Semaglutide, otherwise known as Ozempic, has been making headlines as a weight loss drug – despite only having FDA approval to treat diabetes. Now, some say it doesn’t just quell cravings for food – it helps quiet cravings for alcohol, drugs, and other compulsive behaviors. For years, researchers have been studying Ozempic’s effectiveness as an addiction cure in animals. What have they found? And – does it actually work? Guest: Sarah Zhang covers health and medicine for The Atlantic If you enjoy...
Jun 25, 2023•30 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, one year after the Supreme Court decision that set off a national crisis in reproductive health care, we’re taking a look at what the end of Roe has wrought. Countless lives have been affected: There's the people who've traveled across the country to get their lives back, the people who've been forced against their will into pregnancy and childbirth, and those who've been denied life saving medical care because their doctors are afraid of the law. There's als...
Jun 22, 2023•55 min
Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of the end of Roe – a historic decision that’s led to long lines, clinic closures, and a flood of abortion bans across the country. Planned Parenthood has always been in the political crosshairs… but now, their role is arguably more important than ever. What does America’s largest abortion provider look like in the post-Roe era? We sit down with its CEO to find out. Guest: Alexis McGill Johnson, CEO of Planned Parenthood If you enjoy this show, please cons...
Jun 22, 2023•24 min
Police killings of Black men have their own grim, but established, rituals in American society. But what happens to those who survive police violence? On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by Leon Ford, who survived being shot multiple times by Pittsburgh police more than a decade ago. In his new memoir An Unspeakable Hope, Ford candidly describes his legal, physical, and mental health challenges, and why he eventually dedicated himself to working with police, including reaching ...
Jun 16, 2023•40 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, we’re talking about menstruation. Period. Slate senior producer Cheyna Roth is joined by author and anthropologist Dr. Kate Clancy . Kate recently published her extensive study on menstruation, Period and they dig into why Western culture has constantly looked at menstruating bodies with shame, how this impacts scientific studies and healthcare for women and gender minorities, and how we can overcome the embarrassment. In Slate Plus: Why language matters in s...
Jun 15, 2023•35 min
This episode is a part of Opinionpalooza . Slate’s coverage of Supreme Court decisions. We consider this coverage so essential that we’re taking down the paywall for all of it. If you would like to help us continue to cover the courts aggressively, please consider joining Slate Plus . And sign up for the pop-up newsletter to see the latest every week in your inbox. On this week’s Amicus , a sobering interview between Dahlia Lithwick and the ACLU's Chase Strangio . Chase is deputy director for Tr...
Jun 03, 2023•1 hr 5 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, it’s all about the beauty industry. Senior writer and editor at New America, Julia Craven is joined by author and NPR host-at-large Elise Hu . They discuss Elise’s new book, Flawless - a remarkable investigation into the Korean beauty world. They also unpack the hustle culture inherent in beauty, how Eurocentric beauty trends are everywhere, and more. In Slate Plus: Is Shiv Roy from HBO’s Succession misunderstood? If you liked this episode, check out: Who’s G...
Jun 01, 2023•39 min
As the fight for trans rights, including gender-affirming medical care, heads through state legislation, activists and medical providers are stepping up to testify. While explaining her perspective as a medical professional, a Little Rock pharmacist, who is trans, was asked about her genitalia in the middle of the Arkansas general assembly. This is the first installment in What Next’s Pride Month series. “After They Testified” is about the Americans who’ve shown up in the last year to speak out ...
Jun 01, 2023•27 min
Sleep is objectively worse when splitting a bed. Yet that’s the default for most couples. But that doesn’t mean sharing the covers is easy. Especially when one person is having trouble falling or staying asleep. On this episode of How To!, the second in a two-part series, co-host Carvell Wallace continues the conversation with Dr. Wendy Troxel , author of Sharing the Covers: Every Couple’s Guide to Better Sleep . Dr. Troxel explains how couples can experiment with sleeping arrangements in a way ...
May 30, 2023•33 min
A national ban on abortion remains so unpopular that even Republican presidential candidates won’t commit to one. However, a law from the 1870s, depending on how it's interpreted and enforced, could ban both abortion pills and the procedure across America. Guest: Mary Ziegler, law professor at UC Davis and author of Roe: The History of a National Obsession . If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonu...
