Some of the worst symptoms of menopause — including hot flashes, sleeplessness and pain during sex — have an established treatment. Why aren’t more women offered it? Susan Dominus, a writer for The New York Times Magazine, explains how menopause has been misunderstood both by doctors and society for years, and tells us what happened when her article about it went viral. Guest: Susan Dominus is a writer for The New York Times Magazine. Background reading: From The New York Times Magazine: Women h...
Jul 28, 2023•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast A major new study has revealed just how much elite colleges admissions in the U.S. systematically favor the rich and the superrich. David Leonhardt, a senior writer for The Times and The Morning, walks through the data and explains why the study is fueling calls to abandon longstanding practices like legacy admissions. Guest: David Leonhardt , a senior writer for The New York Times and The Morning. Background reading: From the Upshot: A study of elite college admissions data suggests being very ...
Jul 27, 2023•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast On Wednesday morning, Hunter Biden was scheduled to a guilty plea in a Delaware courtroom, marking the end of a yearslong federal investigation that many Republicans believed would put the president’s son in prison, and put an end to the Biden presidency. Michael Schmidt, who covers national security and federal investigations for The New York Times, explains why none of that has happened. Guest: Michael S. Schmidt , a Washington correspondent for The New York Times who covers national security ...
Jul 26, 2023•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast When Russia invaded Ukraine, it put the global food supply at risk — until the two countries struck an unusual deal to keep shipments flowing. Last week, that deal fell apart. Marc Santora, who has been reporting from Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict, explains what the collapse of the agreement means for the war and why its impact will be felt by tens of millions of people across the world. Guest: Marc Santora , a Ukraine correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: After...
Jul 25, 2023•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast For the past few months, a single senator — Tommy Tuberville — has blocked hundreds of promotions in the U.S. military. Karoun Demirjian, a congressional correspondent for The Times, explains what’s behind the senator’s blockade, and why military leaders say it’s becoming a threat to national security. Guest: Karoun Demirjian , a congressional correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: Tuberville’s bid to reverse a Pentagon policy ensuring abortion access for service members has d...
Jul 24, 2023•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast On the morning of Feb. 7, 2017, two electricians were working on a warning siren near the spillway of Oroville Dam, 60 miles north of Sacramento, when they heard an explosion. As they watched, a giant plume of water rose over their heads, and chunks of concrete began flying down the hillside toward the Feather River. The dam’s spillway, a concrete channel capable of moving millions of gallons of water out of the reservoir in seconds, was disintegrating in front of them. If it had to be taken out...
Jul 23, 2023•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Barbie” is premiering this weekend and is trying to pull off a seemingly impossible task: taking a doll best known for reinforcing conventional stereotypes of women and rebranding it as a symbol of feminism, all without coming off as a shameless ad for the doll’s maker, Mattel. Willa Paskin, a journalist and host of Slate’s Decoder Ring podcast, recounts her conversation with the film’s director, Greta Gerwig, about how she approached the challenge. Guest: Willa Paskin , Slate’s television crit...
Jul 21, 2023•31 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast As a historic heat wave grips much of the world and the United States, no city has become more emblematic of the crisis than Phoenix, where temperatures have exceeded 110 degrees for the past three weeks. Today, the city’s chief heat officer, David Hondula, discusses how the city is adjusting to the new reality of chronic extreme heat — and whether we are adapting to it fast enough. Guest: David Hondula, the director of heat response and mitigation for the city of Phoenix. Background reading: Ar...
Jul 20, 2023•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Last week, for the first time in U.S. history, federal regulators approved the sale of a birth control pill without a prescription. Pam Belluck, a health and science correspondent for The Times, explains why, after decades of brutal battles over contraception, this decision played out so differently. Guest: Pam Belluck , a health and science correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: The F.D.A. approved a birth control pill to be sold without a prescription for the first time in t...
Jul 19, 2023•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast To refine their popular technology, new artificial intelligence platforms like Chat-GPT are gobbling up the work of authors, poets, comedians and actors — without their consent. Sheera Frenkel, a technology correspondent for The Times, explains why a rebellion is brewing. Guest: Sheera Frenkel , a technology correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: Fed up with A.I. companies consuming online content without consent , fan fiction writers, actors, social media companies and news o...
