People I (Mostly) Admire

Frances Arnold pioneered the process of directed evolution — mimicking natural selection to create new enzymes that have changed everything from agriculture to laundry.

• SOURCES:
  • Frances Arnold, professor of chemistry at the California Institute of Technology. 

• RESOURCES: 
  • "Innovation by Evolution: Bringing New Chemistry to Life," by Frances Arnold (Nobel Lecture, 2018).
  • "Bacteria taught to bond carbon and silicon for the first time," by Aviva Rutkin (New Scientist, 2016).
  • "Directed evolution of cytochrome c for carbon–silicon bond formation: Bringing silicon to life," by S. B. Jennifer Kan, Russell D. Lewis, Kai Chen, and Frances H. Arnold (Science, 2016).
  • "The Director of Evolution," by Jennifer Ouellette (Slate, 2013).
  • "Engineered ketol-acid reductoisomerase and alcohol dehydrogenase enable anaerobic 2-methylpropan-1-ol production at theoretical yield in Escherichia coli," by Sabine Bastian, Xiang Liu, Joseph T. Meyerowitz, Christopher D. Snow, Mike M. Y. Chen, and Frances H. Arnold (Metabolic Engineering, 2011).
  • Gevo.
  • Provivi.

• EXTRAS:
  • "How to Help Kids Succeed," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2025).
  • The Levitt Lab.

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Steven Pinker’s new book argues that all our relationships depend on shared assumptions and “recursive mentalizing” — our constant efforts to understand what other people are thinking. He and Steve talk about the psychology of eye contact, the particular value of Super Bowl ads, and what it’s like to get cancelled.

• SOURCES:
  • Steven Pinker, professor of psychology at Harvard University.

• RESOURCES:
  • When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows, by Steven Pinker (2025).
  • "Why I Left Harvard," by Carole Hooven (The Free Press, 2024).
  • Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters, by Steven Pinker (2021).
  • "Economics of Toilet Paper X Thread," by Justin Wolfers (2020).
  • "How a Famous Harvard Professor Became a Target Over His Tweets," by Michael Powell (New York Times, 2020).
  • "Police Killings of Blacks: Here Is What the Data Say," by Sendhil Mullainathan (2015).
  • SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance, by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (2011).
  • Rational Ritual: Culture, Coordination, and Common Knowledge, by Michael Suk-Young Chwe (2003).
  • "Open Letter to the LSA."

• EXTRAS:
  • "Steven Pinker: 'I Manage My Controversy Portfolio Carefully,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2020).

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The Power of Habit author Charles Duhigg wrote his new book in an attempt to learn how to communicate better. Steve shares how the book helped him understand his own conversational weaknesses.

• SOURCES:
  • Charles Duhigg, journalist and author.

• RESOURCES:
  • Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection, by Charles Duhigg (2024).
  • "2023 Word of the Year Is 'Enshittification,'" by the American Dialect Association (2024).
  • "When Someone You Love Is Upset, Ask This One Question," by Jancee Dunn (The New York Times, 2023).
  • Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg (2016).
  • "The 36 Questions That Lead to Love," by Daniel Jones (The New York Times, 2015).
  • The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg (2012).
  • "The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness: A Procedure and Some Preliminary Findings," by Arthur Aron, Edward Melinat, Elaine N. Aron, Robert Darrin Vallone, and Renee J. Bator (Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1997).

• EXTRAS:
  • "How Can You Get Closer to the People You Care About?" by No Stupid Questions (2023).
  • "How Do You Connect With Someone You Just Met?" by No Stupid Questions (2023).
  • "Can I Ask You a Ridiculously Personal Question?" by Freakonomics Radio (2021).
  • "Amanda & Lily Levitt Share What It’s Like to be Steve’s Daughters," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
  • "Marina Nitze: 'If You Googled ‘Business Efficiency Consultant,’ I Was the Only Result,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
  • "How to Be More Productive," by Freakonomics Radio (2016).
  • Frozen, film (2013).

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Seth Berkley used to run the world's largest vaccine funding organization. He and Steve talk about the incredible value of vaccines, the economics of immunizing the developing world, and the current attacks on public health.

