How toxic chemicals quietly took over our lives

This is an episode from our archives. Since we published this episode, the Wall Street Journal released a report that the Pentagon purposely spread disinformation about UFOs, at times to protect secret military operations. Have we been visited by extraterrestrial life? And how much does the government really know when it comes to UFOs? Garrett Graff’s latest book, UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government’s Search for Alien Life Here — and Out There, investigates these questions and more. The national-security reporter recently sat down with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to share his findings.

Private equity has become one of the most powerful — and least understood — forces in the American economy. In recent decades, firms have taken over everything from retail chains to hospitals to housing — often with little risk to themselves and with real consequences for workers and communities. In her new book, Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream, journalist Megan Greenwell breaks down how this industry is quietly reshaping American life. Greenwell sat down with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to share the stories of people pushing back against these entities to protect their jobs, their families, and their homes.

Formula 1 is the highest level of motorsport, with cars hitting speeds of over 200 miles per hour and teams making split-second, high-stakes decisions behind the scenes. Now the drama of this sport is coming to the big screen, with the new Apple Original film F1 The Movie, starring actors Brad Pitt and Damson Idris, in theaters June 27. Director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer wanted to make it the most authentic car-racing movie possible, and they shot real F1 races, incorporating those scenes into the film. They sat down with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to talk about bringing the world of F1 to life.

In his 22-year career in the FBI, undercover agent Scott Payne infiltrated some of the most dangerous criminal and extremist groups in America, from a motorcycle gang called the Outlaws to a white-supremacist group known as the Base. Payne shares his firsthand case accounts of gathering intelligence and stopping illegal activity in his memoir, Code Name: Pale Horse; How I Went Undercover to Expose America’s Nazis. His story is also featured on the latest season of the Slate podcast White Hot Hate. Payne sat down with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to talk about some of his most harrowing moments on the job and the growing threat of extremism in the U.S.

Taylor Swift recently announced that she bought back the master recordings of her first six albums, ending a yearslong ownership battle. In light of this news, we’re bringing you an episode from our archives about Swift’s career, megastardom, and legacy.   Taylor Swift requires no introduction. She recently became the first artist to win the Grammy for Album of the Year four times. Her Eras Tour, the highest-grossing music tour ever, ends this month. Rolling Stone’s Rob Sheffield, who has been covering Swift since the beginning of her career, is out with a new book on the star, Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music. Sheffield talks with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about Swift’s gift for storytelling, her expansive fan base, and how she’s empowered a whole new generation of artists.

When ProPublica health-care reporter David Armstrong was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer, he began taking a lifesaving drug called Revlimid. When he learned that each pill of this medication is sold for nearly $1,000 but costs drug companies only cents to make, he went on a quest to uncover the reasons behind its shocking price tag. Armstrong sat down with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to talk about his investigation into Revlimid’s origins and what it reveals about prescription-drug pricing in America.

Throughout his presidency, Joe Biden faced questions about his age and his health, so much so that he ultimately ended his 2024 reelection campaign. In a new book, Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson reveal the true extent of Biden’s declining cognitive health, and the lengths his inner circle took to conceal it from the public. Tapper and Thompson spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about their reporting and what it means for Biden’s legacy.

Forever chemicals, also known as PFAS, are found in virtually every corner of the world, including in most people’s bodies. These synthetic compounds have been linked to a wide range of health issues — from infertility to cancer to neurological problems — even at low levels of exposure. In a new book, They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals, investigative journalist Mariah Blake lays out how these toxic chemicals became so ubiquitous. Blake spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about a group of unlikely activists fighting back against those responsible and offers practical tips to protect yourself.For some resources recommended by Blake, go to the National Science Foundation’s page on PFAS in drinking water.

This week, the New Yorker was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for its podcast In the Dark, which is featured in this episode from our archives.On Nov. 19, 2005, a group of U.S. Marines killed 24 men, women, and children in Haditha, Iraq. It would become known as the Haditha massacre and set off one of the largest war-crimes investigations in American history. But, ultimately, no one was convicted of these killings. The latest season of the New Yorker’s podcast In the Dark explores what happened in Haditha and how the U.S. military justice system often fails to hold its members to account. Host Madeleine Baran spoke with Apple News In Conversation’s Shumita Basu about this expansive investigative reporting. Listen to the full interview on Apple Podcasts.

In 2020, dozens of young women from a small Long Island, New York, community discovered violent and sexualized manipulated images of themselves on a deepfake-porn site. Local police found themselves ill-equipped to handle the case, but some of the victims did their own sleuthing. Their quest for justice is featured in Bloomberg Businessweek’s podcast Levittown. Reporters Olivia Carville and Margi Murphy sat down with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to talk about the rise of generative AI and how it’s found its way into the darkest places on the web.