Slate Culture Feed

A major vulnerability is threatening the entire internet as we know it. Should we let it? As talk of an internet apocalypse looms, some users can’t help but feel it’s high time to turn the whole thing off and on again. On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by senior tech editor Tony Ho Tran to talk about what is actually happening to the internet, how nervous we should be, and why the nightmare scenario of the entire internet shutting down actually sounds like…a dream?

This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay.
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In New Jersey, the tomato is king. Almost a century ago, a scientist at Rutgers University developed a variety that became the tomato that lined grocery store shelves for decades. Now, Rutgers scientists are at it again—they’ve invented a new grape tomato called Scarlet Sunrise. Will it become the next hot item in the produce aisle? How do you even invent a new tomato? And why are new varieties of fruits and veggies becoming more popular than ever? This week, we’re presenting an episode from The Sporkful in collaboration with Planet Money that aims to find out. In it, Dan Pashman and Kenny Malone investigate these grocery store mysteries, and see if this hot new tomato can win over a longtime grape tomato skeptic.

From Planet Money, this episode was produced by James Sneed, edited by Keith Romer, fact checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Cena Loffredo and Jimmy Keely. The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Kameel Stanley, and Jared O'Connell.

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In 2002, when Elizabeth Smart was taken from her bed by a stranger, the media covered it day and night. When Elizabeth returned home nine months later, she slowly began to learn to tell her own story, in her own words. This week on the show, she explains what it’s been like to revisit those traumatic details in her 2013 memoir, in a Netflix documentary, and in her new podcast The Survivor Files, where she and other victims walk through their experiences slowly and carefully. She also talks about her new bodybuilding hobby and how she talks to her kids about safety and risk-taking.
Podcast production by Cameron Drews.
Get more with Death, Sex & Money Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of DSM and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Death, Sex & Money show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/dsmplus to get access wherever you listen.
If you’re new to the show, welcome. We’re so glad you’re here. Find us and follow us on Instagram and you can find Anna’s newsletter at annasale.substack.com. Our email address, where you can reach us with voice memos, pep talks, questions, critiques, is deathsexmoney@slate.com.
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Conversations about screen addition are almost always about kids. Entire governments have mobilized in pursuit of offsetting the negative effects of being too plugged in, but there’s one demographic we never talk about. On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by writer Jessica Lucas, who wrote a piece for New York Magazine about “The 75-year-old Screenagers,” and the ways adult children are struggling with and trying to mitigate their own senior parents' digital habits.

This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Four decades ago, Paul Simon broke out of a middle-age slump with a collaborative project few saw coming. Join Chris Molanphy as he explores the musical brilliance, polarizing legacy—and of course, the chart history—of 1986’s Graceland.

Captivated by a borrowed mixtape of South African music, Simon defied a UN cultural boycott and traveled to apartheid-era South Africa to collaborate and record with Ladysmith Black Mambazo and other musicians. The result was polarizing, critically beloved and, eventually, a chart smash. Graceland also set a new precedent for aging pop stars.

For an even deeper dive on the controversies behind the album, check out Ashley Kahn’s new book Days of Miracle and Wonder: Paul Simon and the Trials and Triumphs of Graceland. And for more on the anti-apartheid movement in pop, listen to Hit Parade’s episode on the rise and fall of the charity megasingle.

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