In the United States, AR-15s grace bumper stickers, mugs, and politicians’ Christmas cards. They’re also the weapon used in some of the deadliest mass shootings in modern American history. Wall Street Journal reporters Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson trace the rifle’s rise in their new book, American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15 . They spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about how this weapon became a symbol of both gun rights and horrific tragedies....
Oct 05, 2023•37 min
Martinus Evans did not have an easy start to running. Weighing over 300 pounds, he set out to finish a marathon after a doctor told him to “lose weight or die.” He writes about his running journey in his new book, Slow AF Run Club: The Ultimate Guide for Anyone Who Wants to Run . In this week’s episode of Apple News In Conversation , Evans talks with host Shumita Basu about the lessons he’s learned from being a “back-of-the-packer.”...
Sep 28, 2023•25 min
Walter Isaacson, author of the new biography Elon Musk , spent two years following the world’s richest man in an effort to understand what drives him. Isaacson joins Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to explain what he learned about Musk’s reach and power, how his childhood shaped him, and why he has weekly meetings about colonizing Mars.
Sep 21, 2023•32 min
America has long struggled with how best to teach kids to read. But a new approach, called the science of reading, is gaining steam — and it’s proving successful. At the same time, many classrooms haven’t caught up to it, and some students are being left behind. In the latest episode of Apple News In Conversation , host Shumita Basu talks to Karen D’Souza, a reporter for EdSource , about how our understanding of literacy has evolved over time, and what educators, parents, and lawmakers are doing...
Sep 14, 2023•20 min
Growing up, Jennifer Senior thought her mom was an only child. But when she was 12 years old, she learned her mom had a sister, named Adele, who was institutionalized as a baby. Adele had spent almost her entire life separated from her family. Decades later, in 2021, Senior reconnected with her aunt and uncovered the dark history of institutionalizing children with intellectual disabilities. Senior wrote about her aunt’s story in the Atlantic and spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumit...
Sep 07, 2023•28 min
When longtime LA Times columnist Steve Lopez reached his mid-60s, he started to think about retiring. But he wasn’t sure how to go about it — or if he should do it all. He gave himself one year to decide and spoke with many different people — Norman Lear and Mel Brooks, among others — about their thoughts on retirement. He wrote a book about his journey, called Independence Day: What I Learned About Retirement From Some Who’ve Done It and Some Who Never Will . Lopez’s conversation from earlier t...
Aug 31, 2023•31 min
Anderson Cooper is now the only living member of the family he grew up with. When he was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack. His brother died by suicide about a decade later. And in 2019, his mother died at the age of 95. It’s only recently that Cooper has been able to talk about and process these deaths. For Apple News In Conversation ’s Think Again series, he spoke with host Shumita Basu about what he’s learned by talking to people about death and grief on his podcast, All There I...
Aug 24, 2023•34 min
You’ve prepped the nursery, read all the books, and are eagerly waiting to meet the new member of your family. But are you also ready to meet the new version of yourself? For Apple News In Conversation ’s Think Again series, host Shumita Basu talks to Jessica Grose, author of Screaming on the Inside: The Unsustainability of American Motherhood , about the ways parenthood can change you, the lack of societal support for this seismic life shift, and how reconnecting with your sense of self can hel...
Aug 17, 2023•30 min
Early adulthood can be a particularly confusing and unsettling phase of life. You’re figuring out how to get a job, pay rent, and plan meals. At the same time, you’re also determining your values and the kind of person you want to be. It can feel like being pulled down two completely opposite life paths. In the latest episode of Apple News In Conversation ’s Think Again series, host Shumita Basu talks to psychotherapist Satya Doyle Byock about how to balance the tugs of purpose and survival duri...
Aug 10, 2023•25 min
Transitions can feel intimidating and destabilizing. But these moments can also be opportunities for growth, reflection, and self-discovery — especially when you have the right tools. In the first episode of Apple News In Conversation ’s monthlong ‘Think Again’ series, host Shumita Basu talks to Hidden Brain 's Shankar Vedantam about why pivot points can feel so challenging and how to embrace them as opportunities, rather than obstacles....
Aug 03, 2023•29 min
Apple News In Conversation is coming out with our monthlong ‘Think Again’ series, where we rethink deeply held notions and common experiences. This year, we’re diving into some of life’s big pivot points — from early adulthood to parenthood to retirement — to explore ways to move into these new chapters with greater ease and clarity. This is a series preview. Check back for the first episode later this week.
Aug 01, 2023•3 min
July is on track to be the hottest month ever recorded on Earth. Millions of people in the U.S. are living in areas with dangerous levels of heat — and a growing death toll. In a new book, The Heat Will Kill You First , reporter Jeff Goodell warns that heat is pushing us into a new climate era, with dire implications for individuals, society, and our planet. Goodell spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about the changes we need to make today and the reasons he still has hope f...
Jul 27, 2023•33 min
The Women’s World Cup is underway. With 32 nations fielding teams, it’s the biggest tournament yet. Rebecca Lowe, host of Apple News’s unofficial World Cup podcast, After the Whistle , and NBC Sports’ Premier League coverage, offers her predictions and reflects on the success and incredible growth of women’s soccer over her lifetime. Plus, she gives her take on Lionel Messi’s move to Major League Soccer....
Jul 20, 2023•23 min
Tom Hanks has learned a thing or two about moviemaking during his decades-long career. Ultimately, he says, it’s not about one person’s vision or direction; it’s about the countless people behind the camera — and a few in front of it — who make a movie possible. That’s the foundational idea behind his debut novel, The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece . Hanks spoke to Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu before SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents actors, decided to stri...
Jul 13, 2023•20 min
Rainn Wilson understands why so many people are rejecting religion today. But he argues that the core aspects of faith still have something important to offer us. Spirituality has brought him community, purpose, and levity — even as he’s struggled with depression, anxiety, and addiction. The actor explores these themes in his new book, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution , and TV show, Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss . Wilson shared what he's learned with Apple News In Conversa...
Jul 06, 2023•33 min
This is an episode from our archives. This week the Supreme Court put an end to affirmative action in college admissions, meaning universities can no longer consider race as a factor when accepting a new class of students. The ruling is expected to have pretty big repercussions for schools and students. But Evan Mandery, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, says we’re talking about the wrong issue. In his book Poison Ivy: How Elite Colleges Divide Us , Mandery explains how top sc...
Jun 29, 2023•24 min
At their worst, graduation speeches are boring, trite, and pedantic. But at their best, they’re touching meditations on what it means to live a purposeful, fulfilling life. On this week’s episode of Apple News In Conversation , host Shumita Basu speaks with commencement-speech connoisseur Cristina Negrut, who has read hundreds of speeches and cataloged many on the website Best Graduation Speeches ....
Jun 22, 2023•19 min
Samantha Irby is many things: blogger; essayist; and writer for shows like Shrill , And Just Like That … , and Work in Progress . Above all, she is a master of transforming seemingly mundane moments of everyday life into high comedy. Irby sat down with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to talk about her new book, Quietly Hostile , her writing process, turning herself into a TV character, and why frivolous things matter....
Jun 15, 2023•37 min
Around 2013, author and cardiologist Sandeep Jauhar started noticing some worrying changes in his father. He would forget the code to their safe; he couldn’t remember what he did the day before and would get lost driving home. Eventually, his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. In his new book, My Father’s Brain: Life in the Shadow of Alzheimer’s , Jauhar chronicles the challenges of caring for a sick parent and explains where medicine is today when it comes to treatment for this incu...
Jun 08, 2023•35 min
Electric vehicles may be better for the planet in a lot of ways, but there are huge, often-unseen environmental and human costs associated with harvesting the minerals needed to make EV batteries. On the latest episode of Apple News In Conversation , host Shumita Basu spoke with Washington Post reporters Rebecca Tan and Evan Halper about the paper’s series “ Clean Cars, Hidden Tolls .”...
