Dartmouth president Sian Beilock, a psychologist by training, made her name studying why people choke. Now she’s applying those insights to one of the most scrutinized jobs in America. No pressure!
 

• SOURCES:
  • Sian Beilock, president of Dartmouth College.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Growing share of Americans say the U.S. higher education system is headed in the wrong direction," by Kim Parker (Pew Research Center, 2025).
  • "Standardized Test Scores and Academic Performance at Ivy-Plus Colleges," by John N. Friedman, Bruce Sacerdote, Douglas O. Staiger, and Michele Tine (NBER, 2025).
  • "Americans’ Trust in One Another," by Laura Silver, Scott Keeter, Stephanie Kramer, Jordan Lippert, Sofia Hernandez Ramones, Alan Cooperman, Chris Baronavski, and Bill Webster (Pew Research Center, 2025).
  • Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To, by Sian Beilock (2011)

• EXTRAS:
  • "Why Does Vanderbilt Keep Winning?" by Freakonomics Radio (2026).
  • "'A Low Moment in Higher Education,'" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "'If We’re All in It for Ourselves, Who Are We?'" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "Why We Choke Under Pressure (and How Not To)," by Freakonomics Radio (2018).

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It’s a hard time to run a university: public trust is low, political pressure is high, and finances are fragile. But Daniel Diermeier, who trained as a political scientist, has Vanderbilt humming. How? He says the key is choosing magnets over wedges.
 

• SOURCES:
  • Daniel Diermeier, chancellor of Vanderbilt University.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Higher Ed’s New Crisis Managers," by Lee Gardner (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2026).
  • "Professors Need to Diversify What They Teach," by Jon Shields, Yuval Avnur, and Stephanie Muravchik (Persuasion, 2025).
  • "A Call for Constructive Engagement," (American Association of Colleges and Universities, 2025).
  • "2020 Statement on Anthropology and Human Rights," (American Anthropological Association, 2020).
  • The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander (2010).
  • "Kalven Committee: Report on the University’s Role in Political and Social Action," (The University of Chicago, 1967).

• EXTRAS:
  • Sign up here to pre-screen our new video show.
  • "'A Low Moment in Higher Education,'" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "'If We’re All in It for Ourselves, Who Are We?'" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "Do Boycotts Work?" by Freakonomics Radio (2016).

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Insurance forms that make no sense. Subscriptions that can’t be cancelled. A never-ending blizzard of automated notifications. In this update of a 2025 episode, Stephen Dubner discovers where all this sludge comes from — and how much it’s costing us.

• SOURCES:
  • Benjamin Handel, professor of economics at UC Berkeley.
  • Neale Mahoney, professor of economics at Stanford University.
  • Richard Thaler, professor of economics at The University of Chicago.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Selling Subscriptions," by Liran Einav, Ben Klopack, and Neale Mahoney (Stanford University, 2023).
  • "The ‘Enshittification’ of TikTok," by Cory Doctorow (WIRED, 2023).
  • "Dominated Options in Health Insurance Plans," by Chenyuan Liu and Justin Sydnor (American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2022).
  • Nudge: The Final Edition, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein (2021).
  • "Frictions or Mental Gaps: What’s Behind the Information We (Don’t) Use and When Do We Care?" by Benjamin Handel and Joshua Schwartzstein (Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2018).
  • "Adverse Selection and Switching Costs in Health Insurance Markets: When Nudging Hurts," by Benjamin Handel (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2011).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Sludge," series by Freakonomics Radio (2025).
  • "People Aren’t Dumb. The World Is Hard. (Update)" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "All You Need is Nudge," by Freakonomics Radio (2021).
  • "How to Fix the Hot Mess of U.S. Healthcare," by Freakonomics Radio (2021).
  • "Should We Really Behave Like Economists Say We Do?" by Freakonomics Radio (2015).

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New York is the latest state to legalize medical aid in dying. Stephen Dubner speaks with the governor who signed the law, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, a death doula — and an ethicist who thinks the very idea is wrong.
 

• SOURCES:
  • Kathy Hochul, governor of New York.
  • Suzanne O'Brien, death doula, founder of Doulagivers Institute.
  • Al Roth, economist at Stanford University.
  • Daniel Sulmasy, physician, philosopher, director of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University.

• RESOURCES:
  • Moral Economics: From Prostitution to Organ Sales, What Controversial Transactions Reveal About How Markets Work, by Al Roth (2026).
  • "New York Moves to Allow Terminally Ill People to Die on Their Own Terms," by Grace Ashford (New York Times, 2025).
  • The Good Death: A Guide for Supporting Your Loved One through the End of Life, by Suzanne O'Brien (2025).
  • The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, by Neil Gorsuch (2009).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Make Me a Match (Update)," by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
  • Sign up here to pre-screen our new video show.

