Are the Celebrities Okay?
Staff writers Hannah Giorgis and Spencer Kornhaber join to talk about what the celebrities are up to and whether our fascination with them will survive this. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Social Distance
Journalists from The Atlantic document the first 15 months of the coronavirus pandemic through regular phone calls. Listen in as Dr. Jim Hamblin, the producer Katherine Wells, and the comedian and the writer Maeve Higgins ask journalists, experts, and friends about the news and science behind the pandemic, get some advice, and learn how to apply it.
Episodes
Why Do Some People Get Sicker?
Jim explains why COVID-19 can be fatal for some and mild for others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
‘You Think of Things You Shouldn’t’
Jim met Bootsie Plunkett in March while filming a comedy segment for Stephen Colbert. A few weeks later she was in the hospital. She joins to talk about experiencing the terror of an ICU during a pandemic and how much a person's perspective can change in a month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Immunity Passports
Staff writer Sarah Zhang joins Jim and Katherine to talk about the limits of antibody testing, whether we’ll be carrying around cards with our immunity status, and the lessons she’s learned from reporting on Yellow Fever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Text Your Ex?
Amid a surge of romantic expression, staff writer Ashley Fetters advises Katherine and Jim on the psychology of reconnection, contrition, and making things right in the end. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What Will the Summer Be Like?
Staff writer Ed Yong braces Jim and Katherine for a very different summer than most of us are used to. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Are These Tweets Real?
James has been getting a lot of strange replies on social media. McKay Coppins joins to talk about modern propaganda, the history of disinformation, and where these comments might be coming from. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Something Less Bad
Jim and Katherine call Maeve Higgins, a comedian and writer who left New York a month ago for her home country of Ireland. She talks about the precarious situation of immigrants, what it’s like to live at home again as an adult, and her disastrous flirtation with self-improvement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Where the Curve Has Flattened
What's been the difference in the parts of the country that haven't seen as bad an outbreak? Staff writer Russell Berman talks about how officials on the West Coast responded to the problem. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What It’s Like to Have COVID-19
Friends and writers F.T. Kola and Karan Mahajan have both recently recovered from COVID-19. They join to talk about immunity, survivor’s guilt, and how outcomes depend on a strange calculus of privilege and chance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What the World Looks Like After This
People are anxiously awaiting the day things can go back to “normal.” But normal is what got us here in the first place. Will the future look better than the past? Vann R. Newkirk II joins to discuss the lessons from Hurricane Katrina and what they say about disaster responses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Trump’s Miracle Cure
Conspiracy theories and desperation have brought a century-old malaria medication to the front of national attention. Katherine Wells and James Hamblin break down how this happened. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Emergency in Our Jails
Everyone is being ordered to social distance. Except those who are being ordered into places where that’s impossible. Jim and Katherine talk with Conor Friedersdorf and former public defender Maya Ragsdale about what can be done. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
You're Doing Great
The coming weeks will be tough for many Americans. Lori Gottlieb of “Dear Therapist” advises on how to deal with grief, and how to care for yourself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Should I Wear A Mask?
Dr. James Hamblin answers basic questions about the coronavirus (and how to avoid it). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The New Etiquette of Procuring Food
What’s the least unethical way to eat during a pandemic? Olga Khazan advises. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jared Kushner and the Website That Never Was
On March 13, President Trump announced that Google was building a coronavirus website. Staff Writer Robinson Meyer investigated what happened to that website — and what it tells us about the government's response overall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How Coronavirus Is Scrambling Our Politics
Staff writer McKay Coppins explains why some people seem not to believe the science, and how simple advice like avoiding handshakes plays into old ideological divides. Plus, he tells us about his cans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What Happens If We Run Out of Ventilators?
Bioethicist Arthur Caplan advises on the ethics of impossible medical decisions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Will $2 Trillion Be Enough?
Staff writer Adam Harris joins to talk about the bill passed by Congress today and why, despite its unprecedented amount, it’s probably just the start of the economic plan to fight the pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How This Could End
Staff writer Ed Yong describes three possibilities of how this will play out — and reminds us not to panic. Recorded 11am, March 26, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What Happens Next?
The pandemic has put the whole world on different timelines. Contributing writer Rachel Donadio is based in France, which is slightly ahead of the U.S. She talks about how different countries are approaching the crisis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Can I Have a Drink?
People are losing their jobs and hope. But opening businesses back up would endanger lives. Jim and Katherine call her brother, a bartender sheltering in place, for some perspective. And staff writer Derek Thompson joins to discuss what needs to happen in Washington to make sure people stay afloat. Recorded 3pm, Tuesday, March 24, 2020. Sam's recipe for a mocktail Paloma: mix 3 parts grapefruit juice, 1 part lime juice, and 1 part simple syrup. Top with Topo Chico and add salt to taste. Learn mo...
Should I Be Getting Deliveries?
James Hamblin answers listeners' questions about deliveries, testing, haircuts, and how long this will last. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why Everyone Is Watching "Contagion"
Finding ways to relax is as vital now as ever. Culture writers Sophie Gilbert and David Sims join to advise on some purposeful ways to escape in place. Recorded 12pm, Saturday, March 21, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On the Front Lines at a New York Hospital
The mask shortages in New York are worse than we imagined. Jim and Katherine talk to a doctor who describes the dire scene inside a major hospital. Recorded 1pm ET, March 21, 2020. If you want to help hospitals with supply shortages, a spreadsheet with more information is available here: https://bit.ly/3dn2eVa Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why Can't I Get Tested?
Jim and Katherine talk with Alexis Madrigal about coronavirus testing and why the U.S. is so far behind much of the rest of the world. Recorded 2pm, March 20, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When It's Illegal to Leave Home
Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg and Staff Writer Anne Applebaum join to discuss updates from Europe and new restrictions on travel and movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A Slight Temporary Relief
Lori Gottlieb of “Dear Therapist” talks us through how to stay sane. She gives tips on managing anxiety and talking to family members about the crisis. Recorded 2pm ET, March 18, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This is as Real as It Gets
Dr. Stephen Thomas, Chief of the Infectious Disease Division at SUNY Upstate Medical University, just got his first COVID-19 cases. He discusses how hospitals should prepare for the coming surge of patients. And he shares a Mark Twain quote he's had on his mind: “courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” Recorded 3pm, March 17, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices