Episodios

  • Winter is Coming

    Winter is Coming
    Nov 6 2025
    Late last month, President Trump announced that the United States would be restarting nuclear weapons tests after a break of over 30 years. We’ve since learned that they won’t be the explosive kind of tests, but this sent us down a rabbit hole — where we found a story about dinosaurs, Carl Sagan, and nuclear war. Because there was a moment in the not-so-distant past when we learned what drove the dinosaurs extinct... and that discovery, made during the Cold War, may have helped save humans from the same fate. This episode originally published in March 2025.

    Guests:

    David Sepkoski, Thomas M. Siebel Chair in History of Science at the University of Illinois and author of Catastrophic Thinking: Extinction and the Value of Diversity.

    Owen Brian Toon, professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.

    Alec Nevala-Lee, novelist, critic, and biographer and author of the forthcoming book Collisions: A Physicist's Journey from Hiroshima to the Death of the Dinosaurs.

    Ann Druyan, co-writer and co-creator of the television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.

    Andrew Revkin, science and environmental journalist.

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    52 m
  • Prosecuting Genocide

    Prosecuting Genocide
    Oct 30 2025

    The word "genocide" can seem like it’s everywhere right now: So it can be easy to forget that, fundamentally, it's a legal term that dates to World War II — and wasn’t used in court for half a century afterwards. Today on the show, the story of what happened during the Bosnian War in the 1990s and the work that went into building the legal case to prove genocide.
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    51 m
  • Throughline Dances

    Throughline Dances
    Oct 29 2025
    Stuck in traffic? Glued to your desk chair? Folding yet another pile of your kids’ laundry? We GOT you!! Take a break, turn up the volume, and shake it out with this special episode of Throughline, a tribute to dance music, all songs composed by our very own Ramtin Arablouei.

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    30 m
  • The Internet Under the Sea

    The Internet Under the Sea
    Oct 23 2025
    What powers the global internet? The answer might surprise you: not satellites, but hundreds of thin cables that run along the ocean floor. They’re an absolutely essential technology that’s also incredibly fragile — so fragile that in the beginning, most people thought they couldn't possibly work. Today on the show: the story of a man who did think they could work… and the lengths he went to to try and connect the world.

    Guests:

    Bill Burns, former BBC broadcast engineer and founder of atlantic-cable.com

    Cyrus Field IV, great-great-grandson of Cyrus Field

    Allison Marsh, professor at the University of South Carolina and historian of technology

    Ben Roberts, strategic advisor on Subsea Cable Economics for Connectivity at UNICEF who has been building cable network in Africa for the past two decades

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    51 m
  • The Rise of the Right Wing in Israel

    The Rise of the Right Wing in Israel
    Oct 16 2025
    Israel and Hamas have agreed to a plan to end fighting in Gaza, just over two years after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023 and Israel’s subsequent bombardment and invasion of Gaza. As we wait to see what happens next, we’re revisiting our episodes looking at the history of major players on both sides of the conflict. Last week, we looked at the history of Hamas; if you missed that, go back and check it out. This week, we’re bringing you the story of the rise of right wing politics in Israel and President Benjamin Netanyahu’s political career. This episode first ran in 2024.

    Guests:

    Amjad Iraq    i, senior analyst for Israel/Palestine at the International Crisis Group and former senior editor at +972 Magazine.

    Natasha Roth-Rowland, historian and director of research and analysis at Diaspora Alliance, an international organization that combats antisemitism.

    Sara Yael Hirschhorn, historian,visiting professor at the University of Haifa and fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute.

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    52 m
  • A History of Hamas

    A History of Hamas
    Oct 9 2025
    With peace talks once again underway between Israel and Hamas, and hopes again growing for a permanent ceasefire, we’re bringing you our episode on the origins of Hamas: where it came from, how its influence grew, and what it represents. Next week, our episode on Benjamin Netanyahu and the rise of Israel’s right wing. This episode first ran in November 2023.

    We've done episodes on Hamas, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, and more. Find them all in our series, "The Cycle".

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    50 m
  • From the Frontlines

    From the Frontlines
    Oct 2 2025
    Journalism is under unprecedented threat worldwide. At least 220 journalists have been killed in Gaza alone since the October 7th, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel; the Committee to Protect Journalists says it’s the deadliest conflict for journalists the group has ever documented. In conflicts around the world, it’s war reporters who write the first draft of history. But getting to the front lines, finding the truth, and reporting it is easier said than done. Today on the show: war reporters, and what’s at stake if they can’t do their jobs.

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    52 m
  • Throughline Sleeps

    Throughline Sleeps
    Sep 30 2025
    Life can be tough. Every day brings new challenges. And in order to get through the waking hours we need rest. Good quality sleep. In this bonus episode, a companion to our episode "The Way We Dream," we offer you a 30-minute audio journey into the deep. A smooth trip into the place where our minds are free from the confines of our self awareness, our dreams. This episode originally published in January 2022.

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    30 m