Content creation has exploded this decade, but how much of it is actually good? Spencer Kornhaber, staff writer for The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how the massive output of music, TV, movies, podcasts – even memes – constantly chips away at our attention spans. We’ll also talk about how derivative this content often is, how streaming might’ve killed creativity, and why innovation is so hard to notice. His article is “Is This the Worst-Ever Era of American Pop Culture?" 

College students sometimes get in trouble for using A.I. to complete assignments, but is there a way to use it as a teaching tool? Clay Shirky, vice provost for A.I. and technology in education at New York University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how professors are using A.I. in the classroom and whether or not the technology gets in the way of critical thinking. His article “Is AI Enhancing Education or Replacing It?” was published in The Chronicle of Higher Education."

Mentally ill inmates are at risk of neglect, dehydration – even starvation. New Yorker staff writer Sarah Stillman joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the four-fold increase since the 1980s of people in jail awaiting trial, the increasingly outsized population of mentally unwell people lacking proper treatment, and the alarming rise in jail deaths that could’ve been prevented with better supervision. Her article is “Starved in Jail.”

The dad who coaches the team and brings home the bacon is a modern invention. Augustine Sedgewick joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how fatherhood has evolved over millennia, how the patriarchy and fatherhood diverge, and how thinkers as far back as Aristotle thought about the role of dads. His book is “Fatherhood: A History of Love and Power.”

Space is the final frontier — and not too long ago, to explore it you had to be a man. Cady Coleman is a former NASA astronaut, retired U.S. Air Force colonel, scientist, pilot and musician. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how hearing Sally Ride speak changed the trajectory of her life and what months on the International Space Station taught her about her career and motherhood. Her book is “Sharing Space: An Astronaut’s Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change.” 

This episode originally aired July 25th, 2025.

Every relationship has a person who loads the dishwasher like an architect, and one who throws plates in like a tornado. Ellen Cushing, staff writer for The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why arguments over daily chores might signal deeper issues in a partnership, why some household appliances have such a hold on us, and, yes, we’ll get to scientific proof of how that dishwasher is really supposed to be loaded. (Be prepared to tell your significant other.) Her article is, “There Are Two Types of Dishwasher People.”

We hear a lot about the male “epidemic of loneliness” these days—maybe it’s from behaviors learned in childhood. Joshua Coleman is a psychologist in private practice and senior fellow with the Council on Contemporary Families. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how we parent girls and boys differently, asking boys to hide their emotions while allowing girls to express theirs and how even in infancy we don’t give boys the attention they need reliably. His article, “What Parents of Boys Need to Know” was published by The Atlantic.

Finding happiness is no longer an abstract pursuit—there’s serious science behind it, but it’s research that hasn’t always been held in the highest esteem. Susan Dominus, staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how studying happiness became a respected field of study, what psychologists are learning about different types of happiness, and what data says about contentment. Her article is, "How Nearly a Century of Happiness Research Led to One Big Finding." 

Why are we following the lead of tech billionaires when it comes to guiding public policy? Science journalist Adam Becker joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the ways Silicon Valley scions might have A.I. all wrong, the obsession with space colonies and why we aren’t asking more critical questions for their version of the future. His book is, “More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley’s Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity.“

 We think we’ll win the lotto even though the odds are low— and that sums up just how wrong we are when we think about risk. Allie Volpe is a senior reporter at Vox. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the many ways we get risk management wrong, why data shows it is hindering younger generations from taking chances and ways we can manage anxiety over the things we can’t control. Her article is, “Plane crashes, pandemics, toxic spatulas. How do we live with so much risk?“