Search Engine

Why are people excited about nuclear power again?

Nuclear energy was a taboo for decades, but it’s coming back, it’ll power AI data centers for Google and Microsoft. What does new nuclear technology look like, and why do the nuclear optimists believe this new tech is superior? Meltdowns, reactors that can fit in your backyard, and one podcaster’s heroic attempt to describe nuclear fission. Rachel Slaybaugh [https://www.dcvc.com/team/rachel-slaybaugh/] Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow [https://www.rebeccatuhusdubrow.net/] (check out her book Atomic Dreams [https://bookshop.org/p/books/atomic-dreams-the-new-nuclear-evangelists-and-the-fight-for-the-future-of-energy-rebecca-tuhus-dubrow/ce3182ebe44591db?ean=9781643753157&next=t]) Adam Stein [https://thebreakthrough.org/people/adam-stein] Search Engine’s episodes on data centers: Colossus 1 [https://open.spotify.com/episode/06HYk7QD52Kju7ME9HeCAt] & Colossus 2 [https://open.spotify.com/episode/0rW2fNRTVsS36GevhrBj6B?autoplay=true] Support the show! [https://searchengine.supercast.com/] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

What if the cemetery goes out of business? (classic)

We're supposed to be buried there forever, right? Right?? Answers this week from writer David Sloane, who grew up in a cemetery and spent his adult life studying them. The surprising history of the place we go where we die and an answer to what happens when it runs out of money. Is the Cemetery Dead? [https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/I/bo28082520.html] by David Charles Sloane  Support the show at searchengine.show [https://searchengine.supercast.com/] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Where’s the best free restaurant bread in America?

An enterprising reporter goes on a quest to find the restaurant serving the absolute best free bread in this country, and finds it. She returns to Search Engine with her results.  Read Caity Weaver’s story. [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/05/best-free-restaurant-bread-america/686582/] Support the show! [https://searchengine.supercast.com/] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

The Cost of War

The United States has begun a conflict with Iran that two thirds of the American public does not understand. One question we can try to answer: how much is this conflict costing us? The surprising story of how the government learned to hide the costs of war, and how someone learned to get to the bottom of those costs anyway. Check out Professor Bilmes’ work. [https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/international-relations-security/why-war-iran-so-expensive] Additional listening: our episode on ballooning national debt and why it's a big deal [https://www.searchengine.show/why-the-national-debt-might-finally-matter/] Support the show! [https://searchengine.supercast.com/] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

What we got wrong about GLP-1s

Search Engine is breaking its cowardly three-year silence on GLP-1s. We have been curious about them. We have been afraid of getting in trouble. We are no longer afraid. A conversation with Dr. Rachael Bedard about the many mistakes in how the media covered these drugs and what the research shows about their surprising effects.  Dr. Bedard’s story on the rise of Ozempic [https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ozempic-weight-loss-diet-drug-moral-panic.html] Support the show! [https://searchengine.supercast.com/] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]