PODCAST · society
Mansplaining
by Mark and Joe
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
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Episode 142: Billionaires Wanna Live Forever
Send us Fan Mail When the news is full of stories about tech billionaires receiving blood plasma transfusions from teenagers, or signing up to be cryogenically frozen, or funding biotech startups whose aim is to reverse aging, it makes you wonder whether these guys (and they’re all guys) want to...
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Episode 141: Imagine a World Without Mosquitoes
Send us Fan Mail Summer is Joe’s fourth favorite season of the year, and mosquitoes are a large reason why. So Joe asked Mark to indulge him in a fantasy: what would happen if mosquitoes disappeared from the face of the Earth? Would their extermination lead to a measurable increase in human...
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Episode 140: Are We at a Tipping Point for Tipping?
Send us Fan Mail A recent viral video showing what appeared to be a tip added automatically to a customer’s order at a digital kiosk at Shake Shack spotlighted an issue that had been bubbling under the surface of American life for years: why are today’s consumers being asked to tip for so many…
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Episode 139: Standardized Testing and the Pretense of Meritocracy
Send us Fan Mail With only 24 of 777 incoming seats in New York’s City’s premier public high school being offered to Black and Hispanic students, even though they make up 62% of the population, standardized testing has once again come under scrutiny. There’s a reason why the “A” in SAT no longer...
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Episode 138: Geoengineering Our Way Out of Climate Disaster
Send us Fan Mail With the world’s progress toward reducing carbon emissions fitful at best, people are slowly waking up to the possibility of not meeting international targets and staring instead at potential worst-case scenarios. Enter geoengineering, in which we deliberately manipulate the...
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Episode 137: Should Billionaires Exist?
Send us Fan Mail The recent IPO for SpaceX briefly turned Elon Musk into the world’s first trillionaire. One person having a net worth involving 13 digits is staggering to comprehend, leading Joe to ask Mark a question floating around liberal and progressive circles: should our society even allow...
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Episode 136: Living a Meaningful Life
Send us Fan Mail So much has been written and said about how to live a meaningful life. It’s been the pursuit of philosophers for millennia, a central focus of psychology for the last century and a half, and a recurring topic of TED Talks online, not to mention a profit center for the vast...
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Episode 135: Gerrymandering: A Jerry-Built Contraption
Send us Fan Mail In the wake of the Supreme Court’s disemboweling of the Voting Rights Act, many (former?) Confederate states are redistricting away Black members of Congress who aren’t Republicans. We seem to have entered a golden age of gerrymandering, the manipulation of electoral district...
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Episode 134: The Clock is Ticking to Doomsday
Send us Fan Mail You’ve probably heard of the Doomsday Clock. It’s the clock whose hands move closer to midnight every time humanity is judged to be closer to annihilation. A few months ago, it inched a tiny bit closer to midnight. Mark wondered whether this phenomenon was akin to how the news...
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Episode 133: What is It About Dogs?
Send us Fan Mail It is thought that somewhere in Eurasia during the Late Pleistocene, an intrepid pack of gray wolves made a fateful decision to approach a human campfire seeking scraps. From that humble beginning was forged a love affair for the ages. But why that animal, and how to explain the...
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Episode 132: Who’s Happier: Liberals or Conservatives?
Send us Fan Mail The media images we see of conservative politicians and voters depict people who are angry, fearful, and full of suspicion and outrage. So, why does study after study suggest that there’s a measurable happiness gap between conservatives and liberals, with liberals on the short…
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Episode 131: The Next Pandemic
Send us Fan Mail Though the truly horrific COVID-19 pandemic, which killed 1.2 million Americans and many millions more worldwide, is barely in the rear-view mirror, public health authorities keep telling us the next pandemic is inevitable. Joe wondered how inevitable, and he asked Mark whether...
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Episode 130: Flat Earthers Are Still Around
Send us Fan Mail In our post-truth era, perhaps it’s not surprising that a growing number of people say they believe, despite all evidence to the contrary, that the Earth is flat. Mark struggled to understand how anyone can believe this, so he asked Joe to get inside the head of a flat-earther…
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Episode 129: Mansplaining Mailbag
Send us Fan Mail Imagine producing a podcast with well over a hundred episodes, soliciting feedback after every episode, receiving dozens of comments and questions, and then sitting on them for nearly six years. Guilty as charged! After being derelict in their duty for far too long, the...
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Episode 128: We’ve Got a Gambling Problem
Send us Fan Mail Gambling is having a moment. Not only have a majority of states legalized sports betting since the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in 2018, but prediction markets have also enjoyed explosive growth in the last few years. With huge amounts of money being wagered on everything from...
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Episode 127: The Proper Retirement Age
Send us Fan Mail Millions of Americans associate the number 65 with the end of their working years and the start of what they hope is a long and pleasant retirement. But why 65, as opposed to younger, older, or never? Joe and Mark trace the history of social insurance programs, including the...
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Episode 126: The Decline and Fall of Expertise
Send us Fan Mail There’s a strong anti-intellectual vibe running through American politics and culture. It’s visible in MAGA’s ongoing assault against the administrative state, in the growing distrust of educational institutions, and in anti-vaccine sentiment—the last of which started as a...
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Episode 125: Darkness Over Light in Film and TV
Send us Fan Mail The fact that the heavy drama The Bear has won Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series speaks volumes about how the industry values drama in comparison to comedy. Indeed, the last time a real comedy film won the Best Picture Oscar was 1977, nearly a half-century ago....
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Episode 124: The Best (and Worst) Holiday Music
Send us Fan Mail For Mansplaining’s 6th annual holiday episode, we examine the holiday music that gets played endlessly, in our homes and everywhere we go, at this time of year. What makes a holiday song good? Which songs resonate for Mark and Joe, and why? And which can we do without? For us, at...
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Episode 123: Tripping Your Way Out of Trauma
Send us Fan Mail Psychoactive substances have been ingested by human beings for millennia. But for a few decades at the end of the 20th century, many were banned in the U.S. as part of a cultural backlash manifesting itself in the disastrous War on Drugs. Now that’s slowly changing, as the…
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Episode 122: Why Gas Stoves Stink
Send us Fan Mail A few years ago, we all started hearing about how gas ranges, which have been popular in our country for at least a century and are favored by professional chefs, were dangerous to our health and should be replaced by electric or induction cooktops. That revelation begs a couple…
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Episode 121: Halloween: A Singularly American Stew
Send us Fan Mail Back in its early days, this podcast explored the cultural and economic juggernaut that is Christmas. Time now to take a gander at Halloween. It’s unique among American holidays in that it’s neither religious nor patriotic nor sentimental, yet it’s hugely and increasingly popular...
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Episode 120: Potatoes and Tomatoes: Hardy Migrants
Send us Fan Mail Overshadowed by all the anti-immigrant rhetoric afflicting our country today are wonderful stories of non-human immigration, such as the ones about how certain foods made their way from the New World to the Old World. Take potatoes and tomatoes, for example. They’re staples of...
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Episode 119: Flag Fetish
Send us Fan Mail Based on recent proclamations from the MAGA government and the zealotry that some of its partisans have for the American flag, you’d never guess that flag worship was really not a thing in the United States for a very long time. Most Americans in the first half of the 19th…
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Episode 118: The Pros and Cons of Gerontocracy
Send us Fan Mail You may have noticed that there are a lot of very old people clinging to positions of authority, from our current president (79 years old) to our former president (82 when he left office) to other leaders in politics, business, and culture. Why won’t these folks leave the stage…
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Episode 117: What Rousseau Might Say About the USA
Send us Fan Mail In The Social Contract, the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau suggested that democracy was feasible only in smaller polities where the citizens have shared common interests. What might Rousseau have to say about the current-day United States, with its sprawling national…
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Episode 116: The Cemetery Industry is Not Dead Yet
Send us Fan Mail When visiting a few cemeteries recently, Joe was struck by how clean and well-maintained but desolately empty they were. That prompted him to ask Mark about the economic viability of cemeteries and whether they were becoming relics of a bygone age as increasing numbers of people...
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Episode 115: Will There Be Enough Water?
