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The 2011 film ‘Contagion’ is at the top of the lists on most streaming services. It’s a terrifying enough film on its own, but rewatching it now during the COVID-19 pandemic makes you wonder how bad things could get. And a lot of the plot points of the movie are already playing out in real life. Today, we’re joined by scientist and infectious disease expert Tracey McNamara, who consulted on ‘Contagion’, to talk about what it predicted — and how we can prevent the worst parts of it from happening.

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Three weeks ago, the new coronavirus was barely a problem in Italy. There were just three confirmed cases. But now, there are more than 12,000. And the whole country has been locked down with intense restrictions on movement and bans on public gatherings. On Wednesday, the WHO officially declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, and health officials are warning that we could start seeing the situation in Italy play out in other countries.

Today, we’re joined by Marina Lalovich, a radio host and journalist based in Rome, to take us through how COVID-19 took over Italy and what lessons we can learn.

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The global stock markets are on a wild roller coaster and COVID-19 is partly to blame. Monday saw the steepest falls since the 2008 financial crisis as oil prices plummeted and the new coronavirus continues to spread. Why is this happening and should we be freaking out? Today we’re joined by Mauro Guillen, a political economist at the Wharton School of business, who explains how we got here and how long the economic turmoil may last.

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It’s been revealed that the controversial facial recognition tool by Clearview AI has been used by more than 2,200 law enforcement agencies and private companies around the world — including Canada. These revelations came to light because of reporting by BuzzFeed News after many law enforcement agencies in Canada initially denied using the software. Privacy and human rights advocates have been sounding the alarm over the company’s extensive database of more than 3 billion images of people from a wide range of public websites. Today, we’re talking to BuzzFeed senior technology reporter Ryan Mac about Clearview AI’s facial recognition tool and whether or not it’s too late to rein it in.

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Since the 1980s, Victoria’s Secret has been one of the most powerful fashion brands. At its peak, the company’s fashion shows had the ability to turn its models, known as Angels, into household names. But in recent years, Victoria’s Secret has struggled amid controversies and declining sales. Today, New York Times reporter Sapna Maheshwari takes us through her recent investigation into allegations of a toxic culture within the company and what it takes to stay relevant in the fashion industry in 2020.

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There are about 3 million people trapped right now in Idlib, Syria. These people can’t go anywhere because Turkey won’t let them in, and military interventions have been ramping up for months. There could be some relief as Russia and Turkey just agreed to a new ceasefire, but there have been ceasefire agreements in Idlib before, and they’ve collapsed. Today, we have Elizabeth Tsurkov, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute who has a deep network of contacts in the region. We’re talking about how we got to this point, why so much more than a ceasefire is needed, and how this is a stain on the international community.

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Last week, Hindu nationalist mobs attacked Muslims in broad daylight in Delhi, dragging people out of their houses and setting them on fire. This is all tied to recent changes the Indian government made to its citizenship law, changes that critics say amount to a Muslim ban. To understand the latest outbreak of violence, we’re joined by Shruti Kapila, a historian and lecturer at the University of Cambridge.

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Today is Super Tuesday. It’s when 14 States and one U.S. territory have their primaries and it’s expected to give us a clearer idea of who the Democratic presidential nominee will be. But things have changed drastically over recent days, with Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg dropping out and throwing their weight behind Joe Biden, who has gained a ton of momentum. Allan Lichtman, a historian and professor at American University who’s correctly predicted the outcomes of 9 U.S. presidential races, joins us to talk about the importance of Super Tuesday and why those who question Bernie Sanders’ electability are wrong.

 

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As the novel coronavirus outbreak spreads around the world, there’s debate over whether it should be formally declared a pandemic. What would this mean and how would it work? Today, Dr. Seema Yasmin, an expert in epidemics and director of the Stanford Health Communication Initiative, is on the show to provide her analysis on the spread of COVID-19 and how governments have responded.

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Love is Blind is the Netflix show everyone’s talking about. People go on dates without seeing the other person, unless they get engaged. The engaged couples then get to know each other in the real world for just a couple of weeks before their wedding day. Today, we’re talking with the show’s creator and executive producer Chris Coelen about how he came up with the concept and what the series says about modern love. Warning: this episode contains major spoilers.

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