Genealogy, in Charles Darwin’s terms, is the study of “descent with modification.” Taken as an analogy for the study of history, genealogy can guard against the potential dangers of claiming modernity. Against the effort to erase the past, genealogy asserts that our ancestry will always be with us. Against the effort to master the past, genealogy reminds us ... Show More
Today
Magdalena E. Stawkowski, "Atomic Collective: Radioactive Life in Kazakhstan" (U Toronto Press, 2025)
In the aftermath of the Soviet Union's collapse, Kazakhstan inherited the remnants of one of the world's most contaminated landscapes: the Semipalatinsk Test Site, known locally as the Polygon. Resigned to dispossession, residents have chosen to remain on the abandoned nuclear te ... Show More
56m 3s
Yesterday
Devin Kennedy, "Coding Capitalism: Computers and the Remaking of the Postwar US Economy" (Columbia UP, 2026)
Long before Google, Amazon, or Microsoft, computer technology shaped how people worked, how markets operated, and how businesses became big. After World War II, military officials and their partners in industry looked to the newly invented electronic computer as they sought to cu ... Show More
56m 51s
Yesterday
The Resurgence of War and the Collapse of Arms Control
How the nuclear guardrails were dismantled. What arms control actually did (risk management, predictability, geography), how it unravelled from the 2000s onward, and why its collapse matters more now as we see a resurgence of strategic instability and armed conflict. Learn more a ... Show More
34m 10s
Jul 2022
A Humorous History of Genetics
What makes you... well, you? It's a question humanity has wrestled with since the dawn of recorded history all the way to the modern day. In today's special episode in partnership with 23andMe, Ben, Noel and Max dive into the history of genetic research from its ancient predecess ... Show More
49m 32s
Sep 2018
11: You are the dream. Discover the dreamer. Genealogy, Slavery & Healing ... While Black
Are we STILL enslaved or is that just our history? Who were my people and where do i come from? Download or play now to hear genealogy expert Sharon Morgan help direct you to these answers regarding our history, our need to heal, and that age old question "Where do I come from" T ... Show More
1h 17m
May 2017
#77 — The Moral Complexity of Genetics
Sam Harris speaks with Siddhartha Mukherjee about the human desire to understand and manipulate heredity, the genius of Gregor Mendel, the ethics of altering our genes, the future of genetic medicine, patent issues in genetic research, controversies about race and intelligence, a ... Show More
44m 11s