Best Data Literates Podcasts (2025)

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Dr Kat Ross on Astrophysics, Bias in Science, and Including Diverse Scientists in Education

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26d ago

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I might ask the same questions every time, but there’s no knowing where the conversations will go! A fabulous episode with the incredible Dr Katherine Ross. Check it out! “So I think my favorite part about data is that it is completely unpredictable. And that may also be my least favorite part about it.” “That’s… Continue reading Dr Kat Ross on Ast…

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Talking to ChatGPT drains energy. These other things are worse. 16:52

19m ago16:52

16:52

A single Q&A session with a large language model can consume more than a half-liter of fresh water to cool servers. Asking ChatGPT one question reportedly consumes 10 times as much electricity as a conventional Google search. And generating an image is equivalent to charging a smartphone. Should we be worried about that? Climate advice columnist Mi…

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The Diddy Trial: Sean Combs’s 4-year sentence 20:37

2d ago20:37

20:37

After a two-month trial this summer, Sean “Diddy” Combs was convicted of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution – but acquitted on sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges. Combs’s defense attorneys argued he should either get a new trial or be released in under two years, while the prosecution pushed for him to serve ove…

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The group diving for beer cans and baby doll heads 15:41

3d ago15:41

15:41

In a cold muddy pond in Cape Cod, a group of self-proclaimed “old ladies” dives for garbage — and unexpectedly finds joy. This is a story from The Optimist, The Washington Post’s section about the best of humanity. If you want more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter. If you love hearing these stories on “Post Reports,” please send us an…

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Sen. Cory Booker on the Democrats’ risky shutdown bet 16:25

4d ago16:25

16:25

Democrats are making a gamble that voting against a Republican plan to fund the government will be worth the pain of the current shutdown. New Jersey’s senior Democratic senator Cory Booker voted against a similar Republican plan to fund the government back in March. And he's been one of the most visible critics of the second Trump administration i…

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The health care debate behind the government shutdown 18:22

5d ago18:22

18:22

The effects of the government shutdown – which started early Wednesday morning – are already being felt. Some national parks are closed, federal job training is suspended, and large swaths of the federal workforce have been furloughed. One major debate led to the shutdown: a fundamental disagreement over health care policy. Today on Post Reports, n…

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Meet Our Season 12 Coachee (Introduction with Molly) 41:58

5d ago41:58

41:58

We’re kicking off Season 12 with a powerful introduction to our new coachee, Molly! In this intro episode, you’ll get to know who Molly is, both in her business and in her life, and why she said yes to this experience of coaching publicly. She shares what’s been working in her business, the challenges she’s navigating right now, and the goals she’s…

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A Sold Out Offer & Sales Page Specifics (Session 1 with Molly) 41:07

6d ago41:07

41:07

I'm going to be honest, this is a unique session to start a season. And as you get to know the joy and vulnerability that Molly brings to everything, you'll see why it couldn't have been any other way! Molly and I pick up "mid conversation" (i.e. we had done an intensive together prior to starting) to celebrate and dissect a huge win and dive incre…

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MAHA's fight against food dyes, corn syrup and seed oils 32:11

6d ago32:11

32:11

During confirmation hearings to become secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned that “highly chemical-intensive processed foods” are “poisoning the American people.” A striking report from the federal government has since found that Americans on average get about half their calories from ultra-processed…

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CyberCast: Federal Cyber Workforce Lags Behind Emerging Tech, GAO Says 12:53

6d ago12:53

12:53

Cybersecurity has been on the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) high-risk list since 1997. Federal agencies struggle with issues like cyber hygiene, cyber workforce shortages and strategic execution. While agencies put strategies in place to secure their systems, the implementation and execution can be ineffective, according to GAO Managing …

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We've all done RAG, now what? 43:35

7d ago43:35

43:35

Longtime friend of the show Rajiv Shah returns to unpack lessons from a year of building retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines and reasoning models integrations. We dive into why so many AI pilots stumble, why evaluation and error analysis remain essential data science skills, and why not every enterprise challenge calls for a large langua…

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Why Hegseth ordering generals to meet is so unusual 20:26

7d ago20:26

20:26

On Tuesday, the top U.S. generals will meet at Quantico for an audience with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump. Hegseth’s order for the gathering comes on the heels of the firing of top military officers. It also lands in the middle of Hegseth’s attempts to purge the military of DEI initiatives and programs that he sees as n…

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Meet the man who invites 1,000 people to his house every month 9:54

