Mansplaining

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 and let their younger colleagues step into power? Is this state of affairs good or bad for our society?...

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 government and a citizenry that can’t even agree on basic facts? Joe and Mark revisit their college classrooms t...

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 opted for cremation. Mark and Joe discuss the history of cemeteries and prospects for the mortuary indu...

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 world’s aquifers are drying up as we over-pump them for irrigation, drinking water, and industrial uses. D...

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 it. But do these products truly go bad, or are their producers planning their obsolescence so you’ll bu...

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 through America’s iconic yardscape to dig up the history of grassy lawns, why they took hold here, and whet...

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 infrastructure, population density, and the usual economic and political obstacles before reaching its...

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 frightening meltdowns at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.  What they may not realize is that nuclear power re...

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 future, public policy experts have been brainstorming about potential solutions, and a few have dusted off a...

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 this new technology over classical computing promises stunning breakthroughs in areas as disparate as dr...

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 Europe and Tudor England, ending in the modern era of school uniforms and casual Fridays.  As our hero...

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 game-changers for treating conditions as far-ranging as heart disease, dementia, and substance use di...

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 double-edged sword, as lotteries are disproportionately funded by the poorest third of households, i.e., the p...

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 Mark do a deep dive into the scary numbers outlining Americans’ financial distress and declining optimism...

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 factors like our own prior driving experience?  Well, wonder no more.  Mark and Joe take the fastest...

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, from multiple perspectives (personally, locally, nationally, and internationally). With hopefulness in sh...

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 redressing the loneliness and isolation wrought by a decades-long breakdown in civic trust.  Government h...

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 we get to a place where the only thing shrinking faster than the number of airlines still in business...

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 flying?  In a special bonus segment and addendum to Episode 101, Joe and Mark look back at the good old...

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.  Turns out that early-career creativity is a complicated amalgam of neural plasticity, free time, and th...

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 more like a tired dinosaur trying desperately to hold onto its piece of the profit pie.  Why does that s...

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 forced to ignore the race of their applicants but are still allowed to favor the children of wealthy alumni...

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 damage to critical civilian infrastructure like our electrical grid and drinking water? Joe and Mark...

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 Joe discuss whether loneliness is inheritable, how much of the blame we can pin on the distorted view...

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 and Mark ponder these and other challenges to producing fusion energy, and whether any of us is likel...