November 18, 2022. New York City is at war... with rats. And today, Mayor Eric Adams is set to announce four new pieces of legislation aimed at combating this scurrying problem.Two of these laws will target garbage, the rats' main source of food. If you put trash in places the rats can't get, their population will plummet, and New York will get a major victo ... Show More
Yesterday
The Wire That Connected the World
August 17, 1858. New York City wakes to a hundred-gun salute. Church bells ring, flags fly from public buildings, and by nightfall, fireworks light up the sky. The city is celebrating a telegram from Queen Victoria to President Buchanan. Not what it says, but how it traveled: alo ... Show More
32m 55s
Aug 10
The French Monarchy Falls in a Day
August 10, 1792. At midnight, a single church bell begins to ring in Paris. Then another. And another. It's not a call to mass… it's a call to arms. For three years, King Louis XVI and his family have been living as prisoners in a palace, under virtual house arrest at the Tuileri ... Show More
34m 21s
Aug 3
Arsenic, Adultery, and an American on Trial
August 7, 1889. In Liverpool's St. George's Hall, an American woman named Florence Maybrick stands behind iron bars, dressed in mourning black… for the husband she's accused of murdering. The evidence against her is thin: James Maybrick was a longtime arsenic addict who bought th ... Show More
30m 9s
Feb 2025
623. Can New York City Win Its War on Rats?
<p>Even with a new rat czar, an arsenal of poisons, and a fleet of new garbage trucks, it won’t be easy — because, at root, the enemy is us. (Part two of <a href="https://freakonomics.com/podcast-tag/sympathy-for-the-rat/">a three-part series</a>, “Sympathy for the Rat.”)</p><p> ... Show More
50m 23s
Mar 2023
Martha & The Mayor (of Swagger)
Eric Adams, the 110th Mayor of NYC, oversees 320,000 employees and a $101-billion dollar budget. He sits down with Martha to talk about the challenges of running what he calls the greatest city in the world - from crime, to homelessness, to his plans to hire a “rat czar.” Martha ... Show More
36m 53s
Aug 2024
Oh rats! How cities from New York to Mombasa are taking on pests
Animals are essential in maintaining ecosystem balance, but in some cases they can have the opposite effect. In the coastal city of Mombasa, Kenya, authorities are looking to cull 1 million Indian house crows. Conservationists say they are becoming a nuisance and have significant ... Show More
12m 14s
Jan 2024
From the Archives: Brilliant Minds of Trash and Sewage
As we prepare to launch our fourth season at iHeartRadio, we’re revisiting some of host Alec Baldwin’s favorite episodes from the archives. In this episode, Alec digs into the minds behind the processing of the 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater, 16 million pounds of trash and eig ... Show More
39m 7s