Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
The war on drag
10 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Melissa Brown, a state politics reporter for The Tennessean, spills the tea on Tennessee’s new dra...
Congress is daddy
09 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
DC is baby. This episode was produced by Miles Bryan, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura...
Auditing Ukraine
08 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Congress wants more oversight of how the billions in US aid to Ukraine are being used. But our own m...
How to save a murderer
07 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Should past trauma prevent a convicted killer from being executed? The Marshall Project’s Maurice ...
The fight for affordable insulin
06 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Insulin was the poster child of overpriced life saving drugs, but a manufacturer finally capped the ...
The rockstar maestro
03 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gustavo Dudamel brought classical music to the masses in Los Angeles. Now he’s announced that he’...
Why newspapers fired Dilbert
02 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Newspapers across the country pulled the long-running comic “Dilbert” after its creator uploaded...
Block the sun, save the earth?
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Solar geoengineering — the idea of cooling the planet by deflecting the sun’s rays — is so ris...
Biden’s border orders
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
President Biden promised a more humane approach to immigration when he entered office. After two ye...
The shadow war on Russian yachts
27 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bloomberg's Stephanie Baker and the New Yorker’s Evan Osnos explain the fight to seize (and mainta...
Another phone call from Ukraine
24 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On the morning Russia invaded Ukraine, we called Yulya and Kurii. A year later, we’re calling them...
Pharrell Vuitton
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Pharrell Williams was happy to be named the new head of Louis Vuitton’s menswear, but his appointm...
Just how dangerous is the Ohio train crash?
22 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals has residents of East Palestine, Ohio fearing for...
Ban TikTok?
21 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Politicians across the United States are calling for an outright ban on the popular social media pla...
Honey, they stole the bees
17 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Humanity can’t survive without bees, which is why bees are big business for thieves. Today, Explai...
Turkey's man-made catastrophe
16 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Thousands of buildings collapsed after Turkey’s massive earthquakes. Now President Recep Tayyip Er...
Nikki Haley kicks off a Republican mutiny
15 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, is running for president. Vox’s Andrew Prokop ...
Democratizing spying
14 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“Zero-click spyware” is making it easier for governments to get their hands on individuals’ pe...
Pow pow power grid
13 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Attacks on vulnerable electrical infrastructure are surging. The tactic — embraced by everyone fro...
The great American cattle swindle
10 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Cody Easterday was ranching royalty in Washington state until he was sentenced to 11 years in prison...
Decisions after Dobbs
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade is reshaping the way a lot of Americans think...
One earthquake, two recoveries
08 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Turkey is digging itself out from the devastating earthquake that has killed thousands across the co...
The fight over AP African American Studies
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The College Board piloted an AP course on African American Studies. Then, after conservative pushbac...
Hullaballoon
06 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The balloon crisis is blown up. Politico’s Alex Ward deflates it for us. This episode was produced...
Paying ex-gang members to stop shootings
03 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Policymakers across the country are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on “violence interrup...
Sickened chickens
02 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Poultry farmers are in flock-down. The bird flu known as H5N1 is being called “the largest foreign...
Dry February?
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
New national health guidelines in Canada say any amount of alcohol consumption could lead to serious...
The police killing of Tyre Nichols
31 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Memphis braced for an explosive reaction to footage of the deadly police beating. It never came. Wen...
“Okay, Google, what’s a monopoly?”
30 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Department of Justice wants Google to break up its advertising business. The Wall Street Journal...
Why are businesses acting like there’s a recession?
27 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Wealthy companies like Google and Microsoft are announcing unprecedented layoffs — all while the e...
Peru’s democracy crisis
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dozens have died in anti-government protests in Peru. Journalist Simeon Tegel reports from Lima on h...
Fine dining isn’t fine
25 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Chef René Redzepi said his Copenhagen restaurant, Noma, deemed the best in the world, isn't sustain...
Why Mexico’s top cop is on trial in NYC
24 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The US and Mexican governments trusted Genaro Garcia Luna to crack down on the drug trade. Now he’...
Thanks but no tanks, Ukraine
23 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine desperately needs tanks to fight Russia. The US, which ha...
The politics of India’s biggest blockbusteRRR
20 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Most people watch RRR and see one of the greatest action epics in the history of cinema. But some se...
