Early adulthood can be a particularly confusing and unsettling phase of life. You’re figuring out how to get a job, pay rent, and plan meals. At the same time, you’re also determining your values and the kind of person you want to be. It can feel like being pulled down two completely opposite life paths. In the latest episode of Apple News In Conversation’s Think Again series, host Shumita Basu talks to psychotherapist Satya Doyle Byock about how to balance the tugs of purpose and survival during the period she calls “quarterlife.” She’s even written a book on it, called, Quarterlife: The Search for Self in Early Adulthood.

Transitions can feel intimidating and destabilizing. But these moments can also be opportunities for growth, reflection, and self-discovery — especially when you have the right tools. In the first episode of Apple News In Conversation’s monthlong ‘Think Again’ series, host Shumita Basu talks to Hidden Brain's Shankar Vedantam about why pivot points can feel so challenging and how to embrace them as opportunities, rather than obstacles.

July is on track to be the hottest month ever recorded on Earth. Millions of people in the U.S. are living in areas with dangerous levels of heat — and a growing death toll. In a new book, The Heat Will Kill You First, reporter Jeff Goodell warns that heat is pushing us into a new climate era, with dire implications for individuals, society, and our planet. Goodell spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about the changes we need to make today and the reasons he still has hope for the future.

The Women’s World Cup is underway. With 32 nations fielding teams, it’s the biggest tournament yet. Rebecca Lowe, host of Apple News’s unofficial World Cup podcast, After the Whistle, and NBC Sports’ Premier League coverage, offers her predictions and reflects on the success and incredible growth of women’s soccer over her lifetime. Plus, she gives her take on Lionel Messi’s move to Major League Soccer.

Tom Hanks has learned a thing or two about moviemaking during his decades-long career. Ultimately, he says, it’s not about one person’s vision or direction; it’s about the countless people behind the camera — and a few in front of it — who make a movie possible. That’s the foundational idea behind his debut novel, The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece. Hanks spoke to Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu before SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents actors, decided to strike. But his book and their conversation are a reminder of all that goes into creating the entertainment many of us take for granted.

Rainn Wilson understands why so many people are rejecting religion today. But he argues that the core aspects of faith still have something important to offer us. Spirituality has brought him community, purpose, and levity — even as he’s struggled with depression, anxiety, and addiction. The actor explores these themes in his new book, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution, and TV show, Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss. Wilson shared what he's learned with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu.

This is an episode from our archives.

This week the Supreme Court put an end to affirmative action in college admissions, meaning universities can no longer consider race as a factor when accepting a new class of students. The ruling is expected to have pretty big repercussions for schools and students. But Evan Mandery, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, says we’re talking about the wrong issue. In his book Poison Ivy: How Elite Colleges Divide Us, Mandery explains how top schools disproportionately favor wealthy white students — and why that’s dangerous.

At their worst, graduation speeches are boring, trite, and pedantic. But at their best, they’re touching meditations on what it means to live a purposeful, fulfilling life. On this week’s episode of Apple News In Conversation, host Shumita Basu speaks with commencement-speech connoisseur Cristina Negrut, who has read hundreds of speeches and cataloged many on the website Best Graduation Speeches.

Samantha Irby is many things: blogger; essayist; and writer for shows like Shrill, And Just Like That …, and Work in Progress. Above all, she is a master of transforming seemingly mundane moments of everyday life into high comedy. Irby sat down with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to talk about her new book, Quietly Hostile, her writing process, turning herself into a TV character, and why frivolous things matter.