Freakonomics Radio

It may seem like winning a valuable diamond is an unalloyed victory. It's not. It's not even clear that a diamond is so valuable.

The practice of medicine has been subsumed by the business of medicine. This is great news for healthcare shareholders -- and bad news for pretty much everyone else.

A lot of the conventional wisdom in medicine is nothing more than hunch or wishful thinking. A new breed of data detectives is hoping to change that.

If you are driving and kill a pedestrian, there's a good chance you'll barely be punished. Why?

Thick markets, thin markets, and the triumph of attributes over compatibility.

Sure, we all want to make good personal decisions, but it doesn't always work out. That's where "temptation bundling" comes in.

Every year, Edge.org asks its salon of big thinkers to answer one big question. This year's question borders on heresy: what scientific idea is ready for retirement?

Advertisers have always been adept at manipulating our emotions. Now they're using behavioral economics to get even better.

Jim Yong Kim has an unorthodox background for a World Bank president — and his reign thus far is just as unorthodox.

The White House is hosting an anti-terror summit next week. Summits being what they are, we try to offer some useful advice.

It's a centerpiece of U.S. climate policy and a sacred cow among environmentalists. Does it work?

Economists preach the gospel of "creative destruction," whereby new industries -- and jobs -- replace the old ones. But has creative destruction become too destructive?

As Kevin Kelly tells it, the hippie revolution and the computer revolution are nearly one and the same.

Verbal tic or strategic rejoinder? Whatever the case: it’s rare to come across an interview these days where at least one question isn’t a “great” one.

Influenza kills, but you’d never know it by how few of us get the vaccine.

Most people blame lack of time for being out of shape. So maybe the solution is to exercise more efficiently.

Imagine that both substances were undiscovered until today. How would we think about their relative risks?

Public bathrooms are noisy, poorly designed, and often nonexistent. What to do?

We spend billions on our pets, and one of the fastest-growing costs is pet "aftercare." But are those cremated remains you got back really from your pet?

Okay, maybe the steps aren’t so easy. But a program run out of a Toronto housing project has had great success in turning around kids who were headed for trouble.