Plain English with Derek Thompson
Episodes
Plain History: The Smoot-Hawley Tariff and the Great Depression
11 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The 1920s and the 2020s share a special kinship. One hundred years ago, the U.S. was grappling with a mix of growth, technological splendor, and gener...
Trump’s Trade War Is Like Nothing America’s Ever Seen
08 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump's tariff plan has set global markets on fire. What are they for? What are they trying to accomplish? Fresh off his black-out-rage sessi...
Trump’s Plan to Smash the Global Economic Order
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump's second term has been a breakneck whirlwind: tariffs announced, tariffs unannounced, tariffs reannounced, allies threatened, and global ...
Plain History: The Gilded Age
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Corruption. Class wars. Technological splendor. The dawn of a new age of business and government. Rockefeller and Carnegie. The Gilded Age in America—...
ABUNDANCE! With Ezra Klein
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump is serving up a scarcity agenda to America. He and the White House say we don’t have an economy that works, so we might just need to ac...
How Gen Z Sees the World
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Generation Z, which was born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s, has a unique economic, political, and cultural identity. In the 2024 election...
Can a Vaccine Cure the World’s Deadliest Cancer?
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Cancer is not a singular disease but a category of hundreds, even thousands, of rare diseases with different molecular signatures and genetic roots. C...
How AI Could Change the Future of Music
04 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Artificial intelligence tools for musicians are getting eerily good, very fast. Their work can be maddening, funny, ethically dubious, and downright f...
The End of Reading
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Something alarming is happening with reading in America. Leisure reading by some accounts has declined by about 50 percent this century. Literacy scor...
'How Progressives Froze the American Dream' (Live)
25 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you had to describe the U.S. economy at the moment, I think you could do worse than the word stuck. The labor market is stuck. The low unemployme...
Plain History: The Astonishingly Successful Presidency of James K. Polk
21 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Who is the most successful president in American history? George Washington secured American independence. Abraham Lincoln preserved the union and end...
The Trump-Musk Doctrine: F-ck Around and Find Out
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For the past month, chaos and confusion have gripped Washington and the federal government. Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, or ...
Is There a Scientific Case for Believing in God?
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is a conversation I've wanted to have for a long time. It's about the decline of religion in America, the value of faith, the case for belief, an...
Fraud, Scandal, and Failure in the Fight Against Alzheimer's Disease
11 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why is it so hard to find a cure for Alzheimer’s? A simple answer is that the brain and its disorders are complicated. But as today’s guest, Charl...
The Energy Story of the Moment: The Unstoppable Rise of Solar Vs. the Unmovable Demand for Global Fossil Fuels
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Fans of green energy like me face some inconvenient truths about the global energy picture. First, coal sounds like a dirty technology that the rich w...
The 5 Types of Wealth
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Wealth isn’t just about financial security, according to today’s guest, Sahil Bloom. It’s about time wealth (the freedom to control our own sche...
Are GLP-1 Drugs "the Greatest Medical Breakthrough of the 21st Century"?
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the past few years, we've learned that GLP-1 drugs don’t just help with diabetes or increase people’s feelings of fullness to help them lose we...
Tech Talk: AI Supremacy, TikTok’s Fate, and Crypto Decadence
24 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today, tech talk with an old friend of the pod, Kevin Roose of The New York Times, who is also host of the 'Hard Fork' podcast. This is a show about ...
Plain History Volume 1: Who Killed President James Garfield?
21 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is the first episode of a little experiment we’re trying this year, a podcast within a podcast on history that we’re calling, simply enough, ...
What's the Truth About Alcohol, Cancer, and Your Health?
17 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today's episode has been a long time coming. For years, more scientists and health influencers have claimed that even moderate drinking does serious d...
The L.A. Fires: How They Happened, Climate Change’s Role, and What the City Must Do Now
14 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With so many confusing narratives unfolding around a fire that is still raging out of control, I wanted to talk to somebody I knew and trusted to get ...
‘The Anti-Social Century’: America’s Epidemic of Solitude—and How to Fix It
10 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
My new feature for The Atlantic magazine is called "The Anti-Social Century." It's a long article that revolves around a simple point: Americans a...
The Big 2025 Economy Forecast: AI and Big Tech, Nuclear’s Renaissance, Trump vs. China, and What’s Eating Europe?
07 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Happy new year! And what better way to celebrate the freshly torn calendar page than by welcoming one of Derek's favorite writers to the show to tell ...
The Year's Biggest Breakthroughs in Science and Tech (Feat.: OK, But Seriously, What Is Quantum Computing?)
31 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our final episode of the year is also my favorite annual tradition: conversations with scientists about the most important and, often, just plain mind...
A Mysterious Health Wave Is Breaking Out Across the U.S.
27 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why do Americans die younger than citizens of other rich countries? The most important reason is that life in America is inexcusably dangerous. The U....
The Productivity Paradox: Why Less Is More With Oliver Burkeman
20 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
So, here’s a scenario: It’s Monday. And you open up whatever calendar or planner or to-do list you use to organize the essential activities of the...
Why American Health Care Is a "Broken System"
13 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot to death outside a hotel in Manhattan by a young man motivated by rage at the insurance indust...
Is Crypto Entering a New Golden Age—or Just a New Era of Failed Promises?
06 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The crypto industry seems poised for a new golden age. But what exactly does that mean? Who would benefit? And, oh by the way, what does this technolo...
Megapod: Why Is There So Much BS in Psychology?
27 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the last decade, several major findings in social psychology have turned out to be hogwash—or, worse, even fraud. This has become widely known as...
Vaccine Conspiracies, Fluoride Myths, and America’s Broken Public-Health Discourse
22 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Emily Oster, professor of economics at Brown University, joins the show to talk about Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his theories about fluoride and vaccines,...
The Self-Driving Revolution Is Real—and It Could Be Spectacular
15 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What would a world of self-driven cars look like? How would it change shopping, transportation, and life, more broadly? A decade ago, many people wer...
How Trump Won: Young Men’s Red Wave, the Blue-City Flop, and the Incumbency Graveyard
08 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Derek shares his big-picture theory for Trump's victory. Then, Republican pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson explains how Trump shifted practically the ...
How to Watch Election Night Without Falling for Conspiracy Theories or False Hope
04 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s guest (our final preelection guest) is David Wasserman, political analyst with the Cook Political Report, who also helps out with the NBC de...
This Small Pennsylvania Town Explains the 2024 Election
01 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today, a close look at the history of a Pennsylvania town and how that history contains within it the story of the 2024 election. In September, Donald...
Why Is Every Recent Presidential Election So Close?
25 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
My favorite sort of social phenomenon is something that seems normal to modern eyes that is actually incredibly unusual. We take it for granted that e...
Is Radical Human Life Extension Possible?
18 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1900, the average US life expectancy was 47 years old. That's the current age of Tom Brady, Ryan Reynolds, and Shakira. But extraordinary advances ...
America's Young Men Are Falling Behind—and Shifting Right
11 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today: the state of men and what's really happening in the gender divide in politics. Many young men are falling behind economically and socially at t...
Is the Middle East on the Verge of All-Out War?
04 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Since October 7, 2023, many have feared that the conflict between Israel and Hamas would bloom into a wider war that would consume the Middle East. To...
The Surprising Science of Cynicism (Plus: The Policy Paradox of the 2024 Election)
27 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Derek shares his biggest frustrations about the 2024 election, like the lack of a policy debate and blind spots in news coverage and polling analysi...
A Sports Mystery: What Happened to the NFL Quarterback?
20 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today, a mystery about what some people consider the most important position in sports: What the hell is going on with the NFL quarterback? We are two...
How AI Could Help Us Discover Miracle Drugs
13 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We may be on the cusp of a revolution in medicine, thanks to tools like AlphaFold, the technology for Google DeepMind, which helps scientists predict ...
The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories
06 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are conspiracy theories more popular than ever? Are Americans more conspiratorial than ever? Are conservatives more conspiratorial than liberals? Jose...
"Exercise May Be the Single Most Potent Medical Intervention Ever Known"
30 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Exercise is a conundrum. On the one hand, physical activity is clearly one of the best interventions for preventing physical disease and mental suffer...
Democrats Are Euphoric. But This Election Is Much Closer Than They Think.
23 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Derek offers a short but sweet review of the Democratic National Convention, the science of post-convention bounces, and the reality of the 2024 polli...
The Four Biggest Myths About Political Persuasion
16 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today's episode is about how we change our minds—and what political science tells us about the best ways to change the minds of voters. Our guest is...
How to Be Happy and the Science of Cognitive Time Travel
09 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Laurie Santos is a superstar in the crowded field of happiness research. She is a cognitive scientist at Yale University whose course on the psycholog...
Market Meltdown FAQ: Recession Fears, Global Stock Wipeout, and the Case for Calm
05 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a special emergency-ish episode, Bloomberg's Conor Sen joins the show to discuss a buffet of economic and financial fears, including a disappointin...
Why Are Robocalls So Hard to Stop? (Plus: Kamala and the Gender Wars.)
02 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Derek offers his thoughts on Kamala Harris, the new 2024 reality, and gender polarization in the "boys vs. girls" election. Then we talk about the spa...
Why Are Conservatives Happier Than Progressives?
26 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It is a general rule of thumb that richer societies are happier societies. This is true across countries, as GDP and life satisfaction are highly corr...
Harsh Truths About 2024 and the Future of the U.S. Economy
19 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On today's episode: the state of American politics and the future of America's economy. Derek discusses a media myth in the aftermath of the failed Tr...
"The Weirdest Housing Market in Recent History"
12 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Skyrocketing rates, shrinking affordability: The U.S. housing market is a mess. It's also a bit of a mystery. Why are prices still sky-high, even thou...
"People Feel Lied To": The White House, the Media, and the Joe Biden Blame Game
05 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance has created a crisis for the Democratic Party and a set of interlocking debates about whether the White Hous...
Whatever Happened to Serial Killers?
28 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the first five decades of the 20th century, the number of serial killers in the U.S. remained at a very low level. But between the 1950s and 1960s,...
The Radical Cultural Shift Behind America's Declining Birth Rate
21 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We've done several podcasts on America's declining fertility rate, and why South Korea has the lowest birthrate in the world. But we've never done an ...
Breathing Is Easy. But We’re Doing It Wrong.
14 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode is about the science of breathing—from the evolution of our sinuses and palate, to the downsides of mouth breathing and the upside...
The News Media’s Dangerous Addiction to ‘Fake Facts’
07 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What do most people not understand about the news media? I would say two things. First: The most important bias in news media is not left or right. It...
Microplastics Are Everywhere. How Dangerous Are They?
31 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Plastic is a life-saving technology. Plastic medical equipment like disposable syringes and IV bags reduce deaths in hospitals. Plastic packaging keep...
Why the New NBA Deal Is So Weird. Plus, How Sports Rights Actually Work.
28 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In an age of cults, sports are the last gasp of the monoculture—the last remnant of the 20th century mainstream still standing. Even so, the new NBA...
What America’s Bold New Economic Experiment Is Missing
24 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The news media is very good at focusing on points of disagreement in our politics. Wherever Democrats and Republicans are butting heads, that's where ...
The Five Superstars Who Invented the Modern NBA
21 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The game of basketball has changed dramatically in the last 40 years. In the early 1990s, Michael Jordan said that 3-point shooting was "something I d...
Are Smartphones Really Driving the Rise in Teenage Depression?
14 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today—a closer critical look at the relationship between smartphones and mental health. One of the themes we’ve touched on more than any other on ...
Are Flying Cars Finally Here?
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, flying cars have been a symbol of collective disappointment—of a technologically splendid future that was promised but never delivered....
How the Logic of Cults Is Taking Over Modern Life
03 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Several years ago, I told some friends that I had an idea for a second book. It would be called ‘Everything Is a Cult.’ I’d noticed that in an a...
How Will the Gaza War Finally End?
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today, with Gaza protests spreading across the country and around the world, we dive deep into what’s actually happening on the ground in the war be...
A Political Scientist on How Protests Can Change Minds or Backfire
26 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the last week, hundreds of protests across college campuses and American cities have taken place in response to the war in Gaza. Campus life has sh...
What Kind of a Superpower Is India Becoming?
23 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode is all about India.You don’t have to believe that demography is pure destiny to appreciate the fact that the future of India is th...
Health Fads and Fictions: VO2 Max, Supplement Mania, Sunlight, and Immortality
19 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today's show is a critical look at some of the most popular health fads of the moment, with return guests Steve Magness and Brad Stulberg, from the Gr...
U.S. Economy FAQ: Skyrocketing Insurance Prices, Stuck Inflation, Higher Rates, and Wrong Experts
16 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jason Furman, a professor of economics at Harvard, returns to the show to discuss the biggest economic questions of the moment, including: - Why have ...
If the 2024 Election Is So Important, Why Does It Feel So Boring?
12 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"This presidential election is not very interesting, but it is important," the political commentator Josh Barro wrote in his newsletter, 'Very Serious...
A Psychologist Explains Four Reasons the Internet Feels So Broken
09 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jay Van Bavel is a professor of psychology and neural science at New York University. His lab has published papers on how the internet became a fun-ho...
Why School Absences Have "Exploded" Across America
05 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The other day, I read a statistic about my hometown of Washington D.C. that knocked my socks off. In D.C. high schools, 60 percent of students were ch...
What Evolutionary Biology Can Teach Us About Diet, Exercise, and Staying Alive
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What can the science of ancient humans and the lifestyle of hunter-gatherers teach us about how to be healthy today? Harvard evolutionary biologist Da...
America's Biggest Car Companies Are in Trouble
26 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today, the media vibes around electric vehicles are all bad. But if you lift up and take in the big picture, electric vehicles and hybrids are taking ...
Should the U.S. Ban TikTok?
19 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Derek shares his thoughts on the question of the moment in tech and tech politics. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, ...
How Hollywood’s Hit Formula Flopped—and What Could Come Next
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we’re talking about movies, the philosophy of hits in Hollywood, and why we might be at a fascinating inflection point in how the entertainme...
