Best Byte Federal Podcasts (2025)

1
One family's escape from the Fall of Saigon for the U.S. 7:21

17h ago7:21

7:21

The Truong Le family was one among tens of thousands to flee Vietnam in 1975 for a new life in America. They were lucky to get out alive.By WBUR

1
The Ground Round returns after two decades 3:47

17h ago3:47

3:47

Husband and wife team Joseph and Nachi Shea hope that a blend of modern appeal and nostalgic pull is enough to bring guests through the door.By WBUR

1
A hunt for urban wildlife around Boston and cities worldwide 2:43

17h ago2:43

2:43

As part of the global City Nature Challenge, students at Brandeis trekked around campus photographing and identifying local species.By WBUR

1
When an AI internet search competes against a human internet search 9:18

21h ago9:18

9:18

When President Jimmy Carter died late last year, the foundation that runs Wikipedia noticed something unusual: the flood of interest in the late president created a content bottleneck, slowing load times for about an hour. Wikipedia is built to handle spikes in traffic like this, according to the Wikimedia Foundation, but it's also dealing with a s…

1
What the state cannabis commission's new leader thinks about plummeting pot prices 4:03

1d ago4:03

4:03

Travis Ahern, the new executive director of the state's Cannabis Control Commission, joins WBUR's All Things Considered to discuss.By WBUR

1
The Marines from Massachusetts who were among the last to leave Saigon 7:44

2d ago7:44

7:44

Two Marines from Massachusetts — among the last remaining soldiers in Saigon — recall the tense evacuation effort and how the city fell to communist forces in late April 1975.By WBUR

1
In Mass., volunteers pack thousands of abortion pills destined for states with bans 6:03

2d ago6:03

6:03

Huddled around a small conference table in Greater Boston, volunteers form an ad hoc assembly line to slip hundreds of pills into padded envelopes. It's not an illegal drug operation, at least not here in Massachusetts. But, their work to provide abortion medications could risk criminal or civil charges in states where abortion is banned.…

1
Meta's news blackout in Canada causes problems during election 6:37

2d ago6:37

6:37

Canada's liberal party and its leader Mark Carney are set to remain in control after the country held federal elections Monday. They were the first since Canada adopted the Online News Act in 2023, which requires online content providers — like social media platforms — to negotiate some sort of "fair" payment to news publishers in exchange for usin…

1
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu opens up about parenting and her faith 6:30

3d ago6:30

6:30

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu shares what it's like to raise kids in the public eye, and what the late Pope Francis meant to her family.By WBUR

1
Remembering the fallen 50 years after the close of the Vietnam War 7:46

3d ago7:46

7:46

Of the 58,220 U.S. military service members who died in Vietnam, more than 1,300 were from Massachusetts. These are the stories of the men who were among the first and last to die on Vietnam soil.By WBUR

1
A battery farm in the Bronx could help clean up New York's power grid 4:29

3d ago4:29

4:29

One of the most powerful tools in the fight against climate change is the money sitting in investment portfolios - especially the trillions of dollars invested on behalf of public retirees. That’s money that could continue to fund fossil fuel development, or help pay for climate solutions instead. New York City has implemented an ambitious Net Zero…

1
The BYTE Shop brings decades-old tech back to life 3:09

4d ago3:09

3:09

The BYTE Shop in Jamaica plain that brings back some of those memories. The computer repair shop doubles as a museum to the home computer.By WBUR

1
Community health centers brace for Medicaid cuts, federal restrictions 4:08

4d ago4:08

4:08

NEPM's Karen Brown reports on the services these clinics provide and how federal cuts could affect them.By WBUR

1
Can Harvard use its endowment to escape financial storm clouds? 4:13

4d ago4:13

4:13

Evan Horowitz of the Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University says it won't be easy for the school to offset the loss of roughly $2 billion in federal funds frozen by the Trump administration.By WBUR

1
AI can't read the room 6:04

4d ago6:04

6:04

Leyla Isik, a professor of cognitive science at Johns Hopkins University, is also a senior scientist on a new study looking at how good AI is at reading social cues. She and her research team took short videos of people doing things — two people chatting, two babies on a playmat, two people doing a synchronized skate routine — and showed them to hu…