Jul 18, 2023•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast When China suddenly dismantled its lockdowns and other Covid precautions last December, officials in Beijing and many investors expected the economy to spring back to life. It hasn’t worked out that way. Daisuke Wakabayashi, an Asia business correspondent for The Times, explains why China’s economic rebound hit a wall, and what it says about the country’s next chapter. Guest: Daisuke Wakabayashi , an Asia business correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: Policymakers and investo...
Jul 17, 2023•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Some years ago, a psychiatrist named Wendy Dean read an article about a physician who died by suicide. Such deaths were distressingly common, she discovered. The suicide rate among doctors appeared to be even higher than the rate among active military members, a notion that startled Dean, who was then working as an administrator at a U.S. Army medical research center in Maryland. Dean started asking the physicians she knew how they felt about their jobs, and many of them confided that they were ...
Jul 16, 2023•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the second Black justice to sit on the court after Thurgood Marshall, has spent years opposing affirmative action. When the high court struck down the policy last month, Justice Thomas was one of the most influential figures behind the ruling. Abbie VanSickle, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times, explains the impact affirmative action has had on Justice Thomas’s life and how he helped to bring about its demise. Guest: Abbie VanSickle , a Supreme Cour...
Jul 14, 2023•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Two weeks ago, the United States Supreme Court struck down affirmative action, declaring that the race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina were unlawful. Today, three people whose lives were changed by affirmative action discuss the complicated feelings they have about the policy. Guest: Sabrina Tavernise , a co-host of The Daily. Background reading: For many of the Black, Hispanic and Native Americans whose lives were shaped by affirmative action, the m...
Jul 13, 2023•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tens of millions of Americans changed jobs over the past two years, a rare moment of worker power as employees demanded higher pay, and as employers, short on staff, often gave it to them. The tidal wave of quitting became known as the “great resignation.” Now, as the phenomenon seems to have fizzled out, the Times economic writer Ben Casselman discusses whether there have been any lasting benefits for American workers. Guest: Ben Casselman , an economy correspondent for The New York Times. Back...
Jul 12, 2023•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast For months, President Biden has been wrestling with one of the most vexing questions in the war in Ukraine: whether to risk letting Ukrainian forces run out of the artillery rounds they desperately need to fight Russia, or agree to ship them cluster munitions — widely banned weapons known to cause grievous injury to civilians, especially children. On Friday, the Biden administration announced that it would send the weapons, which have been outlawed by many of Washington's closest allies. David E...
Jul 11, 2023•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Last week, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, released Threads, a social media platform to compete with Twitter. In just 16 hours, Threads was downloaded more than 30 million times. Mike Isaac, who covers tech companies and Silicon Valley for The Times, explains how Twitter became so vulnerable and discusses the challenges Meta faces to create a less toxic alternative. Guest: Mike Isaac , a technology correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: Threads is on pace t...
Jul 10, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast The wave of scandals that would engulf Spain began with a police raid on a wooded property outside Madrid. It was Nov. 3, 2017, and the target was José Manuel Villarejo Pérez, a former government spy. Villarejo’s name had been circulating in the Spanish press for years. He was rumored to have had powerful friends and to have kept dirt on them all. The impressive variety of allegations against him — forgery, bribery, extortion, influence peddling — had earned him the nickname “king of the sewers....
Jul 09, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Last week, the Supreme Court struck down President Biden’s sweeping plan to cancel billions of dollars in student loan debt. Stacy Cowley, a finance reporter for The New York Times, explains what the decision means for borrowers now facing their first payments since a coronavirus pandemic-related pause and how an alternative plan could still ease their burden. Guest: Stacy Cowley , a finance correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: The proposed debt cancellation of more than $40...
Jul 07, 2023•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Last month, a rebellion inside Russia left lingering questions about what really happened and about what the ramifications would be for President Vladimir V. Putin. Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The Times, discusses what Mr. Putin has done since the mutiny and looks at how those actions might reveal how vulnerable the president is. Guest: Anton Troianovski , the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times. Background reading: Mr. Putin is rewarding loyalty among the ruling elite ...
