Apple News In Conversation with Shumita Basu brings you interviews with some of the world’s best journalists and experts about the stories that impact our lives. Join us every week as we go behind the headlines.
Latest episodes
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31 min
The strange new politics of the death penalty
In the span of a month, Christa Pike survived a botched lethal-injection execution in Tennessee and the Pentagon announced plans to livestream the firing-squad execution of Fort Ho…
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40 min
Your biggest midterm questions, answered
With the 2026 midterms just two weeks away, many Americans are paying close attention not only to races and candidates but to the election process itself. Cook Political Report edi…
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34 min
The Cornell case exposes a dark reality about college culture
A lawsuit filed by a former Cornell student that alleges she was sexually assaulted by seven fraternity members in 2024 has sparked an outpouring of women sharing their own stories…
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27 min
Americans want more kids. Here’s what’s stopping them.
Fewer people around the world are having kids — the global birth rate has been falling steadily since the 1970s — but, for many, it’s not because they don’t want to become parents.…
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31 min
The hidden tax Americans pay constantly — and how we can avoid it
Americans spend billions of hours a year navigating government bureaucracy, whether filling out forms, waiting on hold, or standing in endless lines. Researchers call this hidden b…
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33 min
The AI warnings are getting louder. Here’s what you need to know.
Unsettling headlines about AI are dominating the news. In the past few weeks, an Anthropic researcher quit his job out of fear that the technology could “kill us all,” OpenAI revea…
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32 min
The dark side of America’s obsession with the Lindsay Clancy trial
Warning: This episode includes descriptions of violence against children, adult language, and mentions of suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, contact the Suicide & C…
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33 min
Forever chemicals are hiding everywhere. These five habits can help you avoid them. (From the archives)
This is an episode from our archives. It originally aired in May 2025. Forever chemicals, also known as PFAS, are found in virtually every corner of the world, including in most pe…
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31 min
The real reason so many Americans are convinced sunscreen is dangerous
For the past few years, a campaign against sunscreen has been building — with social-media influencers claiming that sunscreen itself, rather than the sun, is damaging people’s ski…
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27 min
Why men are suddenly so worried about their testosterone levels
Testosterone prescriptions are at an all-time high in the U.S., and according to a survey by Men’s Health, 70% of men say their levels of the hormone are important to them. This in…
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35 min
The uncomfortable reasons human waste keeps turning up in your lettuce
This summer, the U.S. saw its largest cyclospora outbreak on record — with more than 22,000 suspected cases linked to contaminated iceberg lettuce, alongside a wave of other foodbo…
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29 min
This tick can give you a life-threatening allergy. It’s spreading across the U.S.
Peak tick season is here — and the fastest-growing tick-borne illness in the country is alpha-gal syndrome, a condition that causes an often-severe allergy to red meat and other an…
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30 min
How America’s gun obsession really started
This year, the U.S. has seen more than 270 mass shootings — and firearms remain the leading cause of death for American children and teens. But solutions appear largely out of reac…
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27 min
Inside the revelations from Trump’s $2 billion financial disclosure
President Trump earned more than $2 billion in his first year back in office. According to a mandatory financial disclosure released in June, most of that fortune came from cryptoc…
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25 min
People are running their own experiments with GLP-1s — with stunning results
GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are being taken by millions of Americans. These medications have been approved for treating diabetes, obesity, and a small number of other chron…
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24 min
The surprising ways the Supreme Court curbed Trump’s power
The Supreme Court just wrapped one of its most consequential terms in recent memory — issuing major rulings on presidential power, birthright citizenship, and the rights of transge…
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30 min
Why the Constitution is making our politics worse (From the archives)
This episode originally aired on Sept 18, 2025. The Constitution has been amended 27 times, but the last meaningful change was over half a century ago. In historian Jill Lepore’s b…
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25 min
The little-known forces quietly killing the college degree
When New Yorker staff writer Jay Caspian Kang sat down to do his taxes, one question surfaced: Should he still be saving for his 9-year-old daughter’s college fund? What followed w…
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24 min
The U.S. is turning 250. These songs unexpectedly changed American history.
The United States turns 250 years old this summer — and there’s no shortage of ways to mark the moment. One of the most revealing lenses through which to view the country’s history…
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27 min
TV’s most beloved assistant coach says the World Cup is about to change America. Here’s how.
This year’s World Cup will be the largest in history, with 48 teams and 104 matches — and, for the first time in more than 30 years, the tournament is being played on American soil…