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Things That Go Boom

PRX

Stories about the ins, outs, and whathaveyous of what keeps us safe. So, grab a beer and buckle up. It gets bumpy! Hosted by Laicie Heeley.

© Inkstick Media

Stories about the ins, outs, and whathaveyous of what keeps us safe. So, grab a beer and buckle up. It gets bumpy! Hosted by Laicie Heeley.

© Inkstick Media
37hr 34min
Thumbnail for "The End of the World as We Know It".
Can Feminist Foreign Policy help solve the climate crisis?
Thumbnail for "Where Are the Women, Really?".
Cynthia Enloe was the first to ask "Where are the women?" But states with feminist foreign policies have tried to answer that question and fallen short. What now?
Thumbnail for "Is Anybody Listening?".
What feminism tells us about how to stop genocide.
Thumbnail for "Inside Poland’s Abortion Crossroads".
... and what it has to do with the Kremlin.
Thumbnail for "The War at Home".
A story about the women who fight.
Thumbnail for "Fika and Feminism: Part 2".
Why didn’t Sweden’s feminist foreign policy work for defense?
Thumbnail for "Fika and Feminism: Part 1".
The country that started a foreign policy revolution.
Thumbnail for "Season 9: The F-Word".
War, and peace, has always been a boys club. Until now.
Thumbnail for "Things That Go Boom Introduces: Click Here".
A special bonus episode from one of our favorite podcasts.
Thumbnail for "Well, What Do You Know?".
Our mailbag episode is here!
Thumbnail for "Least Cost Paths".
As citizens demand more transparency from their governments, they’re also finding new ways to dig up the information on their own.
Thumbnail for "Tobacco, Trust, and the Artist Formerly Known as Twitter".
We talk to Dr. Joan Donovan about what we can expect from the internet in the lead-up to 2024.
Thumbnail for "Will the Internet Suck Us Dry?".
Data centers tend to land in places with abundant water, power, and taxpayer subsidies.
Thumbnail for "Who Gets To Shut It All Down?".
The internet in the age of blackouts.
Thumbnail for "How to Break a Fish".
In the wild west of the Internet, misinformation creeps around every corner.
Thumbnail for "Lost in Translation".
Turns out Google Translate is worse than we thought.
Thumbnail for "Can You Hack a Nuke?".
A few things have changed since Oppenheimer.
Thumbnail for "The Internet Is at the Bottom of the Sea".
And no, sharks are not eating it.
Thumbnail for "Coming Soon: Troubleshooting".
Season 8 of Things That Go Boom is coming July 10.
Thumbnail for "How a US Reporter Was Imprisoned in Putin’s Russia".
A special episode from our friends at Project Brazen.
Thumbnail for "Getting L-A-O-D".
Philly’s southeast Asian community is done hiding.
Thumbnail for "Mr. Fonio".
Chef Pierre Thiam and the ancient grain that could help feed the world.
Thumbnail for "What’s Next for Brazil After Bolsonaro?".
What Lula’s return could mean for Brazilian bellies.
Thumbnail for "Can Cluster Bombs Show Us How To Stop a Nuclear War?".
The long fight to protect people from explosive remnants of war... and what it means for the future.
Thumbnail for "How Xi Jinping Plans to Fill China’s ‘Rice Bowl’".
Turns out, even Corn Country, USA isn’t immune to foreign espionage.
Thumbnail for "Reissue: Navigating the Strait".
In this episode from 2021, we ask: "Which battles are we willing to fight?"
Thumbnail for "Reissue: Take This Job and Shove It".
In this episode from 2021, we ask: "Is defense spending really a good way to create middle-class jobs?"
Thumbnail for "Are Military Families Really Going Hungry?".
Food insecurity in the force… and what we can do about it.
Thumbnail for "Samin Nosrat on War, Appropriation, and the Power of Food".
A conversation about the food we’re robbed of with the writer, cook, and teacher.
Thumbnail for "What Our Nuclear History Means for Indigenous Food".
Two stories about the loss of land and the persistence of hope.
Thumbnail for "Food, War, and the Conspiracy Supply Chain".
Food is one of our biggest threats hiding in plain sight.
