Behind the Data
Behind the Data is a podcast about the hidden stories tucked inside the data that shapes our world. From political polls to global happiness indexes, we go beyond charts and headlines to uncover where data comes from, why it’s collected, and what we can (and cannot!) learn from it. Each episode explores a fascinating dataset that helps us better understand the systems, policies, and people around us. Whether you're new to data or work with it every day, you'll find approachable conversations, surprising lessons for making sense of data *and life* (!!), and a reminder that every dataset reflects a choice—and a story worth telling.
Join us as we explore where data comes from—and where it can take us. Because data is about so much more than numbers -- it's how we make sense of the world.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 38 minutes
- Episodes
- 21
- Years Active
- 2024 - 2025
What's actually in US jobs data?
Data about the US labor market has been all over the headlines of late -- but what's actually in these numbers? Beyond the recent political upheaval surrounding the August 1, 2025, jobs report, the p…
Why don't we do what makes us happier?
We all want to be happier, yet we often avoid the very actions that research shows would actually improve our happiness. We talk with social psychologist Lara Aknin about her work as editor of the Wo…
Season 3 trailer
Welcome back to another season of exploring the world through the magical, clarifying, and thought-provoking lens of data! Find us at behindthedatashow.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Find out…
Shark data week!
If you've ever thought your data was hard to get, wait until you hear about shark data. We are joined by shark scientist Jaida Elcock to discuss how she gets data about sharks, why it's so difficult …
The science of self-medication in animals
When we think about advances in medicine, most of us probably first picture lab coats and fancy equipment -- but as our guest, biologist Jaap de Roode, author of the extraordinary new book Doctors by…
Searching for life in the Milky Way
Is there life in our galaxy? How would we know if we spotted it? Dr. Moiya McTier, astrophysicist and folklorist, joins us to talk about her Ph.D. research on exactly that, plus the many surprising w…
Fear and optimism in the age of AI
Vasant Dhar has been working on AI since way before it was cool (and before most people thought it was possible). I've admired his work for a long time and since I started this show have wanted to ha…
The power of turning political attitudes into numbers
We take it as a given that Americans are politically polarized, but how do we actually know if empirically this is the case? We talk with Prof. Patrick Egan (NYU) about how we can quantify something …
Building a data warehouse to help find a cure for ALS
ALS is a fatal motor neuron disease that has no cure and is estimated to affect hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Why is a cure, or even a meaningful treatment, so elusive? We talk with data…
Spying on Elon Musk and Tesla from space
Oceans of numbers come pouring out at us each day about the big tech companies -- whether it's spending on AI, iPhone sales, Tesla stocks ... or, lawsuits against SpaceX by Cards Against Humanity? --…
Just how much misinformation is out there?
We all have ideas about how social media and misinformation are affecting us and our world. But, as our guest Prof. Joshua Tucker explains, received wisdom is not the same thing as scientific finding…
Season 2 trailer
Welcome to Season 2 of Behind the Data! We're going to explore brand new topics through the powerful lens of data, find common ground on some issues that are really dividing us, and even gaze into th…
How to inspect data about your own life to find fulfillment
How do we know what career/path/decision is right for us? How can data science help? In this special season 1 finale, we are joined by Megan Hellerer, career coach to luminaries such as AOC, as well …
The art and science of measuring democracy
Is democracy in decline around the world? This is a major question on many of our minds, and luckily for us there are very smart, thoughtful people working on tracking (as well as explaining, underst…
What can we learn from data about what actually happened in the election?
Approximately ten billion different narratives about what happened in the recent US presidential election have emerged since said election. But how many of these narratives can be substantiated by da…
What data does your doctor collect about you?
Dr. Steven Novella, clinical neurologist and host of The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast joins us to share how he collects and analyzes data when he works with patients (there is so much more…
The (often) false promise of personal fitness data
Science journalist and athlete Christie Aschwanden takes us inside the not-so-scientific world of the fitness and health data that's tracked by various apps we probably own and/or are tempted to buy,…
Super cool data about movies (that are not reviews!)
When we think of data and movies the first (and maybe only) thing that comes to mind for many of us is movie reviews. But there is so much more we can learn about movies and ourselves if we just thin…
Why can't we agree on crime statistics?
Crime data is all over the news these days and, at least in the United States, it seems like you can tell any story you want to about whether crime is going up or down and whose fault it is. How shou…
Political polls
Political polls are in our faces these days whether we want them or not -- especially if you're in the US during election season. We talk with polling expert and database journalist Dhrumil Mehta of …