Researchers have suggested that lifestyle choices explain the remarkably high number of very old people living healthy lives in regions of the world known as “blue zones.” That research has spawned cookbooks, docuseries, and diets and turned blue zones into a household name. Today’s episode is a conversation with Dr. Saul Newman, who has upended the field by questioning the underlying data and research methods that hold up the now-controversial theory.  

Further reading: 

“Supercentenarian and remarkable age records exhibit patterns indicative of clerical errors and pension fraud,” by Saul Newman 

“The Science Behind Blue Zones: Demographers Debunk the Critics”—an open letter signed by scientists and demographers supporting the “blue zones” theory 

“Sorry, No Secret to Life Is Going to Make You Live to 110,” by Saul Newman for The New York Times 

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What do politicians really think of their voters? A new study looking at 11 different democracies finds that politicians hold an unflattering view of their constituents, while voters view themselves as thoughtful, policy-oriented decision makers. The political scientist Jack Lucas explains why politicians think voters are dumb and why they might be wrong. 

Further reading: 

“Politicians’ Theories of Voting Behavior,” by Jack Lucas, et al. 

“Are politicians democratic realists?,” by Jack Lucas, Lior Sheffer, and Peter John Loewen 

Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government, by Christopher H. Achen and Larry M. Bartels 

“‘Everything Is Terrible, but I’m Fine,’” by Derek Thompson 

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Donald Trump won back the White House last year by stoking fears of scarcity. The zero-sum thinking of the right that says there aren’t enough houses or jobs to go around laid the groundwork for the forces of illiberalism currently at play in the federal government. In their new book, Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson argue that to combat the politics of scarcity, liberals at every level of government must embrace abundance. 

Further reading: 

Abundance, by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson 

Why We’re Polarized, by Ezra Klein 

“Do Democrats Need to Learn How to Build?,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells 

“A Simple Plan to Solve All of America’s Problems,” by Derek Thompson

“Blue States Gave Trump and Vance an Opening,” by Jerusalem Demsas 

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Shaken baby syndrome has been discredited, criticized, and even classified as “junk science” by a New Jersey judge, so why is it often being treated as settled fact in hospitals and courtrooms? The neuroscience researcher Cyrille Rossant was plunged headfirst into the controversy of shaken baby syndrome, now called “abusive head trauma,” when his child was believed to have been shaken by a nanny. After years of research, Rossant is now a leading voice among skeptics who say shaken baby syndrome isn’t backed by scientific proof. 

Further reading: 

Shaken Baby Syndrome: Investigating the Abusive Head Trauma Controversy, co-authored by Cyrille Rossant 

“How Antiscience Creates Confusion About the Diagnosis of Abusive Head Trauma,” by John Leventhal, et al. 

“No Science Supports the Diagnostic Methods for Abusive Head Trauma,” by Cyrille Rossant, et al. 

“False Confessions: Causes, Consequences, and Implications for Reform,” by Saul Kassin 

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As the second Trump administration dismantles federal DEI programs and removes trans Americans from the military, the crusade on “wokeness” seems to be a core focus of the president’s second term. In this encore episode, host Jerusalem Demsas speaks with the New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg about the end of wokeness and why we might miss it when it’s gone. 

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If researchers could go back in time 100,000 years, they’d find at least three different types of humans walking the Earth. Today, only the dominant group, Homo sapiens, survives. The scientist Johannes Krause explains how new discoveries in paleontology and genetics help pinpoint the exact period in which human groups interbred. Understanding this timeline, he says, brings us closer to understanding what makes modern humans unique. 

Further reading: 

“Earliest Modern Human Genomes Constrain Timing of Neanderthal Admixture,” by Johannes Krause, et al. 

“Neanderthal Ancestry Through Time: Insights From Genomes of Ancient and Present-Day Humans,” by Leonardo N. M. Iasi, et al.

“DOGE Is Failing on Its Own Terms,” by David Deming 

Interview with Svante Pääbo, 2022 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine

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Why do governments educate their citizens? More than 200 years ago, Western regimes shifted the responsibility of education from the family to the state. The political scientist Agustina Paglayan argues that this transition happened not in pursuit of democratic ideals, but in the interest of social control. 

Further reading: 

Raised to Obey: The Rise and Spread of Mass Education, by Agustina Paglayan 

“How Reconstruction Created American Public Education," by Adam Harris 

“Was Weber Wrong? A Human Capital Theory of Protestant Economic History,” by Sascha O. Becker Ludger Woessmann

“Understanding Education Policy Preferences: Survey Experiments with Policymakers in 35 Developing Countries,” by Lee Crawfurd, et al.  

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We’re often told that there’s “no room for politics at work,” and yet the workplace is one of the most politically segregated spaces in adult life. The Harvard economics researcher Sahil Chinoy explains the self-sorting happening at every stage of professional life and the trade-offs workers are willing to make in pursuit of ideological uniformity.

Further reading: 

“Political Sorting in the U.S. Labor Market: Evidence and Explanations,” by Sahil Chinoy and Martin Koenen

“The Political Polarization of Corporate America,” by Vyacheslav Fos, et al. 

“Politics at Work” by Emanuele Colonnelli, et al. 

“Does Communicating Measurable Diversity Goals Attract or Repel Historically Marginalized Job Applicants? Evidence From the Lab and Field” by Erika Kirgios, et al. 

The study behind Sahil Chinoy’s Good on Paper answer: “Pitfalls of Demographic Forecasts of US Elections”

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Most gun deaths aren’t premeditated, so how can we stop gun violence before it happens? The University of Chicago economist Jens Ludwig makes the case for thinking differently about the source of America’s gun-violence problem. 

Further reading: 

• Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence, by Jens Ludwig 
• Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman 
• Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much, by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir
• The study behind Ludwig’s Good on Paper answer: “The Effect of Mentoring on School Attendance and Academic Outcomes: A Randomized Evaluation of the Check & Connect Program” 



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Seven years after the Supreme Court struck down a ban on state-sanctioned sports betting, a more complete picture of the downstream effects of legalization is starting to emerge. As some states see debt delinquency and problem gambling increase, the journalist Danny Funt explains why lawmakers took a gamble on sports betting in the first place. 

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Government reform isn’t an exclusively partisan issue, so why does it seem to fall under the purview of Republicans? The researcher Jennifer Pahlka says Democrats need to “get in the game” of government reform and consider working with, instead of against, the aims of DOGE. 

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