What Could Go Right? - Introducing: The Ongoing Transformation

Today we’re sharing an episode of a podcast called The Ongoing Transformation. It’s a biweekly podcast featuring conversations about science, technology, policy, and society. They speak with interesting thinkers—leading researchers, artists, policymakers, social theorists, and other luminaries—about the ways new knowledge transforms the world.


The word "bureaucracy" may evoke red tape and DMV lines, but many groundbreaking scientific and health innovations have come from government research institutes. In this episode, host Jason Lloyd talks with University of Virginia professor Natalie Aviles about her new book An Ungovernable Foe and how the National Cancer Institute’s unique mission and culture have empowered its scientist-bureaucrats to lead pioneering cancer research, including the development of the HPV vaccine.


If you like it, you can listen to more episodes of The Ongoing Transformation wherever you get your podcasts.

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Chapo Trap House - 937 – Killing Santa feat. Arjun Singh & David Sirota (5/27/25)

Will & Felix catch up on Democrats’ commitment to burning millions of dollars in search of a crumb of clout from the pod-mano-sphere, and John Fetterman’s chronic senate absenteeism as he searches for good vibes. Then, we’re joined by Lever News’ David Sirota & Arjun Singh to discuss their new podcast series Tax Revolt & the “Big Beautiful Bill” working its way through congress. We look at the devastating consequences of GOP tax policies, the increasing unpopularity of such drastic cuts, and how they fit in with the 50 year conservative war against taxes. Find all things Lever News at: https://www.levernews.com/ And listen to Tax Revolt here or wherever you get pods: https://the.levernews.com/tax-revolt/

The Gist - Pig Sacrifices and Talking Drums: Don’t Squeeze the Shaman

Manvir Singh, author of Shamanism: The Timeless Religion, shares insights from a decade with Indonesia’s Mentawai people, where healing rituals double as communal celebrations. He discusses how language and metaphor shape worldviews—and where anthropology sits between science and ideology. The U.S. Mint’s final penny order closes the chapter on a coin long derided as economic dead weight. And five years after George Floyd’s murder, polling shows confidence in police—especially among Black Americans—has rebounded, despite minimal national reform and maximal narrative distortion.


Cascade PBS Info Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
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The Bulwark Podcast - S2 Ep1051: Pete Buttigieg: Dream Bigger, Talk More Boldly

Democrats need vastly more imagination to confront the enormous challenges the country faces politically, economically, and on climate. The party can't just focus on stopping what is happening in Washington. Meanwhile, Trump can't stop insulting the intelligence of the American people, every part of the political spectrum has something to hate about the reconciliation bill, and libertarians need to speak up about a president disappearing people to a foreign black site. Plus, cracking the manosphere, what Biden could've done differently on Covid, and the era of politicians sticking to their talking points is over.

Pete Buttigieg joins join Tim Miller.
show notes

1A - In Good Health: Detecting And Treating Prostate Cancer

The news last week of former President Joe Biden's advanced prostate cancer has more people thinking and talking about the condition.

About 1 in 8 men in the U.S. are diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lives. It's the most-diagnosed cancer in men and the second-leading cause of cancer-related death in American men after lung cancer. That's according to the American Cancer Society.

In this installment of our series, "In Good Health," we talk about how to detect and treat prostate cancer. Then, we switch gears to talk about the Food and Drug Administration's plans to potentially restrict access to the COVID-19 vaccine.

Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Connect with us. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.

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Federalist Radio Hour - Nathanael Blake: Why The Church Cannot Be Silent About The Sexual Revolution’s Victims

On this episode of "The Federalist Radio Hour," Nathanael Blake, a senior contributor to The Federalist and a fellow in the Life and Family Initiative at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, joins Executive Editor Joy Pullmann to outline the harms the sexual revolution wreaked on society and what role the Church and Christian sexual morals play in protecting people from those harms. 

You can find Blake's book Victims of the Revolution: How Sexual Liberation Hurts Us All here

If you care about combating the corrupt media that continue to inflict devastating damage, please give a gift to help The Federalist do the real journalism America needs.

Chapo Trap House - UNLOCKED 936 – Permanent Midnight feat. Ryan Grim & Jeremy Scahill (5/22/25)

Drop Site’s Ryan & Jeremy join us for an update on Israel’s war on Gaza. We discuss yesterday’s attack on Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington D.C. and its potential ramifications, Trump’s recent trip to the Gulf and potential shifts in U.S. relations in the region, and the brutal escalations of violence in Gaza over the recent weeks. Ryan and Jeremy also relate some of the stories of the many talented and courageous Palestinian journalists they’ve worked with through the conflict, and how the war has laid bare many of the failings of domestic media. Subscribe to Drop Site here: https://www.dropsitenews.com/

The Daily - A New Front Line for Abortion Rights

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, abortions in the United States actually went up, in part because of a novel legal strategy that pitted blue states against red states.

Pam Belluck, who covers health and science for The Times, discusses that strategy and explains how proceedings against a New York doctor could take it apart.

Guest: Pam Belluck, a health and science reporter at The New York Times.

Background reading: 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

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