Jun 01, 2023•26 min
This is an interview from our archives. It’s part of a series called Think Again, a guide to reimagining work, home, relationships, and more . In this episode, Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu talks with best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell about how to be more open-minded and rethink old ideas.
May 25, 2023•27 min
Recent allegations of ethical violations have reignited a debate about establishing an enforceable code of conduct for Supreme Court justices. University of Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck argues the latest revelations concerning several justices speak to a much larger breakdown in the way the court operates today. He writes about this in his new book, The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic . Vladeck spoke with Apple News In Co...
May 18, 2023•34 min
Documents marked “top secret” have been turning up in a lot of unexpected places recently. But America has another problem with classified documents: There’s too many of them. By some estimates, it would take 250 years for these documents to be reviewed and released to the public. On the latest episode of Apple News In Conversation , host Shumita Basu spoke with Matthew Connelly, author of The Declassification Engine: What History Reveals About America’s Top Secrets , about the government’s cult...
May 11, 2023•26 min
Nearly 30 years ago, James Bernard Belcher was sentenced to death for raping, strangling, and drowning 29-year-old Jennifer Embry. Recently, he was given a second chance: a resentencing, this time with new evidence unearthed by a mitigation specialist. These life-history investigators seek to contextualize a defendant’s violent crimes, often by surfacing childhood traumas. On the latest episode of Apple News In Conversation , host Shumita Basu spoke with Maurice Chammah, a reporter for the Marsh...
May 04, 2023•21 min
The Showtime documentary series Couples Therapy allows viewers to watch real-life therapy sessions. Couples hash out their conflicts and challenges with Dr. Orna Guralnik as their guide. Guralnik is a psychoanalyst who prompts people to examine their instincts, listen to their partners, and do some deep self-discovery. Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu spoke with Guralnik about her approach to therapy — and her relationship advice....
Apr 27, 2023•28 min
What would a future look like where climate change has become a truly unavoidable part of all of our daily lives? This is one of the questions the new Apple TV+ show Extrapolations tries to answer. Series creator Scott Z. Burns was a producer of the 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth and the writer behind the eerily prescient 2011 film Contagion , about a global pandemic. Burns, along with one of the stars of the series, Sienna Miller, spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu ...
Apr 20, 2023•36 min
The Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation case against Fox News is set to begin on April 17. At the core of Dominion’s case are pages of internal messages showing that many people at Fox didn’t believe the election lies they were promoting on the air. On the latest episode of Apple News In Conversation , host Shumita Basu spoke with Brian Stelter, the former chief media correspondent at CNN who spent years talking to people at Fox, mostly as anonymous sources, about the inner workings of the organ...
Apr 13, 2023•37 min
This episode includes descriptions of violence and mentions suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. Earlier this year, a woman named Lindsay Clancy was charged with the murder of her three children — who were 5 years, 3 years, and 7 months old. Though Clancy never formally received a PMAD diagnosis, her story has ignited conversations about postpartum care in the United States. Apple News In Conve...
Apr 06, 2023•32 min
More than 38 million people live in poverty in the United States, one of the world’s richest countries. In a new book, Poverty, by America , sociologist and writer Matthew Desmond sets out to figure out why. In an interview with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu, Desmond lays out the ways that so many of us benefit from a system that keeps people poor, and he offers concrete actions we can all take to dismantle the status quo....
Mar 30, 2023•32 min
Ever since the introduction of the artificial-intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, people can’t stop talking about what the latest wave of A.I. is able to do — from acing standardized tests to composing detailed essays to writing code. But it also has people asking: What does a world look like where A.I. plays a larger role in our lives? Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu spoke with editor in chief of the Verge , Nilay Patel, about this rapidly evolving technology and how it could shape our f...
Mar 23, 2023•36 min
