Breakthroughs in biotech that seem like science fiction are becoming reality. Why aren’t more patients benefiting from them?


Couples get divorced for all kinds of reasons. Is having kids one of them? Bapu talks about research that investigates what happens to parents who unexpectedly have twins. Plus, an announcement about the future of the show.


78. Do Kids Cause Divorce?

Doctors and nurses get most of the attention — but a new study suggests we can improve health care by raising wages for a group of workers who are often overlooked.


77. They Make Minimum Wage. They Could Save Your Life.

In hospitals, a softer pillow or a nicer room might be more than just amenities — they could improve outcomes for patients.


76. Is a Spoonful of Sunlight the Best Medicine?

Americans eat a lot of sugar — and it’s hard to determine how it affects our health. Bapu explains how a new study uses data from the 1950s to help solve the mystery.


75. What Is Sugar Really Doing to You?

The most expensive drugs in the world are treatments for genetic diseases. And more of these cures are on the horizon. How will anyone be able to afford them?


73. Who Pays for Multimillion-Dollar Miracle Cures?

72. What’s Stopping Us From Curing Rare Diseases?

mRNA vaccines helped bring the pandemic under control. Could they also train the immune system to fight cancer?


71. What Do COVID-19 and Cancer Have in Common?

Success and failure are hard to measure in medicine. Bapu looks at how surgeons are judged after a bad outcome — and whether men and women are treated the same.


70. Why Are There Still So Few Female Surgeons?

Figuring out which patients to hospitalize and which to safely send home can be tricky. Is there a way to make this decision easier for doctors — and get better outcomes, too?


68. The E.R. Doctor’s Dilemma

Bapu tries to stump master clinician Dr. Gurpreet Dhaliwal with a medical mystery. 


67. Why Did This 60-Year-Old Man Collapse at the Supermarket?

It’s a surprisingly hard question to answer. Bapu talks with a health economist about a natural experiment that led to some unexpected findings. 


66. Does Health Insurance Make You Healthier?

At the start of the 20th century, there weren’t many hospitals in the U.S. That changed in 1918, thanks to the Great Influenza pandemic. Its effects on health care are still being felt today. Which makes us wonder: will the impact of Covid-19 also be felt 100 years from now?


65. How Do Pandemics Change Health Care?

Half the world's population uses social media — and a new study suggests that it causes anxiety and depression. Can anything be done, or is it too late?


64. Is Facebook Bad for Your Mental Health?

Some diagnostic tests give distorted results for Black patients. How are doctors trying to change that?


63. What Medicine Gets Wrong About Race

Bapu talks to White House Covid Czar Dr. Ashish Jha about becoming a household name, studying pandemics, and the frustrations of politics. Also, when will he be out of a job?


62. Dr. Ashish Jha Anticipated a Pandemic. He Didn’t Think It Would Look Like This.

Colonoscopy is strongly recommended for Americans over 45. But a new study suggests its benefits have been overstated. Should we change how we screen for colorectal cancer?


61. Should You Bother Getting a Colonoscopy?

Chances are, at some point you’ll be treated by a nurse practitioner or a physician assistant instead of a doctor. Will your care suffer? 


60. The Doctor Is Out. The Physician Assistant Is In.

Time is precious. How can doctors and patients make the best use of it — especially when there isn’t much left? 


59. The Most Valuable Resource in Medicine

Antibiotics save lives. But what happens when we use them too much? Bapu looks at how changing physician behavior could help prevent a major public health disaster.


57. Doctors Know They Prescribe Too Many Antibiotics. Why Don’t They Stop?

Incarceration has been linked to infectious diseases, mental illness, cancer, and violence. But new research suggests it can extend some people’s lifespans. Bapu investigates the paradox of prison time.


56. Could Prison Be Good for Your Health?

Behavioral economists say “regret lotteries” are powerful motivational tools. When Philadelphia tried one in 2021, the results were disappointing. Bapu looks at how incentives can backfire — and what we can learn from failures.


