New York is the latest state to legalize medical aid in dying. Stephen Dubner speaks with the governor who signed the law, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, a death doula — and an ethicist who thinks the very idea is wrong.

• SOURCES:
  • Kathy Hochul, governor of New York.
  • Suzanne O'Brien, death doula, founder of Doulagivers Institute.
  • Al Roth, economist at Stanford University.
  • Daniel Sulmasy, physician, philosopher, director of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University.

• RESOURCES:
  • Moral Economics: From Prostitution to Organ Sales, What Controversial Transactions Reveal About How Markets Work, by Al Roth (2026).
  • "New York Moves to Allow Terminally Ill People to Die on Their Own Terms," by Grace Ashford (New York Times, 2025).
  • The Good Death: A Guide for Supporting Your Loved One through the End of Life, by Suzanne O'Brien (2025).
  • The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, by Neil Gorsuch (2009).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Make Me a Match (Update)," by Freakonomics Radio (2023).

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It brings strangers together. It teaches probability, strategy, and emotional control. It has even helped N.F.L. teams win the Super Bowl. Stephen Dubner explores why this ancient game is having a renaissance. (Part two of a series, “We Are All Gamers Now.”)

• SOURCES:
  • Remington Davenport, founder of NYC Backgammon Club.
  • Frank Frigo, game strategy expert & two-time world backgammon champion.
  • Masayuki "Mochy" Mochizuki, professional backgammon player.
  • Marc Olsen, C.E.O. of Backgammon Galaxy.
  • Robert Wachtel, author and professional backgammon player.

• RESOURCES:
  • The Backgammon Chronicles: A Pro's Adventures on Tour Volume 1, by Robert Wachtel (2019).
  • In the Game Until the End, by Robert Wachtel (1993)
  • "Tric Trac, Clic Clac," (The New Yorker, 1930).

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As the Trump administration rolls back environmental regulations, we revisit a 2022 episode that explored the hidden cost of an invisible threat: air pollution.

• SOURCES:
  • Angela Duckworth, psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Michael Greenstone, economist at the University of Chicago, director of the Energy Policy Institute, co-director of the Climate Impact Lab.
  • Stephan Heblich, economist at the University of Toronto.
  • Andrea La Nauze, economist at Deakin University.
  • Steve Levitt, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Chicago.
  • Edson Severnini, economist at Boston College.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Most Polluted Cities," (American Lung Association, 2026).
  • "Air Pollution and Adult Cognition: Evidence from Brain Training," by Andrea La Nauze and Edson Severnini (Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 2025).
  • "Air Pollution and Student Performance in the U.S.," by Michael Gilraine and Angela Zheng (NBER Working Papers, 2022).
  • "Billions of people still breathe unhealthy air: new WHO data," (World Health Organization, 2022).
  • "Evolution of the Clean Air Act," by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (2020).
  • "The Death of U.K. Coal in Five Charts," by Hannah Ritchie (Our World in Data, 2019).
  • "The Colour of Pollution," (The Economist, 2014).

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