Plain History Volume 1: Who Killed President James Garfield?
This is the first episode of a little experiment we’re trying this year, a podcast within a podcast on history that we’re calling, simply enough, 'Plain History.' There are, I am well aware, a great n...
21 Jan 202558min
What's the Truth About Alcohol, Cancer, and Your Health?
Today's episode has been a long time coming. For years, more scientists and health influencers have claimed that even moderate drinking does serious damage to one's health. As someone who likes being ...
17 Jan 202539min
The L.A. Fires: How They Happened, Climate Change’s Role, and What the City Must Do Now
With so many confusing narratives unfolding around a fire that is still raging out of control, I wanted to talk to somebody I knew and trusted to get stories like this right. Robinson Meyer is the fou...
14 Jan 20251h 4min
‘The Anti-Social Century’: America’s Epidemic of Solitude—and How to Fix It
My new feature for The Atlantic magazine is called "The Anti-Social Century." It's a long article that revolves around a simple point: Americans are now spending more time alone than ever. This surgin...
10 Jan 20251h 10min
The Big 2025 Economy Forecast: AI and Big Tech, Nuclear’s Renaissance, Trump vs. China, and What’s Eating Europe?
Happy new year! And what better way to celebrate the freshly torn calendar page than by welcoming one of Derek's favorite writers to the show to tell us what's in store for the 2025 economy. Michael C...
7 Jan 20251h 10min
The Year's Biggest Breakthroughs in Science and Tech (Feat.: OK, But Seriously, What Is Quantum Computing?)
Our final episode of the year is also my favorite annual tradition: conversations with scientists about the most important and, often, just plain mind-blowing breakthroughs of the previous 12 months. ...
31 Dec 20241h 16min
A Mysterious Health Wave Is Breaking Out Across the U.S.
Why do Americans die younger than citizens of other rich countries? The most important reason is that life in America is inexcusably dangerous. The U.S. has more fatalities from gun violence, drug ove...
27 Dec 20241h 7min
The Productivity Paradox: Why Less Is More With Oliver Burkeman
So, here’s a scenario: It’s Monday. And you open up whatever calendar or planner or to-do list you use to organize the essential activities of the upcoming week. There’s a large project due Thursday. ...
20 Dec 20241h 1min