It’s debt ceiling season
19 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
House Republicans are refusing to raise the US debt ceiling without huge concessions. Vox’s Dylan ...
The half-baked gas stove debate
18 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
No, the government isn’t coming for your gas stove. Vox’s Rebecca Leber explains why you might w...
Compost yourself
17 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Remember you are dirt and to dirt you shall return. Science journalist Eleanor Cummins and law profe...
What’s up, docs?
13 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What do a Delaware garage and a Florida palace have in common? We dig into Joe Biden’s classified ...
Too much water for California
12 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Rain is good for California, but the state was not prepared for what might be a megastorm. KQED’s ...
The Taliban vs. women
11 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When the Taliban took power, it promised a place for women in its new Afghanistan. Now, hardliners a...
Brazil’s January 6?
10 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Except it was on January 8. The Brazilian Report’s Gustavo Ribeiro explains from São Paulo. This ...
Andrew Tate: The king of toxic masculinity
09 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Controversial manfluencer Andrew Tate is in a Romanian prison, accused of rape and human trafficking...
Will Kevin McCarthy become speaker?
06 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The 118th Congress has begun with a showdown over who will be elected House speaker. Vox’s Andrew ...
Why we’re all on antidepressants
05 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ray Osheroff was a successful doctor in the DC area until his depression became debilitating. The wa...
The many lies of George Santos
04 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
George Santos is supposed to become a member of Congress this week. We still have no idea who he is....
Let’s eat lab meat
03 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Happy New Year! Maybe you’re interested in trying new things? Sean and his mom are. In today’s e...
Abortions before Roe
29 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Before Roe v. Wade, Eleanor Oliver was a Jane: a member of a group in Chicago that helped women get ...
How to save kids from online extremism
28 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A lot of IRL violence starts with online radicalization. We revisit our conversation with writer and...
Why the Ukraine war happened
27 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Vladimir Putin believes Ukraine belongs to Russia, and he used that a pretense to invade. In an epis...
What’s the dill with pickleball?
22 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Pickleball is bringing America together. Pickleball is tearing America apart. Sports Illustrated’s...
Why gaslighting is the word of the year
21 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s sooo 2016, but the word still mattered a lot in 2022. Merriam-Webster explains. This episode ...
Criminal referrals for Donald Trump
20 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The January 6 committee sent the Justice Department four criminal referrals against the former presi...
The case against movie trailers
19 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Movie trailers are misleading audiences. Vox’s Alissa Wilkinson says you should stop watching them...
Do I have to care about the Twitter Files?
16 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Maybe not, but you’re going to be hearing about them for a while anyway. Republicans are saying th...
Megan Thee Stallion
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Megan Thee Stallion is everywhere — including in court, testifying against the rapper Tory Lanez, ...
Throwing soup at art
14 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tensions are simmering in London as climate protesters turn up the heat on their soup-flinging activ...
Art-ificial intelligence
13 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Between chatbots and image generators, artificial intelligence has gotten scary good lately. The Ver...
Hint of crime
12 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tostitos chips without real lime. Root beer made with fake vanilla. Instant mac and cheese that isn’...
R-E-S-P-E-C-T (for Marriage Act)
09 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sen. Tammy Baldwin managed to rally bipartisan support for a marriage equality bill, but she’s the...
The prisoner swap for Brittney Griner
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
US officials are sending the “Merchant of Death” — a notorious arms dealer named Viktor Bout —...
Power-tripping sheriffs
07 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A growing number of county sheriffs believe they hold ultimate power in their jurisdictions. Some ha...
The Moscow murders
06 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Investigators are still trying to solve the brutal November killings of four college students in Mos...
Digging tunnels for cars
05 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Elon Musk created The Boring Company to fix traffic, but his fantasy of underground Tesla tunnels is...
8 billion humans
02 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The United Nations says humanity has reached 8 billion, but Western nations are worried about popula...
China’s biggest protests since Tiananmen Square
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The protests in China might force the government to back down from its extreme Covid restrictions an...
Disney’s boomerang CEO
30 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Disney’s board wished upon a star and brought back former CEO Bob Iger, who replaced his own repla...
