Every day, we hear about countless environmental threats — from air pollution and microplastics, to deforestation and global warming. And a lot of us feel overwhelmed by the scale of these problems, and helpless to enact global big-picture solutions. But small, everyday decisions matter too — and they add up. How you do your laundry, how warm or cool you keep your home, what you eat for lunch, what kinds of products you buy and or how you sort your trash — all of them have the potential to make a big difference. On this special Earth Day episode, we look at everyday choices that can lead to ..read more

Over the past few decades, Latinos have become the largest racial or ethnic minority in the United States, making up nearly 20 percent of the country's population. Despite that, many Latinos feel alienated by our medical system, due to cultural and language barriers, and a lack of Latino physicians — and those barriers can have a real impact on their overall health. On this episode, we look for solutions to provide better care to Latino communities and patients. We hear stories about one physician's bold initiative to bridge the language gap between doctors and farmworkers, new approaches to h ..read more

It sneaks up on us while we're sitting in traffic, or waiting at the doctor's office, or doing our taxes — boredom, that restless feeling of dissatisfaction that arises when we harbor "the desire for desires," as Leo Tolstoy said. At the same time, we're living in an age of never-ending stimulation, all at our fingertips — texting, social media, 24-hour news, and streaming galore. But despite this constant content consumption, we're still getting bored — maybe even more so than ever. We find ourselves hopping from tab to tab, scrolling through Instagram while watching a show, tuning out of mee ..read more

On April 8, a swath of North America will be treated to a rare and spectacular sight — a total solar eclipse; in some places, the first in more than a century, and the last for at least another 20 years. The path of totality, where it's possible to see the moon completely block out the sun, stretches in a narrow ribbon from Mexico, through Texas, all the way to Maine. It's an event that eclipse chasers have been anticipating for years. On this special episode, we find out why so many people call total solar eclipses a life-changing experience, and why they will go to great lengths to witness t ..read more

Identity's a complicated thing — a mixture of nurture and nature, ethnicity, gender, culture, conscious decisions, coincidences, and more. In many ways, though, who we think we are boils down to the stories we tell ourselves; stories based on our origins, our families, and how we came to be. But what happens when those stories change? When we discover that the narrative of our lives is completely different from what we've always believed? On this episode, we explore stories of identity, and what happens when long-buried secrets are uncovered. We hear about a journalist who discovered that his ..read more

It's been four years since COVID-19 struck, transforming our modern world in ways we'd never seen before — and we're still processing the aftershocks. The pandemic exposed fault lines lurking beneath the surface of our everyday lives — friendships and bonds that weren't as strong as we thought; political rifts that turned into chasms; shifts in our fundamental beliefs of who we should trust, and what rules we should follow. It showed us how fragile we are — as human beings, and as a global community. Now, we find ourselves trying to pick up the pieces — to understand what happened, and what we ..read more

Know the signs of depression. Recognize symptoms of anxiety. Pay attention to your friend's changing moods. There's been a push to raise mental health awareness for decades, and now, the topic is everywhere. It's leading the charts on social media sites, and everybody from celebrities to politicians to sports superstars are talking about it more openly. At the same time, it seems like our overall mental health is declining, as more and more people report having mental health issues. On this episode, we explore how the field of mental health is changing and adapting. We'll find out what traditi ..read more

In 1944, a brilliant, young Harvard physics student named Ted Hall was recruited to work on the super-secret mission that had already assembled the country's top scientists: the Manhattan Project. Soon, Hall was on his way to Los Alamos, where he worked on the implosion mechanism for the nuclear bomb. As the project started to succeed, Hall became increasingly concerned that it would spell disaster for the world, especially if the U.S. were the only country to have nuclear capacity. So, at the age of 18, Hall decided that he needed to do something, and he became a spy for the Soviets. Hall may ..read more

If you're training to become a physician, your first patient is usually dead. In fact, "first patient" is what med students call the human cadavers that they work on in anatomy class — when they first learn to make careful incisions, and lay eyes on the beautiful intricacies of bone, muscle, blood vessels, and organs that make our bodies work. Human cadavers have long played a crucial role in medicine and science. They not only teach generations of doctors about the human body — they allow researchers to learn valuable lessons about everything from the causes of rare diseases to the effects of ..read more

You can feel it coming on — your face flushes hot, maybe your fists clench, your heartbeat speeds up and blood pressure rises. It's rage — and it can go from zero to red-hot in a matter of seconds. Best-case scenario, it disappears just as fast. Worst-case scenario — it completely takes over. It's normal to feel angry when you or somebody else has been wronged, mistreated, or hurt. But even justified rage can become destructive, like a wrecking ball ruining careers and relationships. So, how do we handle these fiery emotions when they erupt? On this episode — how to deal with anger and rage. W ..read more