GUESTS

Episode 106 - Christina Hoag

The eccentric world renown terrorist. The man who paved the way for bombings, hijakings, and kidnappings for others like Abu Nidal and Osama Bin Laden. This is the story of Carlos The Jackal.

Bio: A former journalist, Christina Hoag has had her laptop searched by Colombian guerrillas, phone tapped in Venezuela, was suspected of drug trafficking in Guyana, hid under a car to evade Guatemalan soldiers, and posed as a nun to report from inside a Caracas jail.

She has interviewed gang members, bank robbers, thieves and thugs in prisons, shantytowns and slums, not to forget billionaires and presidents, some of whom fall into the previous categories.

A graduate of Boston University, she's a former staff writer for the Miami Herald and Associated Press, and wrote from Latin America for Time, Business Week, The New York Times, Financial Times, Sunday Times of London, Houston Chronicle and other news outlets. She won prizes for enterprise reporting and interpretive writing from the New Jersey Press Association. A native of New Zealand, Christina grew up as an expat around the world. She now lives in Los Angeles, where she has volunteered as a creative writing instructor at a maximum-security prison and to undeserved teen girls and as a domestic violence support group facilitator.

Website - https://www.christinahoag.com/


Episode 105 - Dr. Jonathan McDowell

Dr. Jonathan McDowell is an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA. A staff member of the Chandra X-ray Center, he studies black holes, quasars and X-ray sources in galaxies, as well as developing data analysis software for the X-ray astronomy community. Dr. McDowell has a B.A in Mathematics (1981) and a Ph.D in Astrophysics (1986) from the University of Cambridge, England, and has previously worked at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, the Jodrell Bank radio observatory and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

Dr. McDowell's scientific publications include studies of the cosmological extragalactic background light and the possibility that massive black holes contribute to the dark matter problem; the X-ray emission from the merging galaxy Arp 220; the nature of the broad emission line region in quasars, and the broad-band spectral energy distributions of quasars. He helped design the CIAO data analysis package and the software infrastructure for the Chandra X-ray Observatory data processing pipelines.

Dr. Jonathan McDowell is also the editor of Jonathan's Space Report, a free internet newsletter founded in 1989 which provides technical details of satellite launches, and a contributing editor to Sky and Telescope Magazine. Dr. McDowell's web site provides the most comprehensive historical list of satellite launch information starting with Sputnik, and he carries out research on space history topics using original sources including declassified DoD documents and Russian-language publications.

Jonathan is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (1985) and an American Astronomical Society Fellow (2020). He won the Sir Arthur Clarke Award for Individual Space Achievement in 2019. the Prix Alexandre Ananoff of the French Astronomical Society in 2020 for contributions to astronautics culture and popularization, and the Geoffrey Pardoe Space Award of the Royal Aeronautical Society for service to the space industry. The asteroid (4589) McDowell was named after him in 1993.

Website - https://planet4589.org/index.html

Episode 104 - Rebecca Rideal

Rebecca Rideal is a historian, a bestselling author, award-winning producer, and the director of the history festival, HistFest.

As a historian, she specializes in the early modern period, the Stuart Dynasty, the Anglo-Dutch Wars, the history of plague, and historical true crime. Her first nonfiction book, ⁠1666: Plague, War and Hellfire⁠, was published by John Murray (UK) and St Martin's Press (US). She has contributed a chapter to the National Maritime Museum's Tudor and Stuart Seafarers and is currently working on her second work of narrative nonfiction, God's Throne.

Rebecca spent over a decade working in specialist factual television where she developed and produced a wide range of programming, including Bloody Tales of the Tower, Adventurer's Guide to Britain, Escape from Nazi Death Camp, and the triple Emmy award-winning series, David Attenborough's First Life.

For Investigation Discovery she has produced and written the Signal award-winning true crime podcast Mind of a Monster. She also produces and hosts the critically acclaimed historical podcast series, Killing Time, as well as the medical history podcast series, Sick to Death.

Rebecca has written regularly for press, with articles featured in the Guardian, New Statesman, Prospect and BBC History Magazine. She has also featured as a contributor in London: 1666 (BBC), A Stitch in Time (BBC), The Private Lives of Monarchs (Channel 5), The Great Fire of London (Channel 5) and the radio documentaries The Invention of Great Britain and The Invention of the Netherlands (BBC Radio 4).

Website - https://rebeccarideal.co.uk/

Episode 103 - Dr. Jenina Ramirez

I'm a cultural historian, broadcaster and author based at the University of Oxford with a passion for communicating ideas about the past. As a lecturer and course director, I want to share ideas, information and inspiration with every student. And also open up the subject to anyone and everyone who cares to listen, through the wide reach of television, radio, publications and new media.

Website - https://www.janinaramirez.co.uk/

Episode 102 - Eric Berger

Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to private space to wonky NASA policy, and author of the book Liftoff, about the rise of SpaceX. Eric has an astronomy degree from the University of Texas and a master's in journalism from the University of Missouri. He previously worked at the Houston Chronicle for 17 years, where the paper was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2009 for his coverage of Hurricane Ike. A certified meteorologist, Eric founded Space City Weather and lives in Houston.

Episode 101 - Dr. Joseph Brown

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Boston. I research political conflict, including protest, state repression, and terrorism. My book, Force of Words: The Logic of Terrorist Threats (Columbia University Press 2020) is a detailed study of how violent non-state actors use threats to achieve their political aims.

I completed my Ph.D. at Columbia University. I have conducted fieldwork in Northern Ireland, Spain, Sri Lanka and Peru, interviewing members of the Irish Republican Army, ETA, the Tamil Tigers, Shining Path, and the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. My research has been supported by the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy, the Earth Institute, and the Global Public Policy Network. Please browse my site and my Google Scholar page and feel free to contact me with questions.

Website - https://www.umb.edu/faculty_staff/bio/joseph_m._brown

Episode 100 - Dr. Beau Kilmer

Beau Kilmer (he/him) is the McCauley Chair in Drug Policy Innovation, director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center, and a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. His research lies at the intersection of public health and public safety, with special emphasis on crime control, substance use, illegal markets, and public policy.

Kilmer's publications have appeared in leading journals such as New England Journal of Medicine and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and his commentaries have been published by CNN, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and other outlets. His coauthored book on cannabis legalization was published by Oxford University Press and his coauthored book on the future of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids was published by RAND.

Kilmer received a NHTSA Public Service Award for his "leadership and innovation in the areas of alcohol and drug-impaired driving program and policy research" and his coauthored work on 24/7 Sobriety received honourable mention for the Behavioural Exchange Award for Outstanding Research. He received his Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University, M.P.P. from UC Berkeley, and B.A. in international relations from Michigan State University.

