Few journalists have gotten a peek inside X, the secretive lab run by Google's parent company Alphabet. Its scientists are researching cold fusion, hover boards, and stratosphere-surfing balloons. Derek Thompson, staff writer at The Atlantic, spent several days with the staff of X. In this episode, he tells Matt and Alex all about what he found, and what it suggests about the future of technological invention. Have thoughts or questions? Leave us a message! (202) 266-7600. Don't forget to leave ...
Oct 12, 2017•50 min•Ep 15•Transcript available on Metacast In his new book, We Were Eight Years in Power, The Atlantic's national correspondent Ta-Nehisi Coates writes about the past eight years of his career—his pursuit of an understanding of America, and his route to becoming a celebrated author. In this episode of Radio Atlantic, our cohosts Matt, Jeff, and Alex each conduct an interview with Ta-Nehisi about what he's found. This is a longer episode than our usual, so if you'd like to skip around, here are the three segments, for easy fast-forwarding...
Oct 06, 2017•1 hr 25 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast According to the U.S. intelligence community, this much is settled fact: Russia intervened in the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. But beyond that basic consensus, much remains unknown, the subject of multiple investigations by FBI director Robert Mueller and Congressional intelligence committees. In this episode of Radio Atlantic, recorded before a live audience at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue, Atlantic staff writer Julia Ioffe and contributing editor Eliot Cohen join ...
Sep 29, 2017•53 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast The idea that public schools are failing is one of the most commonly heard complaints in American society. But what are they failing to do? Surveys of American parents—and the history of the nation's public education system—tell a more complicated story. In this episode, The Atlantic's education editor Alia Wong joins Jeff, Matt, and Alex for a conversation about how we define and measure success in public education. We’d like to hear your stories about education: public, private, school-of-hard...
Sep 22, 2017•58 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast Eight months into the Trump administration, we're taking stock: What is shaping up to be President Trump's effect on America’s institutions? Will subsequent presidents preserve or disregard the norms he's tossed aside? What are his political allies and opponents learning from his actions? Jack Goldsmith, author of The Atlantic's October cover story, explores these and many other questions with editor-in-chief Jeffrey Golberg. Then, Matt Thompson and Alex Wagner discuss Trump's impact on the GOP ...
Sep 15, 2017•58 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast Immigrants flock to the U.S. in pursuit of the American Dream. But does the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program mean a wake-up call for millions of undocumented Americans? In this episode of Radio Atlantic, reporter Jeremy Raff and editor Priscilla Alvarez join Jeffrey Goldberg and Matt Thompson to discuss what the suspension of DACA means for those directly affected ... and what it means for America as a whole. For links and show notes, go here. Learn more about your ad ch...
Sep 08, 2017•42 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast If history is any guide, the biggest problems for residents of the Houston area will come into focus only after the nation's attention has already turned elsewhere. In this Radio Atlantic extra, Matt Thompson talks with Atlantic staff writer David Graham about the questions we should be asking now, while Harvey remains in the headlines. As the recovery gets under way, what should we be watching? Plus, a Houston-area resident talks about what she's seen over the last week that she wants to hold o...
Sep 02, 2017•17 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast "Winter is coming," they warned us, and the seventh season of Game of Thrones might have proved them right. But no one mentioned that winter in Westeros would coincide with so many troubling events in real-world politics. In this episode, Megan Garber, staff writer for The Atlantic, joins Radio Atlantic cohosts Alex Wagner and Matt Thompson for a conversation about lessons from the show, and other recent pop culture. - If you're not a Game of Thrones fan, or don't want to be spoiled, worry not: ...
Sep 01, 2017•45 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast It's been ten years since the iPhone came out, and now the first generation to grow up with smartphones is coming of age. Jean Twenge, a psychologist who has studied generational behaviors, has found troubling signals that these devices seem to be taking a visible toll on the mental health of post-Millennials. In the September 2017 issue of The Atlantic, Twenge shares her findings in a story adapted from her new book, iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More To...
Aug 25, 2017•48 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast After white supremacists and neo-Nazis rallied in Virginia, resulting in the deaths of three Americans, President Trump's equivocating responses shocked Republicans and Democrats alike. Did this represent a major breakpoint in American politics? Why have Confederate symbols and ideas suddenly returned to the public sphere, not to mention HBO? And how should Americans comprehend the relationship between these extremist currents and the Trump administration? Ta-Nehisi Coates and Yoni Appelbaum exp...
Aug 17, 2017•59 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast When did the reality-based community start losing to reality show celebrity? Why are "alternative facts" and fake news suddenly ubiquitous features of the landscape? The spread of American magical thinking isn't, in fact, sudden, argues Kurt Andersen in the September 2017 Atlantic. It was rooted in the very origins of the nation, and started to blossom in the '60s. Andersen explores how these forces made their way to the White House in conversation with our Radio Atlantic cohosts, Jeffrey Goldbe...
Aug 11, 2017•50 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast Given new revelations about North Korea's nuclear capabilities—and newly harsh rhetoric from President Trump—Jeffrey Goldberg and Matt Thompson talk with Mark Bowden, author of The Atlantic's July/August cover story on how to deal with North Korea. In that story, Bowden laid out the four options a U.S. administration has for handling North Korea's nuclear ambitions—trying to prevent its progress, turning the screws on the country's leadership, decapitating its leaders, and accepting that a nucle...
Aug 09, 2017•23 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast Our increasingly smart machines aren’t just changing the workforce, they’re changing us. Already, algorithms are directing human activity in all sorts of ways, from choosing what news people see to highlighting new gigs for workers in the gig economy. What will human life look like as machine learning overtakes more aspects of our society? Alexis Madrigal, who covers technology for The Atlantic, shares what he’s learned from his reporting on the past, present, and future of automation with our R...
Aug 04, 2017•54 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast America prides itself on pluralism and tolerance, but how far does that tolerance extend when it comes to religious expression? Could faith in general be on the decline? Radio Atlantic cohosts Jeffrey Goldberg (editor-in-chief), Alex Wagner (contributing editor and CBS anchor), and Matt Thompson (executive editor) explore those questions with Emma Green, who covers religion and politics for The Atlantic. For links and other show notes, visit this page. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg...
Jul 28, 2017•45 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast The Atlantic was founded on the eve of the Civil War to advance the American idea. But as we approach the magazine's 160th anniversary, has that idea taken an unprecedented turn? In this inaugural episode, our cohosts — Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief; Alex Wagner, contributing editor and CBS anchor; and Matt Thompson, executive editor — explore that question with Atlantic writers David Frum, and Molly Ball. And we present the world premiere of Jon Batiste's Battle Hymn of the Republic, reimag...
Jul 21, 2017•1 hr 7 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast Coming July 21: A weekly conversation about what's happening in our world, how things got the way they are, and where they're heading next. Don't miss this sneak preview, for a taste of what's to come, including a teaser of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, recorded for The Atlantic by legendary jazz musician Jon Batiste. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 11, 2017•2 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
