcast, which Steve says...
- 2025 / 11 / 15Suleika Jaouad’s Survival Mechanisms (Replay)Suleika Jaouad was diagnosed with cancer at 22. She made her illness the subject of a New York Times column and a memoir, Between Two Kingdoms. She and Steve talk about what it means to live with a...
- 2025 / 11 / 8170. Finding the God ParticlePhysicist and former pop star Brian Cox tells Steve about discovering the Higgs boson, having a number-one hit, and why particle physics research will almost certainly not create a black hole that destroys...
- 2025 / 10 / 25169. Decoding the World’s First WritingIrving Finkel is an expert on cuneiform — the oldest known writing system. He tells Steve the amazing story of how an ancient clay tablet unlocked the truth about Noah’s ark (and got Finkel in trouble with...
- 2025 / 10 / 18Is There a Fair Way to Divide Us? (Update)Moon Duchin is a math professor at the University of Chicago whose theoretical work has practical applications for voting and democracy. Why is striving for fair elections so difficult? SOURCES:Moon Duchin,...
- 2025 / 10 / 11168. Chemistry, EvolvedFrances Arnold pioneered the process of directed evolution — mimicking natural selection to create new enzymes that have changed everything from agriculture to laundry. SOURCES:Frances Arnold, professor of...
- 2025 / 9 / 27167. The Secret of Humanity? It’s Common Knowledge.Steven Pinker’s new book argues that all our relationships depend on shared assumptions and “recursive mentalizing” — our constant efforts to understand what other people are thinking. He and Steve talk about...
- 2025 / 9 / 20How to Have Great Conversations (Update)The Power of Habit author Charles Duhigg wrote his new book in an attempt to learn how to communicate better. Steve shares how the book helped him understand his own conversational weaknesses. SOURCES:Charles...
- 2025 / 9 / 13166. The World’s Most Effective Public Health Intervention Is Under AttackSeth 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 current attacks...
- 2025 / 8 / 30165. The Economist Who (Gasp!) Asks People What They ThinkStefanie Stantcheva’s approach seemed like career suicide. In fact, it won her the John Bates Clark Medal. She talks to fellow winner Steve Levitt about why she uses methods that most of the profession...
- 2025 / 8 / 23Rick Rubin on How to Make Something Great (Update)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 art-making...
- 2025 / 8 / 16164. Unravelling the Universe, AgainMore than two decades ago, Adam Riess’s Nobel Prize-winning work fundamentally changed our understanding of the universe. His new work is reshaping cosmology for a second time. RESOURCES:Adam Riess,...
- 2025 / 8 / 2163. The Data Sleuth Taking on Shoddy ScienceUri Simonsohn is a behavioral science professor who wants to improve standards in his field — so he’s made a sideline of investigating fraudulent academic research. He tells Steve Levitt, who's spent plenty...
- 2025 / 7 / 26Arne Duncan Says All Kids Deserve a Chance — and Criminals Deserve a Second One (Update)Former U.S. Secretary of Education, 3x3 basketball champion, and leader of an anti-gun violence organization are all on Arne’s resume. He’s also Steve’s neighbor. The two talk about teachers caught cheating...
- 2025 / 7 / 19162. Will We Solve the Climate Problem?Kate Marvel spends her days playing with climate models, which she says are “like a very expensive version of The Sims.” As a physicist she gets tired of being asked to weigh in on economics, geopolitics, and...
- 2025 / 7 / 5161. How to Captivate an AudienceTwenty years ago, before the Freakonomics book tour, Bill McGowan taught Steve Levitt to speak in public. In his new book he tries to teach everyone else. SOURCES:Bill McGowan, founder and C.E.O. of Clarity...
- 2025 / 6 / 28Annie Duke Thinks You Should Quit (Update)Former professional poker player Annie Duke wrote a book about Steve’s favorite subject: quitting. They talk about why quitting is so hard, how to do it sooner, and why we feel shame when we do something...
- 2025 / 6 / 21160. How to Help Kids SucceedPsychologist David Yeager thinks the conventional wisdom for how to motivate young people is all wrong. His model for helping kids cope with stress is required reading at Steve’s new high...
- 2025 / 6 / 7159. Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Manifesto for a Gift EconomyShe’s a botanist, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, and the author of the bestselling Braiding Sweetgrass. In her new book she criticizes the market economy — but she and Steve find a surprising...
- 2025 / 5 / 31Does Death Have to Be a Death Sentence? (Update)Palliative physician B.J. Miller asks: Is there a better way to think about dying? And can death be beautiful? SOURCES:B.J. Miller, palliative-care physician and President at Mettle Health. RESOURCES:A...
- 2025 / 5 / 24158. Why Did Rome Fall — and Are We Next?Historian Tom Holland narrowly escaped a career writing vampire novels to become the co-host of the wildly popular podcast The Rest Is History. At Steve’s request, he compares President Trump and Julius...
- 2025 / 5 / 10157. The Deadliest Disease in Human HistoryJohn 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 to get treatment to those in need. SOURCES: John Green,...
- 2025 / 5 / 3Abraham Verghese Thinks Medicine Can Do Better (Update)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 patients and...
- 2025 / 4 / 26156. A Solution to America’s Gun ProblemJens Ludwig has an idea for how to fix America’s gun violence problem — and it starts by rejecting conventional wisdom from both sides of the political aisle.  SOURCES:Jens Ludwig, professor of economics at...
- 2025 / 4 / 12155. Helping People DieEllen Wiebe is a physician who helps seriously ill patients end their lives in Canada, where assisted suicide is legal. Is death a human right? SOURCES: Ellen Wiebe, clinical professor of medicine at the...