Send us Fan Mail Water seems to many of us like an unlimited resource, what with oceans covering 71% of the Earth’s surface. But less than 3% of the world’s water is fresh, and nearly a third of that is groundwater, found deep beneath the surface in aquifers between soil and rock. Many of the...
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Episode 114: About Those Expiration Dates…
Send us Fan Mail What do the following household items have in common: A jar of aspirin; a tube of toothpaste; a clear plastic bottle; a package of KN-95 masks? Answer: they all expire on a certain date. Indeed, our homes are full of stuff we’re supposed to throw away long before we’re done with...
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Episode 113: Green Lawn Origin Story
Send us Fan Mail For decades, American suburbia has resembled one continuous green lawn stretching across property boundaries in every direction. Indeed, lawns are part of the fabric of American life. When was it that we all decided to put grass around our homes, and why? Joe and Mark ramble...
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Episode 112: We’re Dawdling on High-Speed Rail
Send us Fan Mail Bullet trains have been a major component of transit systems in places like Japan, China, and Europe for decades. Why hasn’t high-speed rail taken root in the supposedly forward-thinking United States? Mark and Joe set off on a journey of discovery through issues like inadequate...
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Episode 111: We Best Not Nuke Nuclear
Send us Fan Mail To meet the increased demand for carbon-free electricity that might mitigate the climate crisis that is already upon us, nations the world over are reconsidering nuclear energy. Mansplaining listeners of a certain age remember the No Nukes movement that gained steam after...
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Episode 110: Housing and the Land-Value Tax
Send us Fan Mail 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 be a major issue for the foreseeable…
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Episode 109: A Quantum Leap in Computing
Send us Fan Mail 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 reality. The “quantum supremacy” of…
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Episode 108: There’s No Dressing Up Dress Codes
Send us Fan Mail 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 codes, from ancient Rome and China through medieval...
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Episode 107: The Skinny on GLP-1 Drugs
Send us Fan Mail 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 rolls in, they’re also looking like...
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Episode 106: Are Lotteries Justifiable?
Send us Fan Mail 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 schools and parks, but it’s a...
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Episode 105: An Appalling Lack of Savings
Send us Fan Mail 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 for millions of retirees? Joe and…
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Episode 104: The Rap on Map Apps
Send us Fan Mail 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 directions or be skeptical and consider external...
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Episode 103: Things Are Looking Up (We Hope)
Send us Fan Mail 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 feeling good about in 2025 and beyond…
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Episode 102: In Search of Peace and Healing
Send us Fan Mail 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, if it happens at all. Making it happen involves...
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Episode 101 Bonus Content: The Past and Future of Air Travel
Send us Fan Mail 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 technological innovations restore some of the fun in...
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Episode 101: Will Air Travel Crash and Burn?
Send us Fan Mail 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, Spirit still couldn’t make a profit. How did…
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Episode 100: What Makes Pop Music Artists Run Out of Ideas?
Send us Fan Mail 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 phenomenon, and if so, what might cause it....
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Episode 99: What Makes a Company Run Out of Ideas?
Send us Fan Mail 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 looks less like a forward-thinking innovator and…
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Episode 98: The Checkered Legacy of Legacy Admissions
Send us Fan Mail 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. Is it fair that schools are now…
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Episode 97: The Threat to Critical Infrastructure
Send us Fan Mail 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 threat of foreign hackers causing catastrophic...
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Episode 96: All the Lonely People
Send us Fan Mail 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. Why are young people so sad and lonely? Mark and…
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Episode 95: Fusion Is (Still) Just Around the Corner
Send us Fan Mail 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 it doesn’t vaporize everything it touches. Joe...
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White-Hot Take: Childless Cat Ladies?
Send us Fan Mail 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 weird obsession with fertility, what it means for...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
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.
HOSTED BY
Mark and Joe
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Mansplaining have?
Mansplaining currently has 142 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Mansplaining about?
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.
How often does Mansplaining release new episodes?
Mansplaining publishes regularly with 142 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Mansplaining?
You can listen to Mansplaining on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Mansplaining?
Mansplaining is created and hosted by Mark and Joe.
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