• SOURCES:
  • Seth Berkley, epidemiologist at Brown University School of Public Health.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Trump Administration Ends Program Critical to Search for an H.I.V. Vaccine," by Apoorva Mandavilli (New York Times, 2025).
  • Fair Doses: An Insider's Story of the Pandemic and the Global Fight for Vaccine Equity, by Seth Berkley (2025).
  • "How a partnership saved millions of children’s lives with vaccines," (Gates Foundation).
  • Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

• EXTRAS:
  • "Sendhil Mullainathan Thinks Messing Around Is the Best Use of Your Time," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
  • "Moncef Slaoui: 'It’s Unfortunate That It Takes a Crisis for This to Happen,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2020).

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Stefanie Stantcheva’s approach seemed like career suicide. In fact, it won her the John Bates Clark Medal. She talks to fellow winner Steve Levitt about why she uses methods that most of the profession dismisses — and what she’s found that can’t be learned any other way.

• SOURCES:
  • Stefanie Stantcheva, professor of political economy at Harvard University.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Understanding Economic Behavior Using Open-ended Survey Data," by Ingar Haaland, Christopher Roth, Stefanie Stantcheva, and Johannes Wohlfart (Working Paper, 2025).
  • "Fighting Climate Change: International Attitudes toward Climate Policies," by Antoine Dechezleprêtre, Adrien Fabre, Tobias Kruse, Bluebery Planterose, Ana Sanchez Chico, and Stefanie Stantcheva (American Economic Review, 2025).
  • "Zero-Sum Thinking and the Roots of U.S. Political Divides," by Stefanie Stantcheva (NBER Working Paper, 2024).
  • "Why Do We Dislike Inflation?," by Stefanie Stantcheva (NBER Working Paper, 2024).
  • "How to Run Surveys: A Guide to Creating Your Own Identifying Variation and Revealing the Invisible," by Stefanie Stantcheva (Annual Review of Economics, 2022).
  • "Eliciting People's First-Order Concerns: Text Analysis of Open-Ended Survey Questions," by Beatrice Ferrario and Stefanie Stantcheva (NBER Working Paper, 2022).
  • "Understanding Tax Policy: How Do People Reason?," by Stefanie Stantcheva (The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2021).
  • "Immigration and Redistribution," by Alberto Alesina, Armando Miano, and Stefanie Stantcheva (NBER Working Paper, 2018).

• EXTRAS:
  • VerbAI by Generation Lab.

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From recording some of the first rap hits to revitalizing Johnny Cash's career, the legendary producer has had an extraordinary creative life. In this episode he talks about his new book and his art-making process — and helps Steve get in touch with his own artistic side. 

• SOURCES:
  • Rick Rubin, music producer and record executive.

• RESOURCES:
  • The Creative Act: A Way of Being, by Rick Rubin (2023).
  • “How Google’s AlphaGo Beat a Go World Champion,” by Christopher Moyer (The Atlantic, 2016).
  • “DMC: The Real Story of Aerosmith + Run-D.M.C.’s ‘Walk This Way’,” by Loudwire (2016).
  • “Hurt,” by Johnny Cash, music video (2003).
  • “Walk This Way,” by Run-DMC, ft. Aerosmoth (1986).
  • “It’s Yours,” by T La Rock (1984).
  • “Walk This Way,” by Aerosmith (1975).
  • The Way of Code.

• EXTRAS:
  • “How To Be Creative,” series by Freakonomics Radio (2018).

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More than two decades ago, Adam Riess’s Nobel Prize-winning work fundamentally changed our understanding of the universe. His new work is reshaping cosmology for a second time.

• RESOURCES:
  • Adam Riess, astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University.

