Dr. Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH anticipated a pandemic. He didn’t think it would look like this. This week, Bapu talks to the The White House Covid Czar about becoming a household name, studying pandemics, and the frustrations of politics. Also, when will he be out of a job? freak.ws/3V7GTUB

Why don’t we have a cure for Alzheimer's? Promising drugs keep failing in trials. Allegations of fraud have cast a shadow over the field. An expert explains why Alzheimer’s treatments have been hard to find—and why one clue may lie in the Andes Mountains. freak.ws/3i8pBZo

What medicine gets wrong about race. Some diagnostic tests give distorted results for Black patients. How are doctors trying to change that? freak.ws/3P2oGGo

Is Facebook bad for your mental health? Half the world's population uses social media — and a new study suggests that it causes anxiety and depression. Can anything be done, or is it too late? freak.ws/3uC84f3

At the start of the 1900s, there weren’t many hospitals in the U.S. That changed in 1918, thanks to the Great Influenza pandemic. Its effects on health care are still felt today. Which makes us wonder: will the impact of Covid-19 also be felt in 100 years? freak.ws/3jaL2t8

Does health insurance make you healthier? It’s a surprisingly hard question to answer. Bapu talks with a health economist about a natural experiment that led to some unexpected findings. freak.ws/3WzCACe

Why did this 60-year-old man collapse at the supermarket? Anupam Jena tries to stump master clinician Dr. Gurpreet Dhaliwal with a medical mystery. freak.ws/3vs6Tz9

What can we do about the hardest patients? A small number of patients with multiple, chronic conditions use a lot of resources. Dr. Jeffrey Brenner found a way to identify and treat them. Could it reduce health-care spending too? freak.ws/3vHCBZl

The E.R. doctor’s dilemma: Figuring out which patients to hospitalize and which to safely send home can be tricky. Is there a way to make this decision easier for doctors — and get better outcomes, too? freak.ws/3Zytwjf

Home sweet … hospital? We take it for granted that, when people are acutely ill, they should be in the hospital. Is there a better way? freak.ws/3wkS8Po

Why are there still so few female surgeons? Success and failure are hard to measure in medicine. Anupam Jena looks at how surgeons are judged after a bad outcome — and whether men and women are treated the same. freak.ws/3HCBl0H

mRNA vaccines helped bring the pandemic under control. Could they also train the immune system to fight cancer? freak.ws/3l8JctZ

What’s stopping us from curing rare diseases? Breakthroughs in biotech that seem like science fiction are becoming reality. Why aren’t more patients benefiting from them? freak.ws/3RPZHXZ

Who pays for multi-million-dollar miracle cures? The most expensive drugs in the world are treatments for genetic diseases. And more of these cures are on the horizon. How will anyone be able to afford them? freak.ws/3k6maUu

Today is Rare Disease Day — listen to this special two-part Freakonomics, M.D. story on the breakthrough new treatments for genetic diseases, and the tricky question of how to pay for them. youtube.com/watch?v=eoDsTp…

How does playing football affect your health? It’s not a new question, but it’s a tricky one to study. Anupam Jena explains why, and talks about how an NFL labor dispute helped him get some answers. freak.ws/3Zxwt2I

What is sugar really doing to you? Americans eat a lot of sugar — and it’s hard to determine how it affects our health. Anupam Jena explains how a new study uses data from the 1950s to help solve the mystery. freak.ws/3yrYPjx

Is a spoonful of sunlight the best medicine? In hospitals, a softer pillow or a nicer room might be more than just amenities — they could improve outcomes for patients. freak.ws/3ZWMPTc

They make minimum wage. They could save your life. Doctors and nurses get most of the attention — but a new study suggests we can improve health care by raising wages for a group of workers who are often overlooked. freak.ws/3ZfB4Gu

Couples get divorced for all kinds of reasons. Is having kids one of them? Anupam Jena talks about research that investigates what happens to parents who unexpectedly have twins. Plus, an announcement about the future of the show. freak.ws/3nCdGFZ