90. If America Is a Train Wreck, Why Am ...

Also: does wisdom really come with age? This episode originally aired on January 14, 2021. 

Also: how many “selves” is it OK to have? This episode originally aired on January 17, 2021. 

Also: how can you become a more curious person? This episode originally aired on January 10, 2021. 

Why is all of the world split up into countries, states, cities and counties and more? Why can't we all just live as one big group? Which country has the least amount of people? We're talking about countries and borders with author Juan Enriquez. Also in this episode: why don't s ... Show More

Societies where people trust one another are healthier and wealthier. In the U.S. (and the U.K. and elsewhere), social trust has been falling for decades — in part because our populations are more diverse. What can we do to fix it? 

Why is Japan's adult adoption rate so high? Why don't American car dealerships succeed in the country? And why did Colonel Sanders put a curse on a beloved Japanese baseball team? Plus, Will and Mango discover the shortest escalator in the world! (Just take the stairs, guys.) Lea ... Show More

Why is Japan's adult adoption rate so high? Why don't American car dealerships succeed in the country? And why did Colonel Sanders put a curse on a beloved Japanese baseball team? Plus, Will and Mango discover the shortest escalator in the world! (Just take the stairs, guys.) Lea ... Show More

Why Are British English and American English Different? 

As an election approaches in America, we return to a unique experiment which took the temperature of the USA after the surprise election of Donald Trump. In 2016 the BBC World Service, in association with American Public Media, focused on areas which the media had neglected – but ... Show More

Harry goes the extra “yard” to find out why the United States is one of the few countries that hasn’t gone metric. Americans seem more than content in a hybrid world of liters AND gallons. Why can’t we choose one form of measurement? It turns out there’s a lot of national pride a ... Show More

Why do we drive on only one side of the road? Why don’t we sing in libraries? Why wear a swimsuit?For Professor Michele Gelfand, it all comes down to culture. As a cross-cultural psychologist, Gelfand is fascinated by social environments and their effects on human behavior, parti ... Show More

Warum leben Menschen in anderen Ländern teils deutlich länger als in Deutschland? Was läuft da besser? Was hält die Menschen dort gesünder? Dieser Podcast sucht im Ausland nach Ideen und möglichen Vorbildern.