- 2025 / 4 / 5Yul Kwon: “Don't Try to Change Yourself All at Once.” (Update)He has been a lawyer, an instructor at the F.B.I. Academy, the owner of a frozen-yogurt chain, and a winner of the TV show Survivor. Today, Kwon works at Google, but things haven’t always come easily for him....
- 2025 / 4 / 5Yul Kwon: “Don't Try to Change Yourself All at Once.” (UPDATE)He has been a lawyer, an instructor at the F.B.I. Academy, the owner of a frozen-yogurt chain, and a winner of the TV show Survivor. Today, Kwon works at Google, but things haven’t always come easily for him....
- 2025 / 3 / 29154. Can Robots Get a Grip?Ken Goldberg is at the forefront of robotics — which means he tries to teach machines to do things humans find trivial. SOURCES:Ken Goldberg, professor of industrial engineering and operations research at...
- 2025 / 3 / 15153. We’re Not Getting Sicker — We’re OverdiagnosedSuzanne O'Sullivan is a neurologist who sees many patients with psychosomatic disorders. Their symptoms may be psychological in origin, but their pain is real and physical — and the way we practice medicine,...
- 2025 / 3 / 8Reading Dostoevsky Behind Bars (Update)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 people...
- 2025 / 3 / 1152. Hunting for the Origins of LifeChemist Jack Szostak wants to understand how the first life forms came into being on Earth. He and Steve discuss the danger of "mirror bacteria," the origin of biology in poisonous chemicals, and the...
- 2025 / 2 / 15151. Neurobiologist, Philosopher, and AddictOwen Flanagan's newest book details his 20-year dependence on alcohol and pills — and outlines his research on what addiction can tell us about the nature of consciousness. SOURCES:Owen Flanagan, philosopher,...
- 2025 / 2 / 8Jane Goodall Changed the Way We See Animals. She’s Not Done. (Replay)The primatologist discusses the thrill of observing chimpanzees in the wild, the value of challenging orthodoxy, and why dying is her next great adventure. SOURCES:Dr. Jane Goodall, GBE, founder of the Jane...
- 2025 / 2 / 1150. His Brilliant Videos Get Millions of Views. Why Don’t They Make Money?Hank Green is an internet phenomenon and a master communicator, with a plan to reform higher education. He and Steve talk about the video blog that launched Hank’s career, the economics of the internet, and...
- 2025 / 1 / 18149. Stanford’s President Knows He Can’t Make Everyone HappyJonathan Levin is an academic economist who now runs one of the most influential universities in the world. He tells Steve how he saved Comcast a billion dollars, why he turned down Steve’s unusual pitch to...
- 2025 / 1 / 11Why Numbers are Music to Our Ears (Update)Sarah Hart investigates the mathematical structures underlying musical compositions and literature. Using examples from Monteverdi to Lewis Carroll, Sarah explains to Steve how math affects how we hear music...
- 2025 / 1 / 4148. How to Have Good IdeasSarah 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 to approach hard...
- 2024 / 12 / 21147. Is Your Gut a Second Brain?In her book, Rumbles, medical historian Elsa Richardson explores the history of the human gut. She talks with Steve about dubious medical practices, gruesome tales of survival, and the things that medieval...
- 2024 / 12 / 14Turning Work into Play (Update)How psychologist Dan Gilbert went from high school dropout to Harvard professor, found the secret of joy, and inspired Steve Levitt's divorce. SOURCE:Daniel Gilbert, professor of psychology at Harvard...
- 2024 / 12 / 7146. Is There a Fair Way to Divide Us?Moon Duchin is a math professor at Cornell University whose theoretical work has practical applications for voting and democracy. Why is striving for fair elections so difficult?  SOURCE:Moon Duchin,...
- 2024 / 11 / 23145. Neil deGrasse Tyson Is Still StarstruckThe director of the Hayden Planetarium is one of the best science communicators of our time. He and Steve talk about his role in reclassifying Pluto, bad teachers, and why economics isn’t a...
- 2024 / 11 / 16Pete Docter: “What If Monsters Really Do Exist?” (UPDATE)He’s the chief creative officer of Pixar, and the Academy Award-winning director of Soul, Inside Out, Up, and Monsters, Inc. Pete Docter and Steve talk about Pixar’s scrappy beginnings, why wrong turns are...
- 2024 / 11 / 16Pete Docter: “What If Monsters Really Do Exist?” (Update)He’s the chief creative officer of Pixar, and the Academy Award-winning director of Soul, Inside Out, Up, and Monsters, Inc. Pete Docter and Steve talk about Pixar’s scrappy beginnings, why wrong turns are...
- 2024 / 11 / 9144. Feeling Sound and Hearing ColorDavid Eagleman is a Stanford neuroscientist, C.E.O., television host, and founder of the Possibilianism movement. He and Steve talk about how wrists can substitute for ears, why we dream, and what...
- 2024 / 10 / 26143. Why Are Boys and Men in Trouble?Boys and men are trending downward in education, employment, and mental health. Richard Reeves, author of the book Of Boys and Men, has some solutions that don’t come at the expense of women and girls. Steve...
- 2024 / 10 / 19Nobel Laureate Daron Acemoglu on Economics, Politics, and Power (Replay)Daron Acemoglu was just awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in economics. Earlier this year, he and Steve talked about his groundbreaking research on what makes countries succeed or fail. SOURCES:Daron Acemoglu,...
- 2024 / 10 / 19Nobel Laureate Daron Acemoglu on Economics, Politics, and Power (REPLAY)Daron Acemoglu was just awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in economics. Earlier this year, he and Steve talked about his groundbreaking research on what makes countries succeed or fail. SOURCES:Daron Acemoglu,...