Technology

Search Engine

PJ Vogt

We try to make sense of the world, one question at a time. No question too big, no question too small.Hosted by PJ Vogt, edited by Sruthi Pinnamaneni. Named one of the best podcasts of all time by Time Magazine

146 episodes

Vladimir Putin's Forkiverse 2 Oct 2026 · 38 min Nine months ago, three podcasters attempted to build a better internet. Today -- they confront foreign adversaries on a digital battlefield. Watch the Machine Gods trailer. Instru…

Search Engine x Better in Person 29 Sept 2026 · 43 min Search Engine has some exciting news about the moving image to announce, and we’re sharing an interview we loved with an unusual architect. Check out the video version on Freakono…

Bollywood Dreams 18 Sept 2026 · 1 hr 5 min An email hits our inbox with the subject line: “My Dad is making a Bollywood Movie… is he being scammed?” We investigate. Become a premium subscriber.

Why’s everybody going to Japan? 11 Sept 2026 · 51 min A Japanese listener gets so many houseguests she starts a spreadsheet to try to figure out what's going on. Why has American tourism to Japan gotten so out of control? The story o…

The Killing of the Gaza Chef 28 Aug 2026 · 49 min Mahmud Almadhoun ran a soup kitchen in the north of the Gaza Strip. In November 2024, he was killed. A reporter tries to answer a big question. Was Mahmud intentionally targeted?…

The Chosen One 21 Aug 2026 · 48 min A listener asks: whose penis gets the top spot on the Wikipedia page for penis? Our quest for an answer takes us on a surprisingly philosophical journey — where we learn about the…

A road trip through the data center debate 11 Aug 2026 · 39 min The midterms are approaching, and as the discourse heats up, one of the big new villains is: a kind of building. Data centers. Reporter Jasmine Sun took a road trip through two sw…

The machines are learning… to do crimes? 6 Aug 2026 · 38 min For the first time, an AI model has autonomously hacked a company. This week, an evolving story, a postcard from a strange, frightening moment in the story of our technology. A bi…

What’s in your cocaine and the questions Search Engine CAN’T answer 24 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 1 min An interview with a cocaine salesman about cocaine adulterants, plus – questions Search Engine can’t answer, with special guest Kelefa Sanneh. Become a premium subscriber!

How to pursue excellence … in noodles (unlocked bonus) 17 Jul 2026 · 48 min The world right now, seems tilted towards the good enough. The AI-written wedding toast, the half-assed attempt. Despite this, a handmade noodle shop is trying to make perfect noo…

Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? Pt. 2 (classic) 10 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 11 min We travel to Germany to trace techno’s history from Detroit to Berlin. The story of how, after the Wall fell, Berlin exorcised its brutal past with a very strange, decade-long par…

Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? Pt. 1 (classic) 3 Jul 2026 · 53 min Two Americans embark on a quest: fly across an ocean to try to get into the most exclusive nightclub in the world – Berghain. A German techno palace where the line outside can las…

A Strange Voyage 25 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 1 min This month, SpaceX had the largest IPO in all of human history. In a mission to understand a bewildering moment, we trace the story of the stock market itself. From its very begin…

Why doesn’t anybody come to my parties? 15 Jun 2026 · 47 min Claire Haber-Harris has a question. When she sends out an invitation, why does she get a tidal wave of excuses and no's? How could someone claim to have had the same stomach virus…

Why is the pool at Buckingham Palace a secret? (classic) 5 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 8 min An investigation into a mysterious room. A room that the most famous family in England apparently does not want you to see. Support the show!

Why do we have to pay into the new Anti-Weaponization Fund? 29 May 2026 · 40 min The President has created a 1.776 billion dollar fund of taxpayer money he can direct to whoever he wants. Huh? How did this happen, and what might happen next? We talk to Pro Pub…

The many lives of Taiwan 22 May 2026 · 1 hr 7 min We go deep into the story of Taiwan. How a tiny island escaped demise, chartered a course from colonial subjugation through mass Barbie production and into the technological power…

Why are people excited about nuclear power again? 8 May 2026 · 50 min Nuclear energy was a taboo for decades, but it’s coming back, it’ll power AI data centers for Google and Microsoft. What does new nuclear technology look like, and why do the nucl…

What if the cemetery goes out of business? (classic) 1 May 2026 · 50 min We're supposed to be buried there forever, right? Right?? Answers this week from writer David Sloane, who grew up in a cemetery and spent his adult life studying them. The surpris…

Where’s the best free restaurant bread in America? 24 Apr 2026 · 39 min An enterprising reporter goes on a quest to find the restaurant serving the absolute best free bread in this country, and finds it. She returns to Search Engine with her results.…

The Cost of War 17 Apr 2026 · 49 min The United States has begun a conflict with Iran that two thirds of the American public does not understand. One question we can try to answer: how much is this conflict costing u…

What we got wrong about GLP-1s 10 Apr 2026 · 46 min Search Engine is breaking its cowardly three-year silence on GLP-1s. We have been curious about them. We have been afraid of getting in trouble. We are no longer afraid. A convers…

The Trial of the Driverless Car 26 Mar 2026 · 1 hr 4 min In blue cities throughout the country, unions and politicians are fighting to ban driverless cars. We travel to Boston, where the fight has reached a fever pitch, and where the ca…

Are you a good driver? 23 Mar 2026 · 1 hr 7 min The story of how a secret project at Google led to driverless cars on American roads. And, an answer to the question: are the robots actually safer drivers than we are? Driven: Th…

Mysteries of Claude 27 Feb 2026 · 49 min Anthropic hired philosophers to teach its AI to be good. In their tests, the AI blackmailed a human to keep itself alive. Writer Gideon Lewis-Kraus went inside the company to figu…

Why don’t we eat people? (classic) 20 Feb 2026 · 58 min A question from a four-year-old tips us into an investigation of one of our most fundamental taboos: cannibalism. With help from New Yorker food critic Hannah Goldfield and writer…

How Peptides Conquered the Internet 13 Feb 2026 · 45 min Two decades ago, bodybuilders on niche internet forums started injecting peptides. Now they're in the secret mini-fridges of some teenage boys. How did they get there? We track th…

Are flushable wipes actually flushable? 30 Jan 2026 · 56 min A simple question leads us on a journey from the bowels of New York City through the courtrooms of South Carolina to the disgusting truth. Support Search Engine!

The Venezuelan Curse (Part 2) 20 Jan 2026 · 59 min The conclusion to our story about Venezuela. How a country goes from a prosperous democracy to a poverty-ravaged dictatorship. The End (our 2022 episode on Greenland) The Many Fac…

The Venezuelan Curse (Part 1) 16 Jan 2026 · 1 hr 6 min For the past year, there's been a steady drumbeat of headlines about Venezuela. Now the US has invaded, arrested its president, and installed itself in charge. To understand how w…