55. This Vaccine Lottery Seemed Like a Great Idea. Why Didn’t it Work?

When COVID hit, telemedicine use in the U.S. exploded. But how are we using it now? Bapu Jena explores the consequences of this evolving technology.


54. Will You Ever Go Back to Your Doctor’s Office?

After the Supreme Court’s abortion decision, doctors in some states are concerned that delivering treatment could put them in legal jeopardy. Bapu Jena looks at how the practice of “defensive medicine” can compromise patient care. 


53. Why Do Doctors Have to Play Defense?

Medical tests can save lives. So how do doctors decide who gets tested, and when?


52. Who Gets a Heart Disease Test?

A small number of patients with multiple, chronic conditions use a lot of resources. Dr. Jeffrey Brenner found a way to identify and treat them. Could it reduce health care spending too?


51. What Can We Do About the Hardest Patients?

When a hospital closes in a rural area, it’s a big deal. But are all patients affected equally? We look at new research on the unexpected outcomes of traveling farther for care.


50. What Happens When a Hospital Closes?

Beyond the immediate casualties, school shootings have costs — for survivors, and for the rest of us.


48. The Hidden Consequences of School Shootings

Hospitals compete for prime spots on the U.S. News rankings — but could those lists be doing more harm than good? 


47. Should We Trust Hospital Rankings?

Chronic fatigue syndrome looks remarkably similar to Long Covid, but has been ignored by the medical community. Could patients finally get some answers to their debilitating illness?


46. Could Long Covid Help Treat Other Chronic Illnesses?

Can you diagnose cancer too early? Do in-flight medical emergencies vary by location? We asked you to send Bapu your questions, and this week he tries to answer them. We’d love to get to the bottom of even more topics. Send your voice memos to bapu@freakonomics.com


44. Office Hours with Bapu

Dr. Will Flanary, a.k.a Dr. Glaucomflecken, has always been a comedy fan. During the pandemic, he found an audience. But should doctors be funny with their patients? Bapu Jena asks when laughter is — and isn’t — the best medicine.


43. The Comedian-Ophthalmologist Will See You Now

When a doctor’s shift ends, or a physician retires, are patients left in the lurch? Bapu Jena looks at the challenge of managing medical transitions. 


42. Your Doctor Has to Go Home. Now What?

You’ve heard that the weather can make your joints hurt. Maybe you’ve even felt it yourself. But, is it true? Bapu Jena looks at why we think we know certain things in medicine, even when the data don’t agree.


41. Is Rainy Day Joint Pain All in Your Head?

The world is warmer than ever, and getting hotter. Bapu Jena looks at how heat affects our bodies and our behavior — and how we might adapt to rising temperatures.


40. How Will We Handle the Heat?

Fear is a popular tool in public health campaigns. But is it an effective one? Bapu Jena discusses new research on whether we can — and should — scare people into being healthier.


37. Can Fear Be Good Medicine?

Distractions are everywhere — including in the operating room. So, what happens if a surgeon loses focus? A tap dancer, a health researcher, and a surgeon help Bapu Jena find out.


36. Bad News — It’s Your Surgeon’s Birthday

For lots of things, price is an indicator of quality. But what about in health care? Bapu Jena gets some clues from Steve Levitt’s wine tasting experiment, and looks at why shopping for health care is so hard.


35. Are More Expensive Hospitals Better?

Taxes on alcohol and tobacco promise to make people healthier and raise public funds. But can they backfire? Bapu Jena looks at the complicated economics of sin taxes.


34. Should We Have to Pay for Our Sins?

Tax deadlines can stress us out. But do they also influence our conscious — and subconscious — behavior? Bapu Jena looks at why, with our health, timing is often everything. 


33. What Do a Full Moon, the Super Bowl, and Tax Day Have in Common?

Celebrities influence the clothes we wear and the books we read. Do they also affect our health decisions? Bapu Jena looks at what happens when people take medical advice from movie stars. 


31. Should You Trust Angelina Jolie or Your Doctor?

Getting solid answers in medicine can be hard — especially when the normal tools are off-limits. Dr. Bapu Jena discusses a research method that’s helping to solve some of science’s most challenging questions. 