May 24, 2023•22 min
Vanessa isn’t a night owl. Yet, often, you can find her lying awake desperately trying to turn off her brain. When her partner stays over she often resorts to the couch just to get some rest. On this episode of How To!, co-host Carvell Wallace brings in Dr. Wendy Troxel . She is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in sleep medicine and the author of the book, Sharing the Covers: Every Couple’s Guide to Better Sleep . On part one of a two part series—Dr. Troxel explains how insomnia dis...
May 23, 2023•35 min
Bats have been linked to a “greatest hits” list of infectious diseases—not just COVID-19, but SARS, Marburg, and even ebola. And now, 1.8 billion people are living in “jump zones” where the next viral spillover may occur. Guest: Ryan McNeill , London-based deputy editor for the Reuters global data-journalism team. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear P...
May 22, 2023•26 min
When a Democratic pro-choice representative defected from her party, North Carolina Republicans instantly secured a veto-proof supermajority in the state legislature. Then, they quickly sent a bill that restricts abortion to their Democratic governor’s desk, and overrode his veto, ending North Carolina’s time as an abortion destination in the southeastern United States. Guest: Rebecca J. Kreitzer , associate professor of public policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and expert...
May 18, 2023•26 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, we’re unpacking medical mysteries. Science writer and Slate contributor Eleanor Cummins is joined by Allison Behringer . Allison is the host and creator of the KCRW podcast, Bodies . Now in its fourth season, every episode of Bodies digs into a person’s medical mystery. Eleanor and Allison talk about Allison’s own ‘body story,’ why female bodies contain so many mysteries, and what we can do to solve them. In Slate Plus, using social media to connect people wi...
May 18, 2023•31 min
‘I’ve got bad news’ is a sentence no one wants to hear. But at some point, all of us will either have to deliver bad news or will be on the receiving end. So what can make these gut-wrenching conversations go less horribly? On this episode of How To!, co-host Amanda Ripley brings in Dr. Robert Arnold , co-founder of Vital Talk , and Maura, a social worker at a level one trauma center to talk about how to better communicate serious news. Because just about all of us can get a lot better at it — o...
May 16, 2023•36 min
On this episode: Jamilah Lemieux sits down with journalist Virginia Sole-Smith to discuss her new book, Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture . This conversation is a special collaboration with Slate’s The Waves podcast . Virginia talks about the body shame kids face, reclaiming the word ‘fat,’ and supporting kids in the bodies they’re in. They also talk about how parents, grandparents, and other figures in kids’ lives can dismantle fatphobia and other learned behaviors that perpetuate ...
May 04, 2023•34 min
Guns are now the leading cause of death for children in America. Each tragedy can be visceral, whether it’s in your community or across the country. And it’s especially heartbreaking when your kid voices that fear directly, as our listener Allison recently experienced. On this episode of How To!, co-host Amanda Ripley brings in Melinda Wenner Moyer . Melinda is an author and science journalist with years covering gun violence and parenting issues. She’s also the author of the substack, Is My Kid...
May 02, 2023•37 min
April is Autism Awareness and Acceptance month, and might be the only time of year when many Americans think about neurodiversity. But for many families, receiving an autism diagnosis for a child can set off an all-consuming search for doctors, therapists, and education that can work for their kids. That’s more complicated for African-American families, who have to overcome systemic racism in schools and health care to get the right help for their children. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Jo...
Apr 28, 2023•33 min
A self-described activist had late-stage, fallopian tube cancer. She didn’t live in one of the 11 jurisdictions that allows terminally-ill patients the choice to medically end their own lives. But rather than relocating, she argued Vermont’s residency restrictions were unconstitutional. Guest: Lynda Bluestein, a 75-year-old woman seeking to end her life on her terms, who successfully sued Vermont over their residency requirement in their “Patient Choice At End of Life” law. If you enjoy this sho...
Apr 27, 2023•27 min
We explore the lives of people who are in love with their AI chatbots. Replika is a chatbot designed to adapt to the emotional needs of its users. It is a good enough surrogate for human interaction that many people have decided that it can fulfill their romantic needs. The question is whether these kinds of romantic attachments are real, illusory, or good for the people involved. Apps like Replika represent the future of love and sex for a subpopulation of people, so we discuss the health and e...
