Decoder Ring - Presenting: The Sporkful | Does The World Need A Better Tomato?
In New Jersey, the tomato is king. Almost a century ago, a scientist at Rutgers University developed a variety that became the tomato that l...
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Culture Gabfest
New York Times critic Dwight Garner says “The Slate Culture Gabfest is one of the highlights of my week.” The award-winning Culturefest features Slate culture critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana S...
Episodes
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ICYMI - So Is The Internet About To Explode Or What?
A major vulnerability is threatening the entire internet as we know it. Should we let it? As talk of an internet apocalypse looms, some user...
Death, Sex & Money - Kidnapping Survivor Elizabeth Smart is Doing True Crime Differently
In 2002, when Elizabeth Smart was taken from her bed by a stranger, the media covered it day and night. When Elizabeth returned home nine mo...
ICYMI - The Boomers Turned “Screenagers”
Conversations about screen addition are almost always about kids. Entire governments have mobilized in pursuit of offsetting the negative ef...
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia - Going to Graceland Edition
Four decades ago, Paul Simon broke out of a middle-age slump with a collaborative project few saw coming. Join Chris Molanphy as he explores...
Decoder Ring - The Spooky Saga of the Icelandic Dracula
Since Bram Stoker’s Dracula was first published in 1897 it has inspired hundreds, if not thousands, of other fictional vampires. But none ar...
ICYMI - An Internet Boyfriend Just Made The Movie Of The Year
You may have thought we knew everything there was to know about Elizabeth Holmes. The Theranos founder who was found guilty of defrauding in...
Death, Sex & Money - Side Effects May Include Headaches, Sleep Eating, Buying Power Tools
For this episode, we asked for your stories about medication side effects. You told us about the weird, from sleep-eating to compulsive spen...
ICYMI - The “Tradwife” To Girlboss Pipeline
The “tradwives” are retreating. Nara Smith went on Call Her Daddy to renounce any association with the term, and has been in the middle of a...
Decoder Ring - Clown Panic (Encore)
Clowns have existed in various forms for thousands of years. From the big top to Bozo’s TV show, they used to be beloved figures of amusemen...
ICYMI - The Toxic FB Groups For Estranged Parents
The latest internet “trend,” apparently , is adult children cutting off their parents. And while there are plenty of spaces on the internet...
Death, Sex & Money - Comedian Murray Hill on the Teachers Who Freed Him From an Unsafe Home
Now famous as a New York City nightlife fixture and for his role on Somebody Somewhere , comedian Murray Hill used to keep his personal hist...
ICYMI - The Labubufication of AI Agents
The new AI agents from Meta and OpenAI have one thing in common: they look like children’s cartoons . At the same time these companies are w...
Decoder Ring - Gandhi Never Said “Be the Change”
Few inspirational phrases are quoted more often than Mahatma Gandhi’s “Be the change you want to see in the world.” It shows up on t-shirts,...
ICYMI - How The Pussyhat Unraveled
Ten years ago, the world was gearing up to welcome the first female president. Instead, Donald Trump’s surprise victory went on to alter Ame...
Death, Sex & Money - Remembering John Prine on His 80th, With His Wife Fiona
To mark John Prine’s 80’s birthday, Anna catches up with his wife Fiona. Then we revisit Anna’s 2018 conversation with John, where he discus...
ICYMI - Jane Doe Deserves Better From The Internet
As soon as Jane Doe filed her civil suit against Cornell University, the internet was up in arms. Everyone from Florence Pugh to Love Island...
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia - Near-Miss Hits: ‘80s Edition
The 1980s yielded a bumper crop of near-miss hits—songs that stalled out at No. 2, No. 11, or No. 41 during their original Billboard runs bu...
ICYMI - The Conspiracy Theory Your Parents Are Falling For
What if I told you there was a machine that, using powerful energy and frequencies, could cure everything from common colds to cancers to mi...
Decoder Ring - Preview: Decoder Rings Back | The Second Spice
One of the many perks of subscribing to Decoder Ring Plus is access to every episode of Decoder Rings Back, our member-exclusive series wher...