- 47 minutes 46 secondsThe Chosen One
A listener asks: whose penis gets the top spot on the Wikipedia page for penis?
Our quest for an answer takes us on a surprisingly philosophical journey — where we learn about the cutthroat fight to be number one and the extremely overthink-y debate that precedes the coronation.
Wikipedia page for Lane Rasberry.
Wikipedia page for penis.
Wikipedia page for human penis.
21 August 2026, 1:15 pm - 40 minutes 31 secondsA road trip through the data center debate
The midterms are approaching, and as the discourse heats up, one of big new villains is: a kind of building. Data centers. Reporter Jasmine Sun took a road trip through two swing states to meet the people living at the center of these debates, and to understand where this all might be headed.
no data centers in my backyard by Jasmine Sun
11 August 2026, 5:00 pm - 37 minutes 58 secondsThe machines are learning… to do crimes?
For the first time, an AI model has autonomously hacked a company. This week, an evolving story, a postcard from a strange, frightening moment in the story of our technology.
A big week for AI denialism by Casey Newton
Its AI agent spent days hacking a company, but sources say OpenAI did not notice for a week by Deepa Seetharaman, Raphael Satter, and Kenrick Cai
Cheating behaviour in frontier model evaluations by AI Security Institute
More On An Internal OpenAI Model Hacking Into HuggingFace by Zvi Mowshowitz
6 August 2026, 11:05 pm - 1 hour 1 minuteWhat’s in your cocaine and the questions Search Engine CAN’T answer
An interview with a cocaine salesman about cocaine adulterants, plus – questions Search Engine can’t answer, with special guest Kelefa Sanneh.
24 July 2026, 9:00 am - 47 minutes 55 secondsHow to pursue excellence … in noodles (unlocked bonus)
The world right now, seems tilted towards the good enough. The AI-written wedding toast, the half-assed attempt. Despite this, a handmade noodle shop is trying to make perfect noodles. Trying so hard that they have signs admonishing their customers to ONLY EAT THEIR SPICY NOODLES THE CORRECT WAY, DO NOT TAKE THEM TO-GO, THE EXPERIENCE WILL BE RUINED.
Why do some people still want to do small things perfectly, even at the expense of profits? An interview with Jason Wang, of Xi'an Famous Foods.
17 July 2026, 9:00 am - 1 hour 10 minutesWhy didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? Pt. 2 (classic)
We travel to Germany to trace techno’s history from Detroit to Berlin. The story of how, after the Wall fell, Berlin exorcised its brutal past with a very strange, decade-long party. A mission that takes us all the way to the gates of Berghain.
Music Credits: Original composition in this episode by Armen Bazarian. Additional Tracks: Game One - Infiniti, Dead Man Watches The Clock - Marcel Dettmann & Ben Klock, The Call - Marcel Dettmann & Norman Nodge, Quicksand - Marcel Dettmann. Full playlist here.
Sven von Thüle: https://soundcloud.com/svt // Der Klang der Familie
Gesine Kühne: https://soundcloud.com/wannadosomething
10 July 2026, 9:00 am - 52 minutes 40 secondsWhy didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? Pt. 1 (classic)
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.
3 July 2026, 9:00 am - 1 hour 38 secondsA Strange Voyage
This month, SpaceX had the largest IPO in all of human history. In a mission to understand a bewildering moment, we trace the story of the stock market itself. From its very beginnings in the Netherlands, to its supersizing in America, through the prism of crypto and widespread speculation that has led to this moment with SpaceX. What happened?
The World's First Stock Exchange by Lodewijk Petram
The Wisdom of Finance by Mihir Desai
Liftoff and Reentry by Eric Berger
Search Engine's earlier reporting on Elon Musk’s controversial data centers: Colossus 1 & Colossus 2
25 June 2026, 9:10 pm - 47 minutes 22 secondsWhy doesn’t anybody come to my parties?
Claire Haber-Harris has a question. When she sends out an invitation, why does she get a tidal wave of excuses and no's? How could someone claim to have had the same stomach virus three times in a row? Search Engine investigates why a random American mom might be annoying people in her community.
Cartoons Hate Her on Substack
15 June 2026, 10:15 pm - 1 hour 8 minutesWhy is the pool at Buckingham Palace a secret? (classic)
An investigation into a mysterious room. A room that the most famous family in England apparently does not want you to see.
5 June 2026, 3:30 pm - 40 minutes 25 secondsWhy do we have to pay into the new Anti-Weaponization Fund?
The President has created a 1.776 billion dollar fund of taxpayer money he can direct to whoever he wants. Huh? How did this happen, and what might happen next? We talk to Pro Publica’s Jesse Eisinger, an investigative reporter who has played a strange role in this whole story.
Listen to our series with Jesse: Why is it so hard to tax billionaires? (Part 1) and (Part 2)
Check out the new ProPublica podcast Paper Trail.
29 May 2026, 9:00 am - More Episodes? Get the App