News Sidequest cover art

All Episodes

News Sidequest — 120 episodes

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Title
1

Kelsey Pfendler rowed to Hawaii / America is getting lonelier by the numbers / Scientists just woke up sleeping cancer cells with light

2

In the future you won't own anything / Fast walkers have much better brains / Even "good" lies aren't good

3

Way to not murder people, America / Science says gossip is good for your gene pool / You can now rent a dog by the hour

4

Graduation is for high school and I will die on this hill / America lives twice as long as it did at its founding / Good news: not cancer. Bad news: worms

5

The gambling math nobody talks about / A cup of yogurt and a daily walk / Why losing hurts more than winning feels good

6

The empty nest is full again / Growing up gets less scary with time / Does moving abroad actually change you?

7

Negotiating with a woman gets you more, even if you don't know it / Humans might already be able to regenerate body parts / Your old phone is worth more than you think

8

Almost nobody trusts AI, but what does "trust" even mean / The 6-year-old who shopped alone in Tokyo / Five minutes of walking buys back your whole day

9

Anxious teens don't remember the good stuff / Five days of silence nearly broke a brain / Feeling poorer than your peers wrecks you, even if you're not

10

Empty-shell marriages are ending / Your brain wasn't built for this much bad news / The $1 million starter home

11

A quarter of "normal weight" people aren't / Trust in government just hit a new low / Your brain prefers paper

12

The American Dream is fading, but most still want it / A cure for cancer might actually be realistic / The bees have been judging us this whole time

13

What 451 marriages have in common / Faking the shopping cart for the dopamine hit / Even with proof, you'd still have to pay rent

14

Showing up as a goblin on the first date / Your phone is a FOMO machine / Perfectionists are miserable and there are more of them than ever

15

Are you tracking your adult child / Dark humor means you're a genius, science says / You and your dog have more in common than you think

16

The cat is out of the bag on human gene editing / Gen X is borrowing from their parents at 60 / Why some people are always the giver

17

Living with nuns is a real option now / Solar just beat coal / Should you be able to design your child?

18

A year of college now costs $100,000 / She said "that's the law" about noodles / Why fact-checking doesn't change minds

19

The iPhone is birth control, apparently / The economics of solo-maxxing / The pilot who flew 900 flights without a license

20

The restaurant that stopped charging / Why June is disappearing / Gen Z can't read a sentence

21

Remote work is making us lonelier than we realized / What it means to be a man in 2026 / Gen Z has gone quiet online

22

Jesus didn't turn water into Brawndo / Perfect randomness exists now / Nearly 1 in 5 seniors are still working

23

Gen X and Elder Millennials are dying faster / Man is climbing a mountain for his 90th birthday / What's your worst office story

24

Your worst trip ever / The solitude influencer / 55,000 cancers nobody caught

25

Remote work is why young people can't find jobs / What are you grateful for / The summer that isn't happening

26

You're more cynical than your friends think / We probably won't get alien visitors / Go take a nap — seriously

27

Gradually, then suddenly / How betting apps are recruiting your kids / Please stop poking the flight attendants

28

Gen Z is paying $300 to make friends at the gym / Time can go negative, apparently / The single parent happiness gap

29

The fun is gone and Dave and Busters knows it / Half of us regret our degree / What would Dublin say?

30

Six in ten Americans cut back on groceries / Put down the laptop, pick up the pencil / Trust your gut

31

Artemis II inspired a generation / Luis Salazar found $30,000 and did the right thing / 80% of how you age is your call

32

High school is rough and the data proves it / Your master's degree might not save you / The goodest of boys

33

Why you're right-handed / A free house with a catch / Are our brains shrinking?

