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:

June 29, 2026 Ep 43: Automakers recast streets as car space and turned crossing them into a crime, reshaping cities for a century.
Automakers recast streets as car space and turned crossing them into a crime, reshaping cities for a century.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In 1923, Cincinnati police began ticketing adults for stepping off the curb anywhere except at a corner crosswalk, an act that had been ordinary for generations. The change followed intensive lobbying by automobile manufacturers and local motor clubs who argued that pedestrians, not drivers, were the main source of collisions. ...
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=-Pnj1_4DstY
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
11min
June 27, 2026 Ep 42: St. Louis built Pruitt-Igoe in 1954 as a model of clean, modern public housing for working families — and dynamited the first buildings on national television in 1972.
St. Louis built Pruitt-Igoe in 1954 as a model of clean, modern public housing for working families — and dynamited the first buildings on national television in 1972.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
On 21 March 1972, a crowd gathered on the edge of the Pruitt-Igoe site in St. Louis as a series of controlled explosions brought down the first of the thirty-three eleven-story towers. ...
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=ZVY64pGOfkU
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
8min
June 26, 2026 Ep 41: Eisenhower’s 1956 Interstate Highway Act promised faster travel for all, yet in city after city the new roads accelerated the emptying of urban neighborhoods instead.
Eisenhower’s 1956 Interstate Highway Act promised faster travel for all, yet in city after city the new roads accelerated the emptying of urban neighborhoods instead.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In June 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act, authorizing 41,000 miles of limited-access roads that would, planners said, finally end the traffic jams choking American cities. ...
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=Xs6km4e1GTQ
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
10min
June 25, 2026 Ep 40: Synthetic fabrics promised cheap, durable clothes for everyone — and released trillions of plastic fibers that now reach every human placenta and ocean trench.
Synthetic fabrics promised cheap, durable clothes for everyone — and released trillions of plastic fibers that now reach every human placenta and ocean trench.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In a 1950s laundry room in Manchester, a housewife dropped a new polyester blouse into a top-loading washer and watched the suds swirl away down the drain. The blouse would outlast cotton shirts by years and cost far less to produce. ...
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
June 24, 2026 Ep 39: A synthetic estrogen given to millions of pregnant women to prevent miscarriage instead caused rare reproductive cancers in their daughters two decades later.
A synthetic estrogen given to millions of pregnant women to prevent miscarriage instead caused rare reproductive cancers in their daughters two decades later.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In the spring of 1968, a Boston gynecologist examined a cluster of young women, some still in their teens, who presented with clear-cell adenocarcinoma of the vagina—a cancer so uncommon in that age group that the hospital’s pathology department had seen only one prior case in thirty years. ...
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
June 23, 2026 Ep 38: Mosquito nets built to save millions from malaria are instead being cut into fishing gear that empties lakes and leaks insecticide into the water.
Mosquito nets built to save millions from malaria are instead being cut into fishing gear that empties lakes and leaks insecticide into the water.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In fishing villages along the shores of Lake Victoria, women once received rectangular insecticide-treated nets at health clinics to hang over their children’s beds. Within weeks many of those same nets were being sliced into smaller panels, weighted with stones, and dragged through the shallows at dawn. ...
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
June 22, 2026 Ep 37: Europe and the US mandated biofuels to cut transport emissions, then watched palm-oil plantations clear rainforests faster than before.
Europe and the US mandated biofuels to cut transport emissions, then watched palm-oil plantations clear rainforests faster than before.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In 2007, Indonesian officials approved new palm-oil concessions across Central Kalimantan that would eventually cover more than 2 million hectares. ...
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
June 21, 2026 Ep 36: Hospitals championed alcohol sanitizers to curb deadly infections, yet everyday overuse may be nudging antimicrobial resistance forward.
Hospitals championed alcohol sanitizers to curb deadly infections, yet everyday overuse may be nudging antimicrobial resistance forward.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In 2002, a nurse at a Pittsburgh hospital rubbed alcohol-based gel into her hands between patients, following a new CDC guideline meant to replace time-consuming soap-and-water scrubs. ...
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
June 20, 2026 Ep 35: Millions of women took hormone replacement therapy to prevent heart disease and stay youthful, until one trial showed it raised their risks of cancer, stroke, and heart attack instead.
Millions of women took hormone replacement therapy to prevent heart disease and stay youthful, until one trial showed it raised their risks of cancer, stroke, and heart attack instead.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In the summer of 2002, more than six million American women were taking some form of hormone replacement therapy, many of them for reasons that had little to do with hot flashes. ...
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
June 19, 2026 Ep 34: Purdue Pharma promoted OxyContin as nearly addiction-proof, yet the drug helped ignite an opioid epidemic that has killed more than a million Americans.
Purdue Pharma promoted OxyContin as nearly addiction-proof, yet the drug helped ignite an opioid epidemic that has killed more than a million Americans.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In 1996 a primary-care physician in southwestern Virginia wrote a first prescription for OxyContin 10 mg twice daily, telling the patient the time-release formula would control chronic back pain without the dependence risks of shorter-acting opioids. ...
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

FAQs about Unintended Consequences:

How many episodes does Unintended Consequences have?

The podcast currently has 103 episodes available.