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Invisibilia

Latest episodes

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May 6, 2021 • 49min

The Chaos Machine: Wrathful Lord

The man behind 209 Times is not who you'd expect. In Part 2, co-host Yowei Shaw discovers the website's surprising origin story, and ends up at the frontlines of a revolt against the mainstream media and a fight over who gets to own the truth.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Apr 29, 2021 • 38min

The Chaos Machine: An Endless Hole

Yowei gets a tip about Russian trolls in Stockton, California and falls down a hole of swirling conspiracy theories. At the center is a scrappy, controversial website that has become one of the most popular sources of local news in town. Some say it's doing important investigative journalism while others say it's spreading hateful lies about progressive leaders. In part 1 of The Chaos Machine series, what happens when traditional local news runs out of resources and reporting the narrative of a community is anybody's game?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Apr 22, 2021 • 51min

Eat The Rich

Invisibilia explores a social experiment with money, focused around a contentious topic: reparations. What happens when you demand white people give up their wealth?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Apr 19, 2021 • 4min

Season 7: New Stories. New Hosts.

Invisibilia is back! Stories that help you see the world differently, with new hosts Kia Miakka Natisse and Yowei Shaw.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Jun 13, 2020 • 48min

Trust Fall

Hacking, phishing, surveillance, disinformation... these are tools used to silence dissidents and influence elections. But what happens when these same methods are used against an ordinary citizen? The story of a man fighting an enemy he can't see and becoming increasingly paranoid.Which makes him a lot like the rest of us. What happens when you no longer know how to trust?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Apr 10, 2020 • 1h 6min

Two Heartbeats A Minute

The strange story of an unlikely crew of people who band together to take on one of our largest problems using nothing but whale sounds, machine learning, and a willingness to think outside the box. Even stranger, several of the world's most accomplished scientists seem to think they might have a good idea. | To learn more about this episode, subscribe to our newsletter. Click here to learn more about NPR sponsors.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Apr 3, 2020 • 1h 1min

White v. White?

A city council candidate says he's black. But his opponent accuses him of being a white man pretending to be black. If race is simply a social construct and not a biological reality, how do we determine someone's race? And who gets to decide? We tell the story of a man whose racial identity was fiercely contested... and the consequences this had on an entire city. | To learn more about this episode, subscribe to our newsletter. Click here to learn more about NPR sponsors.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Mar 27, 2020 • 51min

An Unlikely Superpower

What if you had a superpower that allowed you to see part of the world that was to come? At the age of 60, a Scottish woman named Joy Milne discovers she has a biological gift that allows her to see things that will happen in the future that no one else can see. A look at how we think about the future, and the important ways the future shapes the present. | To learn more about this episode, subscribe to our newsletter. Click here to learn more about NPR sponsors.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Mar 22, 2020 • 52min

The Confrontation

Welcome to what is possibly the most tense and uncomfortable summer program in America! The Boston-based program aims to teach the next generation the real truth about race, and may provide some ideas for the rest of us about the right way to confront someone to their face. | To learn more about this episode, subscribe to our newsletter. Click here to learn more about NPR sponsors.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Mar 16, 2020 • 44min

The Reluctant Immortalist

Daniel Martinez discovered the unthinkable: a creature that breaks one of the most fundamental laws of life. In the wake of his discovery--which has been widely confirmed by the scientific community--all kinds of people have thrown themselves into trying to unlock the secrets of how this creature seems to cheat death. Cellular biologists, aging researchers, and the biotech industry all hold high hopes that there may be some application to slow human aging. Millions of dollars are being poured into the dream of extending the human lifespan, which looks increasingly possible. But Daniel? He trashed his experiment. He completely abandoned the pursuit of unlocking the secrets of immortality. Perhaps because he believes that dream is all wrong. Invisibilia co-founder Lulu Miller went down to visit him in California to try to find out why. Please take our short, anonymous listener survey: npr.org/invisibiliasurvey. | To learn more about this episode, subscribe to our newsletter. Click here to learn more about NPR sponsors.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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