34

Science says $111,000 is enough / Woman is becoming a doctor at 72 / Gen Z is at the mall

35

Someone paid off 200 kids' student loans / The guy who got his Bitcoin back / Tarot readers need help from AI too

36

Kids have stopped reading / Dads are finally showing up at home / 11 million kids with a parent in the system

37

What would you bring back from childhood? / Give us some good news / There's a version of you doing better than this

38

Young people have never been this pessimistic about jobs / Everyone needs recess / Someone was living in their basement

39

Your early 50s might be the best it gets / Good news for anxious worriers / Don't do it, Hadzabe

40

What did you hide from your parents / Sleep is more important than you know / Four people pretending to be on Mars

41

Politics cost us a third of our friendships / More afraid of going broke than dying / Your coffee is basically medicine

42

What would it cost to buy your peace of mind? / People are trying to buy Spirit Airlines / Finally, eggs are good for you again

43

Gen X is never retiring / Channel your rage into the gym / There are more men than the world needs right now

44

One in three Americans is having an existential crisis / Your brain is dreaming right now / Spirit Airlines is gone

45

Americans haven't felt this broke in 25 years / What are we doing to babies / The face from Pompeii

46

Your dreams are training you / He came back as a hologram / Nobody knows what an AI-proof major is

47

What time would you escape to? / The dating recession is real / Your summer trip just got more expensive

48

Grown-ups are pregaming again / Put down the phone for a month / Seeds can hear the rain

49

Two in five Americans cut someone off / The most expensive mistake at work / The family that lied with AI

50

Stuck and underpaid / Your water opinions are wrong / Life once existed on Mars, maybe

51

Being wrong is actually good for you / Touch grass, literally / Sometimes the voices are right

52

Middle-aged Americans are struggling / Feeling good isn't enough / The world is running out of people

53

What's in your nightmare / The airplane seat that might actually work / The world needs more Dan Simpsons

54

Parents spending $50K to land their kid a job / Loneliness linked to suicide risk / AI can predict your diseases 20 years out

55

They're home from the Moon / The pet debt crisis is real / Gen Z thinks AI is rotting their brain

56

Gen Z packed an anxiety bag / Put the phone down for a week / Workers are sabotaging AI

57

Depression costs more than you think / Marriage might save your life / Your $22 smoothie is actually rational

58

Your brain needs more than Netflix / The housing dream is fading / We say we give but we don't

59

Farther than any human in history / Should we ban kids from social media? / How do you know what's real?

60

Training your robot replacement / Seniors can't afford to live alone / Kids or financial freedom

61

The girl who remembers everything / We've stopped talking / Humans have always gambled

62

Three months from broke / Gas hits four dollars / Is your degree worth it?

63

Kids won't fix your happiness / Work feels like a funeral / Gen Z is napping through lunch

64

Kids just want to be free / Social media is making college lonely / Your seat could save your life

65

Your AI is lying to you / Reproducing in space is complicated / Egypt just got weirder

66

Can school houses build belonging? / When connections beat merit / One incredible career journey

67

How colleges are adapting to AI / Why everything feels more expensive / What we get better at with age

68

Is this a dating green flag? / The tough reality for new grads / How people actually change their minds

69

Why we love finding Easter eggs / Why we give our side a pass / The real cost of owning a pet

70

Doctors may prescribe nature / Why HOAs feel like a second mortgage / When does wealth feel like too much?

71

AI brings actors back to life / The meaning of 867-5309 changes / Proof people have always been sarcastic

72

Why bad behavior sticks around in Congress / How common dark thoughts really are / A robot goes berserk

73

Gen Z discovers the benefits of being bored / AI is changing our opinions about things / Do you close your eyes to hear better?

74

Reading the reviews can re-wire your brain / Bad news for fans of corporate synergy / Flying might become more of an ordeal

75

More young people are having memory issues / Scientists learned nothing from Jurassic Park / Your annoying relatives might be killing you

76

People just aren't going to movie theaters anymore / The Tooth Fairy is super expensive / Scientists make a Google Map for the body

77

1/3 of Americans believe they'll see the end of the world / Get ready for flying cars / Hot weather doesn't bother you as much as you think

78

Teens are spending most of the school day on their phones / Why you can't remember where the remote is / Why haven't we heard from aliens?

