In Episode #211, author and public health researcher Sara Gorman joins Osi to explore the growing mistrust in the American healthcare system. They discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated skepticism toward institutions, the widespread disdain for the pharmaceutical industry, and more.

Sara E. Gorman, PhD, MPH, is a public health and behavioral science expert and has written extensively about global health, science communication, psychology, and mental health, among other topics. Dr. Gorman's work has appeared in or been covered by TIME, The New Yorker, Science, Psychology Today, The Atlantic, the BBC, and NPR. She is also co-founder and CEO of Critica, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving public acceptance of science, counteracting misinformation about science and health, and increasing the use of scientific evidence in public policymaking.

In Episode #210, sociologist Sarita Srivastava joins Osi to examine the persistent failure of diversity training and anti-racism efforts in corporations, schools, and nonprofit organizations. They discuss the need to move beyond superficial therapeutic and educational exercises, advocating instead for tangible actions that promote genuine racial equity throughout society.

Dr. Sarita Srivastava is Professor of Sociology and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science at OCAD University in Toronto. Her research areas include social movements, race, and emotion. In her previous position as a faculty member of the Departments of Sociology, Gender Studies, and Cultural Studies at Queen’s University, she developed seminars and supervised graduate students in areas such as Race, Gender and Nation, and taught a Social Justice practicum for many years. In her prior work as an activist, she was director of a national environmental campaign for Greenpeace Canada, active in community radio and environmental education, and supported Indigenous, labour and feminist social movements. Her latest book, “Are You Calling Me a Racist? How to stop talking about race and start taking real antiracist action,” New York University Press, 2024 explores the conflicts, emotional responses and pedagogical practices that arise when organizations are faced with anti-racist challenges.

In Episode #209, astrophysicist Avi Loeb joins Osi to explore the possibility of extraterrestrial life in our universe and the profound implications its discovery could have for humanity.

ABRAHAM (AVI) LOEB is the Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science at Harvard University, chair of Harvard’s Department of Astronomy, founding director of Harvard’s Black Hole Initiative, and director of the Institute for Theory and Computation (ITC) within the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Author of four books and over 700 scientific papers, Loeb is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the International Academy of Astronautics. In 2012, Time selected Loeb as one of the twenty-five most influential people in space.

In Episode #208, journalist and cultural critic Kyle Chayka joins Osi to explore how algorithms have quietly permeated every aspect of our lives—shaping the media we consume and the environments we navigate. Additionally, they discuss how these digital forces curate our experiences for effortless consumption, dampening creativity and raising pressing concerns about the erosion of free will.

Kyle Chayka is a staff writer at The New Yorker covering technology and Internet culture. Chayka, who first contributed to The New Yorker in 2013, has also written for The New Republic, the New York Times Magazine, and Harper’s, among other publications. His reporting on tourism in Iceland was included in “The Best American Travel Writing 2020.” Chayka’s first nonfiction book, “The Longing for Less,” a history of minimalism, was published in 2020. His second book, “Filterworld,” which explores the impact of digital algorithms on culture, was published in 2024. Chayka began his career in 2010, as a visual-art critic for the Web site Hyperallergic.

In Episode #207, technology author and journalist Kashmir Hill joins Osi to explore the rise of Clearview AI, a facial recognition app capable of identifying individuals from a single photo by harvesting billions of online images. They discuss the rapid adoption of this technology by law enforcement and private entities, highlighting the significant privacy and surveillance risks it poses if left unregulated.

Kashmir Hill is a journalist at The New York Times and the author of YOUR FACE BELONGS TO US. She writes about the looming tech dystopia and explores how society can work to avoid it.

Kashmir began her journalism career in 2008 as a writer for the legal blog Above the Law. The following year, while pursuing a master’s in magazine journalism at NYU, she created her own blog, The Not-So Private Parts. Initially intended as a yearlong project, she has continued to chronicle the fate of privacy in the modern age for over a decade.