Nancy podcast
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Democrats vote on new leadership this week, meaning Nancy Pelosi is out. Time’s Molly Ball explain...
Can you spare some climate change?
28 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In a UN-brokered agreement, more than 190 countries agreed to pay for “loss and damage” caused b...
NASA wants to live in space
25 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
NASA’s Artemis mission is the first step toward a long-term human settlement on the moon. Vox’s ...
Little influencers, big business
23 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Parents are turning their kids into influencers on social media. What could go wrong? This episode w...
Gen Z in the House
22 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Florida’s Maxwell Frost, 25, is the first member of Generation Z elected to Congress. He tells us ...
Ticketmaster (Taylor’s Version)
21 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s me, Ticketmaster. I’m the problem, it’s me. This episode was produced by Amanda Lewellyn,...
World Cup: How 2 B a legend
18 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Pelé. Maradona. Ronaldo. Soccer’s greats are so good, they’re typically known by one name. Men ...
Pushing the Russians back
17 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In its biggest victory yet, Ukraine retook its vital port city, Kherson. The Guardian’s Luke Hardi...
An inconvenient glacier
16 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
While the world’s leaders are meeting at COP27 to discuss climate change, Antarctica’s massive T...
The FTX cryptocalypse
15 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
With the collapse of one of its largest exchanges, crypto’s having its very own Lehman Brothers mo...
The tech boom is over
14 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Zuckerberg fired 11,000 employees at Meta. Elon Musk axed half his staff at Twitter. Other tech...
World Cup: They built this city
11 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The people who built Qatar’s stadiums, hotels, and transit systems were employed under the country...
A vaccine for RSV
10 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A respiratory virus called RSV has a lot of kids in critical condition and hospitals overwhelmed. Vo...
No red wave
09 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The midterms weren’t a clear victory for Republicans, and it’s still too early to know who’ll ...
What if you HAD to vote?
08 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Midterm elections are a tough sell in the United States. Half of eligible voters show up in a good y...
Kari Lake is MAGA’s rising star
07 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Perhaps the most consequential midterms in US history are this week. Arizona’s Kari Lake, a former...
World Cup: Welcome to Qatar!
04 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Soccer is sometimes called “the second religion of the Arab World,” and Qatar is the region’s ...
Elon’s Twitter hell
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Twitter is about to suck for you. But it’s going to suck for self-proclaimed “Chief Twit” Elon...
How does the war in Ukraine end?
02 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The next Congress could be a whole lot less willing to keep spending billions on aid to Ukraine. It’...
The teen’s gambit
01 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The chess world is in chaos after its top player accused 19-year-old Hans Niemann of using AI to che...
A win for Lula (and democracy) in Brazil
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro vowed he wouldn’t accept the results of the Brazilian election ...
Our annual Halloween hysteria
28 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This year’s fear of rainbow fentanyl in kids’ trick-or-treat bags is just the latest unfounded H...
Supermarket supermerger
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Grocery story giants Kroger and Albertsons want to become one mega-company. The chains say merging w...
Teflon Ron
26 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has hit on a winning — if possibly unethical — campaign strategy: pros...
A police sketch based on DNA
25 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Earlier this month, police in Edmonton, Canada, released a sketch of a suspect. The issue is, no one...
Investigating women’s soccer
24 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Allegations of misconduct have rocked US women’s soccer for the last year. The Athletic’s Steph ...
On with Kara Swisher (and Stacey Abrams)
23 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Stacey Abrams is running for governor of Georgia, again … against Brian Kemp, again. The two last ...
Nikola (not Tesla)
21 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The bombastic founder of an electric truck startup (no, not Elon) has been convicted for his role in...
Truss fall
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Liz Truss accomplished at least one thing in her 45 days as prime minister: She set a record for the...
The devil’s bargain on inflation
19 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Federal Reserve knows raising interest rates disproportionately hurts Black people. It just does...
The Los Angeles city council meltdown
18 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Leaked audio revealed elected officials, including City Council President Nury Martinez, making xeno...
Legal weed’s half-baked promise
17 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Pro-pot Californians said legalizing marijuana would end the state’s black market for reefer. Inst...
Made in China
14 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Chinese President Xi Jinping is a product of Mao Zedong’s revolution. On Sunday, he'll become the ...