After months of struggle with little movement, the war in Ukraine may be nearing a crucial point. With American aid stalled for months, the fight has not been going well for Ukraine . Weapons and ammunition are once again on the way after the long-delayed package passed last month. But will it be enough in time? Russia has broken through the lines around Ukraine’s second-largest city and appears ready to threaten a wider offensive. Atlantic staff writer Anne Applebaum joins to discuss the state ...
May 23, 2024•32 min•Ep. 73
Researchers have been hard at work on a number of male contraceptives that could hit the market in the next couple of decades. Options include a hormone-free birth control pill , an injection that accomplishes the same thing as a vasectomy but is easily reversible, and a topical gel men can rub on their shoulders that doesn’t affect mood or libido. There is a recurring theme in the research on male contraceptives: easy, convenient, minimal side effects. Which is very much not the focus of women’...
May 16, 2024•27 min•Ep. 72
What happens when voices can be copied so well they can fool friends, family… and voters? Staff writer Charlie Warzel has followed the explosion of AI technology with a mix of fascination and fear. DALL-E, Midjourney, Chat-GPT. New leaps in AI tech seem to happen every month now. Recently, he narrowed in on AI voice cloning for a feature for The Atlantic . He and host Hanna Rosin cloned their voices and tested it out before a live audience at the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival. What are the promises...
May 09, 2024•33 min•Ep. 71
Staff writer Zoë Schlanger is the proud owner of a petunia that glows in the dark . But she doesn’t just appreciate the novelty houseplant as work of science. Zoë sees its glow as a way to help us appreciate plants as more alive, more vital, and more complex than we humans typically do. Because in recent years, some scientists have reopened a provocative debate: Are plants intelligent? They’ve devised experiments that break down elements of this big broad question: Can plants be said to hear? Se...
May 02, 2024•29 min•Ep. 70
Writer Gary Shteyngart set sail on the inaugural voyage of the biggest cruise ship ever built—the Icon of the Seas—in search of the "real" America. (And maybe to throw a great suite party along the way.) What he found instead, like many a great novelist before him, was a far more isolating experience. Shteyngart recounts his "seven agonizing nights" aboard a giant floating mall full of memorable characters, bad entertainment, even worse food—and the ever-present desire to keep up. Get more from ...
Apr 25, 2024•24 min•Ep. 69
The Stormy Daniels case may have a less serious fact pattern. But it might turn out to be the one chance to hold Donald Trump accountable for election interference. Atlantic staff writer David Graham explains the importance of the case and how Trump might actually be enjoying this new form of courtroom campaigning. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to ...
Apr 18, 2024•28 min•Ep. 68
Is having a Birkin bag ... a right? Earlier this year, two California residents filed a class-action lawsuit against the French luxury design company Hermès . Their grievance was that although they could afford a coveted Birkin bag made by the company, they could not buy one. We talk to Atlantic staff writer Amanda Mull about the lawsuit and the current state of the luxury market. What do we actually want from luxury these days? Is there even such a thing anymore as a rare luxury good? And what ...
Apr 11, 2024•25 min•Ep. 67
Where were you for the 2017 total eclipse? Where will you be this year? And where will you be for the next one in 2045? Hanna talks to Atlantic staff writer Marina Koren about the eclipse as a peculiar event: a beautiful if not slightly unsettling moment that is also a strange marker of time. And we hear from retired astrophysicist Fred Espenak who's seen more than 20 total eclipses in his life and wonders which eclipse might end up being his last. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices whe...
Apr 04, 2024•20 min•Ep. 66
Atlantic political reporter John Hendrickson has had a stutter since he was a kid. Recently he heard Donald Trump make fun of Joe Biden’s stutter, and he noticed that the audience laughed. Hendrickson’s working theory has been that disability is apolitical, and he wondered what Trump supporters actually feel about him making fun of people with disabilities. We go to a Trump rally in Dayton, Ohio and poll the crowd. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unli...
Mar 28, 2024•27 min•Ep. 65
Hanna talks to her child Jacob about the thing they've argued the most about: being on their phone. Then, Hanna sits down with social psychologist Jonathan Haidt . In his new book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness , Haidt argues there is a direct tie between the wide distribution of smartphones and a rise in depression, anxiety, and loneliness among young people. After which, Hanna asks Jacob: Did I ruin your life? Get more from...
