“If you’re an excitable type (like me), plan a way to get a few hours, or even a few meaningful minutes, of solitude when you need to calm down,” advises Arthur Brooks. Read by Sean Crisden.

Exploring the American idea through ambitious, essential reporting and storytelling. Of no party or clique since 1857.

The Atlantic

Why you should want to be alone

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and the entrepreneur Arianna Huffington recently announced a new company called Thrive AI Health, which they believe could help revolutionise health care using generative AI. Charlie Warzel has his doubts, so he asks them about them. Read by Ron Butler.

AI has become a technology of faith

‘More grown kids are in near-constant contact with their family. Some call this a failure to launch—but there’s another way to look at it.’ writes Faith Hill. Read by Emily Woo Zeller.

The new age of endless parenting

M. Night Shyamalan weathered some of the wildest hype and harshest backlash that Hollywood has to offer, David Sims writes. Then he found a different path. Read by Michael Satow.

How M. Night Shyamalan came back from the dead

A close reading of Trump-rally prayers. Read by Marni Penning.

Lord, help us make America great again

"Even simple actions online can take a toll on the environment." writes Arthur Holland Michel. Read by Ron Butler.



Every time you post to Instagram, you’re turning on a light bulb forever

For years, experts have warned of a wave of political violence. We should prepare for things to get worse before they get better. Read by Marni Penning.

American Fury

“Habits once labelled vices are creeping into all areas of life—thanks to our phones.” writes Christine Emba. Read by Deanna Anthony.

Gambling enters the family zone

David Brooks reflects on the life secrets of those who flailed early but succeeded by old age. Read by Michael Satow.

Life secrets of the late bloomers

Reflecting on the surgeon general’s recommendation to add a warning label to social-media apps, Caroline Mimbs Nyce argues that his proposal is not as straightforward as it seems. Read by Gina Rogers.

Instagram is not a cigarette 

'Tea,' 'folks,' 'bro,' 'lit'—quirky language used to tell us where other people were coming from. Online, it’s all just a bunch of empty words, Dan Brooks laments. Read by Ron Butler.

Social media broke slang. Now we all speak phone

Johann Hari is a self-proclaimed “recovering former columnist” once accused of plagiarism. His recent books, including his latest one, continue to chronicle his issues with self-control—a struggle, writes Daniel Engber, that has not ended. Read by Karl Miller.

What a year on Ozempic taught Johann Hari

"There are many ways to define a good economy. America is in tremendous shape according to just about any of them," Rogé Karma writes. Here, she examines the factors driving this success and what it means for the future. Read by Karl Miller.

The U.S. economy reaches superstar status

McKay Coppins writes a new book about The Apprentice, revealing how the 45th president was shaped by tawdry reality-TV culture. Read by Ron Butler.

The most consequential TV show in history

What may be America’s first Juneteenth took place in New Orleans in the summer of 1864. Ten formerly enslaved men published a history of the events as a gift meant to inspire Abraham Lincoln. 
Susannah J. Ural and Ann Marsh Daly examine what the document reveals. Read by Betsy Foldes Meiman.

Before Juneteenth

Too cute to fail: chlamydia is coming for koalas

Koalas are threatened by climate change, cars, and chlamydia, Katherine J. Wu writes. Can Australia find a way to protect its most beloved animal? Read by Gina Rogers.

The koala paradox

Any act of procreation is a gamble with someone else’s life, writes Anna Louie Sussman. A new book explores how people might consider that fact when contemplating childbirth. Read by Betsy Foldes Meiman.

To have or not have children

As a child, Lee Isaac Chung was captivated by tornados in rural Arkansas, Shirley Li writes. Now the director is reimagining ‘Twister,’ one of the biggest climate-disaster thrillers of all time. Read by Emily Woo Zeller.

Tornado watch

Susan Tallman writes that the Harlem Renaissance was bigger than Harlem. A new exhibit at The Met shows how Black artists made modernism their own. Read by Deanna Anthony.

The Harlem renaissance was bigger than Harlem

A small island nation may have devised the best idea for arresting climate change in 1991, Vann R. Newkirk II writes. Paying America’s climate debt could avert the worst effects of climate change. Read by Sean Crisden.