1
Amphibians’ migration routines are getting more difficult. These brigades are trying to help 4:16

7d ago4:16

4:16

On warm, rainy spring New England evenings, a huge migration is taking place; Millions of frogs, toads and salamanders wiggling out of hibernation and into the world to create new life. But human inventions, like cars, and climate change have made their lives more treacherous.By WBUR

1
Snowshoe hares have a camouflage problem. These scientists want to help 4:25

7d ago4:25

4:25

As New England warms, snowshoe hares are increasingly finding themselves the wrong color for camouflaging with their environment. New England scientists are looking at some promising ways to help.By WBUR

1
New Hampshire lawmakers debate a book ban that could punish teachers, librarians 5:04

7d ago5:04

5:04

A bill to restrict or ban student access to some books puts New Hampshire smack in the middle of a major battle in America's culture wars.By WBUR

1
Bytes: Week in Review - OpenAI's for-profit troubles, FTC sues Uber and how VCs are weathering Trump tariffs 12:52

7d ago12:52

12:52

It's the last Friday in April and it's time for Marketplace Tech Bytes Week in Review. This week, we'll talk about how the Federal Trade Commission is suing Uber over its subscription service. Plus, how the VC world is navigating the uncertainty created by the trade war. But first, a nonprofit pivot is facing some challenges. Open AI, the maker of …

1
Why one man's unusually short arms could make or break this year's Patriots draft class 3:57

8d ago3:57

3:57

Sports reporter Khari Thompson joins WBUR's Morning Edition to break down the quirky — but high-stakes — situation for the Patriots in the NFL draft.By WBUR

1
Lichens keep New England's forests healthy. How will they adapt to climate change? 4:40

8d ago4:40

4:40

If you’ve spent a lot of time outdoors in New England, you’ve likely crossed paths with, and probably stepped on, lichens. This mysterious indicator species plays an important role at the bottom of the food chain. It also serves as habitat for other microorganisms.By WBUR

1
Is community fact-checking the future of social media moderation? 6:54

8d ago6:54

6:54

TikTok is going to be testing a new crowd-sourced fact-checking system called Footnotes. It’s seems similar to the Community Notes systems already in use on other social media, such as X and Facebook. TikTok is also keeping its current fact-checking systems in place. The way these community systems generally work is, say someone makes a post statin…

1
60 years ago, my grandfather joined Martin Luther King's Boston march 4:08

9d ago4:08

4:08

On April 23, 1965, Arielle Gray's grandfather — then a teenager — joined the march to the Common led by King drawing attention to the racial imbalances in Boston.By WBUR

1
Former Mass. AG calls on law firms to stand up to Trump 4:31

9d ago4:31

4:31

Scott Harshbargar, former state attorney general, joined WBUR's Morning Edition to discuss how extraordinary this moment is for the legal profession.By WBUR

1
Mass. lawmakers visit ICE detention facility in Louisiana, demand release of students 4:25

9d ago4:25

4:25

Lawmakers said Öztürk, of Tufts University, and Khalil, of Columbia University, appeared to be in decent health, but they are wracked with fear. The delegation expressed outrage that students are being held for voicing their views, and accused the Trump administration of violating their constitutional rights.…

1
Cities take the lead in battling rent-setting algorithms 8:20

9d ago8:20

8:20

The use of algorithmic software in setting residential rents has come under scrutiny in recent years. In 2024, the Joe Biden administration sued real estate company RealPage, alleging that its algorithm, which aggregates and analyzes private data on the housing market, enables landlords to collude in pricing and stifles competition. There's no word…

1
Harvard Law professor on the university's suit against the Trump administration 4:12

10d ago4:12

4:12

Nikolas Bowie, a Harvard Law School professor, joins WBUR's Morning Edition to discuss Harvard's lawsuit against the Trump administration.By WBUR