Jul 06, 2023•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, has become a sensation on YouTube for ostentatious and sometimes absurd acts of altruism. Today, Max Read, a journalist and contributor to The Times, discusses what the rise of one of YouTube’s most popular star tells us about the platform and its users. Max Read is a contributor to The New York Times Magazine and writes about technology and internet culture in his newsletter “ Read Max .” Background reading: Why do so many people think Mr. Donaldson is ...
Jul 05, 2023•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast The patients in this story came to the Yale Fertility Center to pursue pregnancy. They began their I.V.F. cycles full of expectation and hope. Then a surgical procedure called egg retrieval caused them excruciating pain. Some of the patients screamed out in the procedure room. Others called the clinic from home to report pain in the hours that followed. But most of the staff members who fielded the patients’ reports did not know the real reason for the pain — a nurse at the clinic was stealing f...
Jul 04, 2023•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Supreme Court delivered another major decision this past week, ruling in favor of a web designer who said she had a First Amendment right to refuse to create wedding websites for same-sex couples. Adam Liptak, a Times correspondent who covers the court, explains what the ruling might mean for all kinds of different groups of Americans. Guest: Adam Liptak , who covers the United States Supreme Court for The New York Times. Background reading: The justices settled a question left open in 2018 ...
Jul 03, 2023•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast HF0, or Hacker Fellowship Zero, is a start-up accelerator that provides 12-week residencies for batches of fellows from 10 different start-ups. Their experience, which culminates in a demonstration day, is supposed to be the most productive three months of the fellows’ lives. Dave Fontenot, one of HF0’s founders, was inspired by the two years he spent living in monasteries in his 20s: While monastery life was materially ascetic, he found that it was luxurious in the freedom it gave residents to ...
Jul 02, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast On Thursday, the Supreme Court overturned decades of precedent by striking down affirmative action and declaring that the race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina were unlawful. Adam Liptak, who covers the United States Supreme Court for The New York Times, explains the ruling, and what it means for American society. Guest: Adam Liptak , who covers the court for The New York Times. Background reading: The Supreme Court’s vote to reject affirmative action...
Jun 30, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast In a San Francisco courtroom, federal regulators are fighting to block one of the biggest deals in the history of Silicon Valley. David McCabe, who covers technology policy for The New York Times, talks about Lina Khan, the F.T.C. chair who is the architect of the lawsuit, and the growing campaign to finally rein in big tech. Guest: David McCabe , a New York Times correspondent covering technology policy. Background reading: The Federal Trade Commission sued Microsoft to stop the company from cl...
Jun 29, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Since its introduction less than a year ago, ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence platform that can write essays, solve math problems and write computer code, has sparked an anguished debate in the world of education. Is it a useful research tool or an irresistible license to cheat? Stella Tan, a producer on The Daily, speaks to teachers and students as they finish their first semester with ChatGPT about how it is changing the classroom. Guest: Stella Tan , an audio producer for The New York Tim...
Jun 28, 2023•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Earlier this month, a group of hard-right Republicans hijacked the floor of the House of Representatives in protest against Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The mutiny, staged by nearly a dozen members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, raised questions about whether the speaker could continue to govern his slim and fractious majority. Annie Karni, a congressional correspondent for The Times, explains how and why this small group of members made the chamber ungovernable. Guest: Annie Karni , ...
Jun 27, 2023•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast An armed rebellion in Russia over the weekend stunned the world and amounted to the single biggest challenge to President Vladimir V. Putin’s rule since he came to power 23 years ago. Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times, talks about the man who led the revolt, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, and about what might happen next. Guest: Anton Troianovski , the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times. Background reading: How the rebellion in Russia unfolded. The mutiny raised a ...
Jun 26, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast For months, much of the world has been watching and waiting as Ukraine prepares for a major counteroffensive in its war with Russia. That battle is now underway, and it’s not what was expected. Andrew E. Kramer, the Kyiv bureau chief for The New York Times, reports from the front line. Guest: Andrew E. Kramer , the Kyiv bureau chief for The New York Times. Background reading: Military analysts said it would take weeks or months to gauge the success of the attacks Ukraine mounted last week across...
Jun 23, 2023•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
