From The Atlantic. The world found out shortly before 2 p.m. eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across Yemen. The editor in chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming. The reason he knew this…

From The Atlantic. What do politicians really think of their voters? A new study looking at 11 different democracies finds that politicians hold an unflattering view of their constituents, while voters view themselves as thoughtful, policy-oriented decision makers. The political scientist Jack Lucas explains why politicians think voters are dumb and why they might be…

From The Atlantic. The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, received a connection request on Signal from a “Michael Waltz,” which is the name of President Donald Trump’s national security adviser. Two days later, he was added to a group text with top administration officials created for the purpose of coordinating high-level national-security conversations about…

From The Atlantic. Nicholas Dames has taught Literature Humanities, Columbia University’s required great-books course, since 1998. Over the past decade, he’s noticed a change among his students: They’ve become overwhelmed by the reading. One first-year student shared with him that, at her public high school, she had never been asked to read a single book…

From The Atlantic. Strange online turns of phrase—“He’s so me for this,” “No because what do you mean,” “If you even care”—have seeped into daily life. One theory about the cause of brain-rot language is that people have gotten stupider. But the people Kaitlyn Tiffany knows who speak this way “are not dumb,” she writes.…

From The Atlantic. It’s been five years since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. But there may be another potential pandemic on the horizon: bird flu. Against the backdrop of growing anti-vaccination sentiment, exhaustion from COVID, and a new administration, The Atlantic’s Katie Wu (https://www.theatlantic.com/author/katherine-j-wu/) explains that the U.S. is perhaps less prepared to deal…

From The Atlantic. The thing about dinner, Rachel Sugar writes, is that you have to deal with it every single night. Figuring out what to eat every night at 6 p.m. is a pleasure until it becomes a constant low-grade grind. It’s not just cooking, but “the meal planning and the grocery shopping and the…

From The Atlantic. In Gaza, 2 million people are running out of clean water. For Radio Atlantic, Claudine Ebeid and Hanna Rosin talk about what happens when the massive destruction of war strikes a component crucial for survival. Listen to the full episode: https://youtu.be/gQKlXoNOmJA #podcast #podcasts #gaza #israel #news

From The Atlantic. Donald Trump won back the White House last year by stoking fears of scarcity. The zero-sum thinking of the right that says there aren’t enough houses or jobs to go around laid the groundwork for the forces of illiberalism currently at play in the federal government. In their new book, Abundance, Ezra…

From The Atlantic. Americans aren’t partying as much as they used to. This year, we should all resolve to change that, Ellen Cushing writes. “Many Americans are alone, friendless, isolated, undersexed, sick of online dating, glued to their couches, and transfixed by their phones, their mouths starting to close over from lack of use ……

From The Atlantic. How has the cease-fire changed water access in Gaza? And what does it mean when the people in charge of keeping the water flowing are displaced? Host Hanna Rosin talks with Claudine Ebeid, The Atlantic’s executive producer of audio, who reports on her visit with water worker Marwan Bardawil, who is now…

From The Atlantic. Shaken baby syndrome has been discredited, criticized, and even classified as “junk science” by a New Jersey judge, so why is it often being treated as settled fact in hospitals and courtrooms? The neuroscience researcher Cyrille Rossant was plunged headfirst into the controversy of shaken baby syndrome, now called “abusive head trauma,”…

From The Atlantic. Our scientific understanding of the aging process may be expanding, but is our cultural thinking about aging keeping up? In the new season of The Atlantic’s popular How To series, co-hosts Yasmin Tayag and Natalie Brennan explore the cultural gamification of aging, the obsession with defying this inevitable process, and how we…

From The Atlantic. How far would a parent go to understand their child? How much might a parent believe? A popular new podcast claims that some nonspeaking kids with autism can read people’s minds. But is it real? Or does it just come from a deep desire to connect? Read Dan Engber’s story at The…

From The Atlantic. As the second Trump administration dismantles federal DEI programs and removes trans Americans from the military, the crusade on “wokeness” seems to be a core focus of the president’s second term. In this encore episode, host Jerusalem Demsas speaks with the New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg about the end of wokeness…

From The Atlantic. The sound designer Randy Thom was faced with a challenge: What does a robot sound like? And what if that robot learns to love? Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations…

From The Atlantic. We talk with staff writer Anne Applebaum about what she calls the “end of the post–World War II order (https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2025/02/trump-ukraine-postwar-world/681745/) .” We also talk with staff writer Shane Harris, who covers national security, about how intelligence agencies are responding to changing positions under the Trump administration. Allies that routinely share intelligence with…

From The Atlantic. If researchers could go back in time 100,000 years, they’d find at least three different types of humans walking the Earth. Today, only the dominant group, Homo sapiens, survives. The scientist Johannes Krause explains how new discoveries in paleontology and genetics help pinpoint the exact period in which human groups interbred. Understanding…

