Co-hosts Lindy West and Meagan Hatcher-Mays remind us to laugh in this bonus episode recorded live at the Seattle Public Library on October 15. Lindy West and Meagan Hatcher-Mays join us again for another lively discussion on The Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast. In a special bonus episode, Cascade PBS partnered with The Seattle Public Library Fo…

In a live taping of Slate’s A Word podcast, Jason Johnson talks with Coates about the resonance between racism in America and the crisis in Gaza. On his podcast A Word, veteran political commentator Jason Johnson invites leaders, journalists and other change-makers to have productive and provocative conversations about race in politics and society.…

Atlantic journalists talk the future of election interference in an era of chilling political deepfakes — and, the one company behind much of this tech. This year, two events will collide: AI voice replicas that can fool family and friends will be easier than ever to use, and half the world’s population will undergo an election. As part of the Casc…

The Revisionist History podcast host discusses America's firearms problem - and reasons to be optimistic about it - with a trauma surgeon and an activist. Acclaimed author Malcolm Gladwell explores all things overlooked and misunderstood in his podcast, Revisionist History. He recently produced a six-part series about what we get wrong about gun vi…

Is the personal always political? Washington Post columnists discuss how identity markers have come to define how we think and vote. Trust in American institutions has reached record lows. Where do Americans turn to for a sense of identity, connection or belonging? Are identity markers such as race or religion a way to build community and understan…

In a live taping of Left, Right & Center, David Greene, Mo Elleithee and Sarah Isgur debate media bias ahead of the presidential election. KCRW’s weekly politics show, Left, Right & Center, takes on the tough, polarizing issues that Americans struggle to have conversations about. Host David Greene invites guests with a wide range of political views…

In a live taping of The New Yorker’s Critics at Large podcast, Keefe and a panel discuss the genre's enduring popularity – and its problematic aspects. The appetite for true crime is more insatiable than ever, but audiences, authors and podcast producers are also grappling with the ethics of the genre. Patrick Radden Keefe, author of books includin…

In a live podcast taping, historian Heather Cox Richardson debates the nation's founding and the state of democracy ahead of the 2024 election. Historian Heather Cox Richardson, author of Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, points out a central tension in American history: The founding fathers penned the idea of equality before the …

The Journal co-hosts Kate Linebaugh and Ryan Knutson tackle the gap between bright data points and bad vibes with political correspondent Molly Ball. Data suggests the U.S. economy is performing well, but many Americans don’t feel that way. How will those feelings influence the 2024 election? As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, …

Lindy West, Meagan Hatcher-Mays and Guy Branum rank Hollywood celebrities and Supreme Court justices in a lighthearted take on pop culture and politics. New York Times bestselling author Lindy West and democracy expert and “recovering lawyer” Meagan Hatcher-Mays have been best friends for 25 years. Their podcast, Text Me Back!, celebrates that frie…

Tug of War host David Rind and international correspondent Nada Bashir dig into how the war in Gaza has changed the Middle East and the world. Since the Hamas attacks of October 7 and the outbreak of the war in Gaza, CNN’s Tug of War podcast has brought listeners into the heart of the conflict. As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May…

Catch up on every session, featuring speakers such as Malcolm Gladwell, Lindy West and Ta-Nehisi Coates, on our weekly festival podcast. This year’s Cascade PBS Ideas Festival has officially wrapped. But the insightful conversations that took place on May 4, 2024, are coming soon to a podcast app near you. To help launch this season of the Cascade …

The television host shares his ideal last meal and serves behind-the-scenes details from Nickelodeon and the Food Network. Marc Summers, best known for his role as host of the 1980s Nickelodeon game show Double Dare and host of the Food Network’s Unwrapped, actually launched his career doing magic tricks. Summers shared this fun fact, and a whole l…

Research shows the drugs can be effective in treating depression and substance-use disorders — but there’s still much we don’t know. Psychedelics are moving back into the mainstream. According to a growing body of medical research, psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin and ketamine can have a profound impact on people struggling with mental health c…

Pollution, habitat loss and climate change all threaten wildlife and their ecosystems. Conservationists discuss what we can do to help. Wildlife numbers are plunging worldwide. From toxic waste to invasive species, deforestation to rising temperatures, threats to the survival of our planet’s millions of plants and animals are causing scientists to …

Following the failure of the Washington Recycling and Packaging Act, experts and a key lawmaker discuss next steps. Plastic is everywhere. It’s in our refrigerators, in our oceans and even in our bloodstreams. And wherever there are plastics, there are questions over what to do with them. In Washington state, as in most other places, the answer has…

