The process of approving booster shots for the COVID-19 vaccines in the US has been particularly fraught. Last week, two well-respected medical journals published contradictory conclusions regarding the use of vaccine boosters. Dr. Genevieve Kanter joins Deep Background to make sense of the existing research and weigh in on the booster approval process.Dr. Kanter is an economist and Research Assistant Professor in the University of Pennsylvania Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy. Her research focuses on the regulation of biomedical technologies, industry influence in medicine, and statistical methods used for causal inference.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we start a new school year, Tamar Gendler, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Yale, explains her vision for distributing power at Yale and the questionable future of America’s university system. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matthew Barzun, a political fundraiser and diplomat who served as US Ambassador to the United Kingdom, explains his collectivist method of generating power, even on deeply divided issues. Barzun’s latest book is “The Power of Giving Away Power: How the Best Leaders Learn to Let Go.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Susan Philip, Health Officer for the City and County of San Francisco and the Acting Director of the Population Health Division of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, weighs in on vaccine mandates, mask mandates, and what the new normal is starting to look like in San Francisco.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emile Simpson, a military expert and veteran of the war in Afghanistan, discusses the end of the war in Afghanistan and the Taliban’s recent takeover. Simpson outlines the strategic failures that contributed to the current situation and comments on the United States’s responsibility to evacuate allied Afghans. Simpson is a former British Army officer who completed three tours in southern Afghanistan. He’s the author of the book, War From the Ground Up: Twenty-First Century Combat as Politics. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nikole Hannah-Jones is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, a staff writer for the New York Times, a MacArthur Genius, and the creator of The 1619 Project. In this conversation, Noah and Hannah-Jones dive deep into the myth of journalistic and historical objectivity. They also discuss the intense political and social criticism of The 1619 Project.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chris Jackson, publisher and editor-in-chief of Random House’s One World imprint, discusses the new literary movement he’s building with writers like Bryan Stevenson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ibram X. Kendi. Jackson explains the power and perils of challenging the dominant narrative.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Introducing our new, subscriber-exclusive bonus content, “Noah Riffs.” Every other week, we’re releasing bonus episodes where Noah dives deep into a topic from the news. This summer on Noah Riffs, Noah analyzes Supreme Court rulings. In this first episode, Noah explains the implications of the SCOTUS case that could effectively overturn Roe v. Wade. These episodes will be available via PushNik, our new subscription program on Apple Podcasts. To listen to these bonus episodes, visit our show page in Apple Podcasts and start your free trial.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the blockchain Ethereum, argues that cryptocurrency’s scarcest resource is legitimacy. Ethereum is the second-largest blockchain ecosystem, making Buterin one of the most influential individuals in the cryptocurrency world. Buterin and Noah delve deep into the nature of legitimacy, social contracts, and what they mean for the reliability of cryptocurrency and the blockchain.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re excited to share with you the new season of Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast that re-examines something from the past and asks whether we got it right the first time. We’ve got to warn you, the new season is completely unbound. Malcolm Gladwell is finally out of the house, and taking you into the streets, and even under the sea. All in the name of continuing his journey through the overlooked and misunderstood. He plays chicken with cars. An Oscar winner helps him remake fairy tale history. He dives into your dirty laundry. I haven’t quite decided who he riles up most. College elitists? Nine year old girls? You’ll have to hear it for yourself to find out. Find the new season of Revisionist History at http://podcasts.pushkin.fm/rhdeepbackground. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.