From The Atlantic. Americans used to move all the time to better their lives. Then they stopped. Why? Read Yoni Appelbaum’s cover story on The Atlantic here (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/03/american-geographic-social-mobility/681439/) . Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to…

From The Atlantic. Why do governments educate their citizens? More than 200 years ago, Western regimes shifted the responsibility of education from the family to the state. The political scientist Agustina Paglayan argues that this transition happened not in pursuit of democratic ideals, but in the interest of social control.  Further reading:  Raised to Obey:…

From The Atlantic. In a new memoir (https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-harder-i-fight-the-more-i-love-you-a-memoir-neko-case/21517530?ean=9781538710500&next=t&affiliate=12476) , the singer-songwriter Neko Case (https://www.instagram.com/nekocaseofficial/?hl=en) recounts a childhood of poverty and neglect: a mother who left her and a father who was barely there. But there was also music. And when there was nothing else, that was, perhaps, enough. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices…

From The Atlantic. We’re often told that there’s “no room for politics at work,” and yet the workplace is one of the most politically segregated spaces in adult life. The Harvard economics researcher Sahil Chinoy explains the self-sorting happening at every stage of professional life and the trade-offs workers are willing to make in pursuit…

From The Atlantic. Parts of the federal government are being dismantled. But although the decisions from President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are unusual—perhaps even unprecedented—are they constitutional? The Atlantic staff writers Jonathan Chait (https://www.theatlantic.com/author/jonathan-chait/) and Shane Harris (https://www.theatlantic.com/author/shane-harris/) break down the administration’s latest moves and who might really end up paying for them later.…

From The Atlantic. Most gun deaths aren’t premeditated, so how can we stop gun violence before it happens? The University of Chicago economist Jens Ludwig makes the case for thinking differently about the source of America’s gun-violence problem.  Further reading:  • Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence (https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/U/bo244203115.html) , by Jens Ludwig …

From The Atlantic. Our attention is finite and valuable. And it’s nearing its breaking point. In a new book, MSNBC host Chris Hayes (https://www.instagram.com/chrislhayes/?hl=en) explains how everything—from politics to media to technology—has come to revolve around the pursuit of it and how we’ve lost control of where we actually want our attention to go. Read…

From The Atlantic. Seven years after the Supreme Court struck down a ban on state-sanctioned sports betting, a more complete picture of the downstream effects of legalization is starting to emerge. As some states see debt delinquency and problem gambling increase, the journalist Danny Funt explains why lawmakers took a gamble on sports betting in…

From The Atlantic. In a matter of hours after being sworn into office, President Donald Trump delivered on a promise in a way that even high-level Republicans didn’t see coming. Trump granted sweeping pardons for more than 1,500 January 6 defendants.  In this episode of Radio Atlantic, Hanna encounters Oath Keeper leader Stewart Rhodes, who…

From The Atlantic. Government reform isn’t an exclusively partisan issue, so why does it seem to fall under the purview of Republicans? The researcher Jennifer Pahlka says Democrats need to “get in the game” of government reform and consider working with, instead of against, the aims of DOGE.  Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices…

From The Atlantic. As Donald Trump prepares to take office again, the country is still coming to terms with what happened on January 6, 2021. But perhaps the best way to move forward is to neither forgive nor forget the past—but obliterate it.  Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy…

From The Atlantic. Amid handwringing about AI’s effect on jobs, creativity, trust, and the environment, a new study shows the technology’s profound impact on scientific productivity. Aidan Toner-Rodgers, a Ph.D. candidate at MIT, recounts his research that shows the benefits and drawbacks of using AI to discover new scientific materials.  Get more from your favorite…

From The Atlantic. The MAGA alliance that helped elect Donald Trump is starting to show signs of fracturing. It recently came to a head after an important argument broke out over H-1B visas between Silicon Valley and the nativist wing. We talk with Atlantic staff writer Ali Breland, who writes about the internet, technology, and…

From The Atlantic. What makes someone a NIMBY? The prevailing theory suggests that people support or reject new housing in their neighborhood based on what’s best for them personally. The political scientist David Broockman provides a different explanation—one based on people’s beliefs about important symbols such as cities or tall buildings, rather than self-interest. Get…

From The Atlantic. Hanna talks to the creators of an AI project called Future You. She also has a conversation with a future version of herself. But the person she meets is not who she expected. Share understanding this holiday season. For less than $2 a week, give a year-long Atlantic subscription to someone special.…

From The Atlantic. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is poised to lead the Department of Health and Human Services under President-Elect Donald Trump. He has said “there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective,” but Dr. Rachael Bedard, a pro-vaccine and left-leaning physician, says opponents should still seek common ground with him.  Get more from your…

From The Atlantic. This new season of How To is a collection of our favorite episodes from past seasons—a best-of series focused on slowing down, making space, and finding meaning in our hectic lives. This episode is the last in the collection and is from our fourth season, How to Talk to People. The episode…