Apple News In Conversation

Earlier this year, Brad Reese — the grandson of the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups — accused Hershey of secretly changing its recipes and making this beloved treat taste worse. New York magazine features writer Rachel Handler had also noticed a decline in the quality of mass-market chocolate, and Reese’s viral post inspired her to investigate just what has happened to these classic candies in the U.S. Handler joins Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to break down how candy companies have changed their formulas, the labeling loopholes letting them cut costs, and how to spot real chocolate on the wrapper.

In the span of a month, Christa Pike survived a botched lethal-injection execution in Tennessee and the Pentagon announced plans to livestream the firing-squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan. President Trump later walked back the livestream, although the execution is still scheduled; it will be the first military firing-squad execution in the country since World War II. Maurice Chammah, a staff writer at the Marshall Project, joins Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to unpack this moment in America, how politicians and the public are responding, and what these two stories reveal about the death penalty’s future.

With the 2026 midterms just two weeks away, many Americans are paying close attention not only to races and candidates but to the election process itself. Cook Political Report editor in chief Amy Walter and veteran GOP pollster Patrick Ruffini join Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to answer questions from our listeners — including why polling has become so hard to trust, how redistricting fights are reshaping races, and what guardrails are in place after results start coming in.

A lawsuit filed by a former Cornell student that alleges she was sexually assaulted by seven fraternity members in 2024 has sparked an outpouring of women sharing their own stories of campus assault. While the case reflects dynamics that researchers have tracked since the 1980s, it also reveals something distinctly modern: how fraternity culture and online misogyny now collide in unchecked digital spaces. Sophie Gilbert, a staff writer at The Atlantic, joins Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to talk about why reports of campus assault keep rising, what we know about the role of fraternities, and what meaningful change could look like.

Fewer people around the world are having kids — the global birth rate has been falling steadily since the 1970s — but, for many, it’s not because they don’t want to become parents. A deep sense of uncertainty about money, relationships, and the future has made starting a family feel harder than ever. Anna Louie Sussman, author of the new book Inconceivable: The Impossibility of Family in an Age of Uncertainty, joins Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to discuss what’s really standing in the way and what it would take to close that gap.

Americans spend billions of hours a year navigating government bureaucracy, whether filling out forms, waiting on hold, or standing in endless lines. Researchers call this hidden burden the “time tax.” In her new book, The Time Tax: How the Government Wastes Our Time — and How to Fix It, Atlantic staff writer Annie Lowrey argues all of this red tape is more than just annoying — it has real, lasting consequences for the country. Lowrey joins Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to talk about who pays a disproportionate share of the time tax, why the system was designed to wear us down, and her ideas for how to fix it.

Unsettling headlines about AI are dominating the news. In the past few weeks, an Anthropic researcher quit his job out of fear that the technology could “kill us all,” OpenAI revealed that its models have demonstrated “concerning behavior,” and four tech CEOs made an unprecedented call for a slowdown. Nilay Patel, editor in chief of The Verge and host of the Decoder podcast, last joined Apple News In Conversation in 2023, as ChatGPT exploded in popularity. He returns to the show to discuss what’s changed, what this technology can and can’t do, and why company rivals are asking the government for help.

Warning: This episode includes descriptions of violence against children, adult language, and mentions of suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.

The trial of Lindsay Clancy — the Massachusetts mother accused of murdering her three young children in 2023 — ended this month in a mistrial. Her defense didn’t dispute the killings but argued that Clancy wasn’t criminally responsible because she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis and overmedication. The trial was live streamed and picked apart by people across the country. The New Yorker’s Jessica Winter has followed this case since the beginning, and she joins Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to unpack why it became a national obsession — and what the fractured public response reveals about America.

This is an episode from our archives. It originally aired in May 2025.

Forever chemicals, also known as PFAS, are found in virtually every corner of the world, including in most people’s bodies. These synthetic compounds have been linked to a wide range of health issues — from infertility to cancer to neurological problems — even at low levels of exposure. In a new book, They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals, investigative journalist Mariah Blake lays out how these toxic chemicals became so ubiquitous. Blake spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about a group of unlikely activists fighting back against those responsible and offers practical tips to protect yourself.

For the past few years, a campaign against sunscreen has been building — with social-media influencers claiming that sunscreen itself, rather than the sun, is damaging people’s skin and harming their health. The misinformation is working: More than 16 million adults have cut back or stopped using sunscreen because of it. Meanwhile, skin-cancer rates continue to rise. Brian Underwood, beauty and grooming director at Men’s Health and Women’s Health, joins Apple News In Conversation guest host David Greene to share his reporting on who’s driving this movement, the confusing FDA report that helped fuel it, and what it will take to restore trust in sunscreen.

