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Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford Episodes

  1.

    You Have Reached Your Destination

    If your world relies on fortune tellers, GPS or algorithms...you may end up in a bad spot

  2. WW2: How Britain Ignored the Mother of All Secrets

    The story of one of the most extraordinary intelligence leaks in history.

  3. Whistleblower on the 28th Floor

    Why are we suspicious of "tattletales" and what can we do to make whistleblowing easier?

  4. When the Robots Take Over... - Cautionary Questions

    Does winning the lottery make you unhappy? Is Bitcoin bad for the economy?

  5. When Stalin Killed the Weekend (with The Happiness Lab)

    The story of Stalin's curious, calendar-reshaping experiment.

  6. The Rogue Dressed as a Captain

    Humans aren't as obedient as we’re made out to be…but we still fall easily for fraudsters

  7. The Revenge of the Whales

    How much is what we think we understand about the natural world shaped by human guilt?

  8. The Poet Who Toppled The British Empire

    This is the final episode in a four-part series about how to succeed without being a jerk

  9. The Nice Guy, the Bully and the Kiss

    Leo Durocher would stop at nothing to win.

  10. The Human Guinea Pigs of Camp Lazear

    Is it time to start thinking differently about experimenting on humans?

  11. The Fraudster's Guide to Magic Money

    How do pyramid and ponzi schemes snowball out of control?

  12. The Fan Who Infected a Movie Star

    Tragedy can be averted if we appeal to the better parts of human nature.

  13. The Edinburgh Body Snatchers: Murder at Halloween

    What makes some markets acceptable, and others repugnant?

  14. The Dunning Kruger Hijack (and Other Criminally Stupid Acts)

    The height of stupidity is being too stupid to know you are stupid...

  15. The Deadly Airship Race

    Competition can bring the best out of people, but can also cause things to fall apart.

  16. The Curse of Knowledge Meets The Valley of Death

    How assuming others understand exactly what we are thinking gets people killed.

  17. The Art Forger, the Nazi, and "The Pope"

    Being clever doesn't protect us from scams...

  18. Supersonic Nazi Vengeance: V2 Rocket (Part 1)

    In WW2, British intelligence began to hear that the enemy was developing a rocket weapon.

  19. Steel and Kindness: Clash of the Skyscrapers

    Paul Starrett has just won a major building contract, but will everything go to plan?

  20. Run, Switzer, Run: The Women Who Broke the Marathon Taboo

    Until the 1960s, it was deemed too "dangerous" for women athletes to run longer distances

  21. Reason, Wrath and Rebellion on the High Seas

    History remembers Captain Bligh as a cruel, petty tyrant. The reality is more complicated

  22. Number Fever: How Pepsi Nearly Went Pop

    Why some botched competitions ruin businesses, while others short-change consumers.

  23. Masterly Inactivity Versus Micromanaging

    Lady Sale (Helena Bonham Carter) was part of a British retreat from Afghanistan in 1842.

  24. Martin Luther King Jr, the Jewellery Genius, and the Art of Public Speaking

    Some speeches help us dream of a better world…while others become the stuff of nightmares

  25. La La Land: Galileo's Warning

    Giving an Oscar to the wrong film proved that some safety systems can increase mistakes.

  26. Introducing... The Science of Happiness

    The Science of Happiness is available now on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sounds.

  27. Introducing... Short History Of...

    Introducing Short History Of... The Dambusters. Listen other episodes on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sounds now!

  28. Into the Black Lair: V2 Rocket (Part 2)

    How Nazi Germany was convinced that they couldn’t afford to ignore rocket technology.

  29. How the Radium Girls Fought Back

    Tim Harford and Kate Moore discuss how the "Radium Girls" took on their employers.

  30. How Britain Invented, Then Ignored, Blitzkrieg

    Why organizations can't always see a brilliant idea that's staring them in the face.

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