Who gets to compete? Since the beginning of women’s sports, there has been a struggle over who qualifies for the women’s category. Tested follows the unfolding story of elite female runners who have been told they can no longer race as women, because of their biology. As the Olympics approach, they face hard choices: take drugs to lower their natural testosterone levels, give up their sport entirely, or fight. To understand how we got here, we trace the surprising, 100-year history of sex testing.

What would the warranty on a sex robot look like? How would diplomacy work if we couldn’t lie? Could there ever be a black market for fecal transplants? (Complicated, it wouldn’t, and yes, respectively, in case you’re curious.) By combining audio drama and deep reporting, Flash Forward gives listeners an original and unique window into the future, how likely different scenarios might be, and how to prepare for what might come.

Should I follow my boyfriend to Mars? Can I ask my friend to turn off her Alexa when I come over? Is it okay to have kids? You have questions for and from the future, and we have answers. Every other week your resident futurologist tackles the real, the almost-real, and the totally out there questions that listeners send in. The future is going to be weirder than we can even imagine. Let’s get ready for it together.

What is going to happen tomorrow? Or in a year? Or in five years? Anybody who claims they can predict the future is lying, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to think about where we’re headed. In fact, our very survival may depend on how good we are at imagining different futures. And Flash Forward Presents is here to teach you how to do that. We’re a network of shows all about the future, presenting grounded, nuanced and ultimately hopeful visions for what tomorrow could be.

Helped found & launch the award winning 30 for 30 podcast. 30 for 30 Podcasts, from ESPN Films and ESPN Audio, are original audio documentaries from the makers of the acclaimed 30 for 30 film series, featuring stories from the world of sports and beyond. The show offers captivating storytelling for sports fans and general interest listeners alike, going beyond the field to explore how sports, competition, athleticism and adventure affect our lives and our world. Listen here.

This summer, the governors of New Mexico and Colorado got into a fight on Twitter. Words were had. Umbrage was taken. But the fight wasn’t about tax incentives, or highway funding, or water rights. Instead, it all boiled down to this: Colorado’s governor had the gall to insult New Mexico’s pride and joy: its chili peppers. Listen to the quest to save the New Mexico chile using breeding and a very strange looking machine at 99 Percent Invisible.

Say You’re Sorry is a timely, insightful podcast series about public apologies, exploring why they’re harder to give (and receive) than you might expect. By going deep on nine different apologies — for everything from YouTube drama to sexual harassment to Cold War experiments — the show offers a new way to think about what it means to say you’re sorry. Listen now on Audible.

Do you consider yourself an open-minded person? Most people would likely say yes. I mean, who wants to be closed-minded? But the reality is that many of us are probably not as open to new ideas as we might like. It can be hard to reconsider long-held beliefs, and even harder to question things you didn't even know you believed in the first place. Here’s how to practice open mindedness, and why it’s worth trying!

The air is getting more dangerous to breathe all over the world — and a suite of companies are hoping to capitalize with a new fashion item. VOX

Companies are constantly patenting strange things they have no intention of developing. Here’s why. SLATE

What a 19th-century scammer can teach us about women, lying, and economic boom-and-bust cycles. Longform

What can one brash dolphin with an incredible back story teach us about personality? Hakai Magazine

Installed in the wake of recent high-profile mass shootings, controversial facial recognition systems that scan students’ faces could be the not-too-distant future for schools across America and beyond. VICE

Redditors and forum users invest time trying to solve incidents involving total strangers, only to be left hanging when their research pays off. The Outline

Thanks to recent efforts in the virtual reality space, audiences can get up close and personal to folks living very different, and difficult, lives. But can attempts to foster empathy through simulation hurt more than they can help? Topic

A labeling war is brewing. SLATE

They see facial recognition, smart diapers, and surveillance devices as inevitable evolutions. They’re not. VOX

Being an astronaut is mentally and physically grueling—which is why people with disabilities, who adapt to challenges every day, are perfect fits. WIRED

Humans are not the only living things beset by hidden cameras and tracked by portable devices. WIRED

In a world full of incredible technology, why can we still not imagine anything more interesting than a woman making dinner alone? Eater

Companies love to get press for disability tech projects, but they often aren’t all that interested in actually putting real money behind them. The Outline

I have two cyborg implants. One is in my hand, and it lets me unlock phones and doors by waving at them. The other is in my uterus, and it lets me control my own fertility. Fusion

Prosthetic technology is certainly advancing rapidly, but there's a catch. For most people, these state-of-the-art devices are neither attainable, nor well suited for their lives.

NOVA

Motherboard

Vocativ

Motherboard

SLATE

Ideas Contributor

Design Bias

Tomorrow’s Lives

Every week, I take a half-baked podcast idea and give it a full pitch treatment. That’s it. That’s the whole newsletter. Subscribe here.

The first ever audio piece I made was about a tumbleweed farm with a strange and surprising history. Barney the Dinosaur is involved. (listen here)

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