The Way

Dr. Jonathan McDowell is an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA. A staff member of the Chandra X-ray Center, he studies black holes, quasars and X-ray sources in galaxies, as well as developing data analysis software for the X-ray astronomy community. Dr. McDowell has a B.A in Mathematics (1981) and a Ph.D in Astrophysics (1986) from the University of Cambridge, England, and has previo...

1666 was a watershed year for England. An outbreak of the Great Plague, the eruption of the second Dutch War, and the devastating Great Fire of London all struck the country in rapid succession and with devastating repercussions.

Shedding light on these dramatic events and their context, historian Rebecca Rideal reveals an unprecedented period of terror and triumph. Based in original archival research drawing on little-known source...

How is history written? How did women shape it? Today's episode was a great chat with Dr. Jenina Ramirez, about her just recently released book "Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, through the Women Written Out of it."

Bio: I’m a cultural historian, broadcaster and author based at the University of Oxford with a passion for communicating ideas about the past. As a lecturer and course director, I want to sh...

How did SpaceX turn from a scrappy group of engineers in an office in California, into a leading provider of space rocket launch services? What makes Elon Musk unique and how does he run his businesses? Today I dove into the space rocket industry with Eric Berger and talked about his book "Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX".

Bio: Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, coverin...

Terrorist groups attain notoriety  through acts of violence, but threats of future violence are just as  important in attaining their political goals. Today, I talked with Dr. Joseph Brown about how terrorists use threats, true and false, to achieve key outcomes such as social  control, economic attrition, and policy concessions.

Bio: I am an  Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the &nb...

America has faced four major drug epidemics, and many argue we're in another epidemic today. Today I spoke with Dr. Beau Kilmer about his research surrounding the problems, and possible solutions, to our drug issues. 

Bio: Beau Kilmer (he/him) is the McCauley Chair in Drug Policy Innovation,  director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center, and a senior policy  researcher at the RAND Corporation. His research lies a...

What is the draft process like for new Major League Baseball stars? What is life like for these athletes? How do they train? How are they coached? And why are finances such a problem for many players? Today I spoke with former MLB pitcher, and 9th pick in the 2009 MLB draft about his experiences.

Bio: Drafted 9th overall in the first round of 2009 he was one of the highest-paid high school draftees in MLB history at $5,500,000. Bef...

The U.S. Navy SEAL's are the elite Special Operations forces of the US Navy. The SEAL teams are one of the most respected commando forces in the world – they are often cited as the most elite, flexible and highly trained Naval Commando force. Today I spoke with Brandon Webb about what training and experience is like as a member of this elite team.

Bio: Brandon Webb is a combat-decorated Navy SEAL sniper turned entrepreneur.  D...

What is addiction? A paper released in 2019 says, 21 million Americans suffer from addiction and that's just one country. While not the only cause, addiction is a large contributor to the 350,000 people who die every year due to overdoses, and this stat doesn't include the number one drug related killer in the world; tobacco. How does addiction work and what can we do to solve it? Professor Robert West is the author of "Theory of A...