From elite hackers to how psychedelics can heal trauma: hot new podcasts for summer

This week, we're listening to the best new summer releases – starting with a riveting investigative podcast from the UK.

The Lazarus Heist podcast charts the cybercrime exploits of an elite team of hackers allegedly connected to North Korea – a charge the secretive state denies. Season one told the story of the group's malware attack on Sony Pictures, among others, and the recently released season two picks up on what the hackers did next.

And this time, there's a Canadian connection – a dark web fraudster called Big Boss is one of the North Korean hackers' international accomplices, who helped to carry out so-called jackpotting heists – whereby the hackers took control of ATM machines located across 28 countries, and stole some $14 million dollars in just a couple of hours.

Plus, can psychedelics help to heal racial trauma?

Truth Be Told is an award-winning podcast that explores Black liberation. The show is back for a fifth season. This time around, host Tonya Mosley looks at "the psychedelic renaissance in Black America."

When paired with therapy, it's believed psychedelics can help to heal racial trauma, whether it's diagnosed PTSD or the kind of trauma that comes from being Black in a racist world.

But a history of racism in healthcare along with the war on drugs has made it difficult for people of colour to explore psychedelic-led therapies.

All that and more on this week's show.

Featuring:

The Lazarus Heist - Where do you hide 14 million dollars? The Lazarus Heist charts the cybercrime exploits of an elite team of hackers. They're allegedly connected to North Korea, though the country denies it.

Truth Be Told - Truth Be Told is an award-winning podcast that explores Black liberation. The show is back for a fifth season. This time around, host Tonya Mosley looks at "the psychedelic renaissance in Black America."

Bodies - This series is known for compassionately delving into medical mysteries, with an intersectional focus on the bodies of women and marginalized genders. This episode explores the impact of human touch. Hear a young girl explain what touch meant to her while visiting her incarcerated father.

Grown from PRX and The Moth - Grown is all about the challenges and joys of growing up. It features a collection of stories that look at the time between the awkward teenage years to almost-adulthood.

WILD - WILD is a podcast about, "how we overcome difficult moments that shape us forever." The latest season tells a true-ish story about the craziest thing one man ever did for love.

Expectant - Expectant blends fiction and nonfiction, following a woman trying to decide if she wants to have a child during the climate crisis. It's intimate and confessional, sonically experimental, and features real interviews with a range of climate scientists, parents, happily childfree people and mental health experts.