9d ago9:54

9:54

David Weiner is washing dishes. It’s the 21st of the month, which means his D.C. rowhouse is full of people. Some are friends he’s known for decades, others are people he’s never met. There’s a jazz band playing standards downstairs, and the music is floating up through the house. Some of the musicians are professionals, others are amateurs who sho…

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Could a government shutdown benefit Trump? 28:59

10d ago28:59

28:59

Potential government shutdowns seem to happen every few months. But this time, the stakes feel especially high. Democrats are getting pressure from their base to stand up to President Donald Trump; in exchange for voting with Republicans to keep the federal government funded, Democrats hope to extract money for health care premiums. Meanwhile, Whit…

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Why does everyone want your 5-star rating? 18:40

11d ago18:40

18:40

The request for five stars — from airport parking lots, orthopedists or even your local liquor store — seems to be filling our inboxes more and more every single day. But do our reviews and ratings even matter? Host Elahe Izadi chats with feature reporter Ashley Fetters Maloy about review culture, how our feedback can transform businesses big and s…

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Trump’s pressure on Pam Bondi and the DOJ 28:53

12d ago28:53

28:53

As soon as he lost the presidential election in 2020, Donald Trump vowed he would go after his perceived political opponents. Now that he’s president again, he’s escalated his calls for criminal charges to be brought against some of those people — New York Attorney General Letitia James, former FBI director James B. Comey, and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-C…

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The confusion over Tylenol, pregnancy and autism 26:34

13d ago26:34

26:34

President Donald Trump has made the search for finding a “cure” for autism a centerpiece of his public health agenda. This week he shared major developments in that effort. On Monday, the Trump administration announced that the Food and Drug Administration would be adding a warning label to Tylenol and similar drugs that contain acetaminophen. Trum…

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Creating a private AI assistant in Thunderbird 53:08

13d ago53:08

53:08

In this episode, Daniel and Chris are joined by Chris Aquino, software engineer at Thunderbird to hear the story of how they developed a privacy-preserving AI executive assistant. They discuss various design decisions including remote (but confidential) inference, local encryption, and model selection. Chris A. does an amazing job describing the jo…

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AI GovCast: Marines' First AI Fellowship Aims to Build an AI-Literate Force 19:26

13d ago19:26

19:26

The U.S. Marine Corps has launched its first AI fellowship program in partnership with the Naval Postgraduate School to accelerate artificial intelligence adoption across the force. Modeled after the Air Force’s Phantom program at MIT, the five-month pilot trains Marines to identify command-level problems and develop AI-driven solutions that suppor…

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Brendan Carr, the FCC muscle behind Trump's anti-media crusade 19:56

14d ago19:56

19:56

After the abrupt suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” last week over comments host Jimmy Kimmel made following the killing of Charlie Kirk, many credited one person for getting Kimmel off the air: Brendan Carr, chair of the Federal Communications Commission. Hours before the suspension was announced, Carr seemed to threaten FCC action against network…

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How to be a ‘super ager’ 11:41

16d ago11:41

11:41

It’s hard to age gracefully. Social isolation, physical immobility, mental decline — these are all problems that most people struggle with as they get older. But one group of people prove that it’s possible to thrive into your 80s and 90s. Researchers call them “super agers.” And one of them lives just down my block. Ednajane Truax, who is known to…

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Jimmy Kimmel, free speech and the crackdown after Charlie Kirk’s death 22:52

17d ago22:52

22:52

In the week since Charlie Kirk’s death, public officials including Vice President JD Vance and Attorney General Pam Bondi have called for Kirk’s critics to face consequences. People seen as celebrating his killing online have lost their jobs or faced harassment. That crackdown has extended to media figures, with ABC deciding to pull “Jimmy Kimmel L…

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How fan fiction went mainstream 21:13

18d ago21:13

21:13

In fan fiction, nothing is off limits. Writers create stories about popular media like “Twilight,” while others envision romantic relationships between world leaders. Until recently, this type of fiction wasn’t taken seriously by the publishing world. But now, major deals are being made — like a reportedly seven-figure movie rights deal paid for a …

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Kash Patel’s contentious leadership of the FBI 33:59

19d ago33:59

33:59

FBI Director Kash Patel had a tough week. He’d already been slated to appear before both the House and Senate judiciary committees – hearings at which he was sure to be peppered with questions about his leadership of the FBI, his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein saga, and allegations that the FBI had fired people over their political preferences. Bu…

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Rearchitecting Talent: Cisco’s Shift to Skills-First Enablement in the Age of AI | Marci Paino 22:56

