Yesterday

How to Use AI Without Getting Dumber

AI can help you finish the work faster. But what happens when you stop practicing those skills? In The Collision: What AI Does to Us, MIT professor Eric So explores how tools that boost today’s productivity can quietly weaken tomorrow’s judgment—and how to use them without outsou ... Show More

30m 21s

Oct 16

Outer Space is Stranger Than You Think

Space looks spectacular in photographs. But what would you actually see if you were standing on another world? Astronomer Philip Plait takes us beyond the telescope in Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer's Guide to the Universe, imagining the view from worlds with twin suns, Saturn’s ... Show More

28m 23s

Oct 15

Why We Want Things We Don’t Need

Why does the next new thing always seem like the thing that will finally make life better? In Saying No to New: Why New Things Are Stealing Your Time, Money, and Happiness—And How to Take Back Your Life, New York Times editor Eric Athas explores our appetite for novelty and the t ... Show More

21m 43s

Sep 2024

William T. Taylor, "Hoof Beats: How Horses Shaped Human History" (U California Press, 2024)

From the Rockies to the Himalayas, the bond between horses and humans has spanned across time and civilizations. In this archaeological journey, William T. Taylor explores how momentous events in the story of humans and horses helped create the world we live in today. Tracing the ... Show More

1h 1m

Mar 2025

Horses

Horses—majestic, powerful, and deeply woven into the fabric of human history. From wild herds roaming ancient plains to their role in shaping civilizations, horses have carried us through battles, journeys, and everyday life. How did this bond between humans and horses begin, and ... Show More

50m 7s

Oct 2025

651. The Ultimate Dance Partner

For most of human history, horsepower made the world go. Then came the machines. So why are there still seven million horses in America? (Part one of a series, “<a href="https://freakonomics.com/the-horse-is-us/">The Horse Is Us</a>.”) <ul><li>SOURCES:</stro ... Show More

1h 8m

Jun 2023

Origins of Horse Riding

Human and Horse relationships have long be intertwined; from the ancient Eurasian plain, through to modern cowboys. But how did these huge, independent creatures become domesticated - and what was the original intention behind such an act? Originally tamed for their meat and m ... Show More

44m 9s

Apr 2023

How Horses Conquered America (Twice)

Horses have been a bulwark of American culture and society for centuries. Think of cowboys in the Mid-West or Native Americans riding bareback on the Great Plains. But new, ground-breaking archeological evidence has emerged to suggest horses were present in the Americas more t ... Show More

25m 18s

Jun 2023

Hooves Up!

The girlies investigate a beloved middle school archetype — the horse girl. They explain the history of The American Horse™️, the women who protected them from extinction, and why love stories between girls and horses are so much more empowering than the heteronormative script ... Show More

1h 20m

Oct 2021

Wendy Doniger, "Winged Stallions and Wicked Mares: Horses in Indian Myth and History" (U Virginia Press, 2021)

Raj Balkaran speaks with Wendy Doniger about her new book Winged Stallions and Wicked Mares: Horses in Indian Myth and History (University of Virginia Press, 2021), along with her translation of the final four books of the Mahābhārata's Critical Edition translation project, the p ... Show More

1h 3m

Success Is a Team Sport. Here’s How to F...