State of the Pod

America loves it. But does it love America back? Courtney and Annalisa (Cornell ‘29) discuss the ramifications of a society that glorifies football and minimizes its detrimental effects.

Produced and Edited by Courtney Cole and Annalisa Raji

Special thanks to the Investigative Biology Lab @ Cornell University for our recording equipment 

Music from Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio

Sources:

What is CTE? Understanding chronic traumatic encephalopathy – Harvard Health

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy – Symptoms and causes – Mayo Clinic

The Neuropathology of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy – PMC

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy in young athletes | National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Franchise Value of National Football League Teams in 2025 – Statista

American Football – Britannica

NFL Dominates American Entertainment – Forbes

Injury Data Since 2015 – NFL

Nine Decades After NFL Banned Black Players, Super Bowl LVII Is The First To Feature Two Black Starting Quarterbacks – National Urban League

Discrimination in a Rank Order Contest. Evidence from the NFL Draft – IZA Institute of Labor Economics

The story behind the sports betting boom – NPR

Football players and image rights — are clubs and brands profiting unfairly? – Brabners

2022 NFL Personal Conduct Policy – NFL

The NFL’s ‘take a knee’ movement and its impact on workplace protest – CU Boulder Today

How NFL Uniforms Have Changed Over the Years – Men’s Health

Uniform Inspections – NFL Football Operations

NFL to allow Guardian Caps on helmets during regular season – ESPN

How The NFL Is Advancing Player Health And Safety – NFL

The post 704: Blitzed! The Medical, Societal, and Economic Consequences of Football first appeared on State of the Pod.

$10 billion is cut from Medicaid each year, leaving around 10 million people uninsured. These outcomes correlate with the passing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or OBBBA. What are the policy changes enacted by OBBBA, and how are these policy changes affecting millions of people insured on the publicly-funded Medicaid? What will happen if the reforms are put into practice too late? This episode will dive into the details of these policy changes, emphasizing potential pros and cons of OBBBA on the U.S. healthcare system – as well as how they affect both Medicaid beneficiaries and private insurees alike. Listeners will walk away with a newfound understanding of the interconnectedness of the U.S. healthcare system – how even the smallest policy alterations can have a widespread, indirect impact on everyone. 

Written by Shane Douglas, Rma Polce, Ayrina Lopez & Skye Romo.

Produced and Edited by Ayrina Lopez, Shane Douglas & Rma Polce. 

Special thanks to the Investigative Biology Lab @ Cornell University for our recording equipment 

Music from Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio 

References:

Baldwin CPAs. “Understanding the impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on healthcare taxation and business planning,” Baldwin CPAs, September 9, 2025, https://www.baldwincpas.com/insights/how-the-one-big-beautiful-bill-act-impacts-healthcare-taxes.

CDC. “Preventing chronic diseases and promoting health in rural communities,” Centers for Disease Control, December 19, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/health-equity-chronic-disease/health-equity-rural-communities/index.html

FOX 5 Washington DC. “How does the Big Beautiful Bill affect Medicare,” FOX 5 Washington DC, July 6, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vtk7G5Ov0g.

Gorman L. “Variations in public and private insurers’ hospital reimbursements,” National Bureau of Economic Research, September 1, 2025, https://www.nber.org/digest/sep20/variation-public-and-private-insurers-hospital-reimbursements?page=1&perPage=50.

Haley MJ, et al. “Medicaid work requirements could threaten parents’ and children’s coverage and well-being,” Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy, May 19, 2025, https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2025/05/19/medicaid-work-requirements-could-threaten-parents-and-childrens-coverage-and-well-being/.

Morrisey AM. Health Insurance, Second Edition. Health Administration Press; 2013. https://account.ache.org/iweb/upload/Morrisey2253_Chapter_1-3b5f4e08.pdf.

NAMD Staff. “OBBBA Medicaid Policy Timeline,” National Association of Medicaid Directors, August 12, 2025, https://medicaiddirectors.org/resource/obbba-medicaid-policy-timeline/.

Pillai D, et al. “1.4 million lawfully present immigrants are expected to lose health expected to lose health coverage due to the 2025 tax and budget law,” KFF, September 25, 2025, https://www.kff.org/immigrant-health/1-4-million-lawfully-present-immigrants-are-expected-to-lose-health-coverage-due-to-the-2025-tax-and-budget-law/.

The Board of Trustees, Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds. “2025 Medicare Trustees Report,” 2025 Medicare Trustees Report, June 18, 2025, https://www.cms.gov/oact/tr/2025.

The Committee for Responsible Federal Budget. “OBBBA would accelerate social security & Medicare insolvency,” The Committee for Responsible Federal Budget, June 27, 2025, https://www.crfb.org/blogs/obbba-would-accelerate-social-security-medicare-insolvency#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Social%20Security%20and%20Medicare,benefits%20by%20roughly%20$30%20billion%20per%20year.

Tolbert J & Chidambaram P. “Cost sharing requirements could have implications for Medicaid expansion enrollees with higher health care needs,” KFF, June 27, 2025, https://www.kff.org/medicaid/cost-sharing-requirements-could-have-implications-for-medicaid-expansion-enrollees-with-higher-health-care-needs/#:~:text=The%20bill%20would%2C%20for%20the,enrollee%20is%20unable%20to%20pay.

McGough, M., Wager , E., Winger, A., Panchal, N., & Cotter, L. (2024, December 20). How has U.S. spending on healthcare changed over time? Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker. https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-spending-healthcare-changed-time/

Brook, R. H., Keeler, E. B., Lohr, K. N., Newhouse, J. P., Ware, J. E., Rogers, W. H., Davies, A. R., Sherbourne, C. D., Goldberg, G. A., Camp, P., Kamberg, C., Leibowitz, A., Keesey, J., & Reboussin, D. (2006). The health insurance experiment: A classic rand study speaks to the current health care reform debate. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9174.html

Fact sheet: Hospital mergers and acquisitions can expand and preserve access to care | aha. (2025, October 21). https://www.aha.org/fact-sheets/2023-03-16-fact-sheet-hospital-mergers-and-acquisitions-can-expand-and-preserve-access-care

Nocera, S., & Zweifel, P. (1998). The demand for health: An empirical test of the grossman model using panel data. In P. Zweifel (Ed.), Health, the Medical Profession, and Regulation (pp. 35–49). Springer US. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5681-7_2

Goodman-Bacon, Andrew. 2021. “The Long-Run Effects of Childhood Insurance Coverage: Medicaid Implementation, Adult Health, and Labor Market Outcomes.” American Economic Review 111 (8): 2550–93. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20171671

Sommers, Benjamin D., et al. “Medicaid Work Requirements In Arkansas: Two-Year Impacts On Coverage, Employment, And Affordability Of Care.” Health Affairs, vol. 39, no. 9, Sep. 2020, pp. 1522–30, https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00538.

“How Medicaid Built Community Health Centers And Health Centers Returned The Favor”, Health Affairs Forefront, July 31, 2025 . DOI: 10.1377/forefront.20250729.523547

The post 703: The $10 Billion Question: How OBBBA Is Reshaping Healthcare  first appeared on State of the Pod.

We live in a world with a myriad of cultures, which are integral to shaping our perspectives. From two books published at different times to differing reactions to healthcare across ethnic groups, we explore how our diverse cultures shape our viewpoints in fields like medicine. We also uncover the therapeutic aspects of art and how it can help us understand each other by celebrating our uniqueness and highlighting the universal human experience. This episode features a collaboration with Jonathan and Jeffery, our friends from the HeARTbeat at Cornell. 

Produced by: 

Rma Polce, Jeffery Ho, Jonathan Jiang

Edited by: 

Rma Polce 

Special thanks to the Investigative Biology Lab @ Cornell University for our recording equipment 

Intro and Outro Music from Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio 

Calming music excerpt – Music track: Awake by Pufino, Source: https://freetouse.com/music/

Sources: 

Art therapy as an adjuvant treatment for depression in elderly women: a randomized controlled trial. Ciasca EC, Ferreira RC, Santana CL, Forlenza OV, Dos Santos GD, Brum PS, Nunes PV. Braz J Psychiatry. 2018;40:256–263. doi: 10.1590/1516-4446-2017-2250.

Dimitroff, L. J., Sliwoski, L., O’Brien, S., & Nichols, L. W. (2016). Change your life through journaling—The benefits of journaling for registered nurses. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 7(2), p90. https://doi.org/10.5430/jnep.v7n2p90

Mcmath, A. (2023, April 19). The compelling impact of art therapy: 6 eye-opening statistics. Black Alphabet. https://www.blackalphabet.org/post/the-compelling-impact-of-art-therapy-6-eye-opening-statistics

Pham CT, McPhee SJ. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of breast and cervical cancer screening among Vietnamese women. J Cancer Educ. 1992 Winter;7(4):305-10.  PubMed PMID: 1305417.

Visual Arts Education improves self-esteem for persons with dementia and reduces caregiver burden: a randomized controlled trial. Richards AG, Tietyen AC, Jicha GA, et al. Dementia (London) 2019;18:3130–3142. doi: 10.1177/1471301218769071.

Schriever SH. Comparison of beliefs and practices of ethnic Viet and Lao Hmong concerning illness, healing, death and mourning: implications for hospice care with refugees in Canada. J Palliat Care. 1990 Spring;6(1):42-9. PubMed PMID: 2332823.

Shukla A, Choudhari SG, Gaidhane AM, Quazi Syed Z. Role of Art Therapy in the Promotion of Mental Health: A Critical Review. Cureus. 2022 Aug 15;14(8):e28026. doi: 10.7759/cureus.28026. PMID: 36134083; PMCID: PMC9472646.

Author special: A q&a with brené brown. (2025). https://blog.booksamillion.com/posts/author-special-a-q-a-with-brene-brown

The post 702: Bridging Cultures: The Art of Medicine first appeared on State of the Pod.

Artificial intelligence is no longer just a tool; it’s an observer. In this episode, we uncover how AI-driven surveillance and content moderation shape public life across governments, campuses, and the platforms we use every day. From China’s massive “A.I.+ Action Plan” to U.S. immigration tools like Mobile Fortify and Palantir’s ImmigrationOS, we explore how algorithms track behavior, flag speech, and generate decisions with real human consequences.

But AI’s reach doesn’t stop at borders. It’s built through global supply chains, deployed on college campuses, and embedded in social media moderation systems that determine what we see, and what gets quietly removed. As these technologies become the invisible infrastructure of daily life, the boundary between “safety” and “censorship” grows increasingly blurred.

Join us as we ask the big questions: Who gets protected, who gets silenced, and who gets to define what counts as “harmful,” “suspicious,” or “un-American”? And what kind of digital future do we want to build?

Produced by: Hope Cross-Jaya and Skye Romo

Edited by: Hope Cross-Jaya 

Special thanks to the Investigative Biology Lab @ Cornell University for our recording equipment 

Intro and Outro Music from Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio

Sources:

[1] The New York Times. “China – Surveillance State or Way of the Future?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gSU_Xes3GQ

[2] The New York Times. “How China’s Surveillance Is Growing More Invasive | Visual Investigations.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo_FM3mjBCY

[3] Vice News. “Should Americans Worry About Mass Surveillance in the U.S.?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4WikiabOXg

[4] The New York Times. “China’s Security State Sells an A.I. Dream.” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/world/asia/china-police-ai-surveillance.html

[5] PBS / Frontline. “Life Inside China’s Total Surveillance State.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ5LnY21Hgc

[6] Associated Press. “How U.S. Tech Enabled China’s Surveillance State.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvKp0VsvuNA

[7] Vice News. “Exposing the NSA’s Mass Surveillance of Americans.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYVm62oEyWA

[8] DW News. “AI Supremacy: The Artificial Intelligence Battle Between China, USA, and Europe.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le122vas9aM

[9] Associated Press. “U.S. Tech Helped Build China’s Surveillance State Despite Warnings.” https://apnews.com/article/chinese-surveillance-silicon-valley-trump-administration-congress-21c5f961b1fd22f9a9e563ebe64e5582

[10] Reuters. “Labor Unions Sue U.S. Over Monitoring Social Media of Visa Holders.” https://www.reuters.com/world/us/labor-unions-sue-us-over-monitoring-social-media-visa-holders-2025-10-16/

[11] American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “Face Recognition and the ‘Trump Terror’: A Marriage Made in Hell.” https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/ice-face-recognition

[12] American Immigration Council. “ICE to Use ImmigrationOS by Palantir, a New AI System, to Track Immigrants’ Movements.” https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/ice-immigrationos-palantir-ai-track-immigrants/

[13] U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “Immigration and Customs Enforcement – AI Use Cases.” https://www.dhs.gov/ai/use-case-inventory/ice

[14] Brookings Institution. “How Tech Powers Immigration Enforcement.” https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-tech-powers-immigration-enforcement/

[15] Brookings Institution. “How AI Can Enable Public Surveillance.” https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-ai-can-enable-public-surveillance/

[16] Brookings Institution. “Creating Equitable Standards for Federal Use of Facial Recognition Technology.” https://www.brookings.edu/articles/creating-equitable-standards-for-federal-use-of-facial-recognition-technology/

[17] Brookings Institution. “How Technology Is Altering Citizen Protests.” https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-technology-is-altering-citizen-protests/

Interview taken from:

Vice News. “Should Americans Worry About Mass Surveillance in the U.S.?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4WikiabOXg

The post 701: Tracked, Flagged, Filtered: How AI Decides What You See (and What You Don’t) first appeared on State of the Pod.

Is the fountain of youth finally in our grasp? From fictitious movies to ancient mythologies, the desire for immortality has permeated almost every facet of human society. Today, an increasingly powerful anti-aging industry has instilled the idea that growing old is undesirable. But does living longer really mean living better? Join us as we dive into the sociological and ethical implications of treating aging as a disease to be cured.

Produced: Emily Hart, Sayuri Pfeiffer, Julian Park, Gargi Rao

The post 609: Who Wants to Live Forever?: What it Means to Age in the 21st Century first appeared on State of the Pod.

Child and family influencers are some of the hottest channels on YouTube. But what are the risks of living your childhood on camera? We argue, child influencing is child labor, and with this comes a myriad of unethical conditions and potential childhood trauma. Tune in to explore the mechanisms that drive this industry, and how platforms benefit from this damaging cycle. 

Written, Edited, and Produced by: Adele Williams, Anona Joshi, Diego Valdez

Art by Angelina Rappa

Special thank you to Brooke Aaron Duffy, Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Cornell University for speaking with us. Additional thank you to the Investigative Biology Department at Cornell University for our recording equipment.

Sources:

Masterson, Marina. “When Play Becomes Work: Child Labor Laws in the Era of ‘Kidfluencers.’” SSRN, 14 Aug. 2021, papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3650376.  

McKen, Jordy. “10 Family YouTuber Scandals: Articles on Watchmojo.Com.” WatchMojo, WacthMojo, 21 Sept. 2023, www.watchmojo.com/articles/10-family-youtuber-scandals/ryan-s-world.  

Muppalla, S. K., Vuppalapati, S., Reddy Pulliahgaru, A., & Sreenivasulu, H. (2023). Effects of Excessive Screen Time on Child Development: An Updated Review and Strategies for Management. Cureus, 15(6), e40608. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.40608

Riggio, Amanda G. “The Small-er Screen: YouTube Vlogging and the Unequipped Child Entertainment Labor Laws.” Seattle University Law Review, vol. 44, no. 2, Winter 2021, pp. 493-530. HeinOnline, https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/sealr44&i=497.

Vogels, Emily A. “Teens, Social Media and Technology 2022.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 10 Aug. 2022, www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/.  

Music:

“Darren Curtis – It’s In The Fog” is under a Creative Commons license (CC BY 3.0). Darrencurtismusic. Music promoted by BreakingCopyright: https://bit.ly/b-in-the-fog 

The post 608: iKids: Beyond the Camera first appeared on State of the Pod.

This podcast discusses the many environmental issues the Shinnecock Nation on Long Island currently faces and how they may worsen as climate change becomes more severe. It covers topics ranging from ocean acidification and shoreline erosion to cultural practices that have suffered as a result of global warming to local governments’ efforts toward mitigating these damages.

Produced by: Rewa Phansalkar, Grace DePaull

Names and titles of all interviewees: Shavonne Smith (Environmental Director of Shinnecock Nation), Wiley Gifford (Cornell Environment and Sustainability major, class of 2024), Joey Armstrong (Cornell Chemical Engineering major, class of 2025), Kadijat Alakiu (Cornell Environmental Engineering major, class of 2024)

Citations for any sources cited in the episode: INDIGENOUS RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE: CONTRASTING U.S FEDERAL ADAPTATION EFFORTS WITH TRIBAL APPROACHES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST – a thesis by Rewa Phansalkar

The post 607: Environmental Issues faced by the Shinnecock Nation first appeared on State of the Pod.

Join us as we dive into the unregulated world of the vitamin and dietary supplement industry. With over 85,000 supplement products on the market and minimal FDA oversight, learn about the hidden dangers lurking in your daily pills and powders. We talk to Harvard researcher Dr. Pieter Cohen to uncover the shocking truth about supplement contamination, mislabeling, and overdosing risks that companies don’t want you to know. Discover if your supplements are a path to better health or simply overhyped, and what you can do to stay informed and safe.

Written and Produced by Isabella Ciocca, Rma Polce, Matthew Kiewski, and Angelina Rappa

Edited by Rma Polce

Art by Angelina Rappa

Citations:

The post 606: Health or Hype? The Supplement Industry’s Deficiencies  first appeared on State of the Pod.

The portrayal of women in media is strikingly one-dimensional, often reduced to either objects of desire or figures to be fetishized. This phenomenon extends across diverse platforms—from your go-to fashion magazines to the grittiest video games, where women frequently find themselves cast as subservient and hypersexualized entities. In this episode, we dive into the pervasive nature of this hypersexualization and its roots in larger patriarchal systems. Through a discussion on various media forms, we unravel the profound impact of these portrayals on consumers. The result? A dire outlook on the world, shaped by the affliction imposed by these depictions.

The aim of this episode, therefore, is to provoke a deeper understanding of systemic inequalities ingrained in media and to empower consumers to reshape their perspectives. By doing so, we can collectively strive for a more inclusive and equitable media landscape.

Produced and written by Adele Williams, Thoranna Bender, Eve Iulo

Edited by Adele Williams

Art by Anjelina Gonzalez

Citations:

[1] PBS NewsHour. (2013, December 21). The sexualization of young girls: What we lose and gain. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/social_issues-july-dec13-sexualization_12-21

[2] UNICEF USA. (2021, January 11). Not an object: The sexualization and exploitation of women and girls. Retrieved from https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/not-object-sexualization-and-exploitation-women-and-girls-0

