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A newly available kind of genetic testing, called polygenic embryo screening, promises to screen for conditions that can include cancer, obesity, autism, bipolar disorder, even celiac disease. These conditions are informed by many genetic variants and environmental factors - so companies like Orchid and Heliospect assign risk scores to each embryo for a given condition. These tests are expensive, only available through IVF, and some researchers question how these risk scores are calculated. But what would it mean culturally if more people tried to screen out some of these conditions? And how does this connect to societal ideas about whose lives are meaningful?

Brittany gets into it with Vardit Ravitsky, senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School and president of the Hastings Center, a non-partisan bioethics research center, and Katie Hasson, associate director of the Center for Genetics and Society, a nonprofit public affairs organization that advocates for responsible use of genetic technology.

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Brittany keeps looking at a new couch online, and every time she goes to buy it she sees an option to "Buy Now, Pay Later," which made her wonder...should she? Here's what she found:

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) loans have become one of the go-to ways to get access to credit fast. Companies like Klarna, Affirm, and Afterpay make buying big purchases relatively easy by allowing people to pay in installments over time. But some Americans have taken to using this method for everyday items like groceries, and when BNPL service providers like Klarna partners with DoorDash so customers can "eat now, pay later"... it feels like a debt trap waiting to happen. And that's just scratching the surface.

This... is Money Troubles.

And for the past few weeks we've been looking into the ways everyday people are trying to make ends meet... and what it says about how our culture views labor, basic needs, or even our favorite pastimes.

In this final episode, NPR Life Kit's Andee Tagle and author Malcolm Harris join Brittany to get into why Buy Now, Pay Later has become so popular and how 'cheap credit' may be another lifestyle subsidy for a new generation.

You can hear more of Andee's and Life Kit's reporting on Buy Now, Pay Later here.

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Children's educator and YouTube star Ms. Rachel has used her social media to advocate for the safety of children all over the world - but when she used her platform to call attention to the plight of children in Gaza, she was accused of being paid by Hamas.

This week, Brittany is joined by Defector managing editor Samer Kalaf and The Guardian's data editor Mona Chalabi to unpack why it's suddenly so controversial to advocate for kids.

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Online discourse has become a fun part of enjoying and dissecting big pop culture events. But after seeing all the commentary around Ryan Coogler's Sinners - one of the biggest cultural juggernauts of the year - Brittany has one question: are we in a media literacy crisis?

Difference of opinion is one thing, but it feels like some viewers are missing important clues or misreading the film entirely - and it doesn't stop with Sinners.

To help work through this, Pop Culture Happy Hour's Aisha Harris and Code Switch's B.A. Parker join the show to figure out what this could mean for the way we engage with the world at large.

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It's been seven years since the Supreme Court legalized sports betting outside of Nevada. For some, it's a hobby that spices up a game, but for others it's become a side hustle or investing strategy. And in a time where 60% of U.S. households don't earn enough to afford basic costs of living... that can be a problem.

This... is Money Troubles. And for the next few weeks, we're looking into the ways everyday people are trying to make ends meet... and what it says about how our culture views labor, basic needs, or even our favorite pastimes.

Today on the show, writer Manny Fidel and journalist Danny Funt join Brittany to get into how sports betting is changing the way we watch sports, and what that means for the love of the game.

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The highly anticipated federal trial against Sean "Diddy" Combs has begun. The hip-hop mogul is facing charges of racketeering and sex trafficking, and could be sentenced to life in prison if found guilty. So why is his attorney, Marc Agnifilo, telling the court they're going to "take the position that there was mutual violence" in his relationship with the singer Cassie Ventura?

Brittany is joined by author Beverly Gooden and Loyola University law professor Laurie Levenson to discuss why "mutual abuse" can often come up in celebrity trials and why the concept itself is inherently flawed.

Listen to Brittany's past coverage of Diddy by clicking here.

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Should AI give you a voice? Even when you've been murdered?

An AI avatar of a murder victim addressed his killer in court last week, and it may have been the first admittance of an AI-generated victim impact statement in a US court. Chris Pelkey, who was shot in a road rage incident in 2021, was recreated in a video made by his sister to offer forgiveness to his killer. This could mark the start of a new relationship between AI and the law, but will it change the relationship between us and the law? And what are the broader impacts we might see on our culture?

Brittany sits down with NPR digital news reporter Juliana Kim and Brandon Blankenship, assistant professor and director of the pre-law program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, to find out.

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Concert tickets are more expensive than ever, and according to Live Nation, 2023 was the biggest year ever for concert turnout and ticket sales. So why are indie artists turning to OnlyFans to pay the bills?

This is PART ONE of our new series, Money Troubles.

And for the next few weeks, we're looking into the ways everyday people are trying to make ends meet... and what it says about how our culture views labor, basic needs, and even our favorite pastimes.

In this episode, Brittany sits down with NPR culture reporter Isabella Gomez Sarmiento to get into the economic factors driving musicians to digital sex work and what that says about the music industry's dwindling middle class.

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The leftward shift of Gen Z women is one of the most dramatic political trends happening right now. Polling data from Gallup found that 40% of young women aged 18-29 self-describe as liberal compared to 28% of the same demographic at the beginning of the century. So what's causing a new generation of young women to move to the left?

Brittany is joined by founder of the Up and Up Newsletter, Rachel Janfaza, and New York Times reporter, Claire Cain Miller. Together they discuss what we should make of the growing political gender gap between young men and young women.

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The Trump administration wants their recent tariffs to function as incentives for Americans to produce more of our own goods in our own factories. And one poll shows that 80% of us say the country would be better off if more Americans worked in manufacturing. But why do people on both sides of the aisle want these jobs back so much? What have we lost culturally with the loss of factory jobs that we want to bring back? And ultimately - how does the fantasy of bringing more factory jobs back stack up against the reality of how American manufacturing works today? Brittany is joined by Vox senior correspondent Dylan Matthews and Montclair State University associate professor Jeffrey Gonzalez to find out.

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