Episodes

The story of how an alternative theory of dentistry made its way from medicine's fringes to an audience of young men online.

Search Engine’s crack automotive team investigates.

The story of the first people who invented democracy, and what it did to them.

What if there was an event in the future, the outcome of which you couldn’t personally control, but it was still causing you anguish?

A year ago, we saw a stand-off between OpenAI's non-profit board and its leader, Sam Altman. Since then, the board has been reshuffled, Altman has consolidated power, and under his leadership, some strange things have happened. If AI might change the world, and OpenAI is leading the field -- how worried should we be? We check in with tech reporter Casey Newton of the newsletter Platformer and the podcast Hard Fork. Listen to our previous OpenAI episode (https://pjvogt.substack.com/p/who-should-...

We reveal the one weird trick some billionaires use to pay less in federal taxes than you do.

A rogue IRS contractor leaks the private tax returns of the country’s wealthiest citizens to a reporter.

This week, we're sharing an episode of a show we love, Death, Sex & Money.

This week we have for you ... not a whodunnit, but a what did I do?

The single issue that might decide the upcoming presidential election also happens to be: very confusing. Political economist Mark Blyth helps us understand: how inflation starts, how inflation is stopped, and shares his theory about why the powers-that-be may be just as confused about inflation as we are. Support the show: searchengine.show To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https...

25 years ago, The Sopranos, the best television show ever created, premiered. This week, a new documentary called Wise Guy asks the question: how did a show considered so risky & uncommercial even get made? We’re interviewing Wise Guy director Alex Gibney about that question, and about how stubborn lunatics like him and David Chase got to make the projects they wanted to make. Incognito Mode, our ad-free, no-rerun, bonus episode feed. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices...

If you care about animals, but don't want to stop eating them... what's the least you could do while doing the most good?

For years, the must-have phone for the discerning drug trafficker or hitman was a brand you may not have heard of: AN0M. Reporter Joseph Cox tells us the story of the AN0M phone, its sudden rise and shocking fall, and the shadowy group behind its invention. Joseph's new book: Dark Wire. Incognito Mode, our ad-free, no-rerun, bonus episode feed. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ht...

We are in an eighty-eight day sprint to the Presidential election. How would you follow this story if you wanted to actually understand something, instead of, like me, just feeling very anxious several times a day? We talk to Ezra Klein about how he follows elections and his own strange role in this election cycle. If you'd like to check out some of Ezra's election coverage this year, here are some good places to start. Democrats Have a Better Option than Biden (February, 2024) Are Democrats ...

A trip to Greenland, a chance encounter with Coolio, and the end of the world.

An art heist in the crypto world plunges us headfirst into another mystery.

This week: Bitcoin.

A story about a strange auction for perhaps the most valuable piece of paper in America.

We travel to Germany to trace techno's history from Detroit to Berlin.

Two Americans embark on a quest: fly across an ocean to try to get into the most exclusive nightclub in the world – Berghain. A German techno palace where the line outside can last 8 hours, and the bouncers are merciless in their judgments. The club does not explain how it makes its decisions about who can enter, but one foolish podcaster will try to explain anyway. Support the show: search engine.show To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com...

This week, we try to understand an experience that 74% of Americans routinely report having.

An internet breaking news story. As we told you last week, Google has begun offering AI-generated answers to search questions. But some answers, it turns out, are strange. Users were told, for instance, that glue was an appropriate ingredient for homemade pizza. We talk to reporter Katie Notopolous, who baked and ate her own homemade glue pizza. Support the show: search engine.show To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Lear...

Last week, Google announced a fundamental change to how the site will work, which will likely have dire effects for the news industry. When you use Google now, the site will often offer AI-generated summaries to you, instead of favoring human-written articles. We talk to Platformer’s Casey Newton about why this is happening, why publishers are nervous, and about a secret new internet you may not have heard of, a paradise to which we may all yet escape. Support the show at searchengine.show! Se...

After stumbling on a new kind of search engine for faces, we called privacy journalist Kashmir Hill.