Planet Money - Don’t hate the replicator, hate the game

The world of science has been stuck in an existential crisis over whether we actually know the things we thought we knew. Re-running an old study today doesn't always yield the same result. Same with re-enacting old experiments. Collectively, this is known as the “replication crisis.” 

Economist Abel Brodeur has come up with one way to help fix this crisis: he’s invented an internationally crowdsourced surveillance system, designed to keep social scientists honest. He calls it the “Replication Games.” 

Further Listening:


This episode was hosted by Mary Childs and Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi. It was produced by James Sneed and Emma Peaslee, with help from Willa Rubin. It was edited by Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler, and engineered by Ko Takasugi-Czernowin. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer. 

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State of the World from NPR - A crackdown on the online scam epicenter of the world

Cambodia and neighboring Laos have become centers for stealing money via bogus investment opportunities, romance scams and other online cons. The U.S. Treasury Department says Americans were scammed for $10 billion dollars in 2024 alone and the worldwide estimate is four times that. Many countries have had enough. We hear about the consequences being forced on the scammers.

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1A - The News Roundup For February 27, 2026

President Donald Trump delivered the first State of the Union address of his second term in office, lauding the strength of American economy. But even though wealthier Americans are benefiting financially from the positive economic trends, lower-income households are increasingly finding themselves left behind.

Meanwhile, Democrats are holding government firm over funding the Department of Homeland Security as they demand reforms to ICE.

And Vice President JD Vance announced that the Trump administration is going to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid funding from Minnesota over fraud concerns.

And, in global news, Trump officials sat down with Iranian leaders in Geneva for a third round of indirect talks. They come as the U.S. military amasses in the Middle East ahead of a potential strike on Iran.

The Trump Administration is on damage control after U.S Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee says Israel is entitled to more land in the Middle East than it currently holds.

And Cuba announces its military has destroyed a boat that entered Cuban waters on Wednesday, killing four. Cuba’s country’s interior minister called the incident “a foiled armed infiltration.”

We cover the most important stories from around the world in the international hour of the News Roundup.

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Up First from NPR - US-Iran Tension, Clinton Deposition, Paramount Wins Warner Bros. Bid

The U.S. may be on the cusp of striking Iran, even as President Trump has not laid out clear objectives, asked Congress for authorization, or made a full public case for military action.
Hillary Clinton sat for a six-hour, closed-door deposition in the House Oversight Committee’s Epstein investigation, and now Bill Clinton is set to testify as Republicans say they still have unanswered questions.
And Warner Bros. Discovery abruptly walked away from a deal with Netflix for a sweeter bid from Paramount, setting up a major media merger fight that now heads to antitrust regulators.

Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.

Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Rebekah Metzler, Megan Pratz, Gerry Holmes, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Alice Woelfle.

It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.

Our director is Christopher Thomas.

We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.

Our Executive Producer is Jay Shaylor

(0:00) Introduction
(01:57) US-Iran Tension
(05:47) Clinton Deposition
(09:30) Paramount Wins Warner Bros. Bid

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NPR's Book of the Day - A psychoanalyst and a priest share insights in ‘Love’s Labor’ and ‘Work in Progress’

New books by a psychoanalyst and a priest have something in common: They draw on the experience of holding other people’s stories. Stephen Grosz says his book, Love’s Labor, is a collection of “hard-won truths” he’s arrived at through sessions with his patients. In today’s episode, he speaks with NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe about his observations on love, work and relationships. Then, Father James Martin joins NPR’s Scott Detrow for a conversation about Work in Progress. They discuss the litany of odd jobs Martin held before becoming a priest – and what ultimately led him to the church.


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Short Wave - The dangers of warming winter lakes

Over half a billion people live by lakes that freeze over in the winter. But as the climate warms, those lakes are losing whole days of ice cover. Winters are also getting weirder, with more intense temperature swings that lead to multiple freezes and thaws. Those fluctuations make the ice less safe, and more likely for people to fall through as they walk. So, today, producer Berly McCoy gets into how these changes are altering culture, community and safety on the ice – plus, how firefighters train for rescues. 

This is the first in a two-part series on how lake ice is changing. Check out Monday’s episode for part two!

Check out photos from Berly’s reporting trip to Madison, Wisconsin.

Interested in more winter science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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The Indicator from Planet Money - ICE is bad for business, heat is bad for coffee, and sci-fi is bad for markets

It’s … Indicators of the Week (now on YouTube!), our weekly look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news. 

On today’s episode: How Minnesota workers were affected by Operation Metro Surge, why coffee’s getting more expensive, and what happens when a sci-fi AI scenario meets the stock market

Related episodes:

How ICE crackdowns are affecting the workforce

Why this rural town wants an ICE facility 

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Julia Ritchey and Vito Emanuel. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.  

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Consider This from NPR - Why Tim Kaine is pursuing a war powers resolution – again

With the U.S. military amassing in the Middle East ahead of possible strikes in Iran, a Democratic lawmaker explains his effort to limit the president.

The United States Constitution empowers Congress, not the president, to declare war.

That hasn’t stopped plenty of presidents from commanding military combat.

It didn’t stop President Trump from ordering airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites last year – and building up the U.S. military in the Middle East while he mulls further action this year.

So far in this Trump administration, efforts to reclaim that Congressional authority have failed.

Sen. Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, explains why he is still pursuing a war powers resolution.

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Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

This episode was produced by Alejandra Marquez Janse and Karen Zamora, with audio engineering by Ted Mebane.

It was edited by Patrick Jarenwattananon and Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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State of the World from NPR - The war raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo

It is a war for control over some of the world’s richest mineral reserves and the violence is heightened by long-standing ethnic and political tensions. In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, government forces and local militia groups are fighting M23 rebels backed by neighboring Rwanda.

This is one of the wars President Trump repeatedly claims to have ended. But though a U.S.-brokered peace deal was signed, the fighting hasn’t stopped. We go behind the government front lines for a glimpse of the conflict.

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1A - The Future Of Fertility In 2026

Millions of people struggle to become pregnant in the U.S. And in 2024, fertility rates reached a new low, according to CDC data. Women are also waiting longer to have kids, while a growing number are deciding to opt out entirely.

That’s part of the reason the Trump administration is pushing for a baby boom and promising to make in-vitro fertilization more accessible. Earlier this month, the administration’s new discounted prescription drug website, TrumpRx, went live.

But fertility treatments continue to be prohibitively expensive for many, with the average cumulative cost of IVF treatments reaching up to $60,000. That’s according to FertilityIQ.

Beyond the eye-popping price tag, the journey itself can be emotionally taxing. The stress is so great it’s been compared to a cancer diagnosis and can bring feelings of shame and guilt. It can also be confusing trying to decipher the many doctors’ appointments and medical jargon.

We sit down with an expert panel to talk through the latest in fertility treatments, debunk some persistent myths, and answer your questions.

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