30. How Do We Know if Alcohol Is Bad for Us?

When trust in doctors or the healthcare system is lost, it’s really hard to get back. Bapu Jena explores the ripple effects of a C.I.A. operation to catch Osama bin Laden on medical distrust in Pakistan — and its parallels to distrust in the U.S.


27. What Can Bin Laden Teach Us About Medicine?

 Giving birth in the United States can be dangerous for both moms and their kids. Sometimes, that's because of too little medical care — and sometimes, it’s the opposite. 


26. When is a ‘High-Risk’ Pregnancy a Good Thing?

Well, which is better at predicting your risk of having a heart attack? Bapu Jena explores the promise — and perils — of artificial intelligence in medicine.


25. Would You Rather See a Computer or a Doctor?

 In Latin, the word “placebo” means “I shall please.” In the medical world, placebos mean something … well, a little different. Bapu Jena walks us through the thorny world of placebo research and the implications the placebo effect can have for patients.


23. Is the Placebo Effect for Real?

Each year, millions of people get sick or die from diseases caused by their own unhealthy behavior. Getting people to change their bad habits – to quit smoking, eat better, or exercise – can be extremely hard. But what if we paid them? 


21. Should We Pay People to Be Healthier?

Bill Frist was a transplant surgeon before serving in the Senate, where he drove controversial legislation on embryonic stem cells and end-of-life care. Did he change politics? Or did politics change him?


20. Do Our Politics Need a Doctor?

Since doctors are human, they bring their own beliefs and preferences into the examination room. But they’ve also taken an oath to act in the best interest of all patients. What happens when politics and medicine collide? 


19. Do Your Doctor’s Political Views Affect Your Care?

A clever study tracking the survivors of Hurricane Katrina came to a bold conclusion: when it comes to your health, place is destiny. So how can the benefits of healthier places be spread to everyone?


18. When Is a Natural Disaster Good for Your Health?

Studies by men published in scientific journals are more likely to include glowing, hyperbolic terms. Bapu talks about this “groundbreaking” research (see what we did there?) in a wide-ranging discussion with physicians and an economist about the gender gap in medicine.


15. The Most “Unique, Excellent, and Promising” Episode

Once upon a time, Bapu Jena was a graduate student at the University of Chicago. His most interesting teacher? The economist Steve Levitt. This week on Freakonomics, M.D., a replay of a conversation between Steve and Bapu from Steve’s podcast, People I (Mostly) Admire, where they cover everything from the ethics of human-challenge trials to why Bapu decided to start his own show.


13. When Bapu Met Levitt

Ideas are currency. This couldn't be more true in academia, where it's the job of researchers to think of questions and, hopefully, find answers. Bapu talks with economists Steve Levitt and Emily Oster about how they come up with ideas for studies, why most never make it off the ground, and what should be done with scrapped projects.


12. Where Do All the Bad Ideas Go?

We dig into why Covid-19 caught us so unprepared and how we can make sure we’re ready for a future public-health crisis with former FDA director Scott Gottlieb.


8. A Playbook for Beating the Next Pandemic

This week, Bapu Jena presents some hot-off-the-presses research exploring the relationship between how many patients a doctor sees, and how well those patients do. Plus, the surprising impact of annual cardiology conferences that prompted Bapu’s first conversation with Stephen Dubner on Freakonomics Radio.


7. What Happens to Patients When Thousands of Cardiologists Leave Town?

A woman comes to the emergency room with back pain. She’ll leave with an unexpected diagnosis. How does her doctor figure out what’s wrong? Listen as host Bapu Jena puts master clinician Dr. Gurpreet Dhaliwal on the spot to solve a real medical mystery. Along the way, you’ll learn how doctors think and the most important questions they ask.


5. How to Solve a Medical Mystery

Humans are hardwired to focus on the left digit in numbers. It’s why products are priced at $3.99 instead of $4.00. But does this left-digit bias also affect medical decisions? Host Bapu Jena is joined by a fellow researcher and a cardiologist to explain how left-digit bias shows up in one of the most important decisions a doctor can make, what it means for patients, and what we can do about it.


