When Elizabeth Holmes founded Theranos, the blood testing start-up, she was held up as one of the next great tech innovators.

But her company collapsed, and she was accused of lying about how well Theranos’s technology worked. Now she is on trial on fraud charges.

The case against Ms. Holmes is being held up as a referendum on the “fake it till you make it” culture of Silicon Valley, but it’s also about so much more.

Guest: Erin Griff...

In a major turn of events in Mexico, which has one of the largest Catholic populations in the world, its Supreme Court last week decriminalized abortions.

The Supreme Court ruling is a milestone for Mexico’s feminist movement. But change might not come quickly: Abortion law is mostly administered at the state level in Mexico, much of the country remains culturally conservative, and many Mexican medical workers are morally opposed to...

For decades, the law has sought to restrain nursing homes from trying to control the behavior of dementia patients with antipsychotic drugs, which are known to have adverse health effects. 

An alarming rise in schizophrenia diagnoses suggests some homes have found a way to skirt the rules.

We hear the story of David Blakeney, a dementia sufferer whose health declined rapidly after he was placed in a South Carolina nursing home.

Guest:...

As recently as a month ago, President Biden appeared to be skeptical about imposing coronavirus vaccine mandates. Now that skepticism has given way to a suite of policies that aim to force the hands of the unvaccinated.

What has changed?

Guest: Jim Tankersley, a White House correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Two planes hijacked by Al Qaeda pierced the north and south towers of the World Trade Center. A third slammed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. A fourth crashed in an open field outside Shanksville, Pa. All in less than 90 minutes.

What, exactly, do you remember? What stories do you tell when a casual conversation morphs into a therapy session? What stories do you keep to yourself? And what instantly transports you back to that de...

On the internet, there are bizarre subcultures filled with conspiracy theorists — those who believe the coronavirus is a hoax or that the 2020 election was stolen, or even that Hillary Clinton is a shape-shifting lizard. It’s a way of thinking that can be traced back to the first real internet blockbuster, a 9/11 conspiracy documentary called “Loose Change.” Today, we explore the film’s impact.

Guest: Kevin Roose, a technology colum...

This episode contains strong language.

Terry Albury joined the F.B.I. just before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, drawn in by the bureau’s work fighting child exploitation. His role quickly changed after 9/11 however, and he subsequently spent over a decade working in counterterrorism.

Around 2015, he began to deeply question his work. “This is not what I joined the F.B.I. to do,” he recalled thinking.

His doubts about the bureau’s wor...

This summer was supposed to be, in the words of President Biden, the “summer of freedom” from the coronavirus. What we saw instead was the summer of the Delta variant.

The surge driven by Delta — which has seen rises in cases, hospitalizations and deaths across the United States — has underlined that we are far from being done with the pandemic.

Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times.

Si...

Since the Taliban took over Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, last month, many have wondered what kind of rulers they will be.

The memory of the Taliban of the 1990s — the public executions, the whippings in the streets and the harsh rules preventing women from leaving the house unaccompanied — has filled some with fear.

This time around, what will their rule mean for ordinary Afghans?

Guest: Matthieu Aikins, a writer based in Afghanistan...

In a way, the new Texas law that has effectively banned abortions after six weeks is typical — many other Republican-led states have sought to ban abortions after six, 10 or 15 weeks. 

But where federal courts have routinely struck down other anti-abortion laws, the Texas legislation has gone into effect with the Supreme Court’s blessing. 

How has this law survived so far, and where does it leave abortion providers in the state?

Guest...

After Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans, leaving destruction in its wake, comparisons with Hurricane Katrina were made.

There are, however, big differences between the two disasters — namely that the city, in the 16 years since Katrina, has heavily invested in flood defenses. But on the ground, there is little cause for celebration.

What has happened in the aftermath of Ida and what does the increasing frequency of climate extremes mean ...

The closure of schools because of the pandemic and the advent of widespread virtual learning has impacted students of all ages — but particularly the youngest children.

Research suggests that the learning missed during this period could have lasting impacts.

What is the educational cost of pandemic learning and how are schools trying to get children back to class amid the Delta variant?

Guest: Dana Goldstein, a national education corr...

On Monday night, after a 20-year war that claimed 170,000 lives, cost over $2 trillion and did not defeat the Taliban, the United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

As the last of the American forces left under the cover of darkness, there was celebratory gunfire from the Taliban. The moment of exit, a day earlier than expected, was both historic and anticlimactic.

We explore what happened in the last few hours and da...

Almost from the moment Gavin Newsom was elected governor of California, there were attempts to remove him from office. Initially, a recall election against him seemed highly unlikely — but the pandemic has changed things.

What is behind the recall effort against Mr. Newsom, and what happens next?

Guest: Shawn Hubler, a California correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Jeanne Calment lived her entire life in the South of France. She filled her days with leisurely pursuits, enjoying a glass of port, a cigarette and some chocolate nearly every day. In 1997, Ms. Calment died. She was 122.

With medical and social advances mitigating diseases of old age and prolonging life, the number of exceptionally long-living people is increasing sharply. But no one is known to have matched, let alone surpassed, Ms...

For days, many dreaded an attack on Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, as Western forces scrambled to evacuate tens of thousands of people from Afghanistan. On Thursday, those fears were realized — amid the large crowds outside the airport, terrorists carried out two suicide bombings. The attacks killed at least 60 people, including 13 United States service members.

ISIS-K, a branch of the Islamic State in Afghanistan, has...

Early on in the Biden administration, it rolled out a two-pronged migration plan: A reversal of the most punitive elements of Donald Trump’s policy and rooting out the causes of migration from Central America, namely corruption.

There is, however, a conflict at the heart of this approach. Calling out corrupt leaders could destabilize nations and encourage migration in the short term.

We explore the calculus of the Biden administratio...

Since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban last week, everything and everyone has been focused on Hamid Karzai International Airport and the massive military operation to get thousands of Americans and Afghan allies out of the country.

It is a monumental challenge — one of the biggest and most complicated military operations the Pentagon has had to deal with in decades.

We explore these complexities and the challenges being faced by the ...

For years, Mexico has been gripped by horrific violence as drug cartels battle each other and kill civilians. In the last 15 years alone, homicides have tripled. The violence, the Mexican government says, is fueled, in part, by American guns. 

Now Mexico is bringing a lawsuit against 10 gun manufacturers in a U.S. federal court, accusing them of knowingly facilitating the sale of guns to drug cartels in the country. 

How did the situ...