Website - https://www.rand.org/about/people/k/kilmer_beau.html

Episode 99 - Jacob Turner

Drafted 9th overall in the first round of 2009 he was one of the highest-paid high school draftees in MLB history at $5,500,000. Before co-founding JL Strategic Wealth, Jacob was a top 10 MLB draft pick. He played 11 years professionally both at the MLB level as well as internationally in the Korean Baseball Organization. Upon retiring, Jacob worked as a wealth advisor at a billion-dollar RIA heading up their work with athletes. Jacob resides in St. Louis, MO with his wife Kristin and their four children. Outside of the office, Jacob is passionate about golf, cycling, the outdoors.

Website - https://jlswealth.com/jacob-turner/

Episode 98 - Brandon Webb

Brandon Webb is a combat-decorated Navy SEAL sniper turned entrepreneur. During his last tour as a U.S. Navy chief, he was head instructor at the SEAL sniper school, which produced some of America's most legendary snipers. Brandon is a multiple New York Times bestselling author, entrepreneur and Harvard Business School alumni.

He served with SEAL Team 3, Naval Special Warfare Group One Training Detachment sniper cell, and the Naval Special Warfare Center west coast sniper course manager. Over his navy career he completed four deployments to the Middle East and one to Afghanistan. He deployed to Iraq in 2006-7 as a contractor in support of the US intelligence community. An accomplished and proven leader, he was meritoriously promoted to the rank of E6 when ranked #1 at the training command sniper cell. Shortly after he was promoted to Chief Petty Officer while serving as the sniper course manager. Brandon has received numerous distinguished service awards, including Top Frog at Team 3 for best combat diver, the Presidential Unit Citation, and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation medal with "V" device for valor in combat.

Episode 97 - Professor Robert West

Robert West is Professor of Health Psychology and Director of Tobacco Studies at the Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Research Centre, University College London, UK. Professor West is also co-director of the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training and is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Addiction. He is co-author of the English National Smoking Cessation Guidelines that provided the blueprint for the UK-wide network of stop-smoking services that are now an established part of the UK National Health Service. His research includes evaluations of methods of helping smokers to stop and population surveys of smoking and smoking cessation patterns.

Website - https://www.rjwest.co.uk/photos.php

Episode 96 - Antony Loewenstein

Antony Loewenstein is an Australian/German independent, freelance, investigative journalist, author and film-maker. He's written for the The Guardian, New York Times, Washington Post, New Statesman, Al Jazeera, The New York Review of Books, Vice, Huffington Post, Salon, The Daily Star, Le Monde Diplomatique English, Foreign Policy, The National, Jacobin, The Independent, and many more.

His best-selling book on the Israel/Palestine conflict, My Israel Question, was released by Melbourne University Publishing in 2006. A new, updated edition was released in 2007 (and reprinted again in 2008). The book was short-listed for the 2007 New South Wales Premier's Literary Award. Another fully updated, third edition was published in 2009. It was released in all e-book formats in 2011. An updated and translated edition was published in Arabic in 2012.

His book on the global "war on drugs", Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs, featuring on the ground reporting from Honduras, Guinea-Bissau, the Philippines, the US, UK and Australia, was out in 2019 in Australia, the US and India and 2020 in the UK. It's been translated into Slovakian.

Website -  https://antonyloewenstein.com/

Episode 95 - Professor John Allen Paulos

John Allen Paulos (born July 4, 1945) is an American professor of mathematics at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has gained fame as a writer and speaker on mathematics and the importance of mathematical literacy. Paulos writes about many subjects, especially of the dangers of mathematical innumeracy; that is, the layperson's misconceptions about numbers, probability, and logic.

Paulos was born in Denver, Colorado and grew up in Chicago, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he attended high school. After his Bachelor of Mathematics at University of Wisconsin (1967) and his Master of Science at University of Washington (1968), he received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1974).

Website - https://www.math.temple.edu/~paulos/index.html 

Episode 94 - David Gerard

David Gerard writes the cryptocurrency and blockchain news site Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain. He is the author of the 2017 book Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain: Bitcoin, Blockchain, Ethereum & Smart Contracts and the 2020 book Libra Shrugged: How Facebook Tried to Take Over the Money. Until he reinstalled the laptop they were on, he was the proud owner of six Dogecoins. He remains a frequent, if occasionally annoyed, user of Facebook.

As well as being a crypto journalist, David also works as a Unix system administrator, where his job includes keeping track of exciting new technologies, and advising against the bad ones. He has also been an award-winning music journalist, and has blogged about music at Rocknerd.co.uk since 2001. He is a volunteer spokesman for Wikipedia, and for skeptical wiki RationalWiki.org. Originally from Australia, he lives in east London with his spouse Arkady Rose and their daughter.

Episode 93 - Lyle May & Tessie Castillo

Lyle C. May is a prison journalist, abolitionist, Ohio University alum, and member of the Alpha Sigma Lambda Honor Society. While he pursues every legal avenue to overturn his wrongful conviction and death sentence, Lyle advocates for greater access to higher education in prison. His fight is that of millions, and while the opposition is strong, his desire for equal justice is stronger. Lyle's book, Witness: An Insider's Narrative of the Carceral State will be published in 2023 by Haymarket Books scalawagmagazine.org 

Tessie Castillo is an author, journalist and public speaker who specializes in stories on criminal justice, drug policy, prison reform and racial equity. She co-wrote her first book, Crimson Letters: Voices from Death Row (Black Rose Writing 2020) and her second, Inside: Voices from Death Row (Scuppernong Editions 2022) with four men serving death sentences in North Carolina, whom she met while volunteering at North Carolina's Central Prison in 2014 https://tessiecastillo.com/


Episode 92 - Manny Teodoro

My research stands at the nexus of politics, public policy, and public management. I work mainly on American environmental policy design, evaluation, and implementation. This line of research includes explorations of public vs. private utility management, and regulatory implementation as a matter of environmental justice. On the public management side, my work emphasizes professional labor markets as and predictors of innovation and organizational performance. My book 2011 book Bureaucratic Ambition (Johns Hopkins University Press), argues that career concerns shape organizational innovation and democratic governance. My 2022 book The Profits of Distrust (with Samantha Zuhlke & David Switzer, Cambridge University Press) links the meteoric rise of the commercial drinking water industry to distrust in government and a broader withdrawal from civic life.

Website - https://mannyteodoro.com/

Episode 91 - Nicholas Grossman

Nicholas Grossman is a lecturer in political science, teaching classes on terrorism and insurgency; national security policy; and 21st century technology and warfare, primarily robotic systems. He joined the UI faculty in 2013 after receiving his PhD from the University of Maryland. His research focuses on unmanned aerial vehicles (commonly known as drones) and how robotic technology affects the strategies of both sides in asymmetric warfare. He is also a frequent contributor to Arc Digital, primarily writing on American foreign policy and national security.

Website - https://pol.illinois.edu/directory/profile/ng81

Episode 90 - Marc Polymeropoulos

Marc Polymeropoulos worked for 26 years at the CIA before retiring at the Senior Intelligence Service level. He was one of the CIA's most highly decorated operations officers who served in multiple field assignments for the U.S. government. He specialized in counterterrorism, the Middle East and South Asia, including extensive time in Iraq and Afghanistan.

With extensive and substantive expertise on leadership under pressure, as well as geopolitical and transnational issues, as well as counter-intelligence, Marc has become a sought-after speaker and trainer of corporate groups seeking leadership guidance.

Marc is frequently interviewed by the Washington Post, The New York Times, GQ, Yahoo, CNN, MSNBC, and other media outlets on intelligence matters. He is the author of the 2021 book, Clarity in Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the CIA.

Website - https://www.spyex.com/expert/marc-polymeropoulos

Episode 89 - Mick Conefrey

For thirty years I've made documentaries for the BBC and all the major British and US channels. I've been everywhere from the Arctic to the Himalayas to Angkor Wat and written books on mountaineering and exploration.

I've been lucky to have been able to film all over over the world from Cambodia to K2, from Puerto Rico to Spitsbergen. I'm particularly interested in films about exploration and mountaineering, and have filmed in the Alps, the Himalayas and Alaska. Several of my films have won international and British awards, at festivals such as Trento, Telluride, Banff and Kendal.

As both a film maker and a writer, I'm fascinated by the art of narrative. I love to find good stories with complex characters dealing with even more complex situations. My definition of good drama is what happens when people are put under pressure, and exploration and mountaineering provide plenty examples of this.

Website - https://www.mickconefrey.co.uk/

Episode 88 - Noah Hurowitz

I am a freelance reporter based in New York City. I originally started covering domestic drug policy in the U.S., and began covering the drug trade and war on drugs in Mexico when I covered the trial of El Chapo for Rolling Stone. My goal in the work I do is to find innovative and engaging ways to illuminate the stories of people impacted by larger structures and policies while showing how those structures and policies function, who profits from them, and how a better world might emerge from the wreckage of this one.

Website - https://muckrack.com/noah-hurowitz

Episode 87 - Kevin Smokler and Christopher Boone

Christopher Boone (top) is a screenwriter and filmmaker based in Albuquerque. Vinyl Nation is his first feature documentary. He previously directed the narrative feature Cents from his Nicholl Fellowship semifinalist script. He is a contributing writer to No Film School and a frequent panel moderator for Austin Film Festival and its On Story series.

Kevin Smokler (bottom) is the author of three books about pop culture, including most recently Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to '80s Teen Movies. His essays and cultural criticism have appeared in the LA Times, Salon, Fast Company, BuzzFeed, Vulture, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Decider and on National Public Radio. Vinyl Nation is his first film.

Kevin has been fortunate to speak to and host events for venues and organizations across North America including SXSW, New York Comic Con, MIT, the LA Times Festival of Books and the Commonwealth Club of California.

Vinyl Nation - https://vinylnationfilm.com/

Episode 86 - Dr. Paul Craddock

Dr. Paul Craddock is a cultural historian and award-winning author based in London. His debut book, Spare Parts: A Surprising History of Transplants was a Daily Mail Book of the Week and won the Special Commendation of the Royal Society of Literature Giles St Aubyn Awards.

Paul is a Science Museum Group Senior Research Associate (SMGSRA), an Honorary Senior Research Associate of UCL's Division of Surgery, and a Visiting Lecturer at Imperial College London.

He is represented by Jenny Hewson at Lutyens and Rubinstein Literary Agency.

Website - https://paulcraddock.com/

Episode 85 - Dr. Maria Weber

My name is Maria Weber, and I'm an astrophysicist. I study the Sun and other cool, low-mass stars. Through computer models and simulations, I explore the processes taking place deep in stellar interiors, well beyond the reach of telescopes. These internal processes ultimately lead to the remarkable magnetism observed on stellar surfaces. In the case of our Sun, this magnetism is the source of the 'solar storms' that occasionally impact our planet, simultaneously wreaking havoc on earth-orbiting satellites while spawing beautiful aurora. We still don't have a complete theory to describe, and ultimately predict, the Sun's magnetic behavior. My work is an important piece of this intricate and complicated puzzle.

I began my career as a solar physicist. Recently, I have extended my work to include other cool, low-mass stars - from F-type stars as large as 140% of the Sun's mass to M-type (or red dwarf) stars as small as 10% of the Sun's mass. Red dwarfs are statistically the most abundant and magnetically active stars in our galaxy. Many of these stars have orbiting planets in the habitable zone, located at just the right distance from the host star to sustain liquid water. It is still unclear how these small stars build such strong magnetism, with energetic events often rivaling the magnetic storms of our own Sun. Tackling this problem is another crucial part of my on-going research.

Website - https://www.solarismaria.com/

Episode 84 - Chris Blattman

Chris Blattman is an economist and political scientist who uses field work and statistics to study poverty, political engagement, the causes and consequences of violence, and policy in developing countries. He is a professor in the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago.

Most of my current research is with armed groups, gangs, organized crime, and the people who join violent organizations. This work involves a blend of qualitative interviews, large-scale surveys, statistical analysis, and field experiments.

I also want to bring big ideas and research to a general audience, which is why I wrote Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace. I co-lead the Crime & Violence Initiative for MIT's Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) as well as the Peace and Recovery Program for the research NGO Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA). I'm also a Research Affiliate at UChicago's Crime and Inclusive Economy Labs. Finally, I'm a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

Website - https://chrisblattman.com/why-we-fight/

Episode 83 - David De Jong

David de Jong is a journalist and author. His first book, Nazi Billionaires, is published in the US and the UK by HarperCollins. He spent four years reporting from Berlin while researching and writing this book. David previously covered European banking and finance from Amsterdam and hidden wealth and billionaire fortunes from New York for Bloomberg News. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, and the Dutch Financial Daily. A native of the Netherlands, he currently lives in Tel Aviv.

Website - https://daviddejong.net/

Episode 82 - Riley Black

Riley has been a fossil fanatic since the time she was knee-high to a Stegosaurus. A prolific writer, Riley wrote her popular Laelaps blog for publications such as WIRED, National Geographic, and Scientific American for more than a decade. Her fossil-filled tweets have led Business Insider to call her one of the top "science social media wizards" and HLN to dub her one of "Twitter's 8 coolest geeks", as well, and she was the host of Parallax Film's Dinologue. And in a childhood dream come true, Riley was also hired to be the "resident paleontologist" for Jurassic World.

In between blogs, Riley also freelances for a variety of publications - from National Geographic to Slate - and writes books.

Website - https://rileyblack.net

Episode 81 - Niko Vorobyov

Niko Vorobyov was born in Leningrad, Russia, before moving to Great Britain. From 2013-2014 he served a two-and-a-half-year sentence for Possession with Intent to Supply. Upon his release, he graduated from University College London and began working at Russian news outlet Russia Today before putting together his media, academic and under-the-counter expertise in writing a book; Dopeworld.

Book - https://read.macmillan.com/lp/dopeworld/

Episode 80 - Chris Daw QC

Chris Daw QC was called to the Bar in 1993 and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2013. Before taking silk, Chris built his reputation in the criminal courts, acting in high profile trials and appeals, from serious organised crime to commercial fraud. As a QC, whilst maintaining a substantial criminal and serious fraud practice, Chris acts in a broader range of matters, including business, regulatory and professional discipline instructions.

Chris Daw QC has a stellar practise spanning the fields of criminal law, serious fraud, business regulation, and professional discipline. Ranked as a Leading Silk in The Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners, Chris appears in many high profile cases. He also advises companies and leading individuals in the worlds of sport, entertainment, and business. First and foremost, however, he is known for his winning strategies and exceptional client care, no matter who he represents.

Website: https://www.lincolnhousechambers.com/members/chris-daw

Episode 79 - Judith Matloff

Judith Matloff teaches crisis reporting at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism. She trailblazed safety training for women and media organizations around the world, helping hundreds of journalists survive an increasingly dangerous world.

Over 40 years as a journalist, she has covered top international stories including Rwanda's genocide, apartheid and the rise of Vladimir Putin. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Forbes, the Financial Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Matloff's latest book, How to Drag a Body and Other Safety Tips You Hope to Never Need, shares expert advice for nearly every conceivable peril. She earlier published No Friends but the Mountains, which drew a link between geography and conflict; Fragments of a Forgotten War, about Angola's civil war; and Home Girl, which chronicled a Harlem street run by a drug gang.

Website - https://judithmatloff.com/ 

Episode 78 - Dr. Abigail Marsh

I am a Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program at Georgetown University. I received my PhD in Social Psychology from Harvard University in 2004 and afterward conducted post-doctoral research at the National Institute of Mental Health until 2008.

I direct the Laboratory on Social & Affective Neuroscience, research in which is aimed at addressing questions that include: How do people understand what others think and feel? What drives us to help other people? What prevents us from harming them? Current research projects include online, behavioral, and brain imaging investigations of a variety of populations, including typical adults & children, highly altruistic adults, and adults & children who have serious conduct problems and psychopathic traits.

Our work has received awards that include the Wyatt Memorial Award for translational research from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Cozzarelli Prize for scientific excellence and originality from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

I serve on the advisory boards of the National Kidney Donation Organization and 1DaySooner and am a co-founder of Psychopathy Is.

Website - https://abigailmarsh.com/lab/abigail-marsh/

Episode 77 - Jessie Bullock

I am a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Government at Harvard University, studying Comparative Politics and Political Economy. My broad research interests include conflict, organized crime, inequality, distributive politics, corruption, and rule of law.

My dissertation book project, Machine Gun Politics: Why Politicians Cooperate with Criminal Groups, explains what politicians can gain from partnering with criminal actors. I leverage a quasi-experimental study of voting, an original database on criminal governance, and 18 months of extensive fieldwork in this mixed-methods study of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A working paper drawing from my dissertation, Organized Crime and Voter Mobilization, recently won the 2020 Best Paper Award from the Subnational Politics and Society section of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA).

Website - https://www.jessiebullock.com/

Episode 76 - Mark Dent

I'm a journalist based in Dallas and sometimes in the Kansas City area, where I'm from. I write about business, tech, urbanism, sports, religion, changing cities and ephemera from the 90s. I'm currently working on a book about Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes that is slated to be published in 2023 by Dutton. It tells the history of Kansas City, Mahomes, and the Chiefs and how the city and Mahomes are trying to usher in a new era as the city confronts its past and its inferiority complex. My work has been published in The New York Times, Texas Monthly, Vox, GQ, WIRED, Slate, Fortune, VICE, Runner's World, The Kansas City Star, The Philadelphia Inquirer, PolitiFact and Deadline Hollywood among other publications.

Website - https://www.markjdent.com/ 

Episode 75 - Stu, Kyle, and Zach

We are Stu, Kyle, and Zach; three former military professionals and the voices behind The Boardwalk Podcast. We started the podcast 3 months before the Afghan government fell to the Taliban, and have used it to talk about the myriad ways the war was doomed from the beginning and the many failures along the way.

Podcast - https://linktr.ee/theboardwalk

Episode 74 - James Sullivan

I'm an author, longtime Boston Globe contributor and freelance journalist. From 1995-2004 I was a pop music and culture critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. I've been an editor for Rolling Stone and a consultant for Pandora and SiriusXM. I teach in the Journalism department at Emerson College.

In my spare time, I am the Program Director and events moderator for the Newburyport Documentary Film Festival and founder of Lit Crawl Boston. I have served as a Library Trustee, an alumni mentor at the University of New Hampshire, and a workshop volunteer at 826 Boston.

Website - https://www.jamessullivanauthor.com/ 

Episode 73 - Rob Goodman

Rob Goodman is Assistant Professor of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University. He received his Ph.D. with distinction from Columbia University in 2018 and was previously a postdoctoral researcher at McGill University. His most recent book, Words on Fire: Eloquence and Its Conditions (Cambridge University Press, 2022), investigates the development of models of skilled speech in classical antiquity, as well as their translation into modern institutional settings.

Before beginning his doctoral studies, Rob worked as speechwriter for U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Senator Chris Dodd.  His paper "Edmund Burke and the Deliberative Sublime" was the co-winner of the Review of Politics Award for best paper in normative political theory at the 2016 Midwest Political Science Association Conference.

Website - https://sites.google.com/view/robgoodman/home 

Episode 72 - Professor Robin Hanson

Robin Hanson is an associate professor of economics at George Mason University, and research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University. He has a doctorate in social science from California Institute of Technology, master's degrees in physics and philosophy from the University of Chicago, and nine years experience as a research programmer, at Lockheed and NASA. Professor Hanson has 5173 citations, a citation h-index of 35, and over ninety academic publications. Professor Hanson has pioneered prediction markets, also known as information markets and idea futures, since 1988.

Oxford University Press published his book The Age of Em: Work, Love and Life When Robots Rule the Earth, and his book The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life. Professor Hanson has 1100 media mentions, given 400 invited talks, and his blog OvercomingBias.com has had eight million visits. 

He coined the phrase "The Great Filter", and has recently numerically estimated it via a model of "Grabby Aliens".

Website - https://mason.gmu.edu/~rhanson/home.html  

Episode 71 - Michela Wrong

Michela Wrong took a degree in Philosophy and Social Sciences at Jesus College, Cambridge and a diploma in journalism at Cardiff.

She joined Reuters news agency in the early 1980s and was posted as a foreign correspondent to Italy, France and Ivory Coast. She became a freelance journalist in 1994, when she moved to then-Zaire and found herself covering both the genocide in Rwanda and the final days of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko for the BBC and Reuters. She later moved to Kenya, where she spent four years covering east, west and central Africa for the Financial Times newspaper.

Michela Wrong's books on contemporary Africa aim to be accessible to both members of the general public and experts in the field. Backed up by nearly three decades of experience writing about the continent, they have become a must-read for diplomats, aid workers, journalists a{and strategists and regularly feature on the "required reading" lists of International Relations and African Studies courses at university. 

She was awarded the 2010 James Cameron prize for journalism "that combined moral vision and professional integrity." 

Website - https://michelawrong.com/ 

Episode 70 - Dr. Jay Lemery

Dr. Lemery is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and is Chief of the Section of Wilderness and Environmental Medicine. He is a Past-President of the Wilderness Medical Society and has provided medical direction to National Science Foundation subcontractors operating at both poles, most recently serving as the EMS Medical Director for the United States Antarctic Program. Dr. Lemery has an academic expertise in austere and remote medical care as well as the effects of climate change on human health. He serves as a consultant for the Climate and Health Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and sits on the National Academy of Medicine's (IOM) Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine. 

Website - https://www.coloradowm.org/blog/teachers/jay-lemery/

Episode 69Elliot T. Panek

Elliot Panek studies the uses and effects of digital media from sociological and psychological perspectives. He is the author of Understanding Reddit, and has published research in top-tier academic journals on the social dynamics of online communities, social media and narcissism, texting while driving, media addiction, and media use and political polarization. His research has been covered by The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Time.com, and The North Korea Times. He is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Alabama, where he leads the Alabama Reddit Research Group, mentors Ph.D. and undergraduate students, and teaches courses on social media, communication research methods, content creation, and film history.

Website - https://www.elliotpanek.com/

Episode 68 - Filip Kovacevic 

Filip Kovacevic is an adjunct professor in the Departments of Politics and International Studies. As a Montenegrin author, social justice activist, and geopolitical analyst, Prof. Kovacevic has lectured and taught across Europe, the Balkans, the former USSR, and the U.S., including two years at Smolny College, the first liberal arts college in Russia, operating under the auspices of St. Petersburg State University.  Kovacevic is a board member of the International Association for Intelligence Education (IAFIE).

Prof. Kovacevic specializes in Russian and Eurasian intelligence history and spy fiction and his current research includes the publications of Soviet and Russian intelligence authors and historians. He is also involved in the analytic study and translation of documents from the KGB archives.

Blog - https://thechekistmonitor.blogspot.com/

Episode 66/67 - Matt Williams

Matthew S. Williams is a space journalist and science communicator who writes for Universe Today and Interesting Engineering. In his spare time, he makes podcasts for ITSP Magazine (Stories from Space) and writes hard science fiction novels (the Formist Series).

In the Fall of 2022, he will be teaching about the history and future of human space exploration at the Kepler Space Institute. His articles have appeared in Phys.org, Popular Mechanics, Business Insider, HeroX, Science Alert, Real Clear Science, and Gizmodo. He lives on Vancouver Island with his wife and family.

Website - https://storiesbywilliams.com/


Episode 65 - Alexey Kovalyov

Aside from a very brief and failed stint as a bartender, Alexey Kovalev has never worked outside journalism, starting as a novice reporter on the metro beat at a now defunct local daily in Moscow and progressing through the ranks to the editor in chief of one of Russia's most popular news websites. In 2015 he founded an independent propaganda-busting and investigative journalism website called The Noodle Remover - a play on a popular Russian expression "to put noodles on someone's ears," meaning to lie.

Website - https://noodleremover.news/

Episode 64 - Professor John A. Bargh

Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science, and Professor of Management, Ph.D., 1981, University of Michigan; John A. Bargh is a social psychologist currently working at Yale University. Here he has formed the Automaticity in Cognition, Motivation, and Evaluation (ACME) Laboratory. Bargh's work focuses on automaticity and unconscious processing as a method to better understand social behavior, as well as philosophical topics such as free will. Much of Bargh's work investigates whether behaviors thought to be under volitional control may result from automatic interpretations of and reactions to external stimuli, such as words.

Website - https://psychology.yale.edu/people/john-bargh

Episode 63 - Professor Holly A. Pinheiro, Jr.

I am an Assistant Professor of African American History in the Department of History at Furman University. My research focuses on the intersectionality of race, gender, and class in the military from 1850 through the 1930s. My research reveals that African American veterans and their families' military experience were much more fraught. Economic and social instability introduced by military service resonated for years and even generations after soldiers left the battlefield. I have published articles in edited volumes and academic journals, in and outside of the United States. My manuscript, The Families' Civil War, is under contract with The University of Georgia Press in the UnCivil Wars Series. The study highlights how racism, within and outside of military service, impacted the bodies, economies, family structures, and social spaces of African Americans long after the war ended.

Website - https://drhollypinheirojr.com/

Episode 62 - Professor Jonathan Rosen

I am an Assistant Professor at New Jersey City University. Prior to this, I worked as a research scientist at The Gordon Institute at Florida International University. I also worked as a Research Professor at the Universidad del Mar in Oaxaca, Mexico from August 2013 until October 2015. I have a Master of Arts from Columbia University and received my Ph.D. from the University of Miami in 2012. I have published 18 books on drug trafficking, organized crime, gangs, and security-related issues. In addition, I have published more than 10 peer-reviewed articles in both English and Spanish in Deviant Behavior, International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Contexto Internacional, Revista Reflexiones, and various other journals. 

Moreover, I have served as a country conditions expert in more than 75 cases in immigration court. The cases involved individuals from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Colombia.

Website - https://drjonathanrosen.com/

Episode 61 - Viktor Mayer-Schönberger

Viktor Mayer-Schönberger is the Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford. His research focuses on the role of information in a networked economy. 

He has published eleven books, including the international bestseller "Big Data", "Learning with Big Data",  and the awards-winning "Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age" with Princeton University Press. He is the author of over a hundred articles and book chapters on the economics and governance of information.

In 1986 he founded Ikarus Software, a company focusing on data security and developed the Virus Utilities, which became the best-selling Austrian software product. He was voted Top-5 Software Entrepreneur in Austria in 1991 and Person of the Year for the State of Salzburg in 2000. He has chaired the Rueschlikon Conference on Information Policy in the New Economy and in 2014 he received a World Technology Award in the law category for his work.

Bio - https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/viktor-ms/

Episode 60 - Catherine Baab-Muguira

Catherine is a writer and journalist who has contributed to, among others, Slate, Quartz, CNBC and NBC News. She is a frequent podcast and radio guest, with appearances on shows like NPR and Lifehacker's Upgrade. 

Catherine grew up in South Carolina and Richmond, Virginia, a middle child in a big Catholic family. Catherine majored in English at the University of South Carolina, and did an M.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Now, she live in Richmond with my husband and son. 

Website - https://www.catherinebaabmuguira.com/

Book - https://www.catherinebaabmuguira.com/poe-for-your-problems

Episode 59 - Tim Tate

Tim Tate is best-selling author, multiple award-winning documentary film-maker and investigative journalist. In a career spanning almost four decades, Tim has published sixteen non-fiction books, made more than 80 documentary films for all British and several international networks, and written for national and regional newspapers.

Three of his books have become best-sellers. His films have been honored by Amnesty International, The Royal Television Society, UNESCO, The Association for International Broadcasting, the New York festivals, the US National Academy of Cable Broadcasting and the International Documentary Association. 

Website - https://timtate.co.uk/

Books - https://timtate.co.uk/books/

Episode 58 - Toby Harnden

Toby Harnden is an accomplished author and editor. He has just released his book "First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA Mission to Avenge 9/11." A former foreign correspondent, he reported from 33 countries while based in London, Belfast, Jerusalem, Baghdad, and Washington DC for The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Times of London. He was imprisoned in Zimbabwe and faced prosecution in Northern Ireland for his work, A dual U.S. and British citizen and former Royal Navy officer, he lives in McLean, Virginia.

Website - https://tobyharnden.com/

Book - https://tobyharnden.com/first-casualty/

Episode 57 - Dr. Ryan Martin

Dr. Ryan Martin researches and writes on healthy and unhealthy expressions of anger. His book, Why We Get Mad: How to Use Your Anger for Positive Change, explores why people become angry, some of the common consequences of anger, and how people can use their anger in productive ways. Ryan's website, All the Rage, offers practical anger management tips based on cutting-edge research. He also hosts co-hosts the popular psychology podcast, Psychology and Stuff. He was trained as a counseling psychologist at the University of Southern Mississippi where he first started studying anger after earning his undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Criminal Justice from the University of St. Thomas. His work has been featured in the New York Times, NPR's Invisibilia podcast, BBC Radio's Digital Human, TED.com, and elsewhere.

Website - https://alltheragescience.com/

Book - https://alltheragescience.com/why-we-get-mad/

Ted Talk - https://www.ted.com/talks/ryan_martin_why_we_get_mad_and_why_it_s_healthy

Episode 56 - Simon Anholt

Over the last twenty years, Simon Anholt has advised the Presidents, Prime Ministers, monarchs and governments of nearly sixty countries, cities and regions, helping them to engage more productively and imaginatively with the international community.

Simon has written six books about countries, their images and their role in the world.

His talk Which country does the most good for the world? is the all-time most viewed TED Talk on Governance, with over 12 million views. It was also ranked as the 4th ​"most inspiring" talk ever by TED viewers.

He is commonly cited for his best-known research project; the Good Country Index.

Website - https://www.goodcountry.org/

Good Country Index - https://index.goodcountry.org/

Episode 55 - Dr. Cyrus R. K. Patell

Author of "Lucasfilm: Filmmaking, Philosophy, and the Star Wars Universe"

Cyrus R. K. Patell is a Professor of Literature at NYUAD and Professor of English at NYU in New York. He began his scholarly career as a specialist in 19th- and 20th-century US literature and culture, but his recent scholarship and teaching has centered on the theory and practice of cosmopolitanism, on late-20th century US emergent literatures, and onGlobal Shakespeare. Patell received his AB, AM, and PhD in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University. 

Book - https://www.amazon.com/Lucasfilm-Filmmaking-Philosophy-Philosophical-Filmmakers/dp/1350100609

Website - https://patell.net/

Full Biography - https://nyuad.nyu.edu/en/academics/divisions/arts-and-humanities/faculty/cyrus-r-k-patell.html

Episode 54 - Dr. Ashley Frawley

Dr. Ashley Frawler is a Researcher and Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Sociology, and Social Policy.

Ashley Frawley lectures in the sociology of health, mental health and illness, social problems, social movements, and in the economics of social policy. Her research explores the rising importance attributed emotions and behaviour in an era of 'no alternative' to capitalism. She is particularly interested in 'vulnerable' constructions of human subjects in the rhetoric of new social problems. She is the author of Semiotics of Happiness: rhetorical beginnings of a public problem published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2015 and the forthcoming Significant Emotions (2020) which explores the seemingly never ending rise and fall of new emotional panaceas for social problems.

Book - Semiotics of Happiness

Research - https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4691-4612

Full Biography - https://www.swansea.ac.uk/staff/human-and-health-sciences/public-health-policy-and-social-sciences/frawley-a/

Episode 53 - Professor David Nutt

David Nutt is currently the Edmond J. Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology and director of the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit in the Division of Brain Sciences. He has published over 400 original research papers, a similar number of reviews and books chapters, eight government reports on drugs along with 27 books. In 2010 The Times Eureka science magazine included him in the 100 most important figures in British Science, and the only psychiatrist.

David is currently Chair of Drug Science (formally the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) and President of the European Brain Council.  

Previously he has been a member and then Chair of the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD - 1998-2009), a member of the HEFCE/NHS Senior Lecturer Selection Panel and of the MRC Neuroscience Board. He was the clinical scientific lead on the 2004/5 UK Government Foresight initiative "Brain science, addiction and drugs" that provided a 25-year vision for this area of science and public policy.

Full Biography - https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/d.nutt

Books - https://www.amazon.com/David-Nutt/e/B0052Y7BCE%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Nutt

Episode 52 - Jack Rhysider

Jack Rhysider is the host and creator of The Darknet Diaries podcast. It's a documentary-type podcast based around true stories from the dark side of the internet. 


Darknet Diaries - https://darknetdiaries.com/

Jack Rhysider Twitter - https://twitter.com/jackrhysider?lang=en

Episode 51 - King Williams

King Williams is a documentary filmmaker, journalist, podcast host and author based in Atlanta, Georgia.


Website - https://iamkingwilliams.substack.com/  

Episode 50 - Dr. Norman Rosenthal

Norman E. Rosenthal is a world-renowned psychiatrist, public speaker, and best-selling author who is known for his innovative research and inspirational writings.

His first major research contribution was to describe and name Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and to develop light therapy as a treatment for this novel condition. SAD - and its milder variant, the Winter Blues - are now known to affect millions of people worldwide, many of whom have benefited from the light therapy that Dr. Rosenthal pioneered.

Dr. Rosenthal is a highly cited researcher who has written over 200 scholarly articles, and authored or co-authored eight popular books. 

Website - https://www.normanrosenthal.com/

Episode 49 - Jacob Moth

Jacob Moth is the creator and founder of The Magic Garden. He has participated in many high-profile seminars and learned extensively from his two teachers; Jørgen Lumbye and Klaus Gormzen (each has an MSc in Psychology). Now, Jacob wants to use the power of psychedelics to help heal the mind and allow people to overcome their own psychological issues and traumas.


Website - https://themagicgardentribe.com/

Youtube introduction - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QDN3A0-F80

Episode 48 - Andy McGrillen

Host of the consistently ranked top 50 science podcast on Spotify; "That UFO Podcast." Andy has a passion for understanding UFOs and created his own show dedicated to that cause. Now, he sits down and talks with the most influencial people when it comes to UFOs.


Website - https://thatufopodcast.com/

Episode 46/47 -Yudhanjaya Wijeratne

As a researcher, I work with the Data, Algorithms and Policy team at LIRNEasia, a think tank working across the Global South; I also co-founded and help run Watchdog Sri Lanka, a factchecker.

As a writer, my work has been nominated for the Nebula Award, published on ForeignPolicy and Slate, and appeared on Amazon bestseller lists.  

When not doing these things, I argue with the cat and tinker with OSUN, a series of AI+human experiments in creativity.


Website - https://yudhanjaya.com/

Episode 45 - Dr. Mia Bloom

Dr. Mia Bloom is a Professor of Communication and Middle East Studies. She conducts ethnographic field research in Europe, the Middle East and South Asia and speaks eight languages. Author of several books, Bloom is a former term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has held research or teaching appointments at Princeton, Cornell, Harvard and McGill Universities. Bloom is the editor for Stanford University Press' new series on terrorism and political violence. She is regularly featured as an expert contributor on CNN, CNN International, MSNBC and Fox News for terrorism and national security issues. Bloom is a member of the UN terrorism research network (UNCTED) and a member of the radicalization expert advisory board for the Anti- Defamation League (ADL). Bloom holds a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University, an M.A. in Arab Studies from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a B.A. from McGill University in Russian, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies.

Profile - https://news.gsu.edu/expert/mia-bloom/

Episode 44 - Sean Williams

Sean Williams is a reporter for a number of newspapers including The Guardian, BBC, The Economist, and many more. When recording this episode he had just recently returned from his trip to Ethiopia. He was on the ground talking with the people of the country to understand waht is going on with this still very young war between Tigray and Ethiopia. 


Website - https://www.seanwilliamswrites.com/

Podcast - https://www.underworldpod.com/

Episode 43 - Dr. Miriam Diamond

Dr. Diamond is an Astroparticle Physicist whose primary research is focused on searching for low-mass dark matter. Her experiments take place two kilometers underground at one of the world's premiere astroparticle physics facilities: SNOLAB. In 2020 she won the Polanyi Prize in Physics due to her new insights into dark matter and the nature of the universe.


Bio - https://mcdonaldinstitute.ca/miriam-diamond/

Research - https://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~mdiamond/

Episode 42 - Matthew Kerns

Matthew Kerns spent years researching, writing, rewriting, and editing his book; Texas Jack: America's First Cowboy Star. 


Book - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Y78NH8R/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Episode 41 - Dr. Daria Kuss

Dr. Daria Kuss is a Chartered Psychologist, Chartered Scientist, and Associate Professor in Psychology at Nottingham Trent University, UK. She has published prolifically in peer-reviewed journals and books, and her publications include over 70 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, three authored books, and over 60 international conference presentations.


Profile - https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/social-sciences/daria-kuss

Publications - https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fCgLlXMAAAAJ&hl=en

Episode 39/40 - Erika Engelhaupt


Author of Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science, and prior writer for National Geographic, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and NPR answers it all and more. 


Website - https://erikaengelhaupt.com/

Book - https://erikaengelhaupt.com/gory-details-book/

National Geographic blog - https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/topic/gory-details

Episode 38 - Eileen Ormsby

Eileen Ormsby, journalist and author of 8 books covering the dark web. 


Books - Little Girls Lost, The Darkest Web, Stalkers: True Tales of Deadly Obsessions, Murder on the Dark Web, Silk Road, Pyscho.com: Serial Killers on the Internet, Darknet - https://www.amazon.com/Eileen-Ormsby/e/B00SSP75XO%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Episode 37 - Jesse Korman

Photographer, film producer, lead singer, and more, Jesse Korman is in the process of a very promising career.


Website - https://www.jessekorman.com/

Episode 36 - Byard Duncan

Byard Duncan is an engagement reporter and producer for Reveal News.


Article - https://revealnews.org/article/how-is-this-legal/



Episode 35 - Edi Obiakpani

Edi Obiakpani has a Ph.D. in Chinese and History, has lived in China for 7 years, and hosts the podcast dedicated to China called Sinobabble. 


Sinobabble - https://www.sinobabble.com/


Episode 34 - David Weiss

David Weiss is the host of The Flat Earth Podcast and is one of the leading advocates for the flat earth theory. 


Website - https://theflatearthpodcast.com/

Episode 33 - Alberto Daniel Hill

The notorious first hacker sent to prison in Uruguay, Alberto Daniel Hill. 


Website - https://albertohill.com/

Daniel's episode with The Darknet Diaries - https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/25/

Episode 32 - Dr. Adi Jaffe

Dr. Adi Jaffe is mental health, addiction, and stigma professional who wants to change how we treat addiction. and treats addiction. Dr. Jaffe makes the point that people truly need to practice moderation and seeking help for mental health issues.


Website - https://www.adijaffe.com/

Book - https://www.theabstinencemyth.com/freebook-20

Professor Robert Buzzanco

Scott Parkin

Episode 31 - Professor Robert Buzzanco and Scott Parkin 

Professor Robert Buzzanco (Bob) is a self-proclaimed Socialist. He commonly writes/talks about the Vietnam War era and radical social movements among other related things. 

Scott Parkin is a self-proclaimed Anarchist who has been a coordinator and organizer in hundreds of justice movements. Fun fact, as a result, he's been arrested roughly 15 times! 

Together they host the "Green and Red Podcast".


Green and Red Podcast - https://greenandredpodcast.org/

Episode 30 - Alexis Goldsmith

Alexis Goldsmith is the National Organizing Director for Beyond Plastic. Beyond Plastic was founded by Judith Enck; a Regional EPA Administrator under President Obama. It's a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating single-use plastic and changing the way we use plastic entirely.


Beyond Plastic - https://www.beyondplastics.org/about

Episode 29 - Helen Redmond

Helen Redmond co-created "Liquid Handcuffs: A Documentary to Free Methadone." She is a journalist at Filter, who has written numerous articles on drugs, addiction, and harm reduction.


Website - https://www.liquidhandcuffsdoc.com/

Episode 28 - Slavic Livins

Slavic Livins appreciates the technicalities of music. He's a Sound Engineer, Mixer, Master, Producer, and Composer whos worked with many artists such as G Herbo, Chief Keef, Jeremih, and John Legend.


Website - https://www.slaviclivins.com/

Episode 27 - Ken Lewis

Ken Lewis is a top-tier Producer, Mixer, Writer, and Engineer, among other things, with the "weirdest resume in the music industry". He has contributed to 19 Grammys and 103 Gold/Platinum records. During this process, he's worked with everyone from Eminem, to Taylor Swift, to BTS, to Kanye West, to Beyonce.


Ken Lewis - https://kenlewis.com/

Episode 26 - Martyn Clark

Martyn Clark has been an advising board member for some of the largest corporations in the world (EY for example) and is the author of the book "Love Incorporated".


