Episode summary: “I get in trouble when I say things like this” - Michael Lewis on Sam Bankman-Fried from Cautionary Tales

Episode summary: Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the evolution of lungs and of the first breaths, which can be traced back 400 million years to when animal life spread from rock pools and swamps onto land, as some fish found an evolutionary advantage in getting their oxygen from air rather than wate...

There’s more ➢

Episode summary: In this episode, social media chef and queen of potatoes, Poppy O’Toole, explores the world of her favourite ingredient, the Potato. Last year, Poppy appeared on Mastermind, choosing the history of the potato as her specialist subject. Let’s just say… it didn’t quite go to plan. So...

There’s more ➢

Episode summary: How did millions of Americans end up living in neighborhoods where finding fresh food is harder than ever, and why is the problem by design, not accident?

Episode summary: Send us a text Middlemen are not parasites but essential “engineers of exchange” who create value by connecting buyers and sellers who might never find each other otherwise. • The word “monger” (and Munger) comes from a Saxon root—Mancgere— meaning trader or merchant • Middlemen his...

There’s more ➢

Episode summary: The data-driven Fed President on why human judgment still matters in monetary policy

Episode summary: Feeding kids a healthy lunch every school day is a feat of science and logistics. Molded into shape by nutrition scientists who wanted to optimize children’s health, the school lunch has endured war, economic depression, and even a global pandemic….

Interesting listen full, as the...

There’s more ➢

Episode summary: How does economics help us understand conflicts through history? That’s the question that economist and journalist Duncan Weldon tries to answer in his new book, Blood and Treasure. Tim talks to Duncan about the economic perspective on Viking raiders, Spanish conquest and the Vietna...

There’s more ➢

Episode summary: With the price of olive oil soaring in the shops after drought disrupted production in Spain, Leyla Kazim looks into the English farms planting olive groves in the hope of bottling their own oil. She meets a farmer in Essex who explains that English growing conditions are more suita...

There’s more ➢

Episode summary: An immigration reporter’s chance encounter in the desert reveals how borders shape our actions, our beliefs, and the way we see the world around us.

There’s more ➢