Episode summary: Taste is a very curious thing. We understand that how we taste something is almost entirely subjective, that while it depends to some extent on the physical and chemical properties of the things we’re tasting, the sensation is overlaid with all sorts of cultural and personal memorie...

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Episode summary: Many articles in the media compare countries with one another - who’s faring better or worse in the fight against coronavirus? But is this helpful - or, in fact, fair? Tim Harford and Ruth Alexander discuss the limitations that we come across when we try to compare the numbers of Co...

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Episode summary: Like most people, I imagine, I’ve been having a lot of anxious thoughts lately. And I’ve been wishing I could get those thoughts out of my head. And then I remembered that I used to have a podcast called Anxious Machine. So here’s my first episode in three years: some thoughts about...

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Episode summary: In mid-April, 2020, states are beginning to explore ways to re-open their economies amid the global coronavirus pandemic. But with states devising their own paths forward, many are wondering what powers the government has, even during a national emergency. Are the states violating o...

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Episode summary: Here in the US, we’re not used to needing to cover half of our faces in public, but if you look at the other side of the world, it’s a different story. In parts of Asia, wearing a mask in response to the coronavirus pandemic was a totally easy and normal adjustment. Rebecca Kanthor...

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Episode summary: We catch up again with Lucia Rubinelli to discuss the latest developments in Italy. With anger against the EU on the rise and regional divisions getting more acute, can the Italian government hold it together? What is Salvini up to? And will the technocrats try another take over? Pl...

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Episode summary: Journalist and bestselling author Michael Lewis (Liar’s Poker, Moneyball) takes a searing look at what’s happened to fairness. It feels like there’s less of it every day—whether it comes to lending practices, college admissions, professional sports, or psychological well-being. Who...

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Episode summary: The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia, a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts. A note on shownotes. In a perfect world, you go into each episode of the Memory Palace knowing nothing about what’s coming. It’s pretentious, sure, but that’s the intention....

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Episode summary: Urbanites are fleeing cities for beach communities and small country towns! Tensions are spreading faster than the Coronavirus. Your host turns to the last exhibition he saw in New York (Countryside the Future! from Rem Koolhaas) and the first dystopian film he watched in confinemen...

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Episode summary: In January 2000, two bodies were found frozen in a remote area of Saskatoon, Canada. It was a place where nobody walked, especially in the winter. And then, a man came forward and said he had been dropped off by police on the outskirts of town, but he had made it back alive. Crimina...

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