Since a big white Chinese spy balloon floated across the ocean and into U.S. airspace, the United States has shot down four objects over North American skies. What are we looking at, and what are we shooting at? Are these objects American? Are they Chinese? Are they human? To tell the full story of this bizarre month in aerial objects—from the balloon to the ... Show More
Jun 9
How Modern Fatherhood Is Changing Men’s Brains
Humans are unusual dads. Across the animal kingdom, dads are often absent from child-rearing altogether. But among humans, fatherhood takes many forms, and in the last half century, it has changed dramatically. College-educated American fathers now spend nearly four times as much ... Show More
1h 4m
Jun 5
What 400,000 Essays Reveal About AI and Creativity
For generations, we've defined creativity by its products: the novel, the painting, the song, the breakthrough idea. We look at the work, and from the work we see the creator as “creative.” But AI is getting remarkably good at producing creative work. In some cases, experts now p ... Show More
56m 2s
Jun 2
The Surprising Truth About America's Friendship Crisis
Modern loneliness is often treated as a simple problem: People are simply spending more time alone. But what if that's not the whole story? Over the last several years, Derek has written about workism, the rise of a culture that puts work at the center of our lives, and the "anti ... Show More
58m 53s
Jul 2025
61. The Truth About UFOs: Whistleblowers, Warplanes, and Worlds Unknown (Ep 4)
For years, the term UFO conjured images of tin foil hats and elaborate cover-ups. But with recent official reports from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence detailing hundreds of UAP sightings, including objects that remain stationary in high winds or manoeuvre in ... Show More
41m 12s
Feb 2023
The (alleged) Chinese spy balloon.
<p>On Saturday, a United States military fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean, about six nautical miles off the coast of South Carolina. The balloon had entered U.S. airspace nearly a week before, garnering national attention from citizens ... Show More
26m 45s
Sep 2024
Greg Eghigian, "After the Flying Saucers Came: A Global History of the UFO Phenomenon" (Oxford UP, 2024)
Roswell, 1947. Washington, DC, 1952. Quarouble, 1954. New Hampshire, 1961. Pascagoula, 1973. Petrozavodsk, 1977. Copley Woods, 1983. Explore how sightings of UFOs and aliens seized the world's attention and discover what the fascination with flying saucers and extraterrestrial vi ... Show More
59m 45s
May 2025
The Kinross Incident: Did a UFO Abduct an Entire Jet?
In 1953, an Air Force jet took off from Michigan’s Kinross Air Force Base in pursuit of an unknown aircraft, or bogey. As the jet approached the mystery aircraft, the two dots representing them on a radarscope appeared to merge – just before the jet vanished.For years, ufologists ... Show More
35m 44s
Jun 2025
59. The Truth About UFOs: Alien Sightings (Ep 2)
In the mid-1970s, new, more outlandish claims about the Roswell incident began to surface: not one, but multiple crash sites, military recovery of alien bodies, and secret autopsies. What do these reports of "bald" creatures in "silver unitards" have to do with the original 1947 ... Show More
36m 9s