Apr 25, 2023•54 min•Season 6Ep. 3
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and the African American community has a complicated relationship with corporal punishment of kids. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by Stacey Patton, a writer, child abuse survivor, and the author of Spare the Kids: Why Whupping Children Won’t Save Black America. She debunks myths about spanking, including the idea that physical discipline of children has roots in Africa. They also discuss the emotional and psychological damage caused ...
Apr 21, 2023•27 min
A new law in Utah that goes into effect next year states that anyone under 18 needs parental permission to use social media. Is it a necessary step to protect children from harms associated with social media, or are we blunting a tool of expression for the youth? Guest: Dr. Mitch Prinstein , chief science officer at American Psychological Association Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate ...
Apr 16, 2023•33 min
There’s a terrible legal Easter egg in Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk’s ruling on the abortion medication, Mifepristone. And that same Easter egg makes an appearance in the Fifth Circuit’s partial stay. It’s the Comstock Act - a mostly forgotten 19th century vice statute that is suddenly the anti-abortion movement’s favorite zombie legislation. On a special extra episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Mary Ziegler, an expert on the law, history, and politics of reproduction, health care, an...
Apr 15, 2023•35 min
This week, David Plotz and Emily Bazelon discuss the federal court rulings on the F.D.A.-approved abortion medication mifepristone, the expulsion of two Democratic representatives by the Republican-supermajority state legislature in Tennessee, and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ latest ethics problem. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Adam Unikowsky for Adam’s Legal Newsletter: “ Mifepristone and the rule of law, part II ” Allison McCann for the New York Times: “ I...
Apr 13, 2023•54 min
Last week a federal judge in Texas refuted the FDA approval for mifepristone, a pill used for medication abortions, which would suspend that approval across the country. But some experts say - plenty of drugs don’t have FDA approval, and are still widely distributed… from baby formula, to multivitamins. Guest: Rachel Rebouché , dean and James E. Beasley professor of law at the Temple University Beasley School of Law and faculty fellow at the Center for Public Health Law Research . If you enjoy t...
Apr 13, 2023•26 min
The FDA just approved a version of Narcan, the most commonly used version of the overdose prevention medicine naloxone, for over-the-counter sales. The move comes in response to overdose deaths steadily rising since the late ‘70s and around 100,000 Americans dying from overdose just last year. What took so long? Guest: Nancy D. Campbell , department head at Rensselaer’s department of science and technology studies, author of OD: Naloxone and the Politics of Overdose . If you enjoy this show, ple...
Apr 12, 2023•29 min
John has spent years training to become a Pararescueman, a member of Air Force Special Warfare tasked with recovering downed military personnel around the globe. He has pushed himself past countless obstacles and trials, except one — holding his breath in the pool. On this episode of How To!, co-host Carvell Wallace is joined by free diving expert and founder of the Performance Free Dive Academy Kirk Krack. Kirk has spent decades mastering the art of lowering his heart rate and increasing his ca...
Apr 11, 2023•36 min
When Justin’s mom was diagnosed with cancer, he knew he wanted to keep talking to her after she died. So together they made an AI version of her, training it on her speech patterns and memories. Now he is scaling his findings so that anyone can continue their relationships with loved ones after their deaths. Justin even believes this can one day lead to digital immortality. Grief experts are only now dealing with bereaved people who create digital versions of their loved ones. We look at what th...
Apr 11, 2023•56 min•Season 6Ep. 1
A federal judge has struck down a provision in the Affordable Care Act requiring private insurers to provide preventive care—screenings and the like—at no cost to patients. But preventive care is a good investment for insurance companies and for national health. It’s something Americans already don’t get enough of — but is anyone willing to step in and save it? Guest: Julie Rovner , chief Washington correspondent Kaiser Health News, host of the “What the Health” podcast If you enjoy this show, p...
Apr 05, 2023•25 min
On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… the right to life and socialized healthcare walk into a delivery room. Writer and journalist Liz Bruenig joins Celeste to discuss her vision for a United States where childbirth costs nothing. In a nation with skyrocketing healthcare costs, attacks on reproductive rights, and potential rollbacks on preventive care, we tell birthing people that not only do they have to give birth — they have to court financial ruin in order to do it. Liz says it doesn’t have to ...
Apr 04, 2023•34 min
