The Way

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...

Like the never-ending war on terror, the drugs war is a multi-billion-dollar industry that wont go down without a fight.

The war on drugs has been official American policy since the 1970s, with the UK, Europe, and much of the world following suit. It is at best a failed policy. Its direct results have included mass incarceration in the US, extreme violence in different parts of the world, the backing of dictatorships, and surging d...

For decades, New York Times best-selling author John Allen Paulos has enlightened readers by showing how to make sense of the numbers and probabilities behind real-world events, political calculations, and everyday personal decisions. Who’s Counting? features dozens of his insightful essays—original writings on contemporary issues like the COVID-19 pandemic, online conspiracy theories, “fake news,” and climate change, as well as a ...

Facebook tried to disrupt the world — and the world says “no.” Facebook launched Libra in June 2019. Libra would be an international currency and payment system. It would flow instantly around the world by phone. It could even “bank the unbanked.” But Libra would also make Facebook too big to control— and lead the way for Facebook’s Silicon Valley fellows to swing the power of their money as they pleased. Facebook and their friends...

This episode is one of the first podcasts I ever recorded, and I'm re-uploading it today. Lyle May called in from death row to answer questions about his experiences and what his researched has told him about our prison systems. Also a part of the interview, Tessie Castillo published her book Crimson Letters: Voices From Death Row which was co-written by Lyle and other inmates who have been living on death row. The book is compiled...