What Would Convince a Lab Leak Skeptic?

Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence. Sign up now to listen and support our work.For pregnant women in the U.S., there are plenty of reasons to mistrust the medical establishment. Mortality rates are high compared to other western countries, and one-third of women in the U.S. give birth by C-section. It’s no wonder that many women turn to the internet for alternatives.This week, the story of one woman who was drawn into a network of private Facebook groups dedicated to the idea of ‘freebirth,’ or unassisted birth. And what happens when the misinformation shared in these private groups has real-life consequences.Guest: Brandy Zadrozny, reporter for NBC News. You can read her reporting on ‘freebirth’ here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

6 Maalis 202019min

Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence. Sign up now to listen and support our work.For pregnant women in the U.S., there are plenty of reasons to mistrust the medical establishment. Mortality rates are high compared to other western countries, and one-third of women in the U.S. give birth by C-section. It’s no wonder that many women turn to the internet for alternatives.This week, the story of one woman who was drawn into a network of private Facebook groups dedicated to the idea of ‘freebirth,’ or unassisted birth. And what happens when the misinformation shared in these private groups has real-life consequences.Guest: Brandy Zadrozny, reporter for NBC News. You can read her reporting on ‘freebirth’ here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

6 Maalis 202019min

Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence. Sign up now to listen and support our work.Super Tuesday gave Joe Biden a blowout, in part because of a surge from black voters. While white voters tended to split their votes more evenly between Biden and Bernie Sanders, black voters overwhelmingly chose the former Vice President. So, what does Biden’s base see in him as a candidate? And what would they expect from him as president? Guest: Errin Haines, editor-at-large for The 19th, a news outlet launching this summer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5 Maalis 202021min

The coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, started in China as a bat virus that eventually made contact with humans. Researchers say this leap between species was highly predictable – so why were communities and governments caught flat-footed? And what does the virus’s transmission from animals to humans say about how we interact with the greater ecosystem?Guest: Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

4 Maalis 202017min

The Democratic primary field has been dramatically re-shuffled since Saturday. After Joe Biden swept up votes and delegates in South Carolina, moderate candidates dropped out to strengthen his challenge against front-runner Bernie Sanders. So, with over a thousand delegates on the table across a slew of states, are Democrats inevitably headed for a contested convention? Guest: Jim Newell, Slate’s senior politics reporter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

3 Maalis 202019min

Lower courts have consistently ruled against the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies. But at the Supreme Court, the conservative majority almost always reverses lower court opinions, even in the most shocking cases. Last week, justices ruled that a Customs and Border Protection agent cannot be sued for shooting and killing a Mexican teenager in 2010, presenting the grim prospect that federal agents are free to act with impunity. Guest: Mark Joseph Stern covers the courts and the law for Slate. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2 Maalis 202020min

OpenAI was founded in 2015 with a billion dollars and an idealistic mission: Create artificial intelligence that could address humanity’s biggest problems, and do it out in the open. Then came the money problems.Guest: Karen Hao, senior A.I. reporter at MIT Tech Review HostLizzie O’Leary Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

28 Helmi 202017min

OpenAI was founded in 2015 with a billion dollars and an idealistic mission: Create artificial intelligence that could address humanity’s biggest problems, and do it out in the open. Then came the money problems.Guest: Karen Hao, senior A.I. reporter at MIT Tech Review HostLizzie O’Leary Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

28 Helmi 202017min