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It brings strangers together. It teaches probability, strategy, and emotional control. It has even helped N.F.L. teams win the Super Bowl. Stephen Dubner explores why this ancient game is having a renaissance. (Part two of a series, “We Are All Gamers Now.”)
 

• SOURCES: 
  • Remington Davenport, founder of NYC Backgammon Club.
  • Frank Frigo, game strategy expert & two-time world backgammon champion.
  • Masayuki "Mochy" Mochizuki, professional backgammon player.
  • Marc Olsen, C.E.O. of Backgammon Galaxy.
  • Robert Wachtel, author and professional backgammon player.

• RESOURCES:
  • The Backgammon Chronicles: A Pro's Adventures on Tour Volume 1, by Robert Wachtel (2019).
  • In the Game Until the End, by Robert Wachtel (1993)
  • "Tric Trac, Clic Clac," (The New Yorker, 1930).

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As the Trump administration rolls back environmental regulations, we revisit a 2022 episode that explored the hidden cost of an invisible threat: air pollution.

• SOURCES:
  • Angela Duckworth, psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Michael Greenstone, economist at the University of Chicago, director of the Energy Policy Institute, co-director of the Climate Impact Lab.
  • Stephan Heblich, economist at the University of Toronto.
  • Andrea La Nauze, economist at Deakin University.
  • Steve Levitt, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Chicago.
  • Edson Severnini, economist at Boston College.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Most Polluted Cities," (American Lung Association, 2026).
  • "Air Pollution and Adult Cognition: Evidence from Brain Training," by Andrea La Nauze and Edson Severnini (Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 2025).
  • "Air Pollution and Student Performance in the U.S.," by Michael Gilraine and Angela Zheng (NBER Working Papers, 2022).
  • "Billions of people still breathe unhealthy air: new WHO data," (World Health Organization, 2022).
  • "Evolution of the Clean Air Act," by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (2020).
  • "The Death of U.K. Coal in Five Charts," by Hannah Ritchie (Our World in Data, 2019).
  • "The Colour of Pollution," (The Economist, 2014).

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Another war in the Middle East. A retreat from the international order. A presidency built on self-dealing and arbitrary power. It’s enough to make you think the U.S. is in a steep decline — but Fareed Zakaria thinks otherwise.
 

• SOURCES:
  • Fareed Zakaria, journalist and author.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Iran is an imperial trap. America walked right in." by Fareed Zakaria (The Washington Post, 2026).
  • "‘Bomb and hope’ is not a strategy," by Fareed Zakaria (The Washington Post, 2026).
  • Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present, by Fareed Zakaria (2024).
  • The Accidental Superpower: The Next Generation of American Preeminence and the Coming Global Disorder, by Peter Zeihan (2014).
  • The Affluent Society, by Jonathan Galbraith (1958).

• EXTRAS: 
  • "Fareed Zakaria on What Just Happened, and What Comes Next," by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "Are We Living Through the Most Revolutionary Period in History?" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "The Folly of Prediction," by Freakonomics Radio (2011).

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In his final years, Richard Feynman's curiosity took him to some surprising places. We hear from his companions on the trips he took — and one he wasn’t able to. (Part three of a three-part series originally published in 2024.) 

• SOURCES: 
  • Alan Alda, actor and screenwriter.
  • Barbara Berg, friend of Richard Feynman.
  • Helen Czerski, physicist and oceanographer at University College London.
  • Michelle Feynman, photographer and daughter of Richard Feynman.
  • Cheryl Haley, friend of Richard Feynman.
  • Debby Harlow, friend of Richard Feynman.
  • Ralph Leighton, biographer and film producer.
  • Charles Mann, science journalist and author.
  • John Preskill, professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology.
  • Lisa Randall, professor of theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University.
  • Christopher Sykes, documentary filmmaker.
  • Stephen Wolfram, founder and C.E.O. of Wolfram Research; creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and the Wolfram Language.

• RESOURCES: 
  • I Love My Wife..., directed by Ian Tierney (2020).
  • Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science, by Lawrence M. Krauss (2011).
  • Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track: Selected Letters of Richard P. Feynman, edited by Michelle Feynman (2005).
  • The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, by Richard Feynman (1999).
  • The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan (1995).
  • Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick (1992).
  • The Quest for Tannu Tuva, by Christopher Sykes (1988)
  • “What Do You Care What Other People Think?” by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1988).
  • The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-century Physics, by Robert Crease and Charles Mann (1986).
  • Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1985).
  • Fun to Imagine, BBC docuseries (1983).

