Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at a campaign rally on Aug. 7, in Romulus, Michigan. (Carlos Osorio/AP)

The Jackpod without Jack: Please be kind

Meghna Chakrabarti and On Point senior editor Dorey Scheimer do their best knowing even together, they are not one Jack Beatty. They take your messages and questions about President Biden's...

24:489 hours ago

How the culture wars poisoned American politics — and how to fix it

More than 30 years ago, sociologist James Davison Hunter coined the term "culture wars." Since then, those wars have poisoned American politics. How could we end America's culture wars?

47:21Aug 9, 2024

MRI slice overlays displaying biomarker differences between each MT group and males. (Credit: "Menopause impacts human brain structure, connectivity, energy metabolism, and amyloid-beta deposition" /Sci Rep. 2021)

New science on menopause

Hot flashes. Brain fog. Sleep problems. Millions of women go through menopause each year. But what’s happening in the brain during this life transition?

Aug 9, 2024

Several bills moving through the state Legislature address prisoner phone calls and visitation. (David Goldman/AP File Photo)

Inside the wrongful conviction of Ben Spencer

No witnesses. No physical evidence. An ironclad alibi. Nevertheless, a Texas jury sentenced Ben Spencer to life in prison for a murder he didn't commit. Journalist and author Barbara Bradley...

47:19Aug 8, 2024

How to end America's 'culture wars'

More than 30 years ago, sociologist James Davison Hunter coined the term “culture wars," predicting that cultural controversies would increasingly impact America’s politics. He says to understand America’s democratic crisis,...

Aug 8, 2024

Students work on a laptop computer at Stonewall Elementary in Lexington, Ky., Feb. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)

The ongoing saga of the Kids Online Safety Act

The last time Congress passed a law to protect children on the internet was 26 years ago. That’s before Facebook or the iPhone was even created. Lawmakers on both sides...

47:18Aug 7, 2024

The fight to free an innocent man from prison

Ben Spencer spent decades locked up in Texas for a murder he didn’t commit. What would it take to set him free — even after he was proven innocent? Journalist...

Aug 7, 2024

People are silhouetted against the sky at dusk as they watch the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter, Monday, Dec. 21, 2020, in Edgerton, Kansas. (Charlie Riedel/AP)

When should someone walk away from family?

More than a quarter of young Americans have cut ties with one of their parents. Sometimes on the advice of therapists, who say families are traumatizing. But some families say...

47:18Aug 6, 2024

The fight over kids online safety

A bill aimed to protect kids online is at the center of a heated political fight. What's at stake in the fight over whether new regulations will better protect children...

Aug 6, 2024

Apartments in the South End. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Could ‘boommates’ help ease the housing crisis?

High housing costs are pushing more Americans to find roommates, including baby boomers and empty nesters. We take a look at the growing trend of intergenerational living.

46:39Aug 5, 2024

The debate over family estrangement

More than a quarter of young Americans have cut ties with one of their parents. Sometimes on the advice of therapists, who say families are traumatizing. But some families say...

Aug 5, 2024

Stewards check tourists QR code access outside the main train station in Venice, Italy, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)

The solution to anti-tourism: Don't travel less, travel better

Anti-tourism protests spread around the world this summer. Some cities are charging tourist entry fees, banning cruise ships or imposing fines for bad behavior. Some say the solution to the...

47:15Aug 2, 2024

Apartments along Worcester Street in the South End. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

A rise in 'boommates'

A growing number of American baby boomers and empty nesters are getting roommates. Could intergenerational living solve the country’s affordable housing problem?

Aug 2, 2024

J.D. Vance, R-Ohio points toward Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at an Ohio campaign rally in March. (Jeff Dean/AP)

JD Vance and the rise of the 'New Right'

Techno libertarians, white nationalists and JD Vance are all linked to a movement known as the 'New Right.' What is this movement and how has it influenced the Republican candidate...

47:13Aug 1, 2024

Few people walk in Piazza Duomo square, in Florence, Italy, Tuesday, March 10, 2020. (Jennifer Lorenzini/LaPresse via AP)

How to achieve the right kind of tourism

Anti-tourism protests have been spreading around the world. The solution some say isn’t to stop traveling but for tourists to travel better. What it means to have the right kind...

Aug 1, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris takes a question from the audience at Pipefitters Local 537 in Dorchester. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Kamala Harris re-introduces herself to the American people

Kamala Harris is making her prosecutorial experience center stage in her presidential bid against Donald Trump. What Harris’s record tells us about who she is, what she believes, and how...

47:21Jul 31, 2024

The new American right

JD Vance is linked to a disparate band of conservative intellectuals and activists known as the New Right. Inside this school of thought -- and how it's influenced the Republican...

Jul 31, 2024

A member of opposition party Primero Justicia holds a placard showing the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during a protest against the Russian invasion in Ukraine in Caracas on March 4, 2022. (Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP)

Anne Applebaum on the new axis of autocrats

Today’s autocratic rulers don’t share a specific ideology. But they do share a thirst for power. In her latest book, Autocracy, Inc., Anne Applebaum says the new twist is that...

46:39Jul 30, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris campaigns for President as the presumptive Democratic candidate. (Kayla Wolf/AP)

Who is Kamala Harris and what does she stand for?

Kamala Harris is making her prosecutorial experience front and center in her presidential bid against Donald Trump. What Harris’s record tells us about who she is, what she believes, and...

Jul 30, 2024

Bird watchers look through their binoculars at a bird pointed out by naturalist Doug Hitchcox during the weekly bird walk at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth on Thursday, August 24, 2023. (Staff photo by Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)

Week of wonder: Author Amy Tan's 'backyard bird chronicles'

Celebrated author Amy Tan doesn’t just write best-selling novels. She’s a passionate birder, too. Her book 'Backyard Bird Chronicles' describes the transformative experience of birding in her own backyard.

47:15Jul 29, 2024