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Things That Go Boom

PRI

Stories about the ins, outs, and whathaveyous of what keeps us safe. So, grab a beer and buckle up. It gets bumpy! Hosted by Laicie Heeley. // Things That Go Boom is conducting an audience survey. Find that here, and a huge thanks in advance! survey.PRX.org/boom

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United States

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PRI

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Stories about the ins, outs, and whathaveyous of what keeps us safe. So, grab a beer and buckle up. It gets bumpy! Hosted by Laicie Heeley. // Things That Go Boom is conducting an audience survey. Find that here, and a huge thanks in advance! survey.PRX.org/boom

Language:

English


Episodes

Fika and Feminism: Part 1

3/18/2024
This season on Things That Go Boom, we’re on a mission to figure out this new thing spreading like wildfire across the world: feminist foreign policy. But to even begin to understand what it is and where it’s going, we had to start in the place where it failed. We’re calling this season, “The F Word.” And on this episode and the next, we take a deep look at the chasm that caused Sweden’s feminist foreign policy to break in two. And we ask: If this thing can’t succeed in Sweden, can it succeed at all? GUESTS: Dr. Brian Palmer, Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor, Uppsala University; Dr. Elin Bjarnegård, Professor, Uppsala University; Margot Wallström, former Foreign Minister of Sweden ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Antigone's Diary becomes a mural when youth in the suburb of Husby tell about their lives, Stockholm University Handbook on Sweden’s Feminist Foreign Policy, Government of Sweden Sweden’s New Government Abandons Feminist Foreign Policy, Human Rights Watch Jantelagen: Why Swedes won’t talk about wealth, BBC Special thanks to all of our guests, including our anonymous panel participants and Dr. Brian Palmer who went above and beyond to help our team understand and connect with folks in and around Stockholm.

Duration:00:28:25

Season 9: The F-Word

3/4/2024
With more than 50 elections set to take place around the world, 2024 will be a battle for democracy. It will also be a battle for peace. Because after doing things the same way for, pretty much ever, countries in Europe and Latin America have been experimenting with something called “feminist foreign policy,” and feeling the backlash. After all, there’s a lot in a word. But that word is really just the best way folks have come up with to describe this thing that some people think could begin to break up the boys club that dictates how we wage war, and peace. So, can it survive? That’s what we set out to find out on this season of Things That Go Boom.

Duration:00:02:15

Things That Go Boom Introduces: Click Here

12/4/2023
Click Here is a podcast, hosted by Dina Temple-Raston, that tells true stories about the people making and breaking our digital world. Earlier this year, the FBI added Mikhail Pavlovich Matveev to their Most Wanted hacker list for his alleged role in a number of ransomware attacks against U.S. targets. In a rare interview shortly after the FBI announcement, he talked about being added to the list and what he plans to do as an encore.

Duration:00:19:03

Well, What Do You Know?

10/30/2023
What do swarms of autonomous drones, facial recognition, and nuclear test site monitoring have in common? They are all things we were still curious about as we wrapped up this internet and security season of Things That Go Boom. In this mailbag episode, experts weigh in to help answer some tough questions from you, our audience! GUESTS: Lauren Kahn, Senior Research Analyst at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology; Dr. Eleni Manis, Research Director at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project; Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Hicks Discusses Replicator Initiative, US Department of Defense Ground Rules for the Age of AI Warfare, Foreign Affairs Madison Square Garden Uses Facial Recognition to Ban Its Owner’s Enemies, The New York Times Nuclear Test Sites Are Too Damn Busy, Arms Control Wonk The Reason We’re All Still Here, Dr. Jeffrey Lewis