Thumbnail for "Season 7: Food Fight".
Season 7 of Things That Go Boom is coming October 31.
Thumbnail for "Cold Front: Tromsø".
Not everything is as it seems.
Thumbnail for "Cold Front: Beijing".
What does China want from the North?
Thumbnail for "Cold Front: Yellowknife".
The Arctic is heating up.
Thumbnail for "Move Slow and Fix Things".
Rep. Ro Khanna thinks Congress can turn it around.
Thumbnail for "This Really Happened".
Now, somebody has to be held accountable.
Thumbnail for "To Appropriations and Beyond!".
What’s your budget for space lasers?
Thumbnail for "Of Militias and Mercedes-Benzes".
The how, why, and everything that can go wrong when we arm the world.
Thumbnail for "You Get a Sanction, and You, and You".
Everybody gets a sanction!
Thumbnail for "'Praying to Black Jesus' in Kyiv".
We speak with Terrell Jermaine Starr on the ground in Ukraine.
Thumbnail for "Border-aucracy".
Who doesn’t make the rules?
Thumbnail for "Why Buy the Cow?".
Most of us will never meet a president. But your House Rep or Senator? They're supposed to speak for you.
Thumbnail for "S6 Trailer".
Things That Go Boom is headed to the halls of Congress on Feb. 7.
Thumbnail for "Downwind".
The Marshall Islands wants nuclear justice. The US wants to keep China in check.
Thumbnail for "What’s Next for Progressive Foreign Policy?".
An interview with Matt Duss.
Thumbnail for "S5 Bonus - And You Thought Thanksgiving Dinner Was Intense?".
Meet this guy.
Thumbnail for "S5 E7 - Navigating the Strait".
Which battles are we willing to fight?
Thumbnail for "S5 E6 - Take This Job and Shove It".
Is defense spending really a good way to create middle-class jobs?
Thumbnail for "S5 E5 - You Say Gatorade, I Say Bacon".
National security comes home to ruck.
Thumbnail for "S5 E4 - Amtrak and the End of the Free World".
The darker side of our domestic priorities.
Thumbnail for "S5 E3 - Alright Dom, What's Next?".
How China’s middle class is driving Biden’s strategy for America’s middle class.
Thumbnail for "S5 E2 - Out From Under the Leaking Roof and Into the Rain".
If this is foreign policy for America’s middle class, who is it not for?
Thumbnail for "S5 E1 - Cheers to the American Middle Class".
Where, as it turns out, nobody knows your name.
Thumbnail for "S5 Trailer".
Can Biden really connect to his roots? Back to the middle class and where he came from? Can I?
Thumbnail for "S4 Bonus - A Very Hokey 100 Days".
Just one more 100 day episode, filling up your feed.
Thumbnail for "S4 E9 - Baby Nukes: When a Little Boom Is All You Need".
Spice up your arsenal with baby nukes!
Thumbnail for "S4 E8 - Aliens Among Us".
We all love to laugh at a good conspiracy theory. Maybe that's why this one took the US government by surprise.
Thumbnail for "S4 E7 - Why One Congresswoman Wore Tennis Shoes on Jan. 6".
Things That Go Boom talks ending endless wars and domestic terrorism with Rep. Barbara Lee.
Thumbnail for "S4 E6 - Saving the World With 50-Year-Old IT".
They only have to be right once.
Thumbnail for "S4 E5 - Duluth, Not as Cold as You Think!".
We could be on the cusp of a great northern migration. One that could make millions more vulnerable.
Thumbnail for "Reissue: The Slog".
That time we talked to Biden's new National Security Advisor.
Thumbnail for "S4 E3 - A Forward-Looking Foreign Policy".
Sen. Chris Murphy thinks we might still have a "Chance for Peace."
Thumbnail for "S4 E2 - The Blob".
It's indestructible! It's indescribable! It's the Blob!
Thumbnail for "S4 E1 - Fee-fi-fo-fear".
Wherein we try to fix your fear, and fail miserably.
Thumbnail for "S4 Trailer".
It's almost that time!
Thumbnail for "S3 E8 (The Wrong Apocalypse) - After the Apocalypse".
The solutions aren’t easy, but they’re simple.
Thumbnail for "S3 E7 (The Wrong Apocalypse) - Future Wars".
The opening battles of WWIII will probably be silent.
Thumbnail for "S3 E6 (The Wrong Apocalypse) - Inner Decay".
Have we become our own worst enemy?
Thumbnail for "S3 E5 (The Wrong Apocalypse) - Democracy! (Yawn)".