4. What Do Grocery Store Prices and Heart Surgery Have in Common?

After struggling to schedule a flu shot for his own toddler, host Bapu Jena went down a research rabbit hole. He discovered that the time of year kids are born has an unexpected and dramatic effect on whether they and their families end up getting the flu. Bapu explains his findings and asks a pediatrician and public health expert what could be done about it.


3. Why Are Kids With Summer Birthdays More Likely to Get the Flu?

Does having more health information actually change behavior? To test this question, host Bapu Jena explores whether doctors make healthier choices than the rest of us (and he fesses up to an unhealthy habit of his own). From the Freakonomics Radio Network: Exploring the hidden side of everything. 


2. Do As Docs Say, Not As They Do

Host Bapu Jena is an economist and medical doctor whose latest research measures the link between birthdays and Covid. He explains his team’s findings, explores the role that kids’ parties may have played, reveals whether politics made a difference, and convinces a Zoom magician to reveal the secrets of making virtual parties awesome.From the Freakonomics Radio Network: Exploring the hidden side of everything.


1. Covid and the “Birthday Effect”

In the newest show from the Freakonomics Radio Network, host Zachary Crockett explores the hidden side of the things around us. This week: One creature’s trash is another’s cash.  (Or, how one man found profit in pee.)


The Economics of Everyday Things: Animal Urine

A sneak peek at Bapu's new book, Random Acts of Medicine, available now from Doubleday, and an announcement about the show.


Tom Brady, A.D.H.D., and a Really Bad Headache (Bonus)

 It’s not a new question, but it’s a tricky one to study. Bapu explains why, and talks about how an N.F.L. labor dispute helped him get some answers. 


74. How Does Playing Football Affect Your Health?

We take it for granted that, when people are acutely ill, they should be in the hospital. Is there a better way?


69. Home Sweet … Hospital?

A small number of patients with multiple chronic conditions use a lot of resources. Dr. Jeffrey Brenner found a way to identify and treat them. Could it reduce health-care spending too?


What Can We Do About the Hardest Patients? (Ep. 51 Replay)

Promising drugs keep failing in trials. Allegations of fraud have cast a shadow over the field. An expert explains why Alzheimer’s treatments have been so hard to find — and why one clue may lie in the Andes Mountains.


Why Don’t We Have a Cure for Alzheimer’s? (Ep. 49 Update)

Can a clever new study shed light on one of parenting’s most elusive and contentious questions? 


58. How Important Is Breastfeeding, Really?

When researchers analyzed which day of the week most F.D.A. drug-safety alerts are released — and what it means for public health — they were stunned. So, what can we do about the “Friday Effect?”


Why Fridays May Be Dangerous for Your Health (Ep. 9 Replay)

49. Why Don’t We Have a Cure for Alzheimer’s?

Our cognitive health can change as we get older. So, does leaving the workforce make problems like memory loss and difficulty focusing worse? We investigate the research, and Bapu asks: is it time for his dad to retire?


How Does Retirement Affect Your Brain? (Ep. 17 Replay)

Learning requires practice — and if you visit a teaching hospital in July, there’s a good chance your doctor hasn’t had much of it. So, will your care suffer? The dean of a medical school, an economist, and a hospital administrator help Bapu Jena find out.


45. Why Is July a Bad Month to Visit the Hospital?

For Black men, the barbershop is a neighborhood hub. It could also be a place for them to get medical care. Plus: What happens to patients when affirmative action ends?


A Shave, a Haircut, and a Blood Pressure Test (Ep. 6 Update)

Bapu Jena talks with Albert Bourla about his unusual path to the top, developing a life-saving vaccine in record time, and the second-hardest decision he made along the way.


38. Pfizer’s CEO on the Big Gamble That Brought Us the COVID Vaccine

We’re sharing a special preview of the new season of Against the Rules from Pushkin Industries. In this clip, bestselling author Michael Lewis explores the idea that, in any big company, the person who can actually solve a problem is often buried six levels deep in the organization. You can hear more episodes of Against the Rules at podcasts.pushkin.fm/atrmd.