Martyn Clark - https://www.martynclark.com/

Love Incorporated - https://www.amazon.com/Love-Incorporated-Business-Martyn-Clark


 

Episode 25 - Hasan Oswald

Hasan Oswald quit his teaching job, bought a camera, and went to one of Americas most dangerous cities to make this award-winning documentary about love and the opioid epidemic.


Website - https://www.higherlovefilm.com//


Episode 24 - Thomas Tanner

Thomas Tanner is a very talented digital artist who specializes in the dungeons and dragons universe.


Website - https://thomastannerart.com/




Episode 23 - Dr. Juan Bartolomei

Dr. Juan Bartolomei is a spine neurosurgeon at Yale, and in 2013 he was named one of "US News and World Report's Top Doctors". Dr. Bartolomei has a passion for what he does and believes surgery should be a last resort and not a first option.


Website - https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/juan_bartolomei/


Episode 22 - Don Grant

Don Grant is a professional voice actor whose work has even appeared in Super Bowl commercials. He also does the intro and outro for the way podcast so be sure to check out his podcast! 


Website - https://threeinterestingthings.captivate.fm/


Episode 21 - Christina Hoag

Christina Hoag has a long history in the world of Journalism. While traveling the world, she found herself living in Venezuela and was lucky enough to become one of the few journalists present during the 2002 Venezuelan coup. 


Christina Hoag website - www.christinahoag.com

Trump-Chavez article mentioned - https://medium.com/illumination/8-parallels-between-trump-ch%C3%A1vez-668c6bef1126



Episode 20 - Danny Gold

Danny Gold is a Correspondent, Producer, Director, and Writer. He has worked with The Guardian, New York Times, BBC, PBS, Netflix, and others. In this episode, he addressed the gang MS-13. His background knowledge on the topic comes from directing documentaries and writing numerous articles on the gang. 


Website - https://www.dannygoldjournalist.com/

Podcast - https://www.underworldpod.com/

Episode 19 - Ruben de Theije

Ruben de Theije is a journalist who recently finished his award-winning book A Stroy to Tell. In this story, he followed men protagonist who talked about the struggles and 'life or death' situations they faced over this illness. 


Website - https://astorytotell.info/

Episode 18 - Vicki Lau

Vicki Lau is an expert in "Visual Effects" (VFX). She specializes in compositing and has developed many other software skills used in many films such as Guardians of the Galaxy, Aquaman, The Walking Dead, and more. On top of this, Ms. Lau has a history of working on Virtual Reality (VR) and even performed a Ted Talk on the topic. 


Official website - https://www.lauvicki.com/

Episode 17 - Toby Muse

Toby Muse is a journalist, author, and documentary filmmaker. His work has appeared in The New York Times, CNN, BBC, and The Guardian among others.

From 2000-2017 he lived in Colombia to dive down and write a book called Kilo: Inside the Cocaine Cartel. This book dives into everything he found while following the path a Kilo of Cocaine takes.


Website - www.TobyMuse.com

Episode 16 - Adam Godwin

Adam Godwin has studied philosophy and psychology for over fifteen years and his academic focus has been phenomenology, metaphysics, ontology, existentialism and clinical psychology.

Episode 15 - Gavia Baker-Whitelaw

Gavia Baker-Whitelaw is a longtime journalist who covers fandom, film, and television. She has written for The Daily Dot and has recently started her fast-growing Behind the Seams channel on youtube. Gavia has a lot of in-depth knowledge of costume design in film and television. 


The Daily Dot - https://www.dailydot.com/author/gavia-baker-whitelaw/

Behind the Seams - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Xl5WRnBkMz5FSXCRaTE8Q

Episode 14 - Anderson Silver

Anderson Silver just released the third book of his Stoicism for a Better Life Series. When it comes to the fundamentals of Stoicism, its relation to Determinism as well as its overall impact, Silver is the perfect candidate to inform those interested.

Website - https://stoicismforabetterlife.com/

Episode 13 - Jack F.

Jack F. is in the top 9% of the United States Chess Federation league. He's been playing for a long time and has a strong understanding of chess.

Lyle May

Tessie Castillo

Episode 12 - Tessie Castillo & Lyle May

With her co-authors, Tessie Castillo published the book Crimson Letters: Voices From Death Row. A story compiled of writings from prisoners on death row. One of her co-authors is Lyle May who has been facing death row for 21 years now; since the age of 19. Lyle called in from death row for this episode.


Website - https://tessiecastillo.com/

Lyles blog - https://www.beyondsteeldoors.com/blog


Episode 11 - Kaitlyn Bailey

Kaitlyn Bailey is an advocate for sex work decriminalization. Once a sex worker herself she is now the director of communications for a national advocacy organization, host of the oldest profession podcast, and has written numerous articles for newspapers such as Vice. 


Website - https://www.kaytlinbailey.com/


Episode 10 - Adam Plant

Adam Plant is an ugly artist. Founder of Easy Sleez and head of over 25+ other artists, Adam found his nitch creating what he calls "ugly art". 


Brand Website - https://www.eezysleez.com.au/

Personal Website - https://www.lonelyaroma.com/


Max Mills

Charles Mills

Episode 9 - Max Mills & Charles Mills

Max Mills is a liberal who has written numerous political journals in the past and Charles Mills is a conservative who has written political journals for names like Sean Hannity. 

Episode 8 -Thomas Derr

Thomas Derr in the process of writing a thesis on the history of video games; the history between the sexes to be more specific. 


Episode 7 - Ben Kitchings

Ben Kitchings has a master's degree and has spent a lot of time studying the Spanish flu and COVID-19. He is also the host of his top 100 documentary podcast "The History Voyager".


Podcast - https://thehistoryvoyager.podbean.com/


Episode 6 - Beth a.k.a. Hemp Huntress

Beth is a pro-hemp advocate and farmer based in Oregon. She is also the owner of the "Hemp Huntress" brand.


Website - www.hemphuntress.com


Episode 5 - Joshua Shea

Joshua Shea is an established author and TEDx speaker where he goes around to talk about his experiences and knowledge on porn addiction. Joshua's knowledge comes from research and strong real life experiences.


Website - www.RecoveringPornAddict.com

Episode 4 - Jessica Leichtweisz and Aidan Almond

Jessica Leichtweisz and Aidan Almond have written a book about the stories they have seen surrounding autism. Jessica has been helping children facing autism for 20+ years now, and Aidan- who is autistic himself- has begun to do the same. 


Website - hopeeducationservices.com


Episode 3 - Ruslan

Ruslan is a bartender in Kazan', Russia. He has spent his life as a citizen in Russia.

Episode 2 - Giuseppe

Giuseppe is well informed on the topic of drugs through education, research, and experience. On top of studying towards his degree, he has taken just about every drug possible that you can name. 

Episode 1 - Ethan

He is a political science major pursuing a degree. He spends his time researching and understanding all things political