What Many Economists (and I) Got Wrong About This Economy
05 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2024 was to do more episodes with people who think I'm wrong about something. For example, I've done several ep...
Why the "Need for Chaos" Is Eating American Politics
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode is about one of the most interesting pieces of research I’ve read in the past year. It's an idea called "need for chaos," and the ...
Why Americans Stopped Hanging Out—and Why It Matters
27 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode is about the extraordinary decline in face-to-face socializing in America—and the real stakes of the country’s hanging-out crisi...
"We’re Seeing a Fundamental Reorganization of Work in America"
23 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode is about arguably the most important economic statistic out there: real (or inflation-adjusted) wage growth. For much of the last fe...
How to Have the Hardest Conversations—in Marriage, Politics, and Life
20 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Life is a series of conversations. Our relationships, friendships, marriages, breakups, makeups, hirings, promotions, and firings are mostly the story...
Would You Buy a Drug to Extend Your Dog’s Life?
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode is about the science of slowing down the aging process … and why one biotech company has found some success with dogs. Last Novemb...
The Dark Side of the Internet's Obsession With Anxiety
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve done several shows on America’s anxiety crisis. This one asks several questions that might get me in trouble. Have we overcorrected from an ...
Can Solar Power and Battery Tech Save the World From Climate Change?
09 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You could make the argument that last year was the worst year in human history for climate change. The Earth experienced its hottest day on record ove...
The Gender War Within Gen Z
06 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Something mysterious is happening in the politics of young men and women. Gen Z women—those in their 20s and younger—have become sharply more libe...
What’s the Best Diet for Planet Earth?
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you love food and also consider yourself a good person, you probably care about where your food comes from, how it’s grown, and whether it's part...
Why Did Stanley Water Bottles Suddenly Become a Cultural Phenomenon?
26 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's just a steel tumbler with a straw and side handle. But the Stanley cup is a social media phenomenon and an incredible business success story. How...
Why the U.S. Media Industry Is in Meltdown
23 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sports Illustrated layoffs. The demise of independent Pitchfork. Hundreds of millions of dollars in losses at major newspapers like the Washington Pos...
World on Fire, Part 3: How Did America's Border Crisis Get So Bad?
19 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today is the third and final episode in our miniseries on this unique moment in global war and conflict. In the first episode, we looked at the turmo...
World on Fire, Part 2: Global Conflict Has Surged to an 80-Year High. Why?
16 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This is the second episode in "World on Fire," a series on the historic levels of global violence and conflict in the Middle East, the Americas, and b...
World on Fire, Part 1: The Houthis, Israel's Impossible War, and Worsening Middle East Chaos
12 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The chaos in the Middle East is getting worse. It’s not just in Gaza. It’s not the spasms of violence in the West Bank. It’s not just the northe...
The Dark Side of the Obsession With Focus
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The 'New York Times' bestselling author and contrarian self-help writer Oliver Burkeman joins the show to talk about his new audio essay series on wor...
Four Megatrends for 2024 in Tech, Economics, Media, and Weird Science
03 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Derek shares what he considers the most important narratives of the moment, including the return of normalcy in economics, a big shift in sports media...
The Biggest Breakthroughs in Science Happening Right Now
27 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you're looking for a hopeful and mind-expanding conversation to round out the year, this one is for you. It's our breakthroughs of the year episode...
The Truth About Ketamine: Depression Cure, Health Fad, or Placebo?
22 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One week ago, Matthew Perry’s autopsy report came back, finding that the ‘Friends’ actor died from the acute effects of ketamine overdose. His d...
The Year in Media and Entertainment: What’s Broken (News), What’s Surging (Netflix), and What’s Next
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode is about 2023 in media—from TV to film, from the miracle of Barbenheimer’s to the superhero drought, from Netflix’s show of st...
How Weight-Loss Drugs Could Impact U.S. Healthcare and Food. Plus, the Biggest Problems With GLP1s.
15 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode is our second in a series on the weight-loss drug revolution of the last two years. On Tuesday, we talked to endocrinologist Beverly...
The Weight-Loss Drug Revolution, Part 1: Why These Drugs Work So Well
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s podcast is about the weight-loss drug revolution—which I believe might be one of the most important stories in the world right now. Despit...
Why It’s So Hard to Buy a House Right Now—and Why It Might Get Better Soon
08 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we’re examining the U.S. housing market, starting with a specific question: Should you look to rent or buy your next home? By some metrics, t...
How Henry Kissinger’s Catastrophes and Triumphs Changed the World
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode is about the controversial life and legacy of Henry Kissinger, who died last week at the age of 100. First as Nixon’s National Sec...
Elon Musk’s Meltdown, the Death of Twitter, and the Chaotic Future of Social Media
01 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode is a wide-ranging one, from breaking news in tech to the philosophy of social media. The Atlantic's Charlie Warzel joins to discuss ...