Testosterone prescriptions are at an all-time high in the U.S., and according to a survey by Men’s Health, 70% of men say their levels of the hormone are important to them. This increased attention to T has even reached the Pentagon, which announced mandatory testosterone screenings for troops over the age of 30. Michael Andor Brodeur, a Men’s Health contributor and author of the book Swole, joins Apple News In Conversation guest host David Greene to explain how testosterone transformed from solely a medical treatment into a cultural obsession — and what that shift reveals about the pressures American men face today.

This summer, the U.S. saw its largest cyclospora outbreak on record — with more than 22,000 suspected cases linked to contaminated iceberg lettuce, alongside a wave of other foodborne illnesses. Timothy D. Lytton, a law professor at Georgia State University and author of Outbreak: Foodborne Illness and the Struggle for Food Safety, joins Apple News In Conversation host David Greene to explain how America’s food-safety system actually works, how the system evolved, and what recent outbreaks reveal about the changes needed to make us all safer.

Peak tick season is here — and the fastest-growing tick-borne illness in the country is alpha-gal syndrome, a condition that causes an often-severe allergy to red meat and other animal products. It’s primarily spread by lone-star ticks, once confined to the Southeast but now found as far north as Maine and Michigan. The syndrome can trigger a range of reactions — from hives to anaphylaxis — and at least one death has been attributed to it. New Yorker staff writer Burkhard Bilger, who has reported on the syndrome’s rise, joins Apple News In Conversation guest host David Greene to explain how it was discovered, why it can take years to diagnose, and how it’s reshaping the way people eat, work, and spend time outdoors.

This year, the U.S. has seen more than 270 mass shootings — and firearms remain the leading cause of death for American children and teens. But solutions appear largely out of reach. New York Times reporter Mike McIntire, a gun owner himself, traces how we got here in his new book, Ricochet: Guns, Greed, and the American Way of Violence. McIntire talks to Apple News In Conversation guest host David Greene about the surprising origins of the Second Amendment, how an obscure Democrat helped turn the National Rifle Association into a powerful lobby, and paths to reducing violence.

President Trump earned more than $2 billion in his first year back in office. According to a mandatory financial disclosure released in June, most of that fortune came from cryptocurrency ventures. David Kirkpatrick, a staff writer at the New Yorker who has tracked Trump’s earnings for years, sat down with Apple News In Conversation guest host David Greene to unpack what the disclosure reveals about the president and his businesses — and the potential implications for everyday Americans.

GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are being taken by millions of Americans. These medications have been approved for treating diabetes, obesity, and a small number of other chronic conditions. But even as experts are still learning how the drugs work, many people have found that they help with other disorders — from addiction to brain fog to arthritis — where anecdotal evidence is promising but the formal research hasn’t caught up. Julia Belluz, a contributing writer for the New York Times Opinion section and coauthor of Food Intelligence, joins Apple News In Conversation guest host David Greene to explain why what’s unfolding right now may be the largest uncontrolled drug experiment in modern history.

The Supreme Court just wrapped one of its most consequential terms in recent memory — issuing major rulings on presidential power, birthright citizenship, and the rights of transgender athletes. But the story playing out in most headlines, legal analyst Sarah Isgur argues, is missing the bigger picture. Isgur is the editor of SCOTUSblog and the author of Last Branch Standing: A Potentially Surprising, Occasionally Witty Journey Inside Today’s Supreme Court. She joined Apple News In Conversation guest host David Greene to explain why she considers this the hardest term in the Roberts Court’s history, why Trump has lost far more cases than he’s won, and why the political framework most people use to understand the court tells only a fraction of the story.

This episode originally aired on Sept 18, 2025.

The Constitution has been amended 27 times, but the last meaningful change was over half a century ago. In historian Jill Lepore’s book We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution, she argues that the near impossibility of amendment in recent decades underlies many of today’s political crises, from polarization to battles over the courts. Lepore spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about the history of constitutional revision and why the amendment process matters for the future of American democracy.

When New Yorker staff writer Jay Caspian Kang sat down to do his taxes, one question surfaced: Should he still be saving for his 9-year-old daughter’s college fund? What followed was a deeply reported series about the growing crisis in American higher education and the forces behind it — from AI to soaring tuition to a collapse in public trust in institutions. Kang speaks with Apple News In Conversation guest host David Greene about what colleges are actually for, whether they’re still delivering on their promises, and what the future of higher education might look like.

The United States turns 250 years old this summer — and there’s no shortage of ways to mark the moment. One of the most revealing lenses through which to view the country’s history may be music. Anna Harwell Celenza, professor at Johns Hopkins University and author of On the Record: Music That Changed America, joined Apple News In Conversation guest host David Greene to discuss the hidden political history of American music — from why “The Star-Spangled Banner” became the national anthem to how “Strange Fruit” helped pass anti-lynching legislation — and what music still has to say about democracy now.