Longtime Atlantic tech, culture and political writer Derek Thompson cuts through all the noise surrounding the big questions and headlines that matter to you in his new podcast Plain English. Watch Derek and guests engage the news with clear viewpoints and memorable takeaways. New episodes drop every Tuesday and Friday, and if you've got a topic you want discussed, shoot us an email at plainenglish@spotify.com! Subscribe to our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson
369 episodes transcribedOne of my New Year’s resolutions for 2024 was to do more episodes with people who think I'm wrong about something. For example, I've done several epis...
Today’s episode is about one of the most interesting pieces of research I’ve read in the past year. It's an idea called "need for chaos," and the trut...
Today’s episode is about the extraordinary decline in face-to-face socializing in America—and the real stakes of the country’s hanging-out crisis. Fro...
Today’s episode is about arguably the most important economic statistic out there: real (or inflation-adjusted) wage growth. For much of the last few...
Life is a series of conversations. Our relationships, friendships, marriages, breakups, makeups, hirings, promotions, and firings are mostly the story...
Today’s episode is about the science of slowing down the aging process … and why one biotech company has found some success with dogs. Last November,...
We’ve done several shows on America’s anxiety crisis. This one asks several questions that might get me in trouble. Have we overcorrected from an era...
You could make the argument that last year was the worst year in human history for climate change. The Earth experienced its hottest day on record ove...
Something mysterious is happening in the politics of young men and women. Gen Z women—those in their 20s and younger—have become sharply more liberal...
If you love food and also consider yourself a good person, you probably care about where your food comes from, how it’s grown, and whether it's part o...
It's just a steel tumbler with a straw and side handle. But the Stanley cup is a social media phenomenon and an incredible business success story. How...
Sports Illustrated layoffs. The demise of independent Pitchfork. Hundreds of millions of dollars in losses at major newspapers like the Washington Pos...
Today is the third and final episode in our miniseries on this unique moment in global war and conflict. In the first episode, we looked at the turmoi...
This is the second episode in "World on Fire," a series on the historic levels of global violence and conflict in the Middle East, the Americas, and b...
The chaos in the Middle East is getting worse. It’s not just in Gaza. It’s not the spasms of violence in the West Bank. It’s not just the northern bor...
The 'New York Times' bestselling author and contrarian self-help writer Oliver Burkeman joins the show to talk about his new audio essay series on wor...
Derek shares what he considers the most important narratives of the moment, including the return of normalcy in economics, a big shift in sports media...
If you're looking for a hopeful and mind-expanding conversation to round out the year, this one is for you. It's our breakthroughs of the year episode...
One week ago, Matthew Perry’s autopsy report came back, finding that the ‘Friends’ actor died from the acute effects of ketamine overdose. His death h...
Today’s episode is about 2023 in media—from TV to film, from the miracle of Barbenheimer’s to the superhero drought, from Netflix’s show of strength t...
