The American economy revolves around credit. We use credit cards for everyday purchases like gas and groceries, but we also take out major loans to pay for school, homes and automobiles. But what if we lived in a world without credit? How would

What if we only worked four days a week?

Nov 28th, 2022 36m 45s

Eighty years ago, Congress formalized a 40 hour work week in the United States. That policy hasn’t changed since then, even though today’s workforce looks very different than it did in the 1940s. With so many people working from home these days

What if we lived in a world without sneakers?

Nov 21st, 2022 39m 59s

Sneaker culture is a multibillion dollar business. It’s long shaped the way we think about sports, music and fashion. And today the sneakers we choose to wear define who we are as people. Somewhere in the last hundred years, a shoe that was des

What if NCAA Sports Didn’t Exist?

Nov 14th, 2022 41m 34s

College sports is big business in America. Thanks to TV contracts, sponsorships and merchandise deals, the NCAA has grown into a multi-billion dollar brand. And for most of the last century, the league also controlled who had access to those do

What if California seceded from the United States?

Nov 7th, 2022 38m 11s

California is the fifth largest economy in the world. But could it survive as its own country? And could the rest of the United States survive without California? This week on Downside Up, Chris Cillizza is joined by UCLA economist Dr. Lee Ohan

What if we lived in a world without plastic?

Oct 31st, 2022 37m 55s

Plastics are everywhere. They’re in our shoes and clothes. They’re in our cars, our airplanes and our cellphones. They’re in our hospitals and schools. They’re also in our bodies and in our oceans. The invention of this versatile material radic

What if we got rid of all mosquitoes?

Oct 24th, 2022 32m 51s

Nothing ruins a good barbecue like a swarm of mosquitoes. But what would happen if we eliminated all the mosquitoes in the world? We might save a lot of people from irritation and deadly diseases, but how would it affect the global environment?

What if we designed cities around people instead of cars?

Oct 17th, 2022 35m 25s

In some cities, 50 percent of the space downtown is dedicated to parking and roadways. We spend hours each day isolated from each other in our cars, zipping by the places we call home. But what if we designed cities around people instead of car

What if dogs had never been domesticated?

Oct 10th, 2022 35m 36s

We think of dogs as man’s best friend. They sleep in our beds, they dominate on Instagram feeds, they shape our public parks. But do dogs also hold the key to our survival? 20,000 years ago, the gray wolf started the long evolutionary process t

What would the world look like without flavor?

Oct 3rd, 2022 39m 2s

Imagine you woke up tomorrow morning and couldn’t taste your favorite meal. Imagine you couldn’t experience flavor at all. How would it affect your day-to-day world? There’d be no lunch dates, no birthday cakes, no barbecues. On this episode of

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Ready to turn your world Downside Up?

Sep 15th, 2022 3m

What if the parts of our lives we've accepted as normal were totally different? What if dogs had never been domesticated? Or humans had no sense of flavor...what would've happened to the spice trade? And how would that have shaped the future of