[3] Blagburn, B. (n.d.). A Feminist Approach to Reclaiming Sex, Sexuality, and Sensuality. Saint Mary’s College (Notre Dame IN). Retrieved from https://human.libretexts.org/Courses/Saint_Mary’s_College_(Notre_Dame_IN)/Literature/Chimamanda_Adichie%3A_A_Research_Guide/04%3A_Critical_Analyses/4.01%3A__A_Feminist_Approach_to_Reclaiming_Sex_Sexuality_and_Sensuality_By_Brittany_Blagburn

[4] SSAIC. (2022, April 13). Emily Ratajkowski on Taking Back Her Body. Retrieved from https://ssaic.ca/emily-ratajkowski-on-taking-back-her-body/

[5] Hirsch, J. S., & Larson, K. (2020, February 1). ‘Angels’ in Hell: The Culture of Misogyny Inside Victoria’s Secret. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/01/business/victorias-secret-razek-harassment.html

[6] Masters of Media. (2020, September 28). “You Can See Me Naked After the Paywall”: How OnlyFans Transforms the Online Sex Industry. Retrieved from http://mastersofmedia.hum.uva.nl/blog/2020/09/28/you-can-see-me-naked-after-the-paywall-how-onlyfans-transforms-the-online-sex-industry/

[7] SpringerLink. (2020, January 2). Back That Sexism Up: An Analysis of the Representation of Women’s Bodies in Music Videos. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-29855-5_5 

[8] ScholarsArchive. (2017, May 17). Women in Refrigerators: The Objectification of Women in Comics. BYU ScholarsArchive. Retrieved from https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/awe/vol2/iss2/9/ 

[9] Tulane University Journal. (2022). The World’s Oldest Profession Gets a Makeover: Sex Work, OnlyFans, and Celebrity Participation. Retrieved from https://journals.tulane.edu/ncs/article/view/3661 

[10] Cardoso, & Scarcelli. (2021). The bodies of the (digitised) body. Retrieved from https://recil.ensinolusofona.pt/bitstream/10437/12305/1/CARDOSO%2c%20SCARCELLI%20-%20%20%20The%20bodies%20of%20the%20%28digitised%29%20body_PUBLISHED.pdf 

[11] Kite, L. (2011). From Objectification to Self-Subjectification: Victoria’s Secret as a Do-It-Yourself Guide. Retrieved from https://www.morethanabody.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Kite-Lexie-NCA-Paper-Victorias-Secret.pdf

[12] ScienceDirect. (2023). Comparing and self-objectifying: The effect of sexualized imagery posted by Instagram Influencers on women’s body image. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1740144523000980?via%3Dihub 

[13] Emerald Insight. (2023, January 17).Sociomaterial influence on social media: exploring sexualised practices of influencers on Instagram. Retrieved from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ITP-03-2022-0215/full/html 

[14] Wiley Online Library. (2019, February 19). Sexualized labour in digital culture: Instagram influencers, porn chic and the monetization of attention. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gwao.12354 

The post 601: Sex Sells: But at what cost? first appeared on State of the Pod.

One of the first concepts we learn as children is the colors of the rainbow. Color is all around us, affecting the way we feel, think, and behave. But how do we actually see color? How can our perception of light influence our emotions? During our conversation, we’ll explore the science behind visual processing, how color has been effectively used throughout art history, and the ways we witness color in the world around us today.

Produced and Edited by Cate Westbrook, Cameron Pien, & Jack Lee

Art by Anjelina Gonzalez

Citations:

https://www.moma.org/collection/terms/color-field-painting

https://www.thoughtco.com/color-field-painting-art-history-183314

https://www.the-art-world.com/blog/2022/02/28/what-colors-did-van-gogh-use-the-most/

https://psyartjournal.com/article/show/bekker-color_and_emotion_a_psychophysical_analy#:~:text=Van%20Gogh’s%20work%20showed%20a,change%20in%20his%20emotional%20experience.

The post 602: Brushes of Light first appeared on State of the Pod.