Duration:00:33:22

Least Cost Paths

10/16/2023
On Sunday, the people of Poland cast their votes in an election that some have called a battle for the country’s soul. When we released this episode, we were still watching for the various parties to confirm the parliamentary coalitions that would lead to the final result. But experts tell us no matter who wins, one thing is likely to stay the same: Poland's hardline approach to refugees from its eastern border with Belarus. So today, we head to that border, where scientists are studying the impact of rising militarization and anti-refugee activity on the region. It's not always easy — because the Polish border guard isn't always keen to hand out the answers these scientists would love to add to their analysis. But Eliot Higgins, the founder of investigative website Bellingcat, says civilians have an edge these days when states won’t answer our questions. We have an unprecedented amount of information at our fingertips — and we're using it to challenge our governments around the world in all kinds of ways. A NOTE: We’re heartbroken by the sudden Hamas attack on Israelis and by the Israeli airstrikes and devastation in Gaza. Donate to Doctors Without Borders as it continues to offer impartial medical care to those most impacted by war. GUESTS: Katarzyna Nowak, University of Warsaw; Michał Żmihorski, Mammal Research Institute; Maciej Kisilowski, Central European University; Eliot Higgins, Bellingcat ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Threats to Conservation From National Security Interests, Katarzyna Nowak, Dinah Bear, Anwesha Dutta, Myles Traphagen, Michał Żmihorski, and Bogdan Jaroszewicz, Conservation Biology Recognizing Opposition Movements is Riskier Than It Seems, John Reid Wilcox, Inkstick Media Monitoring the Environmental Consequences of the War in Ukraine, Jon Letman, Inkstick Media Can National Reconciliation Defeat Populism? Maciej Kisilowski, Anna Wojciuk. Project Syndicate. Thanks to Sławomir Makaruk for additional field production.

Duration:00:28:19

Tobacco, Trust, and the Artist Formerly Known as Twitter

10/2/2023
We’re about a year out from a presidential election, and former President Donald Trump is leading the Republican pack in spite of his supporters’ attack on the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The attack reflected the anger and violence that can be stoked by misinformation. But the issue of misinformation has become heavily politicized since the 2016 election and Cambridge Analytica’s use of Facebook data to target divisive messages at segments of the American population. As a result, researchers like Boston University’s Joan Donovan have found themselves subject to intense political and funding pressures. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Donovan about the parallels between Big Tobacco and Big Tech, and what the online misinformation landscape looks like heading into the 2024 elections. GUESTS: Dr. Joan Donovan, Assistant Professor, Boston University College of Communication, Division of Emerging Media Studies ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Harvard Misinformation Expert Joan Donovan Forced to Leave by Kennedy School Dean, Sources Say, The Harvard Crimson Here Are 4 Key Points From the Facebook Whistleblower’s Testimony on Capitol Hill, National Public Radio Factsheet 4: Types of Misinformation and Disinformation, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Social Media Misinformation and the Prevention of Political Instability and Mass Atrocities, The Stimson Center

Duration:00:31:02

Will the Internet Suck Us Dry?

9/18/2023
When we say that we’re going to store something “in the cloud” it sounds like an ethereal place somewhere in the atmosphere. But the online cloud is generated by computer servers in data centers all over the world. Thousands of them. And AI is likely to ramp up demand. These data centers don’t employ a lot of people, and each one can hoover up the resources of a small town. So what happens when our need for more, better, faster cyber capability collides with our need for land, water, and power? GUESTS: Dr. Anne Pasek, Canada Research Chair in Media, Culture and the Environment, Trent University, Canada; Todd Murren, General Manager, Bluebird Network Data Centers; Kelly Gallaher, activist, A Better Mount Pleasant, WI; Mike Gitter, Water Utility Director, Racine, WI ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: The Cloud’s Heavy Toll on Natural Resources, Marketplace Tech A New Front in the Water Wars: Your Internet Use, The Washington Post It’s Not Easy Going Green, Reveal Data Center Site Selection: Why Midwestern US Is So Attractive to Hyperscalers, Data Center Knowledge Presentation on Microsoft’s Data Center Plan for Mount Pleasant, WI, Microsoft. The Risk of AI Power Grids, Radiolab The Pros and Cons of Underground Data Centers, Data Center Knowledge

Duration:00:28:49

Who Gets To Shut It All Down?

