Seasons & episodes
S2 · E1Adam Ruins Having a Baby 2017-07-11 · 30 min
Adam dispels the myth about getting pregnant after 35, delves into breastfeeding vs formula, and explores postpartum depression for women - and men.
S2 · E2Adam Ruins Weight Loss 2017-07-18 · 30 min
Host Adam Conover illustrates all the reasons low-fat diets can actually make you fatter, and why counting calories is a waste of time.
S2 · E3Adam Ruins the Hospital 2017-07-25 · 30 min
Adam Conover explains that inflated hospital costs have created a system that's unaffordable and unfair. Plus, the reckless prescription of antibiotics is making them worthless, and you might not need a mammogram.
S2 · E4Adam Ruins Dating 2017-08-01 · 30 min
Adam swipes right on knowledge by exposing the flaws in dating sites; the existence of alpha males (and wolves); personality tests.
S2 · E5Adam Ruins Art 2017-08-08 · 30 min
Adam poses the question of what makes great art and shows why pieces visible to the masses are revered, regardless of artistic merit. He then exposes the masters as copycats and reveals that today's art market is a moneymaking scheme.
S2 · E6Adam Ruins What We Learned in School 2017-08-15 · 30 min
Adam shows that Columbus didn't discover America, King Tut was a dud and the rules of grammar are not as ironclad as people think.
S2 · E7Adam Ruins College 2017-08-22 · 30 min
Adam explains why the odds of becoming a dropout billionaire are not in your favor, how manipulated school rankings have little to do with education quality and why the privatization of student loans created a massive debt crisis.
S2 · E8Emily Ruins Adam 2017-08-29 · 30 min
Emily takes over to “ruin” Adam, pointing out where his facts fall short. She debunks the idea that IQ tests measure intelligence and points to information Adam has gotten wrong in the past. Plus, she explains the “backfire effect.”
S2 · E9Adam Ruins His Vacation 2017-09-19 · 30 min
Adam Conover and his girlfriend take a journey across America, where he reveals that Mount Rushmore was built on stolen Native American land, Vegas slot machines are purposely designed to be addicting, and a whole lot more!
S2 · E10Adam Ruins the Suburbs 2017-09-26 · 30 min
Adam explains how the idealized lawn is an unnatural monstrosity, and that the design of the suburbs is slowly killing you. Plus, the racist history of suburban planning led to today's institutionalized segregation in schools.
S2 · E11Adam Ruins The Economy 2017-10-03 · 30 min
Adam explains why lobbying makes filing your taxes so complicated, and why the economic numbers we focus on don't provide the whole story. Plus, American manufacturing can't come back because it was a fluke to begin with.
S2 · E12Adam Ruins Conspiracy Theories 2017-10-10 · 30 min
Adam Conover debunks the fake moon landing theory, discusses the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and reveals how to spot a false theory.
S2 · E13Adam Ruins Spa Day 2017-10-17 · 30 min
Pricey “detoxifying” treatments cleanse you of cash (and may do more harm than good), while MSG's scary reputation is undeserved. Plus, the placebo effect is way more powerful than you think!
S2 · E14Adam Ruins Halloween 2017-10-24 · 30 min
Adam reveals why you have nothing to fear from strangers with candy and how the “panic” over Orson Welles' War of the Worlds broadcast was the clickbait of the 1930s. And, mediums and séances have a long history - of being fake.
S2 · E15Adam Ruins Science 2017-10-31 · 30 min
Testing mice means wasted resources because what works on them often fails on humans. Scarce funding stops scientists from seeking cures, and there's no money in reproducing results, even though it's essential in proving findings.
S2 · E16Adam Ruins the Future 2017-11-07 · 30 min
Adam explains that unregulated food expiration dates lead to waste and that your 401(k) won't be enough to support your retirement. Plus, Adam's girlfriend Melinda proves that even with research, the future is unpredictable.
S2 · E17Give Me Liberty or Give Me Truth 2018-03-20 · 30 min
Adam Conover undermines everything you thought you knew about the American Revolution with startling facts about George Washington, Paul Revere's overrated ride, and the tale of a slave who helped America win.
S2 · E18The First Factsgiving 2018-03-27 · 30 min
The Pilgrims didn't break bread with Native Americans, but did dig up their graves! There was no romance between Pocahontas and John Smith, and cities in the New World rivaled London in scale before their “discovery.”
S2 · E19Mutually Assured Ruination 2018-04-03 · 30 min
Adam reveals that the United States kicked off the Cuban Missile Crisis; a lone female politician stands up to Joseph McCarthy; a bureaucratic mistake brings down the Berlin Wall.
S2 · E20An Ancient History of Violence 2018-04-10 · 30 min
Adam shares that it was against the rules for gladiators to kill opponents, and tells the story of a Celtic woman who brought the Roman Empire to its knees. Plus, the brave “300” Spartans numbered closer to 7000.
S2 · E21The Copernican Ruin-aissance 2018-04-17 · 30 min
Adam sheds some light on Copernicus, who was actually supported (NOT persecuted) by the Catholic Church. Plus, a rogue dwarf revolutionized what we know about anatomy, and just wait until you hear about Tulip Mania!
S2 · E22100 Years Ago Today 2018-04-24 · 30 min
Adam digs into the Panama Canal, where Teddy Roosevelt formed a new country to snag free land. Plus, one man fought to keep food from killing us, while the Spanish Flu killed more Americans than all 20th century wars combined!
S2 · E23Adam Ruins Guns 2018-11-27 · 30 min
Adam gets a shot at both sides of the gun debate by reviewing the science evidence of the effectiveness of gun regulation including stating that a ban on assault weapons would be ineffective, showing how the NRA has evolved over the years and influenced how the country interprets the meaning of the Second Amendment, and that both sides of the gun debate ignore how guns and gun regulation affect minorities.
S2 · E24Adam Ruins Sleep 2018-12-04 · 30 min
Adam states that the mattress industry was always a huge scam, that cheap school systems created sleep-deprived teenagers, and how "safe" sleep medications may actually be harmful.