A Song Called Life

In Episode #218, author Patrick Winn joins Osi to discuss Narcotopia, his latest book chronicling the gripping story of the Wa, a 30,000-strong narcotics empire at the heart of Asia’s $60 billion meth trade. Operating out of the infamous Golden Triangle, the Wa have built nation-like infrastructure funded by pink, vanilla-scented speed pills, their rise entangled with CIA operations gone wrong.

Patrick Winn is an award-winning American journalist who covers crime in Southeast Asia. His work has appeared on NBC News, The Atlantic, the BBC and other outlets. Currently the Asia correspondent for Public Radio International, each week Winn's voice is heard by millions on NPR stations. Since 2008, he has lived in Bangkok and reported almost exclusively on Southeast Asia.

In Episode #217, clinical psychologist Meg Jay joins Osi to discuss the mental health challenges young adults in their 20s face today, exploring why anxiety and depression have become so prevalent in this generation and examining how societal attitudes and approaches contribute to the issue.

Meg Jay, PhD, is a developmental clinical psychologist who specializes in twentysomethings. She is the author of The Twentysomething Treatment: A Revolutionary Remedy for an Uncertain Age, the cult classic The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them Now and Supernormal: The Secret World of the Family Hero. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages and her work has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review and on NPR, BBC and—maybe most important for her audience—TikTok.

In Episode #216, science journalist Sarah Scoles joins Osi to discuss why nuclear weapons are still a big deal today and question whether they really keep us safe or prevent wars. They explore what she learned from visiting U.S. nuclear weapons labs, explaining how modern nuclear technology works, what the people who maintain these weapons think about them, and why the risk of a nuclear disaster is still very real.

Sarah Scoles is a Colorado-based science journalist, a contributing writer at Popular Science, and a senior contributor at Undark. Her work has appeared in publications like the New York Times, Wired, Scientific American, and others. She is also the author of the books Making Contact: Jill Tarter and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, They Are Already Here: UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers, and Astronomical Mindfulness. Her forthcoming book is called Countdown: The Blinding Future of Nuclear Weapons. Her articles have won the American Geophysical Union's David Perlman Award for Excellence in Science Writing (2021) and the American Astronomical Society Solar Physics Division's Popular Media Award (2019, 2020). Previously, she was an associate editor at Astronomy and a public education officer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia.

In Episode #215, neuroscientist Tony Nader joins Osi to discuss a groundbreaking perspective on consciousness, exploring how it serves as the essence of all existence and offering practical tools and methods to connect with our authentic inner nature.

Tony Nader, M.D., Ph.D., MARR, is a medical doctor trained at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Ph.D. in neuroscience), and a globally recognised Vedic scholar. As Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s successor, Dr Nader is head of the international Transcendental Meditation® organisations in over 100 countries. From the Americas to Asia, from Europe to Africa, Dr Nader guides the Transcendental Meditation program and its advanced practices, and the practical applications of this technology in all areas of national life – education, health, business, defense, agriculture, and more.

In Episode #214, author Ajay Chaudhary join Osi to discuss how our current systems of power and economy are making climate change worse, deepening inequality, and wearing down both people and the planet. They also discuss the current fires happening in Los Angeles and how they connect to these broader issues.

Ajay Singh Chaudhary is the executive director of the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research and a core faculty member specializing in social and political theory. He holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics. His research focuses on social and political theory, Frankfurt School critical theory, political economy, political ecology, media, religion, and post-colonial studies. He has written for The Guardian, The Nation, The Baffler, n+1, Los Angeles Review of Books, Quartz, Social Text, Dialectical Anthropology, The Hedgehog Review, Filmmaker Magazine, and 3quarksdaily, among other venues. Ajay’s book on the politics of climate change, The Exhausted of the Earth: Politics in a Burning World, was published by Repeater Books in February, 2024.

In Episode #213, author and journalist Gwendolyn Bounds joins Osi to explore the art of reinvention, overcoming personal limits, and navigating the challenges along the way. In her book Not Too Late, Gwendolyn recounts her transformative journey from a sedentary office executive to a medal-winning obstacle course racer. She intertwines her own story of conquering physical and mental hurdles with expert insights on longevity, motivation, and human potential.

Gwendolyn (Wendy) Bounds is a writer and editor for The Wall Street Journal, where she has worked since 1993. Bounds has written about culture, travel, technology, retail and fashion, and has also published several first-person pieces and columns about family for the newspaper. Her first-person essay "Amid the Ashes, Baby Carriages, Shoes, Family Photos," which she wrote with her partner Kathryn Kranhold, won the 2002 Front Page Award for September 11th commentary from the Newswoman’s Club of New York.

In Episode #212, author and public policy advocate Ryan Hampton joins Osi to discuss the policy failures and systemic biases that have fueled the fentanyl crisis, as well as the broader consequences of America's failed War on Drugs.

A prominent advocate, speaker, author, and media commentator, Ryan Hampton travels coast-to-coast to add solutions to our national addiction and drug overdose crisis. In recovery from a decade-long opioid addiction, Hampton is regarded as a forefront expert and thought leader in America’s rising addiction recovery advocacy & drug policy reform movements. An alumnus of the Clinton White House, he’s worked with multiple non-profits and addiction recovery organizing campaigns. He’s now a prominent, leading face and voice of recovery advocacy and is working to change the longstanding negative narratives about those impacted by addiction, recovery, and overdose.

Through his books and media, organizing campaigns, and social content that reaches millions, Ryan breaks down cultural barriers that have kept people suffering in silence and is helping to inspire a new generation of advocates recovering out loud, pushing for common-sense policy.

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.