Can certain people really spot lies with near-superhuman accuracy, or is that idea just a scientific illusion? In this episode, we dive into the fascinating world of truth wizards, the rare individuals identified by researchers Paul Ekman and Maureen O’Sullivan as unusually skilled at detecting deception. What begins with the unforgettable image of Diogenes walking through Athens with a lantern searching for one honest person becomes a modern investigation into whether some people can truly read dishonesty better than the rest of us.

This deep dive explores the University of California San Francisco Wizards Project, which tested 20,000 people and found only 50 who met the threshold for exceptional lie detection. The episode ...