439. Please Get Your Noise Out of My Ears

New York City’s mayor called them “public enemy number one.” History books say they caused the Black Death — although recent scientific evidence disputes that claim. In an updated episode from 2025, we ask: Is the rat a scapegoat? And what does our rat hatred say about us? SOURCE ...  Show more

One possibility: a leading hypothesis pursued by researchers (and funders) was built on science that now appears to be fraudulent. Stephen Dubner speaks with the scientist and the journalist who blew the whistle. SOURCES: Charles Piller, investigative journalist for Science, auth ...  Show more

Silence is a rare commodity these days. There's traffic, construction, air-conditioning, your neighbor's lawnmower ... and all this unwanted sound can have a surprising impact on your health, says noise researcher Mathias Basner. Discover the science behind how noise affects your ...  Show more

A year after we reopened as a society, some of us are still trying to adjust to the noise of everyday life. But have we gotten louder, playing Instagram out loud on the Luas, shouting in the street late at night. Has Ireland become selfish and has the world turned louder? Is it a ...  Show more

From ear-splitting aircraft noise and the drone of traffic to the hum of an open-plan office, the world around us can feel loud. But is it getting louder? And is this having any effect on our health - and even on how long we live? We find out when living close to a road, railway ...  Show more

Is our blaring modern soundscape harming our health? Cities are noisy places and while people are pretty good at tuning it out on a day-to-day basis our sonic environments have serious, long-term impacts on our mental and physical health. This is part one in a two-part series ...