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Are We Doomed?

NPR Network

Is the world ending, or does it just feel like it?

"Are We Doomed?" investigates the greatest risks facing society, the planet, and our species. What’s real? What’s hype? And how do we actually make it out alive? 

Nukes. Asteroids. Autocracy. Rogue AI. Climate-driven pandemics. Angry hippopotamuses. Teeth clenched, curiosity engaged, quips ready, this “slightly narrative” podcast explores everything from the existential and the unexpected to the overblown. 

Award-winning public radio journalist Ben Bradford brings you wild true stories, high-production sound design, and world-class experts answering the questions they never prepared for (“Why is the Earth doing this to us?”). From NuanceTales and distributed by the NPR Network, this show delves into history, science, technology, and the natural world, to help you separate legitimate world-changing risks from doomsday fantasies. 

Come for the supervolcano under Yellowstone National Park (real), stay to learn why the post-apocalyptic wasteland won’t look like the movies (sorry, you won’t be wandering with a shotgun and a dog), and leave with a better understanding of how our brilliant, bumbling species can chart a path through our current, terrifying adolescence.

2026 NuanceTales

Is the world ending, or does it just feel like it?

"Are We Doomed?" investigates the greatest risks facing society, the planet, and our species. What’s real? What’s hype? And how do we actually make it out alive? 

Nukes. Asteroids. Autocracy. Rogue AI. Climate-driven pandemics. Angry hippopotamuses. Teeth clenched, curiosity engaged, quips ready, this “slightly narrative” podcast explores everything from the existential and the unexpected to the overblown. 

Award-winning public radio journalist Ben Bradford brings you wild true stories, high-production sound design, and world-class experts answering the questions they never prepared for (“Why is the Earth doing this to us?”). From NuanceTales and distributed by the NPR Network, this show delves into history, science, technology, and the natural world, to help you separate legitimate world-changing risks from doomsday fantasies. 

Come for the supervolcano under Yellowstone National Park (real), stay to learn why the post-apocalyptic wasteland won’t look like the movies (sorry, you won’t be wandering with a shotgun and a dog), and leave with a better understanding of how our brilliant, bumbling species can chart a path through our current, terrifying adolescence.

2026 NuanceTales
4hr 53min
Thumbnail for "Introducing Are We Doomed?".
The trailer for the end of the world (podcast).
Thumbnail for "Are We Going the Way of the Roman Empire?".
How civilizations fall (and whether we're seeing that now).
Thumbnail for "We Try and Kill the Internet".
What if it goes down for good?
Thumbnail for "Past Dooms That Didn't Arrive".
The future keeps not ending
Thumbnail for "How To Survive a Nuclear War".
And it will be unpleasant
Thumbnail for "How Do You Kill a Mosquito?".
Turning the tables on humanity's greatest killer
Thumbnail for "Supervolcano!".
Thumbnail for "Let’s Design the AI That Kills Us All".
Why is AI on the list of existential risks? Or rather — how?
Thumbnail for "How To Start a Nuclear War".
Humanity’s first easy button to end the world

Introducing Are We Doomed?

Thumbnail for "Introducing Are We Doomed?".
April 21, 20262min 6sec

Grin at the apocalypse and find out with this curious, irreverent weekly podcast exploring the biggest dangers to our society and our species. From nuclear war and societal collapse to rogue AI and the moon drifting off … which “dooms” are real? What can we do? What does history tell us? And do you need to learn wilderness survival? 

Each week, acclaimed journalist Ben Bradford investigates the threats that haunt humanity with curiosity and only a little panic behind his eyes. The result: Gripping true stories, thoughtful guests, darkly funny insights, and an unexpected amount of hope. We’ve survived every "end of the world" so far, and let’s figure out why. So we can do it again.



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Introducing Are We Doomed?
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