Is the world falling out of love with democracy?
Thumbnail for "S3 E4 (The Wrong Apocalypse) - This Is Not a Drill".
Maybe duck and cover wasn’t so bad?
Thumbnail for "S3 E3 (The Wrong Apocalypse) - So You Want Your Own Army?".
What happens when a hot dog salesman goes to war?
Thumbnail for "S3 E2 (The Wrong Apocalypse) - While We Were Sleeping".
Did the US hit ‘snooze’ while China rose?
Thumbnail for "S3 E1 (The Wrong Apocalypse) - World War C".
We were preparing for World War III, when we got hammered by World War C.
Thumbnail for "S3 Trailer (The Wrong Apocalypse)".
Have we been preparing for the wrong apocalypse all along?
Thumbnail for "S2 Bonus - Our Closet Bunker Broadcast on Iran".
Laicie and Ruth gather in a hardened bunker in the mountains of Maryland, full of clothes and dirty laundry, to talk about the latest with Iran.
Thumbnail for "S2 Bonus - Amb. William Burns".
A special bonus interview with Amb. William Burns.
Thumbnail for "S2 E7 (Fallout) - Collateral Damage".
The first clue something was wrong came in the form of an alert on Yegi Rezaian’s phone. Where I grew up,” she says, “these things don’t happen by accident.”
Thumbnail for "S2 E6 (Fallout) - No Cheese, Extra Pickles".
Will Trump's sanctions lead to new nuclear negotiations, or just reinforce a bitter feud?
Thumbnail for "S2 E5 (Fallout) - I Want Money ".
Is our foreign policy for sale?
Thumbnail for "S2 E4 (Fallout) - Bad Blood ".
Before they were enemies, the US and Iran used to have a thing. In fact, we started their nuclear program.
Thumbnail for "S2 E3 (Fallout) - The Slog ".
Diplomacy isn't glamorous, it’s grueling. But when it works, it can stop a war.
Thumbnail for "S2 E2 (Fallout) - The Worst Deal Ever".
Was Trump right to walk away from the Iran deal? Or was there something else -- something more political -- going on?
Thumbnail for "S2 E1 (Fallout) - Nothing Good Happens After Midnight".
Are we headed for nuclear war?
Thumbnail for "S2 Trailer (Fallout)".
It’s been called President Obama’s signature foreign policy achievement -- so why does the Trump administration think it was the “worst deal ever” made?
Thumbnail for "S1 E4 - What Shakespeare Can Teach Us About PTSD".
We don’t always talk about the things that scare us most. First, Ally Harpootlian's grandmother Betty kept a secret life of poetry locked away. Then, a whole new way to look at Shakespeare - and his relationship to war. Stephan Wolfert...
Thumbnail for "S1 E3 - What Happens When the Military Thinks Outside the Box?".
How Nancy Sinatra’s #1 hit, "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'," became a military anthem. Then, a bunch of students at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) try to change the world —  and eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons — with...
Thumbnail for "S1 E2 - Home Security".
In this episode, Laicie explores white nationalism, the Haitian revolution, and the impacts of nuclear weapons production on the Navajo Nation – and goes all the way back to America’s founding to ask, “What is this thing we call national...
Thumbnail for "S1 E1 - The Bear".
Two true stories about nuclear false alarms.
Thumbnail for "S1 Trailer".
From PRI and Inkstick Media

The End of the World as We Know It

Thumbnail for "The End of the World as We Know It".
May 13, 202421min 27sec

When news of a new disaster seems to roll in every day… it can feel like there’s little hope.

But what if we had… another option? Not just to reverse course on climate change, but to set the course for a better future.

Carol Cohn and Claire Duncanson think we do.

GUESTS: Carol Cohn, University of Massachusetts, Boston; Claire Duncanson, University of Edinburgh

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals, Carol Cohn

Feminist Roadmap for Sustainable Peace and Planet

The Past, Present, and Future(s) of Feminist Foreign Policy, Columba Achilleos-Sarll, Jennifer Thomson, Toni Haastrup, Karoline Färber, Carol Cohn, Paul Kirby