Mar 21, 2024•30 min•Ep. 64
Sarah Osmundson knows how to talk about abortion. She’s learned over the course of her career as a maternal-fetal medicine doctor that some patients are comfortable with the option, and others would never consider it. Osmundson is a physician in Tennessee, a state with one of the strictest abortion bans in the country following the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision. The procedure is illegal at any stage of pregnancy, with limited exceptions to protect the life and health of the mother. But whi...
Mar 14, 2024•24 min•Ep. 63
We talk to Oscar-nominated sound designer Johnnie Burn about how he created the soundscape of horrors for The Zone of Interest . Burn explains how he collected real sounds from the streets of Europe and mixed them into a soundscape of cruelty happening just out of view. We also do a close analysis of key scenes from the film. "You can shut your eyes, but you can't shut your ears," Burn says. Want to share unlimited access to The Atlantic with your loved ones? Give a gift today at theatlantic.com...
Mar 07, 2024•23 min•Ep. 62
The original “Burn Book” from Mean Girls was used to spread rumors and gossip about other girls (and some boys) at North Shore High School. Kara Swisher’s new memoir, Burn Book , tells true stories about men (and some women) who ruled Silicon Valley. Swisher recounts some of the most cringey moments of the early dot-com boom, including the strange antics at parties she never really wanted to go to. But mostly she traces how the idiosyncrasies, blind spots, and enthusiasms of these tech titans ha...
Feb 29, 2024•32 min•Ep. 61
Dr. Richard Friedman has been teaching and seeing patients for more than 35 years. Recently, he wrote about the idea that, if therapy has become less of a targeted intervention and more of a weekly upkeep, it might be time to quit . In this episode, Friedman discusses the benefits of quitting therapy, and why it might be hard for some people to contemplate doing just that. Want to share unlimited access to The Atlantic with your loved ones? Give a gift today at theatlantic.com/podgift . For a li...
Feb 22, 2024•30 min•Ep. 60
How would life be different if we centered it on our friends? In her new book, The Other Significant Others , Rhaina Cohen visits the extremes of friendship, where pairs describe each other as “soulmates” and make major life decisions in tandem with a friend . We talk to Cohen about the lost history of friendship and why she cringes when couples at the altar describe each other as their “best friend.” Want to share unlimited access to The Atlantic with your loved ones? Give a gift today at theat...
Feb 15, 2024•33 min•Ep. 59
In this week’s episode of Radio Atlantic , Adrienne LaFrance, the executive editor of The Atlantic , names and explains the political ideology of the unelected leaders of Silicon Valley. They are “leading an antidemocratic, illiberal movement” she calls: techno-authoritarianism . Want to share unlimited access to The Atlantic with your loved ones? Give a gift today at theatlantic.com/podgift . For a limited time, select new subscriptions will come with the bold Atlantic tote bag as a free holida...
Feb 08, 2024•30 min•Ep. 58
After the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history, in 2018, a video circulated showing the school resource officer taking cover behind the wall. He became known as the “Coward of Broward,” and was tried for child neglect. We talk to police reporter Jamie Thompson about what became of him. And what we are leaving out when we reduce school shootings to stories of courage or cowardice. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-w...
Feb 01, 2024•28 min•Ep. 57
This episode originally aired August 2023. Many people, especially those dealing with long COVID, suffer from fatigue. But not common, everyday tiredness—it’s more like a total body crash that can be triggered by the smallest exertion, something as simple as taking a shower. It’s serious, and yet many doctors have a hard time taking it seriously. Ed Yong, a former staff writer at The Atlantic whose reporting on COVID won a Pulitzer Prize, explains how people with fatigue can feel, and what exper...
Jan 25, 2024•29 min•Ep. 56
Editor Saahil Desai walks us through the surprising history of the barcode , from its origins in the grocery business to its role in remaking our consumer habits and appetites. The bar code allowed grocers to stock infinite varieties of everything, which led us to expect infinite varieties and made us the shoppers we are today. Both the grocery shelves, and our inner selves, would be unrecognizable to the grocery magnates of the ‘70’s. Want to share unlimited access to The Atlantic with your lov...