9/4/2023
Internet blackouts — when internet service is shut down in a country or region — have become much more common over the last decade. But who gets to decide when these disruptions are necessary? From thwarting political protests to preventing cheating on school exams, we’re diving into the who, what, and why of internet blackouts around the world. And we’re asking… what exactly are the rules here in the US? GUESTS: Mazin Riyadh, student at the University of Mosul; Dr. Patricia Vargas, Fellow for the Information Society Project and Fellow for the Internet Society; Zuha Siddiqui, Journalist ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Internet Shutdowns During Exams, Access Now Political Factors that Enable an Internet Kill Switch in Democratic and Non-Democratic Regimes, Yale Information Society Project Pakistan’s 4-day internet shutdown was the final straw for its tech workers, Rest of World

Duration:00:25:55

How to Break a Fish

8/21/2023
It’s one of our biggest problems in 2023, and it can feel distinctly human. But it's not. All sorts of animals deal with all sorts of misinformation every day, including some of our oldest ancestors — like the humble fish. This week on Things That Go Boom, we exit the human world entirely to see what we can learn. Special thanks this week to Christina Stella for pinch-hitting for our engineer, Robin Wise! GUESTS: Ashkaan Fahimipour, Florida Atlantic University; Jimmy Liao, The University of Florida ADDITIONAL READING: Wild Animals Suppress the Spread of Socially Transmitted Misinformation, Ashkaan K. Fahimipour, Michael A. Gil, Maria Rosa Celis, and Andrew M. Hein, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Navigating Turbulent Waters, Jimmy Liao, This I Believe

Duration:00:28:34

Lost in Translation

8/7/2023
Greg is an artist whose clients include Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons. And much like a lot of the folks striking in Hollywood right now, he’s ticked off about AI. It’s a story we hear a lot these days: AI is having an impact on everything in our lives, and it’s killing creators’ livelihoods. What we don’t hear, though, is what that story has to do with the people seeking asylum in the United States every day. In this episode, we’ll show you how their lives can be forever changed by similar large language models to the ones used to copy Greg’s art. GUESTS: Greg Rutkowski, visual artist; Ariel Koren, founder and CEO, Respond Crisis Translation; Uma Mirkhail, Afghan languages team lead, Respond Crisis Translation; Andrew Deck, reporter, Rest of World THANKS ALSO TO: Leila Lorenzo, policy director, Respond Crisis Translation ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: AI Translation Is Jeopardizing Afghan Asylum Claims, Andrew Deck, Rest of World Seeking Asylum at the u.s.-Mexico Border? You’d Better Speak English or Spanish, Andrew Deck, Rest of World Learn about Respond Crisis Translation here. See more of Greg Rutkowski’s art here.

Duration:00:25:18

Can You Hack a Nuke?

7/24/2023
In the age of Oppenheimer, nuclear weapons didn’t have much to do with computers. And, for a long time, most nukes were running on 1970s-era floppy disk systems. But as technology has advanced the US — and all the other nuclear weapons states — have started putting military communications, early warning systems, and even control of nuclear missiles themselves online. So, in this episode, we ask, “Could our nuclear weapons systems… be hacked?” We talk to researchers, policy experts, a top UN official, and a hacker about how a nuclear cyber attack might go down. And what we can do to stop it. GUESTS: Matt Korda, Senior Research Fellow, Nuclear Information Project; Allison Pytlak, Program Lead of the Cyber Program at the Stimson Center; Page Stoutland, Consultant at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Maddie Stone, Security Researcher at Google Project Zero; Izumi Nakamitsu, Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs at the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Flying Under The Radar: A Missile Accident In South Asia, Federation of American Scientists Addressing Cyber-Nuclear Security Threats, Nuclear Threat Initiative Glitch disrupts Air Force nuke communications, NBC News A 'Worst Nightmare' Cyberattack: The Untold Story Of The SolarWinds Hack, NPR Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons - Preparatory Committee for the Eleventh Review Conference, UNODA The Failsafe Review, Nuclear Threat Initiative

Duration:00:31:16

The Internet Is at the Bottom of the Sea

7/10/2023
We need the internet. No, seriously. In 2023, the digital realm isn’t so much a portal as it is the undercurrent of our lives: The web carries our culture, our communication, our bank accounts — and, yes, our global security. But all of that traffic flows through a series of cables at the bottom of the ocean. And lately, we’ve been worrying a lot about it up on dry land: Asking what happens when something — or someone — cuts those cables. Should we really be so worried? This is a story about volcanoes and sharks, entrepreneurs and politicians. It’s also about none of those things. Welcome back to Things That Go Boom. GUESTS: Nicole Starosielski, New York University; Marian Kupu, Broadcom Broadcasting; Ryan Wopschall, ICPC; Darren Griffiths, Optic Marine; Camino Kavanagh, King’s College London ADDITIONAL READING: Inside the Subsea Cable Firm Secretly Helping America Take on China, Joe Brock, Reuters The Undersea Network, Nicole Starosielski, Duke University Press Wading Murky Waters: Subsea Communications and Responsible State Behavior, Camino Kavanaugh, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research Decoupling is Already Happening Under The Sea, Elisabeth Braw, Foreign Policy

Duration:00:39:21

Coming Soon: Troubleshooting

6/26/2023
You know the internet — that big, vast, expanse that powers our lives and every single thing we do. It’s all we seem to talk about these days: spyware, malware, phishing attacks, TikTok bans, Russian disinformation, and beyond. But how much do you really know about the internet? Or the threats that wait to greet you there? And how much of that story is wrong? This season on Things That Go Boom, we dig into nuclear hacking, bug hunting, cable cutting… and for some reason, a whole lot of stories about fish, in “Troubleshooting.” 9 new cyber-stories about this vast digital world, what it means for how we fight wars, and how we make sense of it all here at home.

Duration:00:02:08

How a US Reporter Was Imprisoned in Putin’s Russia

6/9/2023
We’re hard at work on Season 8 of Things That Go Boom, coming your way July 10. But in the meantime, we wanted to drop in and share a special episode with you from our friends at Project Brazen. How did Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich end up in prison in Russia, and what happens now? On March 29, Russian authorities arrested Evan and accused him of spying on Russia on behalf of the US government. He remains in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison today. Evan is the first American reporter to be charged with espionage in Russia since the Cold War. The charge, which The Journal vehemently denies, can carry a sentence of up to 20 years. In this report by Project Brazen producer Neha Wadekar, you’ll hear from people close to Evan — his friends, newsroom colleagues, even his former soccer coach — about his shocking arrest, the efforts to bring him home, and how he became the journalist he is today. Enjoy, and we’ll see you back here soon!

Duration:00:25:57

Getting L-A-O-D

3/20/2023
America’s war on communism in southeast Asia dragged the entire region into the fray, and the impacts are still an ever-present danger. (You might remember our episode this season on landmines and clusters.) But here’s what we didn’t get into before: The legacy of that violence here — in our own communities. Today, much of the nationwide push to preserve and highlight southeast Asian heritage is being led by a younger generation, raised in America by refugees. They’re opening restaurants, taking over family businesses… and embracing their own definition of true southeast Asian food. In Philadelphia, we ask: How much can a weekend market — and its long road to protection — tell us about America’s relationship with its refugees? GUESTS: Aleena Inthaly, Legacies of War; Catzie Vilayphonh, Laos In The House; Saijai Sabayjit, Saijai Thai ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: The Originals, Legacies of War Thip Khao Talk, Legacies of War Our Story, The Southeast Asian Market at FDR Park

Duration:00:34:16

Mr. Fonio

3/6/2023
There are tens, or even hundreds, of thousands of edible plants in the world. But humans only cultivate a couple hundred of those at any significant scale. And when we eat, we tend to stick to just a few: More than half of the calories that humans consume around the world today come from just corn, soy, wheat, and rice. But that narrow focus on food is putting us in danger. As climate change, the COVID pandemic, and conflict in “breadbasket” regions like Ukraine continue to disrupt agriculture, it may be time for forgotten crops to make a comeback. On this episode, Chef Pierre Thiam explains how one of these ancient grains might just save the world. GUEST: Pierre Thiam, Chef, author, & entrepreneur ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Where to find some fonio: Yolélé How to cook fonio: The Fonio Cookbook by Pierre Thiam Will the world’s breadbaskets become less reliable?, McKinsey (charts and maps!) Looking at other grains (millet and fonio) to help feed the world, Foreign Policy Explore stats on crop and livestock production around the world, The UN Food and Agriculture Organization

Duration:00:28:14

What’s Next for Brazil After Bolsonaro?

2/20/2023
Just two years ago, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was in prison. It’s a fairytale-like comeback story. But his life is also a food story. From a hungry childhood raised by sharecropper parents, Lula made ending hunger a major part of his first two highly popular terms as president. Now, as he settles into the Presidential Palace once again – he has big plans for strengthening Brazil’s democracy and positioning the country as a diplomatic powerhouse. Those plans will depend on reaching people through their stomachs. GUESTS: Cassia Bechara, International Relations Committee Spokesperson, Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra/Landless Workers’ Movement; Michael Fox, Independent Journalist; Fabio de Sa e Silva, Assistant Professor of International Studies and Wick Cary Professor of Brazilian Studies, University of Oklahoma; Fabiane Ziolla Menezes, Business and Technology Journalist, Brazilian Report Thank you to Larissa Packer, Rafael Soares Gonzales, and James MacDonald. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: “Lurching From Food Crisis to Food Crisis,” GRAIN “The Rise of Congress Will Have Consequences for Brazil’s Victor,” Lucas de Aragão, Americas Quarterly Check out the Brazilian Report’s newsletters here.

Duration:00:27:20

Can Cluster Bombs Show Us How To Stop a Nuclear War?

2/6/2023
Despite being banned, anti-personnel landmines and unexploded submunitions still litter fields from Bosnia to Bangladesh. And they’re even being used in Ukraine. Does that mean the treaties that ban their use aren’t working? Experts say the story isn’t so simple, and that, actually, the treaties to ban these weapons have shown a new way forward: one where norms stigmatize the return to these weapons and constrain even the biggest superpowers. But what will it take to clean up the mess left behind? And can anti-nuclear activists repeat the party trick? GUESTS: Treasa Dunworth Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland; Matthew Breay Bolton, Professor of Political Science, Pace University; Sera Koulabdara, Executive Director, Legacies of War; Alex van Roy, Chief Operations Officer, FSD ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: How War Changes Land: Soil Fertility, Unexploded Bombs, and the Underdevelopment of Cambodia, Erin Lin, American Journal of Political Science Political Minefields: The Struggle Against Automatic Killing, Matthew Breay Bolton, Bloomsbury Academic Humanitarian Disarmament: An Historical Inquiry, Treasa Dunworth, Cambridge University Press Legacies Library: Resources on the Secret War in Laos

Duration:00:27:44

How Xi Jinping Plans to Fill China’s ‘Rice Bowl’

1/23/2023
One morning in the 2010s, a rural midwestern farmer called the cops. There was a guy in a suit sniffing around a field near town. A big SUV dropped him off. And the story of how the man got there? That can tell us a lot about Xi Jinping’s past, present, and future. China’s seen incredible growth over the last 50 years — and with that, major changes in the country’s diet and agriculture. With 1.4 billion people to feed and a party narrative to upkeep, President Xi Jinping is pushing the country to invest in its own food security. During a time when tension between the US and China are rising, we look at how Great Power Competition is unfolding in America’s cornfields. GUESTS: Sue-Lin Wong, The Economist; Wendong Zhang, Cornell University; Arthur Kroeber, Gavekal Dragonomics ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: The Prince, The Economist How Has China Maintained Domestic Food Stability Amid Global Food Crises?, World Economic Forum China’s Interests in US Agriculture: Augmenting Food Security through Investment Abroad, US-China Economic and Security Review Commission

Duration:00:35:18

Reissue: Navigating the Strait

1/9/2023
We turn our attention to the narrow strait that divides China and Taiwan, which some analysts believe is the most likely flashpoint for another far-away conflict involving the US military. If President Biden reconfigures foreign policy to focus more on threats at home, will that leave us unprepared to defend US interests abroad? Or should we rethink which battles we’re willing to fight? GUESTS: Oriana Skylar Mastro, Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Michael Mazarr, Senior Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation. ADDITIONAL READING: The Taiwan Temptation, Foreign Affairs. Time for a New Approach to Defense Strategy, War on the Rocks. Biden Backs Taiwan, but Some Call for a Clearer Warning to China, New York Times. ** This episode was originally published on September 13, 2021.

Duration:00:26:26