1
This company uses AI to make workers AI-savvy — and keep their jobs 10:36

10d ago10:36

10:36

We've sometimes wished we could have our own Wendy Rhodes, the performance coach at the hedge fund on the TV show “Billions.” Most workplaces, however, aren't bringing in billions and can't afford a Wendy. But an upskilling platform called Multiverse uses artificial intelligence to provide personalized, on-the-job guidance. Its AI coach, Atlas, hel…

1
Mobile apps are failing users with disabilities 9:27

11d ago9:27

9:27

Developers of mobile apps have "room for improvement" in making their platforms fully accessible for disabled users, according to a new report from the software company ArcTouch and the digital research platform Fable. It looked at fifty popular apps and assessed them for features that improve accessibility like screen reading, text size adjustabil…

1
Bytes: Week in Review — Meta's antitrust trial, Nvidia's export restraint, and Jack Dorsey's hot take on IP law 9:40

14d ago9:40

9:40

NVIDIA gets caught up in the trade war, the titans of Twitter/X debate intellectual property law — and the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust case against Meta kicks off in court. We're digging into all of it on today's Tech Bytes: Week in Review. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino speaks with Anita Ramaswamy, columnist at The Information, about…

1
For the 2034 Olympics, Utah wants air taxis instead of Ubers 3:53

15d ago3:53

3:53

Flying cars have been a staple of science-fiction visions of the future for ages. Perhaps most famously in “Back to the Future II.” The film may have overshot the mark a bit with Doc and Marty McFly navigating full-on air highways in 2015. But Utah is pushing for the technology to take off by 2034, when the state hosts the Olympic and paralympic wi…

1
Can the U.S. get around China's restrictions on rare earth minerals? 6:21

16d ago6:21

6:21

China is responsible for most of the world’s processing of rare earth metals and minerals, but its new export restrictions have raised the stakes for U.S. efforts to build its own supply chain and processing industry. Barbara Arnold, a professor of mining engineering at Penn State, says there are options, but they require time, development and inve…

1
Virginia's reliance on surveillance tech raises data privacy questions 8:01

17d ago8:01

8:01

Surveillance technology like automated license plate readers has become commonplace in policing. They've made it easier to locate stolen vehicles and track suspects, but they've also raised concerns about civil liberties. Cardinal News Executive Editor Jeff Schwaner took a 300-mile drive through the state to see how often his car would be recorded.…

1
Is using AI in job interviews cheating? 8:23

18d ago8:23

8:23

One area where artificial intelligence has been swiftly adopted is software coding. Google even boasted last year that more than a quarter of its code was generated by AI. But the technology is also generating challenges to the traditional technical job interview, where candidates are given programming problems as a way to assess their skills. And …

1
Bytes: Week in Review — How tariffs impact consumer gadgets, e-commerce and the AI boom 9:50

21d ago9:50

9:50

The tariff rollercoaster has created a lot of uncertainty in the tech industry. We're digging into how its playing out for makers of consumer tech, e-commerce platforms and AI. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino speaks with Paresh Dave, senior writer at Wired, about all these topics for this week’s Tech Bytes.…

1
Etsy's AI curates the search for the perfect thing 7:32

22d ago7:32

7:32

Etsy, the online marketplace known for selling one-of-a-kind handmade items, is hoping that artificial intelligence can boost sales of those crafty creations. The site has been selling less stuff and recently announced a plan to double down on high-quality and unique merchandise over cheap and mass-produced. Now, it's launching AI-curated product c…

1
What does a bear market mean for Big Tech? 9:51

23d ago9:51

9:51

After President Donald Trump's launched his “Liberation Day” tariff agenda, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite stock index suffered its biggest plunge since March 2020. The so-called Magnificent 7 — Nvidia, Apple, Meta, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Tesla — lost a combined $1.8 trillion of market value in two days. The tariff-induced downturn in busin…

1
Microsoft wants to be the world's AI platform 9:31

24d ago9:31

9:31

Microsoft celebrates its 50th anniversary this month. The company started as a small software startup co-founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in an Albuquerque, New Mexico, garage. It went on to revolutionize personal computing, business productivity and now — it hopes — artificial intelligence with its big investment in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGP…

