Unintended Consequences

By Patrick

Every weekday, one true story of good intentions gone sideways. From cobra bounties in colonial Delhi to recommendation algorithms, each episode follows a single case through the original idea, how it... more

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FAQs about Unintended Consequences:

How many episodes does Unintended Consequences have?

The podcast currently has 103 episodes available.

Unintended Consequences episodes:

August 08, 2026 Ep 83: Australia required bike helmets to cut head injuries, then watched cycling drop sharply and…
Australia required bike helmets to cut head injuries, then watched cycling drop sharply and the broader safety math shift.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In July 1990, Victorian roads that had carried thousands of daily cyclists suddenly looked emptier after the state made helmets compulsory for every rider. Helmet use rose quickly, yet total bicycle trips fell by roughly one-third in the first two years, according to transport counts and hospital data. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
8min
August 07, 2026 Ep 82: Microcredit set out to free the poor from moneylenders with tiny loans, yet scaling the…
Microcredit set out to free the poor from moneylenders with tiny loans, yet scaling the model produced over-indebtedness and borrower distress in Andhra Pradesh and beyond.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In October 2010, police in Andhra Pradesh began receiving reports of borrowers who had taken their own lives after repeated visits from microfinance collection agents. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
10min
August 06, 2026 Ep 81: Aquarium keepers released beautiful lionfish into the Atlantic, expecting them to vanish…
Aquarium keepers released beautiful lionfish into the Atlantic, expecting them to vanish harmlessly—yet the fish multiplied and devoured the reefs instead.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In the summer of 1985, a single lionfish was spotted off the coast of Florida, its red-and-white stripes vivid against the reef. Within two decades the same species had spread from North Carolina to the Yucatán, eating its way through native fish populations that had never encountered such a predator. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
8min
August 05, 2026 Ep 80: US rules meant to cut smog by adding MTBE to gasoline instead contaminated drinking water…
US rules meant to cut smog by adding MTBE to gasoline instead contaminated drinking water across the country.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In the winter of 1995, residents of Santa Monica, California, began noticing a sharp, turpentine-like taste in their tap water that no amount of boiling could remove. City engineers traced the odor to methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, a gasoline additive that had been blended into fuel sold at local stations. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
10min
August 04, 2026 Ep 79: Cheap flights and Instagram made the world's fragile wonders accessible to millions — and…
Cheap flights and Instagram made the world's fragile wonders accessible to millions — and then the crowds began to erode what they came to see.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In the summer of 2018, Thai authorities closed Maya Bay, the small cove on Ko Phi Phi Leh that had drawn more than 5,000 visitors a day after appearing in the 2000 film The Beach. The coral had been trampled, the water clouded by sunscreen and boat fuel, and the once-white sand was compacted into hardpan. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
8min
August 03, 2026 Ep 78: Brazilian researchers bred a hardier tropical honeybee in 1956 — and released an…
Brazilian researchers bred a hardier tropical honeybee in 1956 — and released an unstoppable hybrid that spread across two continents.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In October 1957, a beekeeper in Rio Claro, São Paulo state, noticed that twenty-six colonies had vanished from their screened hives. The colonies belonged to geneticist Warwick Kerr, who had imported queens from southern Africa the year before to cross with local European stock. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
🎬 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rmo6bnvAK8
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
8min
August 02, 2026 Ep 77: No Child Left Behind promised to close achievement gaps through testing, yet turned schools…
No Child Left Behind promised to close achievement gaps through testing, yet turned schools into test-prep factories that narrowed what students actually learned.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In the spring of 2006, a fifth-grade teacher in a Houston elementary school spent forty-five minutes each morning drilling students on released items from the Texas state assessment rather than conducting the scheduled science experiment on plant growth. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
7min
August 01, 2026 Ep 76: U.S. corn subsidies meant to steady farm incomes instead flooded the food supply with cheap…
U.S. corn subsidies meant to steady farm incomes instead flooded the food supply with cheap sweetener, feedlot beef, and ethanol.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In the spring of 1984, executives at Coca-Cola quietly switched the formula for its flagship drink from cane sugar to high-fructose corn syrup. The change saved the company millions and spread within months to Pepsi and most other major brands. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
9min
July 31, 2026 Ep 75: Colonial officers stocked Lake Victoria with Nile perch to build a commercial fishery — and…
Colonial officers stocked Lake Victoria with Nile perch to build a commercial fishery — and set off one of the fastest vertebrate extinctions on record.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In 1983 a Kenyan fish processor near Kisumu watched his workers unload a single Nile perch that weighed more than 80 kilograms, its silver flanks still gleaming from the night’s trawl. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
9min
July 30, 2026 Ep 74: Rent controls meant to shield tenants from spikes instead reduced rental supply and favored…
Rent controls meant to shield tenants from spikes instead reduced rental supply and favored long-term residents over newcomers.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In 1943, New York City froze rents on hundreds of thousands of apartments under wartime emergency rules, a measure intended to prevent landlords from exploiting families whose breadwinners were overseas. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
10min

FAQs about Unintended Consequences:

How many episodes does Unintended Consequences have?

The podcast currently has 103 episodes available.