The climate leaders share why individual responsibility and corporate accountability aren’t mutually exclusive — and how daily habits can aid the planet. The impacts of climate change are everywhere, often making headlines. Yet most Americans don’t know what climate change really is, or don’t think it will harm them ... until it does. For this epis…

Nobel Prize-winning scientist Jennifer Doudna discusses how the technology she helped advance is treating diseases and raising ethical dilemmas. Gene editing is a game-changer for humanity. From health on individuals to the fate of the planet, the possible impacts of the technology are something previously found only in science fiction. But as with…

Two experts in immersive technologies may disagree on what the metaverse will look like, but they do agree that it is going to change society. The metaverse may very well be the future. Before we get there, though, it is probably necessary to establish what exactly the metaverse is. That, it turns out, isn’t so easy. For this episode of the Crosscu…

The Washington Post tech industry analyst discusses how America’s major tech companies are grappling with government regulation and a public that has fallen out of love. Tech companies aren’t the shiny new players in the world economy anymore; they are core pillars of that economy and primary drivers of our culture. They are also feeling a little o…

The Edmonds-born record-breaker muses on the game’s transformation and reveals behind-the-scenes secrets. Jeopardy! is an American institution, a television game show that for decades didn't really change all that much. But in recent years the syndicated staple has undergone some relatively seismic shifts. For this episode of the Crosscut Talks pod…

The former presidential candidate believes he knows what is wrong with American politics and shares why his new party is a solution. When Andrew Yang ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, he did so with hopes of changing the conversation. He left the race despondent, he says. But now he is back with a new party and a renewed sens…

Former congressman Will Hurd says his party needs to stop election denial and start appealing to voters that have lost trust in the party. As the 2024 presidential election approaches, the Republican Party and its voters have a major decision to make about the future of the party. With former President Donald Trump running for another term, there i…

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, advocates are pushing back to assure that people still have access to reproductive care. Last June the Supreme Court transformed the landscape of reproductive rights overnight when it overturned Roe v. Wade, leaving the power to determine the legality of abortion to individual states. For many th…

Three advocates weigh in on the rising threat of the synthetic opioid — and what policymakers can do to fight it. Seattle is in the midst of a fentanyl crisis. Of the 310 overdose deaths recorded in the city in 2022, more than half were from the powerful synthetic opioid. And we are not alone. For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast we are t…

As the new technology proliferates, the founding CEO of the Allen Institute for A.I. discusses how — or even whether — it should be controlled. Artificial intelligence is everywhere. Companies are already exploring the many uses of AI and a number of tools are widely available for public use. We're seeing the benefits in the business world, from si…

Danni Askini of the advocacy group The Gender Justice League breaks down the misconceptions and myths surrounding gender-affirming care. Legislation seeking to limit the rights of trans people has been on the rise in state houses throughout the U.S. But why? For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we listen in on a conversation about the wa…

Three education experts discuss how young people can find postgrad success (and it's not a 'one-size-fits-all' approach). With high school graduation approaching, many young people across Washington state will be taking a big step toward adulthood. Whether they have all the information and encouragement they need to make a decision that is right fo…

The Washington congressman said a Ukrainian offensive could beat Moscow’s forces back and have them at the bargaining table by the fall. When Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, the conventional wisdom in both Russia and throughout the West was that it would be a short war and that Ukraine would succumb to the overwhelming military force being di…

A year after his release from prison, the former president’s ex-fixer talks about the unprecedented case. Having completed a three-year sentence for his role in a hush-money scheme for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, Michael Cohen has a lot to say about his former boss. One month after the Manhattan District Attorney indicted the former p…

The former Attorney General discusses how voting rights laws and Supreme Court term limits could preserve American democracy. Few people in the United States have more experience at the intersection of the rule of law and the world of politics than Eric Holder. As the U.S. Attorney General during the presidency of Barack Obama, Holder was responsib…

Amicus host Dahlia Lithwick and Brennan Center president Michael Waldman discuss SCOTUS's history and coming decisions. Though its mythology says otherwise, the U.S. Supreme Court is not a static institution. As its justices have slowly turned over, the Court’s ideological makeup and the nature of its decisions have changed. So too has the public’s…

The host of the New York Times podcast discusses the ways modern politics have transformed the media landscape. For many American news consumers, Michael Barbaro’s voice is a defining element of the modern era. As a host of the New York Times podcast The Daily, Barbaro speaks to an audience of more than 3 million listeners, delivering insights into…

