We spend too much of our health care focus on lifespan and not enough on healthspan--the quality of our life as we get older. So...
In the original version of a now classic thought experiment, five people are about to be killed by a runaway trolley. Would you divert the trolley knowing that your choice will kill a single innocent bystander? That thought experiment is...
Sugar appears to have no nutritional value. But is it more than just empty calories? Is it actually bad for us? Author and journalist Gary Taubes talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his latest book, The Case Against Sugar....
In the original version of a now classic thought experiment, five people are about to be killed by a runaway trolley. Would you divert the trolley knowing that your choice will kill a single innocent bystander? That thought experiment is the seed for this conversation between EconTalk host Russ Roberts and fan fav Mike...
We spend too much of our health care focus on lifespan and not enough on healthspan--the quality of our life as we get older. So argues Dr. Peter Attia, author of Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity. Attia speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about what kills us, what slows us down as we age, and the weapons we ha...
Adam Smith, portrayed in video production, An Animal that Trades. In the original version of a now classic thought experiment, five people are about to be killed by a runaway trolley. Would you divert the trolley knowing that your choice will kill a single innocent bystander? Listen as Michael Munger of Duke Univer...
Lydia Dugdale was comfortable talking about death well before she became a medical doctor. Then her experiences in hospitals made her realize that most people weren't. She long wondered how conversations about dying could be started earlier in such settings. When she came across an ancient manual for death- the Ars mo...
Why are American housing prices so high? How have zoning laws impacted the supply of housing? Is urban sprawl the answer to American housing and environmental problems? Judge Glock joins EconTalk host Russ Roberts to discuss the case for zoning laws and property taxes, the importance of competition among local governme...
Do marathons kill people who aren't in the race? Does when you're born make you more likely to get the flu? And what's the difference between a good doctor and a bad one? These are some of the questions Anupam Bapu Jena of Harvard University and EconTalk host Russ Roberts take up as they discuss Jena's book, Random Act...
The recent Supreme Court ruling condemning Harvard and UNC's race-based admissions policies has re-ignited the conversation about how to improve opportunities for bright minority students. In this week's episode, economist Roland Fryer has a proposal to improve the pipeline of minority applicants, but he doesn't think...
Can economics and better measurement help us understand racial disparities and suggest how to reduce or eliminate them? Economist Roland Fryer of Harvard University believes deeply in the power of data to help us understand how the world works and how we might change it. Listen as he tells EconTalk's Russ Roberts of ...
You've heard a lot about Artificial Intelligence (AI) on EconTalk of late- the good, the bad, and the frightening. In this episode, host Russ Roberts welcomes one of AI's most strident acolytes, venture capitalist and entrepreneur Marc Andreessen, to talk about his vision of how AI will save the world. Andreessen maint...
Conventional wisdom is that more information is always better, but oncologist Vinay Prasad rejects that way of thinking and argues that cancer screenings can do more harm than good. We love bucking conventional wisdom here on EconTalk, and we hope you find this conversation illuminating. Deciding what cancer scr...
Early detection of cancer seems like a very good idea. But it's a lot more complicated than it seems. Oncologist and epidemiologist Vinay Prasad of the University of California, San Francisco talks to EconTalk's Russ Roberts about why many tests to detect cancer do little or nothing to extend lifespan.
Historian and author Walter Russell Mead of Bard College and the Hudson Institute talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about how innovation and religion can help us make sense of the current state of the world.
Psychologist and writer Adam Mastroianni says our minds are like the keep of a castle protecting our deepest held values and beliefs from even the most skilled attacks. The only problem with this design for self-preservation is that it also can keep out wisdom that might be both useful and true. Mastroianni's summary ...
The future of AI keeps Zvi Mowshowitz up at night. He also wonders why so many smart people seem to think that AI is more likely to save humanity than destroy it. Listen as Mowshowitz talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the current state of AI, the pace of AI's development, and where--unless we take serious actio...
Economist and author Daron Acemoglu of MIT discusses his book Power and Progress with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Acemoglu argues that the productivity and prosperity that results from innovation is not always shared widely across the population. He makes the case for the importance of regulating new technologies to...
Neuroscientist and author Erik Hoel talks about his book, The World Behind the World, with EconTalk's Russ Roberts. Is it possible to reconcile the seemingly subjective inner world of human experience with the seemingly objective outer world of observation, measurement, and science? Despite the promise of neuroscience,...