• SOURCES:
  • "The Nobel Prize Winner Who Thinks We Have the Universe All Wrong," by Ross Andersen (The Atlantic, 2025).
  • "The answer to life, the universe and everything might be 73. Or 67," by Hannah Devlin (The Guardian, 2018).
  • "Adam G. Riess Nobel Prize Lecture," (The Nobel Foundation, 2011).
  • "Breakthroughs 1998," by Floyd Bloom (Science, 1998).
  • "Observational Evidence from Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and a Cosmological Constant," by Adam Riess, Alexei Filippenko, Peter Challis, Alejandro Clocchiatti, Alan Diercks, Peter Garnavich, Ron Gilliland, Craig Hogan, Saurabh Jha, Robert Kirshner, Bruno Leibundgut, Mark Phillips, David Reiss, Brian Schmidt, Robert Schommer, Chris Smith, Jason Spyromilio, Christopher Stubbs, Nicholas Suntzeff, and John Tonry (The Astronomical Journal, 1998).
  • "1912: Henrietta Leavitt Discovers the Distance Key," (Carnegie Institution for Science).

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Uri Simonsohn is a behavioral science professor who wants to improve standards in his field — so he’s made a sideline of investigating fraudulent academic research. He tells Steve Levitt, who's spent plenty of time rooting out cheaters in other fields, how he does it.

• SOURCES:
  • Uri Simonsohn, professor of behavioral science at Esade Business School.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Gino v. President and Fellows of Harvard College," (Court Listener, 2025).
  • "Statement from Dan Ariely," (2024).
  • "Data Falsificada (Part 4): 'Forgetting The Words,'" by Uri Simonsohn, Leif Nelson, and Joe Simmons (Data Colada, 2023).
  • "They Studied Dishonesty. Was Their Work a Lie?" by Gideon Lewis-Kraus (The New Yorker, 2023).
  • "Evidence of Fraud in an Influential Field Experiment About Dishonesty," by Uri Simonsohn, Leif Nelson, and Joe Simmons (Data Colada, 2023).
  • "Signing at the beginning makes ethics salient anddecreases dishonest self-reports in comparison tosigning at the end," by Lisa Shu, Nina Mazar, Francesca Gino, Dan Ariely, and Max Bazerman (PNAS, 2021).
  • "Power Posing: Reassessing The Evidence Behind The Most Popular TED Talk," by Uri Simonsohn and Joe Simmons (Data Colada, 2015).
  • "Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are," by Amy Cuddy (TED, 2012).
  • "Daily Horizons: Evidence of Narrow Bracketing in Judgment from 10 Years of MBA-Admission Interviews," by Uri Simohnson and Francesa Gino (Psychological Science, 2012).
  • "Spurious? Name similarity effects (implicit egotism) in marriage, job, and moving decisions," by Uri Simohnson (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2011).
  • "False-Positive Psychology: Undisclosed Flexibility in Data Collection and Analysis Allows Presenting Anything as Significant," by Joe Simmons, Leif Nelson, and Uri Simohnson (Psychological Science, 2011).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Will We Solve the Climate Problem?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2025).
  • "Why Is There So Much Fraud in Academia?" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "When I'm Sixty Four," by The Beatles (1967).

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Former U.S. Secretary of Education, 3x3 basketball champion, and leader of an anti-gun violence organization are all on Arne’s resume. He’s also Steve’s neighbor. The two talk about teachers caught cheating in Chicago public schools and Steve shares a story he’s never told Arne, about a defining moment in the educator’s life.

• SOURCES:
  • Arne Duncan, the 9th U.S. Secretary of Education; founder of C.R.E.D.; former head of Chicago Public Schools; and former professional basketball player.

• RESOURCES:
  • How Schools Work, by Arne Duncan (2018).
  • "Benji," (ESPN's 30 for 30, 2012).

• EXTRAS:
  • Chicago C.R.E.D.

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Kate Marvel spends her days playing with climate models, which she says are “like a very expensive version of The Sims.” As a physicist she gets tired of being asked to weigh in on economics, geopolitics, and despair — but she still defends the right of scientists to have strong feelings about the planet.

• SOURCES:
  • Kate Marvel, climate scientist and science writer.

• RESOURCES:
  • Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet, by Kate Marvel (2025).
  • "Are Americans Concerned About Global Warming?" (Gallup, 2024).
  • "Can clouds buy us more time to solve climate change?" by Kate Marvel (TED, 2017).
  • SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance, by Stephen Dubner and Steve Levitt (2011).
  • "Global Warming’s Six Americas," (Yale Program on Climate Change Communication).
  • "Fred Rogers: Look for the Helpers."

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