521. I’m Your Biggest Fan!

In blue cities across the country, unions and politicians want to ban self-driving cars. In this episode from the Search Engine podcast, PJ Vogt visits Boston to sort the facts from the propaganda. (Part two of a two-part series.) SOURCES: Carl Richardson, ADA coordinator for the ... Show More

How a secret project at Google led to driverless cars on American roads. Freakonomics Radio shares a story from our friends at Search Engine. (Part one of a two-part series.) SOURCES: Alex Davies, author of Driven: The Race To Create the Autonomous Car. Chris Urmson, co-founder a ... Show More

A ruthless (and ruthlessly efficient) industry is using digital tools to supercharge one of the world’s oldest behaviors. We look at how the industry works, and ask the scam-fighters what they’re doing about it. SOURCES: Kati Daffan, former assistant director at the Federal Trade ... Show More

<p>As a culture, we are uncomfortably comfortable with mocking fangirls. Why is that? Spoiler alert, it's sexism. Anney and Samantha trace the history of fangirls and our dismissal of them, and discuss why fangirls run the world.</p><p> </p> Learn more about your ad-choices at <a ... Show More

When you think of fangirls, what comes to mind: large swaths of fandom (usually for a boyband) whose feelings culminate in tears and joyful screams? Perhaps you grimace or roll your eyes at the thought. In this fun, lively talk, playwright Yve Blake asks us to reevaluate our reac ... Show More

<p>It seems impossible to go a week without Doja Cat stirring up a new controversy; from sporting a tshirt featuring an alt-right figurehead, to appearing in racist chatrooms and isolating her fanbase. As her behaviour appears to veer away from simple trolling and towards an actu ... Show More

It's not a bird, or a plane, it's toxic fandom! It's not super, man. Bad jokes aside, SMNTY investigates what exactly is going on in DC fandom, and particularly, the Snyderverse.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

This week, we’re spilling the tea on OUR unpopular opinions, and trust us, things are about to get wild! Lewys is throwing down the gauntlet with a bold statement: Is Megan Thee Stallion the ultimate queen of this generation’s female rap performers? Meanwhile, Isla’s got a hot ta ... Show More

<p>in this episode, we talk about modern love and all the ways it intersects with politics. we explore the age-old question "is love political?" we talk about all the things that sustain love, as well as the things that undermine it. we differentiate between healthy love and unhe ... Show More

A lot of us grow up wanting to be famous, but is fame really all it’s cracked up to be? Having gotten a little taste of popularity in her own world, Emma talks about what it’s like having a following and being in the public spotlight. Plus, what it’s like for other major celebrit ... Show More

Broadcaster and comedian Steve Punt scours the archives to exhume the often pretentious and opinionated philosophical outpourings of pop stars through the ages. With the help of music journalists Paul Morley, Kate Mossman, DJ and record producer Ras Kwame and surprising soundbite ... Show More

Spencer Kornhaber, Shirley Li, and Hannah Giorgis assess the state of pop music following the Grammys. While the much-derided awards have improved at celebrating the diversity of modern music, they still tend to reward safer throwback sounds. And modern music as a whole seems to ... Show More