When Miranda July entered her early forties, she noticed a grim feeling emerge. “It wasn't coming from me,” she said, “I guess it came from this lack of imagery, or stories, or even just basic medical information about what was going to happen next with my body.” The dearth of information and near absence of cultural mythology about perimenopause and menopause became the catalyst for her novel All Fours, which came out in May and quickly became a New York Times bestseller. 

In this episode, Miranda talks about the unease that inspired the book and speculates about what the future could look like if more people openly discussed this crucial chapter of life. We also hear from listeners who share their experiences with perimenopause and menopause. 

The interview with Miranda was recorded live in San Francisco for City Arts & Lectures.

You can check out a great profile of Miranda, which is referenced in the episode, here: 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/05/20/miranda-july-profile  

Podcast production by Cameron Drews.

Death, Sex & Money is now produced by Slate! To support us and our colleagues, please sign up for our membership program, Slate Plus! Members get ad-free podcasts, bonus content on lots of Slate shows, and full access to all the articles on Slate.com. Sign up today at slate.com/dsmplus.

And if you’re new to the show, welcome. We’re so glad you’re here. Find us and follow us on Instagram, and you can find Anna’s newsletter at annasale.substack.com. Our new email address, where you can reach us with voice memos, pep talks, questions, or critiques, is [email protected].

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On this episode: Jamilah, Elizabeth and Zak help a listener who’s wondering why her friend is bodyshaming her own toddler so intensely — not to mention our listener’s kid, too — and what to do about it. These kids are still little enough to avoid lifelong damage to their relationships with food, and their bodies… but where’s the line when it comes to telling this friend to shut it and let the kids eat cake?

We’ll also debrief with a round of parenting Triumphs & Fails — and we'll share an update on the tricky question we tackled earlier this week about not liking your kid.

Join us on Facebook and email us at [email protected] to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. You can also call our phone line: (646) 357-9318.

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Care and Feeding. Sign up now at slate.com/careplus to help support our work.

Podcast produced by Maura Currie.

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How Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting—two women boxers fighting in the gender category they were assigned at birth—became the targets of trans panic and subject to another round of “but is she woman enough?” at the Olympics. 

Guest: Rose Eveleth, reporter and host of the podcast Tested, from NPR and CBC.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.

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Research going back decades shows adding more fruits, vegetables, and non-animal sources of protein helps us live longer, healthier lives. 

A study featured in the Netflix docuseries You Are What You Eat: A Twin Study took that to the next level. 

Stanford researchers asked 22 sets of identical twins to go 8 weeks eating a healthy, varied diet and regularly exercising. One twin ate an omnivore diet, the other vegan.

On this week’s episode of Well, Now we talk to the lead researcher of the “twin study” Christopher Gardner on his findings and whether we really all need to go vegan to stay healthy.

If you liked this episode, check out: How Your Food Can Fight Climate Change

Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.

Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to [email protected].

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This week Jules speaks with journalist Sohini Desai about their latest article for Slate ‘Trans Health Care Is Under Attack. But Are Concierge Providers Really the Solution?’ Together they break down what these services offer and whether they can make a meaningful difference for trans people accessing healthcare across the country. 

Produced by Palace Shaw

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On today’s episode of Hear Me Out: opening ceremonies (and a can of worms).

We come to you midway through the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. But amid the patriotism, athletic prowess, and sheer spectacle of these games — the most watched and streamed to date, by some measures — there’s also concerns about geopolitical power, human rights abuses, and the facilitation of facism.  

MacIntosh Ross of Windsor University joins us to talk about the uglier facets of the Olympic Games.

If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: [email protected]

Podcast production by Maura Currie.

Want more Hear Me Out? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/hearmeoutplus to get access wherever you listen.

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The age when you need to start being screened for cancers may need to be updated, as rates among younger people are on the rise. New testing methods could make the process a lot easier than, say, a colonoscopy - but they’re not perfect. 

Guest: Dylan Scott, senior correspondent and editor for Vox.

Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.

Public.com+Public Investing: All investing involves risk. Brokerage services for US listed securities, options and bonds in a self-directed brokerage account are offered by Public Investing, member FINRA & SIPC. Not investment advice. Public Investing offers a High-Yield Cash Account where funds from this account are automatically deposited into partner banks where they earn interest and are eligible for FDIC insurance; Public Investing is not a bank.Cryptocurrency trading services are offered by Bakkt Crypto Solutions, LLC (NMLS ID 1828849), which is licensed to engage in virtual currency business activity by the NYSDFS. Cryptocurrency is highly speculative, involves a high degree of risk, and has the potential for loss of the entire amount of an investment. Cryptocurrency holdings are not protected by the FDIC or SIPC. . See public.com/#disclosures-main for more information.

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It’s a fact that summers around the world are reaching record-breaking temperatures.

Heat-related illness and death have hit a crisis point, and staying cool is more important than ever.

On this week’s episode of Well, Now we speak with someone living in one of the country's hottest states. 

Dr. Richard Carmona is a career first responder with more than 50 years of experience caring for people in crisis. A veteran of the U.S. Army as a special forces medic, Carmona also served as the 17th U.S. Surgeon General under President George W. Bush. Currently, Carmona is a professor at The University of Arizona in Tucson.

If you liked this episode, check out: How a Former Surgeon General Took on a $5,000 ER Bill

Well, Now is hosted by registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller and Dr. Kavita Patel.

Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.

Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to [email protected]

Want to listen to Well, Now uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Well, Now and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. 

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/wellplus to get access wherever you listen.

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If you’re lucky, it’s possible you’ve never thought much about sitting. It’s just something your body does, like breathing or sleeping. But in the last decade or so, sitting has stepped into the spotlight, as a kind of villain. In today’s episode, Slate’s Dan Kois tells us about his radical experiment to go without sitting for an entire month. Then to understand why sitting is under attack we look back at an earlier posture panic around slouching, and explore the role of hostile architecture.

This episode was written by Max Freedman and Willa Paskin and produced by Max. We produce Decoder Ring with Katie Shepherd and Evan Chung. Derek John is Executive Producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.

You heard “Sitting” by TJ Mack, aka Brian Jordan Alvarez, as remixed by Josh Mac. We’d like to thank Stephen Nessen and Rob Robinson. For some of the background on hostile architecture, we are indebted to the late Mike Davis’s book, City of Quartz, and in particular Chapter 4: “Fortress L.A.” Check out Dan Kois’ New York Magazine article about his exploits, “Sitting Is Bad for You. So I Stopped. For a Whole Month.” 

If you haven’t please yet, subscribe and rate our feed in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And even better, tell your friends.

If you’re a fan of the show, we’d love for you to sign up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get to listen to Decoder Ring and every other Slate podcast without any ads. You also get unlimited access to Slate’s website. Member support is crucial to our work. So please go to Slate.com/decoderplus to join Slate Plus today.

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A key component to wellness is gut health. But what determines if you have a healthy gut? 

On this week’s episode of Well, Now, we dive into the fascinating world of the gut microbiome, a collection of bacteria and sometimes fungi that live in the human digestive system. 

We are provided with insight from Dr. Colin Hill, professor of Microbiology at APC Microbiome Ireland on how to properly take care of your microbiome and why it is essential

If you liked this episode, check out – Doctors Agree: Obesity is a Disease. The Public Needs to Catch Up.

Well, Now is hosted by Dr. Kavita Patel and registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller.

Editing and podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola and Vic Whitley-Berry.

Editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.

Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to [email protected].

Want to listen to Well, Now uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Well, Now and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. 

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/wellplus to get access wherever you listen.

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