Episodes

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.

Are these actually helping other people? Or is it just something we do because we think we’re supposed to?

This week, we interview writer Gideon Lewis-Kraus about the surprisingly long history of actual, working flying cars in America.

An experiment that definitively answers this question. And … the weird conclusion you can draw from what yard signs tell us about democracy.

In part two of our story, we watch the state of New York try to pull off something we rarely see in America: a kind of reparations. A very ambitious dream encounters a thicket of details and complications. The whole time, cameras roll, broadcasting the meetings on YouTube. Help support the 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://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 2021, New York legalized cannabis for adults. It was supposed to be the start of a legal market, led by people arrested during prohibition. Instead, a strange new market has flourished, seemingly every formerly empty store in the city now sells weed. How'd that happen? In part one, the history of prohibition and how it helps explain the mess we're in now. If you enjoyed the episode, consider supporting the show at searchengine.show To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices...

We've launched a new premium feed called Incognito Mode. It includes bonus episodes of Search Engine and some other very special features. We're including a preview episode here: an interview with a very candid, high-level drug dealer about adulterants in the illicit drug supply. Sign up now, at searchengine.show or go there to learn more. (More thoughts about why we're doing this and the future of our show). To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacy...

Something strange, new, and unsettling is happening in media right now.

"Hi David, I’m Vicky Ho. Don’t you remember me?" An investigative reporter travels halfway around the world to find out who is sending him random wrong number texts and why. After you hear this story, you'll never look at these messages the same way again. You can grab a copy of Zeke's book, Number Go Up, here. If you want to support Search Engine, and access our premium feed, head over to searchengine.show. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacy...

This episode will change how you look at games.

Cockroaches were a scourge that scuttled through the cracks and crevices of homes all throughout America.

A question that has launched a battle between bird-loving ecologists and ardent, cat-defending activists.

Actor Molly Ringwald joins us to talk about a time in her life when her job was to pretend to be a normal American teenager, a job which made it impossible to actually be a normal American teenager.

This week, the shocking finale of our investigation into who -- or what -- has been leaving chicken bones strewn across the sidewalks of American cities.

A team of investigators with an unusual set of skills joins us this week to solve a mystery that haunts dog owners across modern American cities.

This week, a question a podcast has no business trying to answer. We talk to writer A.J. Daulerio about his own story of recovery, and the story of how he found himself opening a very unusual community on the internet. You can find the Search Engine newsletter here. 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://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We bring you the shattering conclusion to our investigation into whether a New York City sushi restaurant is swapping their tuna rolls for “the ex-lax fish.”

We investigate unsettling rumors that fish purveyors may be mislabeling fish to save a buck.

Reporter Casey Newton helps tell the story of a very brief, very absurd revolution at the world’s leading artificial intelligence company, OpenAI.

This week, a question from a four-year-old tips us into an investigation of one of our most fundamental taboos.