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Search Engine

Search Engine

Search Engine is the podcast that tries to answer the questions that keep you up at night. A podcast made by humans that provides the answers that neither artificial intelligence nor actual search engines really can. Named one of the best podcasts of 2023 by Vulture, Time, The Economist, and Vogue.

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Recent Episodes

July 11, 2025

Why'd I take speed for twenty years? - Part 2 (classic)

In part two of our story about ADHD medications, we approach the question from a different angle. We meet a doctor who spent two decades convinced that her brain does not work correctly, and who struggled to find someone who ...
July 4, 2025

Why'd I take speed for twenty years? - Part 1 (classic)

One of the millions of millennials given prescription stimulants to treat ADHD decides to quit. And afterwards wonders -- how did these drugs becomes so popular, so fast? This week, the story of amphetamine's birth, life, dea...
June 30, 2025

The Psychic Question

A journalist finds out that many of his vaunted mentors are seeing a psychic. The same psychic. He decides to pay her a visit. Check out the 10% Happier podcast See more of Dan's work at DanHarris.com Support Search Engine! T...
June 20, 2025

Wait, should I not be drinking airplane coffee? (classic)

Queer Eye’s Antoni Porowski has heard a disgusting rumor — that the coffee on airplanes is unsafe to drink because the onboard water tanks are only cleaned once a year. We investigate and learn some disgusting lessons along t...
June 13, 2025

The Test

A woman gets a disquieting piece of information about her pregnancy, and turns to technology to try to control her future. Second Life - Amanda Hess ( Amazon / Bookshop ) Support the show! Comment on this episode A playlist o...
June 6, 2025

The Stupid Little Yogurt Question

A high school teacher has a question, but he wants his skeptical teenage students to answer it. Reporter Garrott Graham rides along as they investigate the motives of an international yogurt brand. Support the show To learn m...

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What People Say About the Show

"I love explanatory journalism, and it’s explanatory journalism at its best. Simple questions that unfold into wondrous answers and, more than that, explorations."

- Ezra Klein, host of The Ezra Klein Show

"I like that Search Engine is still figuring out what it can do with this new podcast form it's invented, and that every time I download an episode I really don't know what to expect. What's rarer than that? In podcasts or in anything?"

    - Ira Glass, host of This American Life

 "Search Engine’s particular spark comes from the way the team injects a sense of genuine discovery into the act of unspooling. This is a show that works to give you a good time, always hustling for your attention as it peels back layer after layer."

- Vulture, "Search Engine Is the Spiritual Successor to Reply All"

You can find our show credits, schedule, and advertising ethics policy here.

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