Author: The Progress Network with Zachary Karabell and Emma Varvaloucas

Emma brings you a solo edition of the Progress Report, highlighting several positive global advancements. Brazil goes bold with a two-part strategy against dengue fever, involving both a homegrown vaccine and specially bred mosquitoes that carry an anti-dengue bacteria. Africa is leading a major expansion of school meal programs for children. And around the world we have two stories of security, with the High Seas Treaty recently ratified to protect international waters along with a reported rise in people’s sense of safety.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can today’s science fiction become tomorrow’s guidebook for change? Zachary and Emma sit down with Ed Finn, the visionary behind the Center for Science and the Imagination at ASU and academic director of Future Tense. Ed explores the intersection between sci-fi and real world science, the complexities of new technologies like AI and gene editing, and why our imaginations can be the launchpad for tomorrow’s innovations and building the future we dream about.

What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org

Watch the podcast on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/theprogressnetwork⁠⁠⁠

And follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @progressntwrk

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get ready for another uplifting Progress Report! This week, Zachary and Emma bring you inspiring stories of innovation and hope from across the globe. Trekkies rejoice as Apple’s new AirPods push tech into sci-fi territory with real-time language translation, Europe is seeing fewer flood fatalities and less damage thanks to cutting-edge warning systems and disaster response improvements, and France just made history by launching the world’s first commercial plant capable of recycling polycotton.

What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.
For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org
Watch the podcast on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/theprogressnetwork⁠⁠⁠
And follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @progressntwrk

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do we protect America’s wild open spaces while meeting the demands of conservation, recreation, and development? Zachary welcomes Josh Jackson, author of The Enduring Wild: A Journey Into California's Public Lands. Founder of the Forgotten Lands Project, Josh aims to connect people with these landscapes through immersive storytelling and experiences. He explores the Bureau of Land Management’s role in sustaining the health of 245 million acres across the western U.S. and Alaska, uncovers the history of these vast landscapes including rebellions and land sales, and advocates for public engagement with BLM lands to foster conservation efforts.
What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.
For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org
Watch the podcast on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/theprogressnetwork⁠⁠⁠
And follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @progressntwrk

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What really went wrong with global politics? Emma welcomes Brink Lindsey, Senior VP at the Niskanen Center and author of The Captured Economy: How the Powerful Enrich Themselves, Slow Down Growth, and Increase Inequality. Lindsey traces how politics, culture, and economics became unstable, from the development of liberal capitalism since the 1990s to the resulting rise of right-wing populism. He explores the contradictory ways this crisis manifests in society and culture, and how individuals and societies might chart a way out.
What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.
For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org
Watch the podcast on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/theprogressnetwork⁠⁠⁠
And follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @progressntwrk

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can parents use data without becoming overwhelmed by getting things right and wrong? Zachary and Emma welcome Emily Oster, a professor of economics and author of several data-driven parenting and pregnancy books, including Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong and What You Really Need to Know. Known for her data-driven approach to parenting and pregnancy, Oster shares how she accidentally became the center of a pandemic firestorm of controversy, the misconceptions about certain parenting practices, and how parents can navigate the enormous influx of information in the digital age.
What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.
For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org
Watch the podcast on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/theprogressnetwork⁠⁠⁠
And follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @progressntwrk

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s Progress Report, Emma covers a whopping five reports of optimism from around the world. Poverty is declining in Iraq and Indonesia, and risk of child poverty is down across Europe. China reports a dip in its emissions that may continue, and Africa has invested heavily in solar energy over the past year. There are positive developments since the release of the U.S.’s first over-the-counter birth control, and NASA has discovered a new moon orbiting Uranus.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What can we learn from the history of the American Right? Zachary and Emma welcome Sam Tanenhaus, historian and author, whose most recent work is his biography Buckley: The Life and Revolution That Changed America. Sam shares insights from his deep dive into the career of conservative icon William F. Buckley, the country’s “first intellectual entertainer.” He discusses how Buckley’s blend of intellect and charisma set the stage for the modern conservative movement, the influence of media in shaping political discourse, and the ways in which Buckley’s legacy continues to shape the Right.

What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.
For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org
Watch the podcast on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/theprogressnetwork⁠⁠⁠
And follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @progressntwrk

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Progress Report, Zachary and Emma cut through the doom and gloom to deliver feel-good news. This episode covers stories from the USDA’s hilariously unconventional wolf-deterring tactics (hint: it involves Scarlett Johansson) to an inspiring drop in U.S. divorce rates, America’s hidden fitness boom, and a remarkable victory over poverty in Mexico. Join Zachary and Emma as they guard the walls of optimism and spotlight underreported wins from around the world!

What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org

Watch the podcast on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/theprogressnetwork⁠⁠⁠

And follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @progressntwrk

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s time to right the ship of democracy! Zachary and Emma sit down with powerhouse legal expert Joyce Vance, former U.S. Attorney and author of the popular Civil Discourse Substack and upcoming book Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual for Keeping a Democracy. Pulling on her 25 years of experience at the DOJ, Joyce pulls back the curtain on how federal courts have confronted Donald Trump’s unprecedented use of power, the evolving responsibilities of the Supreme Court, and why the right to vote is democracy’s lifeline.

What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.
For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org
Watch the podcast on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/theprogressnetwork⁠⁠⁠
And follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @progressntwrk

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices