Mansplaining
Welcome to Mansplaining, a podcast about the interesting things you can discover if you just take the time to learn. Mansplaining is brought to you by Mark, Joe, and so far nobody else. Join us as we try to learn a thing or two about a thing or two.
Episodes
111 episodes
Episode 110: Housing and the Land-Value Tax
Recent estimates are that the United States has a shortage of housing volume of 4-7 million homes. A problem of that scale doesn’t happen overnight and involves decades of neglect and inaction. With the chronic lack of housing likely to b...
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Season 1
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Episode 110
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39:31
Episode 109: A Quantum Leap in Computing
Like its cousin AGI, quantum computing, which harnesses the quantum states of subatomic particles to perform impossibly difficult computations at lightning speed, is a new-ish technology that many of its proselytizers believe is thisclose to re...
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Season 1
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Episode 109
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46:46
Episode 108: There’s No Dressing Up Dress Codes
The New York Yankees’ recent relaxation of half-century-old rules about facial hair got Joe to thinking about dress and codes generally. Why do they exist? Where do they come from? Mark takes Joe on a historical tour of dress ...
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Season 1
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Episode 108
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44:11
Episode 107: The Skinny on GLP-1 Drugs
You know them by their brand names, like Ozempic, Trulicity, or Mounjaro. They're the GLP-1 receptor agonists that were originally formulated for Type 2 diabetes but have caused a revolution in the treatment of weight loss. As more research rol...
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Season 1
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Episode 107
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55:40
Episode 106: Are Lotteries Justifiable?
State lotteries are a 12-figure business in the US of A. Americans spend more money on lottery tickets than on books, video games, recorded music, movie and sports tickets combined. Of course, lottery revenue is allocated to public goods like s...
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Season 1
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Episode 106
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37:40
Episode 105: An Appalling Lack of Savings
Here are a couple sobering numbers: The typical American has only $8,000 in the bank, and the median savings for the age cohort approaching retirement is only $120,000. Neither is anywhere close to adequate. Might a fiscal cliff be approaching ...
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Season 1
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Episode 105
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49:06
Episode 104: The Rap on Map Apps
You’ve probably used a map app like Google Maps, Apple Maps or Waze to help you get from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible. But did you ever wonder how they work? Did you ever wonder whether we should slavishly follow their ...
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Season 1
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Episode 104
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42:03
Episode 103: Things Are Looking Up (We Hope)
The year 2024 brought more than its share of misfortune to your Mansplaining co-hosts, what with the double whammy of layoffs and a terrible election result. But in the spirit of turning the page to the New Year, Mark asked Joe what he’s ...
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Season 1
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Episode 103
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45:02
Episode 102: In Search of Peace and Healing
In continuation of a Mansplaining tradition of holiday-themed conversations, Mark and Joe consider how we might heal our deepening political rupture and bring peace to a divided nation. It’s a daunting task that may take years, i...
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Season 1
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Episode 102
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46:24
Episode 101 Bonus Content: The Past and Future of Air Travel
Those of us above a certain age remember that flying didn’t used to be such an ordeal. Once upon a time, people enjoyed flights that had comfortable seating, decent food, and no extra fees for checked bags. Might the coming technolo...
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20:29
Episode 101: Will Air Travel Crash and Burn?
The bankruptcy filing of Spirit Airlines underscores the existential problem for air carriers. After driving many of its competitors out of business with its no-frills model of below-cost fares, bare-bones service, and nuisance fees, Spir...
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Season 1
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Episode 101
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45:36
Episode 100: What Makes Pop Music Artists Run Out of Ideas?
After considering why companies run out of ideas in our last episode, Joe put the same question to Mark about why so many of our favorite pop and rock music artists seem to run out of ideas. Mark and Joe ponder whether this is a real phen...
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Season 1
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Episode 100
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37:00
Episode 99: What Makes a Company Run Out of Ideas?
Google had quite a run, from its market-leading search engine to Gmail to the Android operating system. For the longest time, it seemed like a veritable fount of innovation. But in recent years, dogged by antitrust lawsuits, it look...
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Season 1
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Episode 99
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47:46
Episode 98: The Checkered Legacy of Legacy Admissions
When the Supreme Court struck down race-conscious affirmative action programs, it conveniently left standing the legacy preferences employed by colleges and universities that are described by some as affirmative action for rich, white people. I...
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Season 1
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Episode 98
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38:07
Episode 97: The Threat to Critical Infrastructure
Every time the power goes out in Seattle, Mark wonders whether his city fell victim to malicious hackers. It’s a legitimate concern, since bad actors have been messing with America’s energy systems for years. But how credible is the...
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Season 1
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Episode 97
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53:02
Episode 96: All the Lonely People
The CDC and Surgeon General recently released reports highlighting twin epidemics that are plaguing young people in our country. For boys, it’s loneliness and social isolation; for girls, it’s persistent sadness and hopelessness. Wh...
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Season 1
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Episode 96
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39:43
Episode 95: Fusion Is (Still) Just Around the Corner
It’s been said that fusion power is 20 years away, and always will be. Why is it taking so long? Well, it turns out that generating temperatures as hot as the sun is hard to do here on Earth, as is controlling the fusion reaction so...
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Season 1
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Episode 95
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49:30
White-Hot Take: Childless Cat Ladies?
Who knew the Democratic Party was run by "childless cat ladies"? JD Vance's rant has already garnered more than its share of well-deserved opprobrium. But in Mansplaining's first-ever White-Hot Take, Joe takes aim at the right's wei...
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7:28
Episode 94: Decoding the Unitary Executive Theory
The Supreme Court’s recent controversial ruling about presidential immunity appears to rely on a shadowy notion of executive branch power called the unitary executive theory. After gaining currency in conservative circles for decades, the...
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Season 1
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Episode 94
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36:57
Episode 93: Fertility and the Elusive Sweet Spot
It wasn’t so long ago that human fertility was likened to a ticking time bomb, with overpopulation leading to famine and ecological collapse. More recently, we’ve heard that declining fertility rates are the real problem, bringing forth a...
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Season 1
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Episode 93
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53:34
Episode 92: American Climate Refugees?
For decades, Americans have moved south chasing cheaper homes and better weather. But after years of unremitting heat and more frequent hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods that have disproportionately devastated those destinations, you migh...
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Season 1
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Episode 92
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25:53
Episode 91: The Vultures Are Circling Around College Athletics
Just as colleges are finally being forced to pay their long-exploited student-athletes commensurate with the revenue they generate for their schools, we’re beginning to hear about private equity firms investing in college sports programs. ...
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Season 1
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Episode 91
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51:16
Episode 90: The (Non-Existent) Connection Between Bail Reform and Crime
Over the past several years, bail reform laws—changes to the criminal legal system to reduce unnecessary pretrial detention, especially for non-violent offenses—were implemented in jurisdictions throughout the country, and many advocates for cr...
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Season 1
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Episode 90
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34:54
Episode 89: Reckoning with the Brain-Computer Interface
Neuralink, Elon Musk’s neurotechnology startup, recently live-streamed footage of a paralyzed man with a brain implant playing video chess using only his mind. According to Musk, that’s just one of many medical applications for brain-comp...
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Season 1
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Episode 89
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47:38
Episode 88: Does “Clutch” Performance Exist?
A common argument among sports fans is whether coming through “in the clutch” — where an athlete is said to raise his or her level of performance in the most important moments of the game — truly exists. Some cite chapter and verse of the...
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Season 1
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Episode 88
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42:46