The Show That Never HappenedA brief meditation on loss, relativity, and the vagaries of show business. RESOURCES: Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry, d […]

622. Why Does Everyone Hate Rats? New York City’s mayor calls them “public enemy number one.” History books say they caused the Black Death — although recent scienti […]

621. Is Professional Licensing a Racket?Licensing began with medicine and law; now it extends to 20 percent of the U.S. workforce, including hair stylists and […]

When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee?In 2023, the N.F.L. players’ union conducted a workplace survey that revealed clogged showers, rats in the locker room — […]

620. Why Don’t Running Backs Get Paid Anymore?They used to be the N.F.L.’s biggest stars, with paychecks to match. Now their salaries are near the bottom, and t […]

619. How to Poison the A.I. MachineWhen the computer scientist Ben Zhao learned that artists were having their work stolen by A.I. models, he invented a tool to […]

Is San Francisco a Failed State? (And Other Questions You Shouldn’t Ask the Mayor)Stephen Dubner, live on stage, mixes it up with outbound mayor London Breed, and […]

618. Are Realtors Having an Existential Crisis?Their trade organization just lost a huge lawsuit. Their infamous commission model is under attack. And there are way […]

617. Are You Really Allergic to Penicillin?Like tens of millions of people, Stephen Dubner thought he had a penicillin allergy. Like the vast majority, he didn’t. T […]

Highway Signs and Prison LaborIncarcerated people grow crops, fight wildfires, and manufacture everything from prescription glasses to highway signs — often for p […]

Can Academic Fraud Be Stopped? (Update)Probably not — the incentives are too strong. But a few reformers are trying. We check in on their progress, in an update to a […]

Why Is There So Much Fraud in Academia? (Update)Some of the biggest names in behavioral science stand accused of faking their results. Last year, an astonishing […]

Your Brain Doesn’t Work the Way You ThinkDavid Eagleman upends myths and describes the vast possibilities of a brainscape that even neuroscientists are only […]

616. How to Make Something from NothingAdam Moss was the best magazine editor of his generation. When he retired, he took up painting. But he wasn’t very good, a […]

615. Is Ozempic as Magical as It Sounds?In a wide-ranging conversation with Ezekiel Emanuel, the policymaking physician and medical gadfly, we discuss the massive […]

How the Supermarket Helped America Win the Cold War (Update)Last week, we heard a former U.S. ambassador describe Russia’s escalating conflict with the U.S. T […]

614. Is the U.S. Sleeping on Threats from Russia and China?John J. Sullivan, a former State Department official and U.S. ambassador, says yes: “Our politicians a […]

613. Dying Is Easy. Retail Is Hard. Macy’s wants to recapture its glorious past. The author of the Wimpy Kid books wants to rebuild his dilapidated hometown. We j […]

612. Is Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Its Most Valuable Asset? The 166-year-old chain, which is fighting extinction, calls the parade its “gift to the nation.” With 30 […]

How to Stop Worrying and Love the Robot Apocalypse (Update)It’s true that robots (and other smart technologies) will kill many jobs. It may also be true that n […]