From Against the Rules with Michael Lewis: Six Levels Down

When it comes to end-of-life medical care, getting it right can be hard — even for doctors.  Bapu Jena discusses surprising research on how we can live better - and maybe longer - before we die. 


32. What is a Good Death — and Why Do So Few of Us Get One?

Cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death globally. What if it doesn’t have to be that way? Bapu Jena walks us through some solutions that can help save lives — and explores why change in medicine can be hard. 


29. How to Save a Stranger’s Heart

Changing the clocks has been linked to car accidents and heart attacks. This week, Bapu Jena sheds some light on the damage we might be doing by springing forward and falling back. 


28. Is Daylight Saving Time Hazardous to Your Health?

We often select doctors based on their reputations or on misconceptions about what really matters. But research shows that doctors’ experience and where they trained can significantly impact patient care. 


24. How Can You Choose the Best Doctor?

We now have more access to TV, movies, and streaming entertainment than anytime in history. So what do we actually know about what all that screen time does to us? We look back at some compelling studies that show, actually, it may change us for the better. 


22. What If TV Isn't Bad for Us?

Aging carries a risk of losing our memory, focus, and ability to take care of ourselves and others. Does leaving the workforce worsen that risk? We investigate the research. And…Bapu asks: is it time for dad to retire?


17. How Does Retirement Affect Your Brain?

The National Institutes of Health is the backbone of health research in the U.S., and Collins has been in charge for more than a decade. Now that he’s stepping down, he ponders the arc of his history-making career, from his leadership of the Human Genome Project to the fight against Covid-19 (not to mention the absolute happiest moment of his life).


16. An Exit Interview with N.I.H. Director Dr. Francis Collins

When you need a ride to the hospital, who should you call? Bapu talks with economist David Slusky about how ridesharing services are increasingly replacing ambulances. Plus, an unexpected reason why rideshares may lead some people to unhealthy behaviors.


14. Is Uber Good (or Bad) for Your Health?

Every year, thousands of people in the U.S. die while they’re waiting for a new kidney, yet thousands of available organs get thrown away. Bapu talks to a kidney doctor and an economics Nobel laureate about why this happens and how the system could improve.


11. Why Do So Many Donated Kidneys End Up in the Trash?

Hear diagnostician Gurpreet Dhaliwal try to solve the case of a patient who came to the emergency room with an unusual combination of symptoms. Plus, we discuss how difficult it is to separate the signal from the noise when treating patients, and how cognitive biases factor into doctors’ decision-making.


10. The Mystery of the Man with Confusion and Back Pain

When researchers analyzed which day of the week most drug-safety alerts are released — and what it means for public health — they were stunned. So was Bapu Jena. He talks with them and a physician this week about the “Friday Effect,” a common problem with big repercussions for the safety of the medications.


9. Why Fridays May Be Dangerous for Your Health

Bapu Jena talks with a barber and a pharmacist whose study brought healthcare to Black men in Los Angeles who were getting haircuts. They discuss its impact on high blood pressure among customers — and how unconventional approaches like this could help build trust. 


6. Are Barbershops the Cutting Edge of Healthcare Delivery?

How can a marathon be dangerous even if you don’t run the race? Does your doctor follow medical advice any better than you do? Just how dangerous was it to go to a birthday party at the height of the pandemic? These are the kinds of questions that intrigue Dr. Bapu Jena, a rare double threat — he’s both an M.D. and a Ph.D. economist. Each week on Freakonomics, M.D., Jena digs into fascinating research to discover the hidden side of healthcare.


Introducing “Freakonomics, M.D.”

In this pilot episode of a new “Freakonomics of Medicine” podcast, when host Dr. Bapu Jena misses his wife’s 5K run, he sets out to study how road closures and detours on big race days affect people with medical emergencies.


Home

Discover

Library

Following

Home

Discover

Library

Following

72. What’s Stopping Us From Curing Rare Diseases?

Mark as played

Share

About the episode

View all episodes