Jan 18, 2024•31 min•Ep. 55
Donald Trump has an “overwhelming lead” in the Iowa caucus but he is not the s ure winner. There is still a narrow window to change the course of the election, although that window is only open for about a month more. I talk to political reporters Elaine Godfrey—who is headed to Iowa—and Mark Leibovich about the genuine possibility of something surprising happening in Iowa and in the Republican primaries in the month ahead. We discuss the path, “more like a deer trail,” says Godfrey, for Nikki H...
Jan 11, 2024•28 min•Ep. 54
The illusion persists, despite all evidence. Americans are pessimistic about the economic future. They feel worse off than their parent’s generation. Poll after poll shows that at best, only twenty percent of Americans say the economy is doing better than it was a year ago. More than twenty percent of Americans are doing better than they were a year ago, by many measures. Unemployment is lower, wages are growing, inflation is declining. This is true for Americans across ages and classes. These a...
Jan 04, 2024•29 min•Ep. 53
For the holiday, Radio Atlantic is sharing the first episode of the Atlantic podcast How to Keep Time . Co-hosts Becca Rashid and the Atlantic contributing writer Ian Bogost examine our relationship with time and what we can do to reclaim it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 28, 2023•37 min•Ep. 52
We’re in the coldest season. We’re in the shopping season. We’re in the season of hygge. All the cues point to buying yourself a new cozy sweater. Don’t do it, until you hear what Atlantic staff writer Amanda Mull has to say about the cratering quality of knitwear . For years I’ve wondered why my sweaters pilled so quickly, or why they suffocated me, or smelled like tires. And then I read Mull’s recent story, “ Your Sweaters Are Garbage .” It turns out that international trade agreements, greedy...
Dec 21, 2023•27 min•Ep. 51
How easily could a reelected President Trump bend the military to his will? We talk to Tom Nichols, a staff writer at The Atlantic who taught military officers for 25 years, about this dangerous step in establishing a dictatorship. He explains how close Trump came to achieving these goals in his last term and how surprisingly few effective checks are in place. And Nichols talks about his personal nightmare scenario. Want to share unlimited access to The Atlantic with your loved ones? Give a gift...
Dec 14, 2023•26 min•Ep. 50
How did evangelical Christians shift from being reluctant supporters of Trump to among his most passionate defenders? How did some evangelicals, historically suspicious of politicians, develop a “fanatical cult-like attachment” to Donald Trump? And what happened to the evangelical movement, as some bought into Trump’s vision of America and others recoiled? A few weeks before the Iowa caucuses we talk to Tim Alberta, a staff writer at the Atlantic and author of the new book The Kingdom, the Power...
Dec 07, 2023•40 min•Ep. 49
The story of a real-life miracle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 30, 2023•34 min•Ep. 48
Thanksgiving is often a time of disagreements big and small. In this episode we talk to Amanda Ripley (author of High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out ) and Utah Governor Spencer Cox. They explain that conflict shouldn’t be avoided—and that there’s a way to fight with partners and political opponents that’s actually good for us. Want to share unlimited access to The Atlantic with your loved ones? Give a gift today at theatlantic.com/podgift . For a limited time, select new subscri...
Nov 23, 2023•29 min•Ep. 47
Hollywood is getting back on its feet now that the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America strikes are over. But they've revealed that, once again, Hollywood is going through an identity crisis. The streaming revolution is looking untenable. Many studios are losing money and viewers are overwhelmed. What were the hard truths revealed by the strike? And what will the next year of entertainment look like? Hanna Rosin talks with Atlantic writers David Sims and Shirley Li about the coming r...
Nov 16, 2023•30 min•Ep. 46
Tech evangelist. Libertarian dreamer. Republican megadonor. Peter Thiel is many things. As Atlantic staff writer Barton Gellman puts it in his new profile of Thiel , he is “the purest distillation of Silicon Valley’s reigning ethos.” Across several interviews, Gellman learned what’s driven Thiel, even through what he sees as his many disappointments. There are no floating cities. Humans can’t live forever. And Donald Trump did not turn out to be the revolutionary Thiel had hoped he might be. Lea...
Nov 09, 2023•32 min•Ep. 45
Marwan Bardawil’s job is to provide water in Gaza. This is difficult in normal times, nearly impossible now, and yet critical. Without enough clean water, people get dehydrated, hygiene deteriorates, sewage backs up, and deadly diseases can spike. In a series of phone calls over a critical week, we track how this water engineer tries to keep his community, and his family from tipping further into disaster. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Nov 02, 2023•24 min•Ep. 44
