On Point | Podcast
Hosted by Meghna Chakrabarti, On Point is a unique, curiosity-driven combination of original reporting, newsmaker interviews, first-person stories, and in-depth analysis, making the world more intelligible and humane. When the world is more complicated than ever, we aim to make sense of it together. On Point is produced by WBUR.
Falling Behind: 'We're in jail with our emotions'
Falling Behind: Where have all the men gone?
Falling Behind: The opportunity gap
Falling Behind: Troublemakers
Falling Behind: Do we treat boys like malfunctioning girls?
How Spotify shapes how we listen to music
The Jackpod: The demons
Trump takes aim at the Smithsonian
Trailer: 'Falling behind: The miseducation of America's boys'
The new war on words
How groceries are priced
How Trump administration job cuts could affect the future of weather forecasting
JD Vance and the rise of the 'New Right'
Trump v. big law
The Jackpod: Follow the frogs
How the mariner shortage could impact maritime security
'I thought I was doing something good': The scam that took Judith Boivin's life savings
'The federal workforce feels tormented': Federal employees on the consequences of losing their jobs
What does China make of the chaos in the U.S.?
Banned from speaking in public, Afghan women tell us their stories
How to move from languishing to flourishing
The Jackpod: April Fool
America's gold fever
How Trump plans to get government out of the mortgage business
The dirty truth about the global waste trade
The most powerful tech mogul you’ve never heard of
Rethinking how dyslexia is diagnosed
The Jackpod: Outside the beltway
What a polarized U.S. might learn from other countries in 'Another World is Possible'
What big changes inside the Pentagon could mean for U.S. national security
A daughter, a father and a family's struggle with 'American Bulk'
What the detention of Mahmoud Khalil reveals about free speech in the Trump era
America's new Gilded Age
The Jackpod: Strategic empathy
What happened when AI went after welfare fraud
The wonder of Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park
Trump's 2017 tax cuts: Who's better off, who's not?
Federal judge Frederic Block on second chances -- and 'who deserves it'
Is NASCAR a monopoly?
The Jackpod: Where the roads lead
Is education technology actually helping students learn?
Is Kash Patel a modern-day J. Edgar Hoover?
How the bond market could check Trump's power
A meltdown in the White House over Ukraine
Weight loss drugs may become harder to get. What does that mean for patients?
Lauren Ober was a juror on a Jan. 6 case. Then, she learned her new neighbors supported Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
'A clear attempt to intimidate the press'
The GOP's plan for the future of Medicaid
Where peace talks stand in Ukraine, 3 years into war
Tumult inside Trump's DOJ: What it means for rule of law in the U.S.
The Jackpod: Off the mat
Inside the effort to dismantle the Department of Education
The truth about testosterone therapy
What it's like to live in fear of being deported
The consequences of declining vaccination rates
The Jackpod: The child is father of the man
Are Chinese commercial drones a threat to national security?
How will we power the AI boom?
How Russell Vought's 'radical constitutionalism' could spark a constitutional crisis
How the richest person in the world is reshaping Washington
This doctor says he can make AI in health care safer
Why are headlights brighter than they used to be?
The Jackpod: Calamity howler
Do estranged parents have the legal right to be loved by their kids?
How ending foreign aid could damage U.S. national security
Should we farm octopuses for food?
Big banks are suing the Fed over stress tests
The Jackpod: Everything a president does, teaches
Black women's deep roots in country music
How Democrats squandered their 'emerging majority'
Can peace in Gaza last?
Do Trump's Jan. 6 pardons undermine rule of law in America?
'He wanted to destroy me financially': The economic abuse of domestic violence survivors
The Jackpod: Get out
The broken home insurance market -- in California and beyond
Volcanologist Tamsin Mather on her 'adventures in volcanoland'
An African history of Africa with Zeinab Badawi
A new chapter in America's child welfare system
The Republican Congress' 2025 agenda
'Would you recommend this show to a friend?'
The Jackpod: Throughline
The U.S. parental mental health crisis and what to do about it
How Texas became America's clean energy leader
How the civil service system changed American government
Does a picture prove anything anymore?
The ‘Godfather of AI’ says we can’t afford to get it wrong
The Jackpod: Casualties of war
'I thought I was doing something good': The scam that took Judith Boivin's life savings
What you need to know about bird flu
The Internet Archive is in danger
Could mandating mental health care help the most vulnerable?
'Vivaldi smells like breakfast sausage'
The 'money ladies' financial guide for 2025
100 is the new 65: The new world of super-aging
How AI is polluting our culture
How artificial intelligence can help American workers
How South Korea became a global beauty powerhouse
The adventures and complications of a child-free life in Maria Coffey's 'Instead'
What we lose if snow disappears
What the rise of ultra-processed foods means for our health and society
Adam Nimoy on growing up the son of Spock
The future of cannabis research and regulations
The Jackpod: The fullness
Why Argentina's Javier Milei has the attention of Trump advisors
How insurance companies use AI to deny claims
How can politicians better serve the American people? Sen. Andy Kim has some ideas
The limits of the surveillance state
The Jackpod: Union made
What Trump’s crypto embrace means for the U.S.
