• The bored and the beautiful: How the smartphone killed boredom
    Sep 25 2026

    Social media. Streaming. Swiping. Today, it's normal to reach for our phones when we're bored. But researchers say passive boredom like scrolling is not the kind of boredom that sparks creativity. How can we reclaim boredom in the digital age?

    *** Thank you for listening. Help power On Point by making a donation here: wbur.org/giveonpoint

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    38 mins
  • What we can actually do to save the planet
    Sep 24 2026

    An ever-warming world, rising sea levels, shrinking glaciers — it’s easy to despair over the climate crisis. But scientist Tim Lenton says not every tipping point leads to doom.

    *** Thank you for listening. Help power On Point by making a donation here: wbur.org/giveonpoint

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    39 mins
  • The Jackpod: Ten seconds to midnight
    Sep 28 2026

    On Point news analyst Jack Beatty on why the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has set its Doomsday Clock at 85 seconds to midnight, its highest estimate of the likelihood of global catastrophe.

    *** Thank you for listening. Help power On Point by making a donation here: wbur.org/giveonpoint

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    42 mins
  • Is the meaning of family changing?
    Sep 23 2026

    Family estrangement – cutting ties with a parent, grandparent, or sibling – is often seen as at odds with the meaning of family as we know it. Sociologist and author Rin Reczek says it’s time to rethink what family means and what we expect from it.

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    41 mins
  • Is your driver's license on the dark web?
    Sep 22 2026

    153 million U.S. drivers' licenses were hacked and put up for sale on the Dark Web. That's more than half of all licensed drivers. How that happened and what it says about who's doing what with our data.

    *** Thank you for listening. Help power On Point by making a donation here: wbur.org/giveonpoint

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    38 mins
  • The sound of the land before time
    Sep 21 2026

    What did the Jurassic world actually sound like? Using fossils and AI, scientists have reconstructed the calls of insects that lived alongside the dinosaurs. The result is the closest we've ever come to hearing prehistoric Earth.

    *** Thank you for listening. Help power On Point by making a donation here: wbur.org/giveonpoint

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    40 mins
  • The Jackpod: What hath the godly wrought
    Sep 21 2026

    On Point news analyst Jack Beatty looks into the devotion of white evangelical Americans to Donald Trump and the power of political Christianity.

    *** Thank you for listening. Help power On Point by making a donation here: wbur.org/giveonpoint

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    33 mins
  • The secret lives of snow leopards
    Sep 18 2026

    Ecologist Kullu Suryawanshi has spent 20 years tracking one of the most elusive animals in the world, deep in the mountains of Asia. What has he learned about snow leopards and the humans that share their home?

    *** Thank you for listening. Help power On Point by making a donation here: wbur.org/giveonpoint

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    38 mins