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Apr 2025
1h 7m

859: Chaos Graph

THIS AMERICAN LIFE
About this episode

People immersed in chaos try to solve for what it all adds up to.

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  • Prologue: A scientist who is used to organizing data starts tracking scientific meetings that seem to exist only on paper—meetings that might decide the fate of years of research. The NIH website shows one reality; the empty conference rooms tell another story. She graphs the chaos. (9 minutes)
  • Act One: American doctors returning from Gaza compare notes and start to see a pattern. (28 minutes)
  • Act Two: A woman watches her partner get taken in handcuffs with no explanation. Days later, she spots him in the most unexpected place. The coordinates of her life suddenly don't make sense as she navigates the bewildering map of the US immigration system. (23 minutes)

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