1
How to ethically design a nuclear power plant 10:11

25d ago10:11

10:11

Rising demand for electricity, largely to power the artificial intelligence boom, has stirred a resurgence in nuclear energy. Older plants like Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania are being brought out of retirement, but there’s also investment in smaller-scale reactors with different designs. The fresh interest in nuclear generation has also renewed…

1
Episode 231: Sara Bannerman on How Canadian Political Parties Maximize Voter Data Collection and Minimize Privacy Safeguards 30:44

25d ago30:44

30:44

As the 2025 federal election passes the midway point, it is increasingly apparent that the federal political parties are not only battling for votes, but also for data. Canadians may not see it but political parties are data machines anxious to collect and use as much data about potential supporters as possible. Sara Bannerman is the Canada Researc…

1
Bytes: Week in Review — TikTok’s new bidders, Tesla sales slump and OpenAI raises $40 billion 10:14

28d ago10:14

10:14

OpenAI — the maker of ChatGPT — keeps raising more money, this time in a $40 billion round led by SoftBank. We’ll get into the strings attached in Marketplace “Tech Bytes — Week in Review.” Plus, what’s going on with Tesla’s sales slump? And how much is its polarizing CEO, Elon Musk, to blame? But first, the clock is ticking on a TikTok sale. The e…

1
Why LGBTQ+ teens, young adults feel safer online 6:04

29d ago6:04

6:04

There’s been mounting concern in recent years about the harms of social media use for kids. The sites can be addictive, ripe for cyberbullying and contribute to increased rates of body dysmorphia, anxiety and depression. The growing evidence has led at least a dozen states to pass laws attempting to restrict access to online platforms for kids. The…

1
Worry over worker visas goes viral in Silicon Valley 11:45

30d ago11:45

11:45

Registration for the H-1B visa lottery closed last week. The tech industry has long been the biggest beneficiary of this program for specialized workers. But uncertainty has been spreading due to the Trump administration’s restrictive stance on immigration policy. Even legal immigrants have felt the crackdown. It’s led some companies to advise thei…

1
Napster lives on 6:21

1M ago6:21

6:21

Yes, Napster is still alive and kicking. The peer-to-peer file-sharing company that became synonymous with music piracy in the early 2000s was bought by a company called Infinite Reality Labs last week for about $207 million. It’s the latest in a string of attempts to revive the brand. After it was shut down by the courts in 2001 and declared bankr…

1
Episode 230: Aengus Bridgman on the 2025 Federal Election, Social Media Platforms, and Misinformation 38:30

1M ago38:30

38:30

The 2025 federal election is now in its second week and the battle for attention and ultimately votes is taking place both online and offline. The enormous influence of online sites such as Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and a handful of others raises real issues about how information spreads, its reliability, and risks of misinformation and disinformat…

1
China sets its sights on AI leadership 4:44

1M ago4:44

4:44

Chinese President Xi Jinping is pushing for the country to be a global leader in artificial intelligence by 2030 as Beijing competes with Washington to gain an edge in advanced technology. The release of AI chatbot DeepSeek, which stunned industry experts in January, gave a boost to China’s hopes of catching up to the U.S. despite restrictions on t…

1
Bytes: Week in Review — Trump officials’ Signal leak, 23andMe goes bankrupt and chatbots take on search engines 10:28

1M ago10:28

10:28

AI company Anthropic recently added web search to its chatbot Claude. It joins other artificial intelligence tools like Perplexity and ChatGPT in delivering one clear answer to a web search query instead of pages and pages of links. Plus, 23andMe declared bankruptcy. So what’s gonna happen to all that genetic data? But first — the Signal group chat…

1
Network effect: Customers help utilities build smarter, more efficient power grid 8:41

1M ago8:41

8:41

On today’s episode of “Marketplace Tech,” Meghan McCarty Carino speaks with Daniel Cohan, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University, about virtual power plants. These aren’t physical generating stations. They’re more of a network, usually managed by a local utility, that aggregates electricity from different sources like b…

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