Nov. 13, 2026

Billionaires, popularity, and blackmail: the numbers that run your life

Billionaires, popularity, and blackmail: the numbers that run your life
It Turns Out
Billionaires, popularity, and blackmail: the numbers that run your life
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts Spotify podcast player icon Spotify Spotify
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts Spotify podcast player icon Spotify Spotify
Season 1

How popular are you? Mathematician Steven Strogatz takes us on a tour of the numbers that shape our lives - from how popular we are to how likely we are to develop cancer.

We journey through Amazon warehouses and examine why extramarital affairs can prove so interesting (and useful) to an AI assistant.

Strogatz is a co-author, with Alex Townsend, of Big Math: The Hidden Codes That Run Our World. And he’s a professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Mathematics at Cornell.

This week, we’d love for you to fill out our listener survey, which allows you to give your input, and helps make the show better! The link is here.

Please also subscribe to our Substack, which always gives you more context about our guests.

Did you know you can also watch the show? Subscribe to the show on YouTube!