• EXTRAS: 
  • “The Curious, Brilliant, Vanishing Mr. Feynman,” series by Freakonomics Radio (2024).

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What happens when an existentially depressed and recently widowed young physicist from Queens gets a fresh start in California? We follow Richard Feynman out west, to explore his long and extremely fruitful second act. (Part two of a three-part series originally published in 2024.)

• SOURCES:
  • Seamus Blackley, video game designer and creator of the Xbox.
  • Carl Feynman, computer scientist and son of Richard Feynman.
  • Michelle Feynman, photographer and daughter of Richard Feynman.
  • Ralph Leighton, biographer and film producer.
  • Charles Mann, science journalist and author.
  • John Preskill, professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology.
  • Lisa Randall, professor of theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University.
  • Christopher Sykes, documentary filmmaker.
  • Stephen Wolfram, founder and C.E.O. of Wolfram Research; creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and the Wolfram Language.
  • Alan Zorthian, architect.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Love After Life: Nobel-Winning Physicist Richard Feynman’s Extraordinary Letter to His Departed Wife," by Maria Popova (The Marginalian, 2017).
  • Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science, by Lawrence M. Krauss (2011).
  • The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, by Richard Feynman (1999).
  • Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick (1992).
  • "G. Feynman; Landscape Expert, Physicist’s Widow," (Los Angeles Times, 1990).
  • "Nobel Physicist R. P. Feynman of Caltech Dies," by Lee Dye (Los Angeles Times, 1988).
  • The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-century Physics, by Robert Crease and Charles Mann (1986).
  • Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1985).
  • Fun to Imagine, BBC docuseries (1983).
  • "Richard P. Feynman: Nobel Prize Winner," by Tim Hendrickson, Stuart Galley, and Fred Lamb (Engineering and Science, 1965).
  • F.B.I. files on Richard Feynman.

• EXTRAS:
  • "The Curious Mr. Feynman," by Freakonomics Radio (2024).

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From the Manhattan Project to the Challenger investigation, the physicist Richard Feynman loved to shoot down what he called “lousy ideas.” Today, the world is awash in lousy ideas — so maybe it’s time to get some more Feynman in our lives? (Part one of a three-part series originally published in 2024.)

• SOURCES:
  • Helen Czerski, physicist and oceanographer at University College London.
  • Michelle Feynman, photographer and daughter of Richard Feynman.
  • Ralph Leighton, biographer and film producer.
  • Charles Mann, science journalist and author.
  • John Preskill, professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology.
  • Stephen Wolfram, founder and C.E.O. of Wolfram Research; creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and the Wolfram Language.

• RESOURCES:
  • "How Legendary Physicist Richard Feynman Helped Crack the Case on the Challenger Disaster," by Kevin Cook (Literary Hub, 2021).
  • Challenger: The Final Flight, docuseries (2020).
  • Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track: Selected Letters of Richard P. Feynman, edited by Michelle Feynman (2005).
  • The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, by Richard Feynman (1999).
  • Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick (1992).
  • “What Do You Care What Other People Think?” by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1988).
  • "Mr. Feynman Goes to Washington," by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (Engineering & Science, 1987).
  • The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-century Physics, by Robert Crease and Charles Mann (1986).
  • Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1985).
  • "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out," (Horizon S18.E9, 1981).
  • "Los Alamos From Below," by Richard Feynman (UC Santa Barbara lecture, 1975).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Exploring Physics, from Eggshells to Oceans," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).

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Not exactly. But their runaway success with games like Wordle says something bigger about the way we live now. (Part one of a series, “We Are All Gamers Now.”)
 

• SOURCES:
  • Alex Hardiman, chief product officer at The New York Times.
  • Jonathan Knight, S.V.P. and general manager for New York Times Games.
  • Eric Zimmerman, game designer, professor of game design at the N.Y.U. Game Center.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Wordle Is a Love Story," by Daniel Victor (New York Times, 2022).
  • The Rules We Break: Lessons in Play, Thinking, and Design, by Eric Zimmerman (2022).
  • Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures with Crosswords and the Puzzling People Who Can't Live Without Them, by Adrienne Raphel (2020).
  • The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia, by Bernard Suits (2005).
  • Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals, by Katie Salen Tekinbas and Eric Zimmerman (2003).

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