Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner. I have news for you today. We have just made the entire

Freakonomics Radio Archive available free on every podcast app. It's more than 10 years

and 400 episodes worth. Hopefully you will enjoy poking around the archive and tell your

friends. You listeners often write in to ask how you can help our show. One thing you

can do is just spread the word or leave a review or rating on your favorite podcast app.

That is a great way to help other people discover Freakonomics Radio. Our preference is

the five star rating. If you are inclined to leave fewer than that, let's just forget

we had this conversation. The important thing here is that the entire archive of Freakonomics

Radio is now available to you and anyone free on any podcast app. And here now is the

newest addition to our catalog. Episode number 448. Hope you enjoy.

If you sat down at my kitchen table and I put an insect in front of you, maybe a cricket

or a grasshopper, would you eat it? If you answered no, and I'm guessing you did, then

why not? Your answer like they has something to do with disgust. But you've ever wondered

why eating an insect is disgusting? You ever wondered why disgust exists? And what else

do you find disgusting? Are there any universal disgusts?

Fickle material, for example, is inherently disgusting. Every person on the planet, with

a few strange exceptions, finds fickle material something they want to stay away from.

But once you get past poop, absolutes are hard to find. There are enormous variations

in disgust. Consider, for instance, the animals we eat and don't eat. I'm a massive dog lover,

but I would eat dog out of curiosity. In California, you cannot eat horse, whereas in many

European countries you have horse butcherese. I've never eaten roadkill, but I would eat

human flesh. From an evolutionary standpoint, disgust has often served as well. There

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