Inside America's homeless encampment sweeps
The conservative case for labor in America
Why sociologist Musa al-Gharbi says social justice elites value performance over progress
Six hours under martial law in South Korea
Why U.S. overdose deaths are dropping
The Jackpod: Spiderboy hits new heights
A father's fight to reclaim the truth about Sandy Hook
'The great dechurching': Why so many Americans are leaving their churches
Brendan Carr wrote Project 2025's chapter on the FCC. Here’s what he says he’ll do as the agency’s chairman.
Trump, authoritarianism, and what Americans think makes a good leader
The unregulated boom in the 'buy now, pay later' market
How to become a 'supercommunicator'
The big promises — and hidden challenges — of AI
Trump promised tax-free Social Security. Is it too good to be true?
Silicon Valley’s reign over tech, money and politics
The Jackpod: The right to be left alone
Historian Heather Cox Richardson makes sense of politics today by looking to the past
From vaccines to fluoride: How could RFK Jr. reshape American public health?
Surviving in the ruins of northern Gaza
Who is Pete Hegseth? What to know about Donald Trump's Pentagon pick
What can we learn from North Carolina's elections?
How to get Americans excited about voting again
The Jackpod: Intellectual disgrace stares from every [Biden] face
Starr County and the new politics of Texas border communities
The Second Battle of Fallujah, 20 years later
What a second Trump term means for the world
The policies that matter to voters in Missouri -- and beyond
What motivates American voters?
The Jackpod: We're going back
The path ahead for President-elect Trump and Congressional Republicans
On the ground in swing states as the votes are tallied
Immigrants came to this small Wisconsin city. So did the political rhetoric.
The looming legal battle after Election Day
How to manage election anxiety
The Jackpod: 'Fed ... on fantasies'
Former Trump staffers raise alarms about a second Trump term
How social media companies are preparing for misinformation after Election Day
Follow the money: The surprisingly legal way billionaires are shaping the 2024 election
Georgia election official Janelle King on the effort to change the state's election rules
A look at political ads in 7 swing states
New details in the special counsel's case against Trump
The Jackpod: René’s world
Donald Trump's plan for 'mass deportation'
The truth about perinatal hospice care
On Point live: How to guarantee a secure election in Wisconsin
A deep dive into Kamala Harris' foreign policy
Why so many members are leaving Congress
The Jackpod: The United Stasi of America
The battle for control of state governments
Raising revenue vs. protecting industry: A deep dive into America's use of tariffs
Sarah Longwell on what’s driving the Trump-to-Biden voters in 2024
Finance companies have a new customer: The wrongfully convicted
The stakes of the U.S. election for the world
The Jackpod: Reality bites
Immigration, the economy, trust: How American voters are deciding in 2024
Inside the fight to protect Georgia’s elections
Is the media 'sanewashing' Trump?
Trucks and SUVs are bigger -- and more dangerous -- than ever. New safety rules aim to fix that
Inside the growing Middle East conflict
The Jackpod: You’re too honest
Elections officials endure protests, death threats. Here are their stories
Biden's FTC took on big tech, big pharma and more. What antitrust legacy will Biden leave behind?
What Cambria County, Pennsylvania teaches us about voters in 2024
What can we learn from Arizona’s universal school vouchers?
Banned from speaking in public, Afghan women risk telling us their stories
The Jackpod: The most dangerous blot
What’s fueling America’s Zyn obsession?
Long-range weapons could help Ukraine. But at what cost?
How periods unlock health secrets beyond the female reproductive system
How Russia is trying to influence the 2024 election
What does one owe their country? A family's 'reckoning on China'
The Jackpod: That’s entertainment?
Why young men are attracted to Donald Trump's MAGA movement
Should the government give first-time homebuyers $25,000?
Part II: Why is America's birthrate declining?
Part I: Why is America's birthrate declining?
A scientist's search for the origins of COVID
The Jackpod: Unanswered questions
Rebroadcast: Can 'colorblindness' lead to equality in America?
Is Mexico's judicial reform a good or bad idea?
Can we save the quietest places in the world?
Is extreme heat an extreme disaster?
An economist's vision of economic growth -- with less destruction
The Jackpod: Hold the joy
Killing barred owls to save northern spotted owls: Rethinking American wildlife conservation
Colleges are using AI in admissions. How can they do it right?
The ‘money ladies’ answer your economic questions
Rebroadcast: Is the rise of AI the best argument for universal basic income?
The goal: Can the U.S. actually meet its ambitious climate targets?
