The Everything Vaccine
Aug 25, 2026
From mild runny noses to savage pandemics, viruses and other pathogens have tormented humans for all of history. We are locked in a perpetual race against tiny shapeshifting enemies that mutate…
Is the world ending, or does it just feel like it? "Are We Doomed?" investigates the greatest risks facing society, the planet, and our species. What’s real? What’s hype? And how do we actually make it out alive? Nukes. Asteroids. Autocracy. Rogue AI. Climate-driven pandemics. Angry hippopotamuses. Teeth clenched, curiosity engaged, quips ready, this “slightly narrative” podcast explores everything from the existential and the unexpected to the overblown. Award-winning public radio journalist Ben Bradford brings you wild true stories, high-production sound design, and world-class experts answering the questions they never prepared for (“Why is the Earth doing this to us?”). From NuanceTales and distributed by the NPR Network, this show delves into history, science, technology, and the natural world, to help you separate legitimate world-changing risks from doomsday fantasies. Come for the supervolcano under Yellowstone National Park (real), stay to learn why the post-apocalyptic wasteland won’t look like the movies (sorry, you won’t be wandering with a shotgun and a dog), and leave with a better understanding of how our brilliant, bumbling species can chart a path through our current, terrifying adolescence.
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What Ever Happened to the Ozone Hole?
Aug 18, 2026
A dark blue wound across the bottom of the world — that’s what NASA images showed in the 1980s. It was a hole in the ozone layer, eight million square miles across. Human activity and convenience had…
More Nukes!
Aug 11, 2026
The best defense against nuclear weapons is nuclear weapons, according to the logic of deterrence. It has guided US defense policy for nearly 80 years. So, shouldn’t more nukes prevent nuclear war…
Did AI Just Escape?
Aug 04, 2026
A bizarre cyberattack on an AI company, it was revealed last week, came from an AI. An autonomous “agent” from OpenAI (maker of ChatGPT) slipped its confines, reached the open internet, breached the…
Now I'm Scared of Cyborgs
Jul 28, 2026
For more than a century, science fiction has imagined cyborgs: humans fused with machines to outrun the limits of the body. They show up in Edgar Allan Poe, in the gleaming menace of Darth Vader, in…
We Are Losing the Moon
Jul 21, 2026
The moon is drifting away. What does it mean? What do we do? With help from a poet, a space security expert, and the former chief scientist of NASA, Ben Bradford explores what the moon has done for…
Asteroids! The Doom We're Best At
Jul 14, 2026
You probably knew an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, but it was so much worse than that. Asteroids and other space rocks have been the most destructive forces ever to hit Earth, yielding mass…
Our Vision of the Post-Apocalypse Is Wrong
Jul 07, 2026
What would it take to survive after "the end of the world?" A whole culture of prepping often focuses on a familiar fantasy: grab the gear, flee the city, defend the bunker, survive alone…
Is Geoengineering A Good Idea?
Jun 30, 2026
The planet is heating up, every plan to stop it has fallen short, and growing group of scientists has started to ask a stranger question: what if we grabbed the thermostat ourselves? Ben Bradford…
The True AI Threat is People
Jun 23, 2026
Imagine a friendly assistant that can help you build a bioweapon. Or a chatbot in the nuclear weapons chain, cheerfully hallucinating an attack. AI national security expert Hamza Chaudhry worries…
Is the World Ending or Are We Just Online?
Jun 16, 2026
Are we living through the end times or the best moment in human history? Novelist and internet veteran Jason Pargin argues you have spent your life inside a “literal reverse apocalypse” — and if you…
Are We Going the Way of the Roman Empire?
Jun 09, 2026
Historically, societies fall. Civilizations collapse. But is that what’s happening now in the United States? With the help of historians, a former CIA-funded researcher on political instability, and…
We Try and Kill the Internet
Jun 02, 2026
The internet is how you get your news, your paycheck, your groceries, your banking, and sometimes your drinking water. Humanity has quietly handed over the keys to civilization to a network most…
Past Dooms That Didn't Arrive
May 26, 2026
People have been predicting the end of the world forever. They’ve always been wrong. Maybe we’re wrong today, too.
So, we’re looking back at three past dooms predicted in the 20th century, none of…
How To Survive a Nuclear War
May 19, 2026
The air raid sirens scream (actually, they don’t work anymore). An emergency alert goes out, because … nuclear missiles are in-bound.
It’s happening! How do we survive (non-Hollywood edition)? From…
How Do You Kill a Mosquito?
May 12, 2026
Mosquitoes are little jerks. They suck your blood to make more mosquitoes, spread deadly diseases like malaria and dengue, and have killed more humans than any other creature in the history of Earth…
Supervolcano!
May 05, 2026
A supervolcano burbles under Yellowstone National Park. Enormous. Real. According to the internet’s most excitable corners, just itching to turn America into charcoal any minute now.
Ben Bradford…
Let’s Design the AI That Kills Us All
Apr 28, 2026
Maddeningly, even some researchers building artificial intelligence see it as a potential existential threat on par with nuclear war. Ben Bradford follows three simple steps that could lead an AI to…
How To Start a Nuclear War
Apr 28, 2026
Humanity has repeatedly brought itself to the brink of nuclear war. Which raises a question: if everyone who can launch a nuke knows that could end the world, why does nuclear war still feel…
Introducing Are We Doomed?
Apr 21, 2026
Grin at the apocalypse and find out with this curious, irreverent weekly podcast exploring the biggest dangers to our society and our species. From nuclear war and societal collapse to rogue AI and…