In 2019, Kashmir joined The New York Times after serving as an investigative reporter at Gizmodo Media Group and a writer for Forbes Magazine. She has also written for Popular Science on topics such as bitcoin and for The New Yorker about poker, a game she enjoys playing.

In Episode #206, author James Muldoon joins Osi to expose the hidden, exploitative labor force behind artificial intelligence. They discuss the precarious conditions faced by data annotators, content moderators, and other workers whose low-paying and dangerous jobs drive the development of A.I.

James Muldoon is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Management at the Essex Business School, a Research Associate at the Oxford Internet Institute, and Head of Digital Research at the Autonomy think tank.

His research examines how modern technologies, such as artificial intelligence and digital platforms, can create public value and serve the common good. It explores how concepts of freedom, power, and democracy need to be rethought in the digital age, and what steps can be taken to harness the positive potential of new technology.

Recently, his work has focused on the hidden human labor behind artificial intelligence and the global production networks that support AI. He also analyzes how digital labor is evolving across various sectors, including ride-hailing, food delivery, domestic work, childcare, and microwork.

In Episode #205, author Stephanie Baker joins Osi to explore the world of cults, from doomsday groups to self-help trends and celebrity followings. They discuss why these groups form, how they function, and why they are so pervasive in our interconnected world.

Dr Stephanie Alice Baker currently serves as Deputy Head of the Department of Sociology and Criminology at City, University of London. Dr Baker’s research explores health and wellness cultures, with a focus on how influencers establish trust, intimacy and authority online. Much of her research has focused on the self-help and wellness industry. She has published several articles and books on these topics including, Lifestyle Gurus: constructing authority and influence online (Polity, 2019) and Wellness Culture: how the wellness movement has been used to empower, profit and misinform (Emerald, 2022). Dr Baker’s current research explores the role of new media technologies in amplifying false, misleading and harmful content online.

In Episode #204, philosopher Hanno Sauer joins Osi to explore how our sense of right and wrong has evolved over millions of years. They discuss how shared moral principles have fostered human cooperation, driven societal progress, and share their thought's on today's moral landscape.

Hanno Sauer teaches ethics, metaethics, and political philosophy at Utrecht University and is a member of the Ethics Institute. His published books include Moral Thinking, Fast and Slow; Debunking Arguments in Ethics; and Moral Judgments as Educated Intuitions. He lives in Utrecht in the Netherlands.

In Episode #203, author Brian Reisinger joins Osi to uncover the hidden history behind a looming economic and cultural crisis: the vanishing of the American farmer and its growing threat to our food supply.

Brian Reisinger is an award-winning writer and rural policy expert who grew up on a family farm in Sauk County, Wisconsin. Reisinger worked with his father from the time he could walk, before entering the worlds of business journalism and public policy, then going on to work as a columnist and consultant. He lives to tell the hidden stories of rural America and has been published by USA Today, Newsweek, Yahoo News, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, PBS/Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Wisconsin Life,” The Daily Yonder, RealClearPolitics, The Hill, and elsewhere. He’s given a TEDx talk on risks to our food supply, and appeared on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” CNN, public radio, farm radio, and other outlets across the political spectrum. Reisinger’s writing has won awards from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, first place in the Seven Hills Literary Contest, a Solas Award, and more. He lives with his wife and daughter, and helps lead Midwestern-based Platform Communications, splitting time between northern California and the family farm in Wisconsin. Land Rich, Cash Poor is his first book.

In Episode #202, journalist and author Atossa Abrahamian joins Osi to discuss the questionable tactics employed by the wealthy and corporations to accumulate and shield their wealth. In her latest book, The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World, Atossa unveils a countergeography of extraterritorial zones—from free trade zones to offshore detention centers—that operate beyond national sovereignty, shaping global inequality and offering a provocative reimagining of the world order.

Atossa Araxia Abrahamian is an independent journalist who writes about the cracks in the nation-state system. A former editor at the Nation and Al Jazeera America, Abrahamian’s reporting and criticism have appeared in the New York Review of Books, the New York Times, the London Review of Books, the Intercept, and many other publications.