The Jackpod: The gates of hell
The promise of nickel: Power and prosperity in Indonesia
The human cost of cobalt: Modern slavery in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The copper tradeoff: Protecting today's lands versus preserving tomorrow's climate
The lithium boom: What's holding back a lithium rush in the U.S.?
The Jackpod: Not going back
Kamala Harris makes her case to voters
Can the Democrats win over voters in 2024?
Midwestern identity on the 2024 campaign trail
The struggle for LGBTQ inclusion in major sports
The results are in on America's largest universal income experiment
Should we rethink how we talk about the American economy?
The Jackpod: Even ‘and’ and ‘the’
Is this ancient process the future of plastics recycling?
The unexpected cause of increased marine mammal interactions
Will “surveillance pricing” help or harm consumers?
What went wrong within the Secret Service
Rebroadcast: Your brain on menopause
The antitrust case that could change how we use the internet
The Jackpod without Jack: Please be kind
How the culture wars poisoned American politics -- and how to fix it
Inside the wrongful conviction of Ben Spencer
The ongoing saga of the Kids Online Safety Act
When should someone walk away from family?
Could ‘boommates’ help ease the housing crisis?
The solution to anti-tourism: Don't travel less, travel better
JD Vance and the rise of the 'New Right'
Kamala Harris re-introduces herself to the American people
Anne Applebaum on the new axis of autocrats
Week of wonder: Author Amy Tan's 'backyard bird chronicles'
The Jackpod: Lame ducks
Week of wonder: The surprising gift of being unsure
Week of wonder: 'Are we alone?'
Week of wonder: Returning to the wild
Week of wonder: The Great Salt Lake is drying up. Can it be saved?
What Trump's acceptance speech says about Trump
The Jackpod: The best of times, the worst of times
How Trump's values became the Republican party platform
The marvelous and misunderstood world of sharks
'You have to listen to people': Dr. Anthony Fauci's lessons from a life in public health
Can America step back from violent political rhetoric?
What the end of the Chevron deference means for regulatory power
The Jackpod: From June 6, 1944 to January 6, 2021 -- How did America get here?
Rebroadcast: Trump’s 2025 authoritarian playbook and what it means for democracy
The leaders behind the fall of Boeing
An anthropologist lived amongst migrant smugglers. What did he learn?
Rebroadcast: Why are cancer rates rising among young people?
Rebroadcast: Fraud and forgery in the world of fine art
The Jackpod: Naked to mine enemies
Rebroadcast: 'Recoding America' author Jennifer Pahlka on how we can reshape our government to work for us
When ransomware hijacks your health care
‘Grievance games’: Can sports still bring people together?
What it took to reopen one of the nation’s busiest ports
Families navigate decisions about care for transgender and gender-questioning children
The 'Pod Save America' guide to saving democracy
Russia and North Korea cement closer ties
Has drug development in transplantation been stymied?
Presidential immunity, abortion, guns: The impact of this year's Supreme Court’s decisions
How the IRS went soft on the ultrawealthy and corporations
Have female presidents in Latin America improved women’s lives?
The Jackpod: Joe Bader Biden?
What needs to change about U.S. asylum laws?
Rebroadcast: Half a century of Black TV
Democracy, resilience and India’s elections
How the far-right gained traction in this year's EU elections
George Stephanopoulos takes us inside the White House Situation Room
Rebroadcast: Why the past 75 years of human history have been 'an anomaly'
The Jackpod: A prince of our disorder
How Black Chicago has shaped American pop culture
What science tells us about why we dream
Why the U.S. needs a reckoning on lockdowns before the next pandemic
What happened to Etsy?
The rise of laser warfare
The Jackpod: NBC poll -- Biden leads Trump 70 to 21
Inside China's citizen spy network
'We are underreacting to how serious this moment is'
How women became America's safety net
The power of solitude
How Democrats can win back the working class
The Jackpod: Stop it now, Joe
Big changes and big problems at the U.S. Postal Service
A post-mortem on Oregon’s drug decriminalization efforts
Why the ancient philosophy of stoicism is having a modern revival
Rebroadcast: U.S. military barracks are in shambles. Will the government take action?
The Jackpod: Question time
Puerto Rico's big political shakeup
The splintering of the United Methodist Church
Glenn Loury's 'confessions of a Black conservative'
How AI is polluting our culture
How artificial intelligence can help American workers
The Jackpod: The invisible new deal
Breaking down the beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar
Abortion, border control, a test of Trumpism: Inside the Arizona Senate race
Does the U.S. need new nuclear weapons?
What neuroscience tells us about spiritual experiences
Can Caitlin Clark mark a turning point for the WNBA?
The Jackpod: The one apple tasted
The unregulated boom in the 'buy now, pay later' market
Palestinian civilians on their daily fight for survival
The full interview with Dr. Hilary Cass
'Cass Review' author: More 'caution' advised for gender-affirming care for youth
Rethinking how dyslexia is diagnosed
The story behind 2022's secret Ukraine-Russia peace negotiations
The Jackpod: The red hat
Is the U.S. a democracy?
'A most tolerant little town': The forgotten story of desegregation in Clinton, Tennessee
Author Amy Tan's 'backyard bird chronicles'
Roundtable: What do ordinary Israelis want from their leaders?
Underground addiction care in Mexico -- and its spread to the U.S.
The Jackpod: The company they keep
Should the U.S. ban menthol cigarettes?
How Dallas tackled violent crime
Justice Breyer's ear notch test for our constitution
India’s high-stakes election
How to move from languishing to flourishing
The Jackpod: The haunting relevance of D-Day
A roadmap to better health for women
Your data, the U.S. government and the 'new American surveillance state'
The ethical dilemma of involuntary mental health treatment
Battleground: How the outcome of the Ohio Senate race affects us all
How the 2024 U.S. presidential election could be stolen
The Jackpod: How it looks to a Republican
The high cost of the youth sports arms race
Rebroadcast: The little-known virus behind a majority of nongenetic birth defects
Democrats consider changing course on Israel support
China’s divided memory of the Cultural Revolution
How to become a 'supercommunicator'
The Jackpod: How to steal an election
Whistleblowers, an executive shakeup, and the future of Boeing
What defines Latino identity in the U.S.?
'Pig-butchering': The online scam that's raked in $75 billion and counting
Sports betting is booming, but at what cost?
Could holding parents criminally responsible curb the country’s gun violence epidemic?
From the archive and in the news: How to cut through the 'noise' that hinders human judgment
The Jackpod: Missing misery
Has the United States lost its 'can-do' attitude?
This attorney's ideas could change how you buy and sell your home
'Battle for your brain': What the rise of brain-computer interface technology means for you
Reproductive health under a second Trump term
Inside the 'no social media' movement
The Jackpod: What leopard?
The Jackpod is delayed
Should the U.S. ban TikTok?
How disinformation 'sabotages America'
Finance companies have a new customer: The wrongfully convicted
Could ranked-choice voting take the poison out of politics?
The hidden value of herbariums
On Point presents 'Beyond All Repair,' a new podcast from WBUR
The Jackpod: The Xanadu Effect
The goal: Can the U.S. actually meet its ambitious climate targets?
The promise of nickel: Power and prosperity in Indonesia
The human cost of cobalt: Modern slavery in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The copper tradeoff: Protecting today's lands versus preserving tomorrow's climate
The lithium boom: What's holding back a lithium rush in the U.S.?
The Jackpod: Still
'Blood Money': Inside the global business of selling plasma
Lessons from Poland’s democratic resurgence
How the anti-tax movement went from fringe to mainstream
The dark legacy of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines
Foreign diplomats on America's global future
The Jackpod: Low information voters
'Food, we need to talk': Finding a better way to discuss our bodies and what we eat
U.S. military barracks are in shambles. Will the government take action?
Your brain on menopause
Can 'colorblindness' lead to equality in America?
Trump’s 2025 authoritarian playbook and what it means for democracy
The Jackpod: Goodbye to all that
Finding creative solutions to America’s care crisis
Understanding the aging brain
Is it time to abandon the ‘tough love’ approach to addiction?
A Ukraine-born journalist on his country's 'battle for survival'
Rebroadcast: Can focusing on class instead of race solve our country’s equity issues?
The Jackpod: Saving Rafah
Fear, conspiracy, gender: The long legacy of witch trials
A Boeing whistleblower speaks out
Rebroadcast: How fast fashion and social media fuel a high consumption, low quality world
The fight for transparent health care prices in America
How the death of third-party cookies could grow Google's advertising empire
The Jackpod: The bystander
What we lose if snow disappears
China's big push for a baby boom
Can a regional war be avoided with Iran?
The legacy of 'Ingenuity,' NASA's helicopter on Mars
Should Trump be constitutionally barred from the presidency?
The Jackpod: The meddler’s trap
How communities worldwide are working to solve the water crisis
How to fix chronic absenteeism in America's schools
The standoff at the U.S.-Mexico border
What experiences are young people missing in remote work?
Florida looks to Canada for cheaper prescription drugs
Controversy and contradiction: The death penalty in America
The Jackpod: Not the odds, but the stakes
Why are Americans getting shorter?
Inside Israel's divided war cabinet
'The great dechurching': Why so many Americans are leaving their churches
The Great Salt Lake is drying up. Can it be saved?
What Republican party elites don’t understand about Trump voters
The Jackpod: A little touch of Harry in the night
The Jackpod: Buried in snow
Uncertainty: The surprising gift of being unsure
Inside Ecuador's battle against drug gangs