79

Young people are taking up "Old People" hobbies / Open offices might cause bullying / Certain people are more drawn to conspiracy theories

80

Dealing with jerks might be shortening your life / It's important to be able to laugh at yourself / Forgiveness might be overrated

81

No one hates Americans more than... other Americans / United Airlines wants you to use headphones. Or else / One third of Gen Z men kind of suck

82

More evidence you're probably never going to be able to retire / People are seeing aliens on drugs / Betting on nuclear detonations

83

What does a good life at 95 look like to you? / What completely unreasonable fear do you have? / Civilization is probably doomed

84

Is having two jobs just the normal thing now? / Blood test could tell you how long you have left / Get ready for deepfake spam calls

85

It's not just houses, no one can afford anything / People feel good about their lives but bad about everyone else's / They're taking bets on aliens

86

What should be in America's time capsule? / Feel free to wear pajamas at the airport / You probably have a little Neanderthal in you

87

Does having children make you happier? / Dating in 2026 is basically a minefield / Get ready for adult gym class

88

More than half of teens are using chatbots for schoolwork / Grandpa probably should hold office / Get ready for a big announcement from Bigfoot?

89

You need to make how much to afford kids? / Police are on the look out for suspicious Googling / Reading will help you in old age

90

Gen Z is delaying everything in life / Single men might need to re-think their lives / How to know if a chimp is flirting with you

91

Would you vote for family in the "other" political party? / Fighter jets can be 'jailbroken' like an iPhone / Trump vs Obama on aliens

92

Too much time on social media might make you lonely / Would you retire to a cruise ship? / Get ready for the global coffee shortage

93

Adults need to make time to play / You're still never going to get to retire / Start planning your next Sleepcation, which is apparently a thing

94

We might be causing AI to hallucinate / Is it a good idea to "Protect" kids from technology? / How would you react to aliens?

95

75% of us are suffering from burnout / Worrying about aging makes you age faster / Pres. Obama says aliens are real

96

Scientists find the secret to happiness / Is the American Dream dead / Social media exec has shocking stance on social media addiction

97

Facebook wants you to keep posting after you're dead / Get ready for AI therapists / You really can bet on everything

98

American optimism hits a new low / What should people know how to do when they leave high school? / Don't use ChatGPT as a doctor

99

Paying people to navigate the hellish job market / Get ready for "Polyworking" / Gen Z doesn't know how to meet people

100

Gird your loins for the affordability crisis / The national debt is less than ideal / Age really does beat beauty

101

Are we undergoing a process of generational dumbening? / Can money buy happiness? / Attack of the baseball player chatbots

102

There's a giant freaking red flag for the economy waving around right now / No one wants to be alone on Valentine's Day / Attack of the brain-eating amoebas

103

Blame your dad for your bad health / Should we ban kids from using social media? / You might be ruining your sleep

104

Is AI Making Us Lonely or Are We Using AI Because We're Lonely? / How Much Control Does Your Employer Have Over Your Daily Life? / Enough with the Remakes

105

Would you lock yourself away for a whole year? / You're not going to live forever / It might be a good idea to take your passport everywhere

106

Life expectancy hits a new high / Get ready for robot teachers / Astronomers might have found a new neighbor

107

Men are feigning interest in things to get dates... shocking / How about getting rid of property taxes? / They have prediction markets for everything

108

What antiquated technology should we bring back? / Embarrassing childhood memories / Slightly closer to doomsday

109

What's your exhibit in the Museum of Personal Failure? / Getting paid to make friends / Would you want to live to be 150?

110

How are you using AI at work? / The airport behavior that makes everybody mad / How to be kind at work

111

Is your cell phone killing you? (Probably not) / Remember that you're always on camera / Watch out for exploding trees

112

Should there be an age limit for politicians? / How much of your life do you lose to your commute? / PETA tries to ruin Groundhog Day

113

Education doesn't make you immune to conspiracy theories / How much money is 23 years of your life worth? / Get ready for the era of cheap weddings

114

Short attention span theater / Learn the age your body starts falling apart / Cows have learned how to use tools

115

What's your mundane bucket list item? / Letter writing is making a comeback / Aliens might have an impact on your back account

116

Gemini AI is going to remember everything you do / Horses can smell your fear / Some scientists haven't seen Jurassic Park and it shows

117

Young Americans are unplugging / Is it a good idea to ban cell phones in schools? / You need to get up and do some jumping jacks right now

118

Flying in space really messes with your brain / You can book a hotel stay on the Moon / Let's ban politicians from lying

119

What helps you get through the workday slog? / Would you rather have a better job title or more money? / App does a wellness check on remote workers

120

What do you refuse to spend money on? / Learning about your spouse before you get married / Sending a Rubik's cube to space