The author and doctor explains how treating the mind and the body as one can help stop humanity from sleepwalking to extinction. Deepak Chopra has a lot of thoughts on the state of our mental health, and they start with the idea that mental health is not a singular thing that resides in our heads. It is, rather, a problem of the mind and the body. …

Science can't fully explain what life is. Three experts try anyway in a conversation about life, death and our desire to push back the expiration date. Talking about life and death is tricky for anyone, even scientists. Despite considerable research over the course of generations, scientists still don’t fully understand what life is, what death is …

Happiness takes work. The host of The Happiness Lab podcast shares what social science says about making that work more manageable. Happiness can feel fleeting in even the best of times. In the midst of a pandemic shot through with personal and social upheaval, maintaining a sense of joy or contentment can be especially challenging. As if that were…

A decade of advancement by private companies run by billionaires has transformed how humanity is approaching the final frontier. Some of the biggest news in recent space exploration has revolved around billionaires. Last year, for instance, both Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson actually traveled into space. Those very high-profile – and very brief – …

The city’s arts industry is returning to some semblance of normalcy. During a live Civic Cocktail event, four leaders survey the damage done and chart a path forward. In the spring of 2020, many artists and arts organizations were already struggling to maintain a place for themselves in Seattle. The future of creative expression in the city was unc…

Author Pamela Paul recalls what the world was like before it was connected — and how privacy and personal memory have transformed since. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the internet was there to help much of humanity keep going while maintaining a social distance. The transition was not seamless, but the interconnected world that had been taking sh…

The legendary journalist, who helped change the industry with his reporting on Watergate, talks about how journalism changed his life. Carl Bernstein is best known as one half of the investigative team that broke the Watergate scandal, which eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Fifty years later, it is still regarded with r…

The New Yorker staff writer says human ingenuity may offer some solutions to the planet's biggest problems. The relationship between humanity and nature is complicated. People are a part of nature, but at the same time they are a force that acts upon nature … and usually to the detriment of the rest of nature. Climate change is the most high-profil…

Salmon in the Pacific Northwest have been on the decline. Two advocates tell how breaching the dams along the river could restore the population. Salmon are integral to Pacific Northwest culture and have been for a very long time. Many generations before images of salmon filled Seattle gift shops, Native tribes relied on the fish for sustenance, an…

The food that Americans eat says a lot about the political culture they live in. An expert panel discusses what the country's diet is telling us now. Food is something that human beings think about every single day. It is the most intimate way we engage with the outside world – by ingesting parts of it – and the need to eat requires us to make choi…

The iconic environmentalist discusses the history of climate change and climate denial, as well as the challenges and opportunities the future holds. It’s been more than 30 years since Bill McKibben wrote The End of Nature, an essential text in the fight against climate change. And in many ways the world has changed dramatically in that time. But w…

At a live Civic Cocktail event, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and an expert panel discuss the Supreme Court’s decision to end federal protection for abortion. Roe v. Wade established the right to a safe and legal abortion nationwide. Its reversal means that each state in this extraordinarily divided country of ours will need to decide fo…

The actor and the engineer discuss solutions to the water crisis. Access to clean water is a major issue across the globe. According to a 2020 report from the World Health Organization and UNICEF, 771 million people lack access to safe drinking water. This issue has also brought together two unlikely partners, engineer Gary White and actor Matt Dam…

The author of So You Want to Talk About Race discusses how the conversation around race has evolved since the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020. The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in the spring of 2020 fueled a nationwide conversation about race. It drew hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets, elicited commitments from…

Two labor journalists discuss what the Great Resignation, union organization and hybrid models mean for the future of work. Work is a huge part of American life. For most people, it takes up more than a third of their days, at least. And it provides the paychecks that meet their everyday needs. And in America it also provides health insurance. Then…

The Fred Hutch scientist was one of the first people to explain COVID-19 to the public. Thousands of Twitter followers and a MacArthur grant later, he reflects on what he learned. In many ways, the world is swimming in information about the pandemic. Two-plus years after the virus was first detected in the United States, the COVID-19 dashboard has …

The pandemic presented new challenges to U.S. health care. Two experts discuss where the system failed, as well as the advancements spurred by the virus. For more than two years now, talking about health care in the United States has really meant talking about COVID-19. And yet, health care is so much more than a single virus. And while much of the…