Search Engine

Latest Episodes:

The Cost of War Apr 17, 2026

Show notes

The United States has begun a conflict with Iran that two thirds of the American public does not understand. One question we can try to answer: how much is this conflict costing us? The surprising story of how the government learned to hide the costs of war, and how someone learned to get to the bottom of those costs anyway.

Check out Professor Bilmes’ work.

Additional listening: our episode on ballooning national debt and why it's a big deal

Support the show!

What we got wrong about GLP-1s Apr 10, 2026

Show notes

Search Engine is breaking its cowardly three-year silence on GLP-1s. We have been curious about them. We have been afraid of getting in trouble. We are no longer afraid. A conversation with Dr. Rachael Bedard about the many mistakes in how the media covered these drugs and what the research shows about their surprising effects.

Dr. Bedard’s story on the rise of Ozempic

Support the show!

The Trial of the Driverless Car Mar 26, 2026

Show notes

In blue cities throughout the country, unions and politicians are fighting to ban driverless cars. We travel to Boston, where the fight has reached a fever pitch, and where the cars themselves will create some very unusual political alliances.

(This is part two of a two part series, listen to the beginning here.)

⁠⁠Support Search Engine!

Are you a good driver? Mar 23, 2026

Show notes

The story of how a secret project at Google led to driverless cars on American roads. And, an answer to the question: are the robots actually safer drivers than we are?

Driven: The Race to Create the Autonomous Car , Alex Davies

⁠Support Search Engine!

Mysteries of Claude Feb 27, 2026

Show notes

Anthropic hired philosophers to teach its AI to be good. In their tests, the AI blackmailed a human to keep itself alive. Writer Gideon Lewis-Kraus went inside the company to figure out what's going on with Claude, and whether anyone can actually control it.

Read Gideon's story here

Support Search Engine!

Why don’t we eat people? (classic) Feb 20, 2026

Show notes

A question from a four-year-old tips us into an investigation of one of our most fundamental taboos: cannibalism. With help from New Yorker food critic Hannah Goldfield and writer Kelefa Sanneh.

How Peptides Conquered the Internet Feb 13, 2026

Show notes

Two decades ago, bodybuilders on niche internet forums started injecting peptides. Now they're in the secret mini-fridges of some teenage boys. How did they get there? We track their crooked path from Silicon Valley to jaw-smashing influencers.

Check out Jasmine Sun's work (and her piece on peptides)

Check out Ezra Marcus' work (and his piece on peptides)

Support Search Engine!

Are flushable wipes actually flushable? Jan 30, 2026

Show notes

A simple question leads us on a journey from the bowels of New York City through the courtrooms of South Carolina to the disgusting truth.

Support Search Engine!

The Venezuelan Curse (Part 2) Jan 20, 2026

Show notes

The conclusion to our story about Venezuela. How a country goes from a prosperous democracy to a poverty-ravaged dictatorship.

The End (our 2022 episode on Greenland)

The Many Faces of Chavismo - Alejandro Velasco

Things Are Never So Bad That They Can't Get Worse - William Neuman

The Venezuelan Curse (Part 1) Jan 16, 2026

Show notes

For the past year, there's been a steady drumbeat of headlines about Venezuela. Now the US has invaded, arrested its president, and installed itself in charge. To understand how we got here, we talked to Venezuelan historian Alejandro Velasco, who grew up there and has spent years trying to understand why a country with so much promise has proven so difficult to govern.

The Many Faces of Chavismo - Alejandro Velasco

Hard Fork with Casey Newton and Kevin Roose