19d ago22:56

22:56

In this episode of the SkillsWave Podcast, we sit down with Marci Paino, Chief Learning Officer at Cisco. A leading voice in workforce transformation and skills-first strategy, Marci shares a front-line perspective on how organizations—and their people—can thrive in a world defined by rapid change. Drawing from her work driving forward skills-first…

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The Fed is expected to cut rates. Here's why. 21:45

20d ago21:45

21:45

Since the coronavirus pandemic, the United States economy has been in flux. While high inflation has slowly cooled off in recent years, consumers are still feeling the pressures of a weak job market and rising prices at the grocery store. Now the Federal Reserve looks to be taking matters into its own hands; Fed watchers expect the United States’ c…

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AI GovCast: GSA’s USAi Platform Accelerates AI Adoption Across Government 26:20

20d ago26:20

26:20

The General Services Administration launched USAi.gov to provide a secure generative AI evaluation suite that enables federal agencies to experiment with and adopt AI more quickly and at no cost. Designed to support the White House’s AI Action Plan, USAi puts tools like chat-based AI, code generation and document summarization directly into the han…

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Why the U.S. military is striking boats from Venezuela 22:46

21d ago22:46

22:46

President Donald Trump recently celebrated the destruction of a boat that was allegedly carrying illegal narcotics from Venezuela to the United States. The 11 people on board were killed, according to the White House. Trump released a video on social media showing the boat going up in flames, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that more at…

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Deep Reads: L.A. fires burned their block. For each, the disaster was just beginning. 31:11

23d ago31:11

31:11

The Eaton Fire tore through the Los Angeles suburb of Altadena, part of a storm that killed 19 people. It became one of the most expensive natural disasters in U.S. history, but the ultimate cost won’t be tallied in dollars and cents. That will be calculated on a different ledger: the number of residents who return to this block of West Las Flores …

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The political divides after political violence 30:55

24d ago30:55

30:55

Charlie Kirk’s shooting has left both Republicans and Democrats worried about more political violence. How are prominent leaders in both parties responding to the tragedy?By The Washington Post

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Charlie Kirk’s killing and a new age of political violence 29:36

25d ago29:36

29:36

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed Wednesday at Utah Valley University. As officials seek details on the identity and motive of the shooter, Americans are beginning to process Kirk’s death and what this might mean for a new era of political violence and fear in the United States. In a video posted online on Wednesday night, Pres…

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Cracking the code of failed AI pilots 46:44

25d ago46:44

46:44

In this Fully Connected episode, we dig into the recent MIT report revealing that 95% of AI pilots fail before reaching production and explore what it actually takes to succeed with AI solutions. We dive into the importance of AI model integration, asking the right questions when adopting new technologies, and why simply accessing a powerful model …

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Meet the people signing up for Trump’s ICE 27:52

26d ago27:52

27:52

In Arlington, Texas, thousands waited in line at a career fair in the hopes of getting hired as an ICE officer. Criminal justice reporter Robert Klemko was there and met a diverse mix of people – a former MMA fighter, a community college student and a former Marine. President Donald Trump has pushed to deport a million people during the first year …

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Confused about fall vaccines? We have answers. 31:40

27d ago31:40

31:40

Since taking over as health and human services secretary earlier this year, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired members of a key vaccine panel, signaled shifts to the childhood immunization schedule and changed guidelines about who should receive the coronavirus vaccine. Now there are questions about which pharmacies will offer shots and whether insura…

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HealthCast: HHS Data Plan Ushers in New Era of Collaborative Health Innovation 9:19

27d ago9:19

9:19

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is transforming how health data is shared and used, emphasizing transparency. Chief Data Officer Kristen Honey is spearheading an “open by default” strategy that moves away from top-down, siloed data management to a more collaborative model. HHS is pushing decision-making to local, state and regiona…

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Trump promised to end DEI. Then, rural teachers lost money. 22:37

28d ago22:37

22:37

Montgomery County is a small, rural area in the middle of North Carolina. The county has struggled financially for years, and its school district depends on government grants to survive. This year, the Trump administration cut $600 million in grants to teacher-training programs across the country, and Montgomery County’s $21 million grant was inclu…

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Deep Reads: A songwriter had part of his brain removed. The music flowed. 21:27

1M ago21:27

21:27

The songwriter was unconscious, but his voice filled the operating room. Mike Frazier’s dirty-blond locks had been partially shaved and his head sanitized. The surgeon standing over him slid his blade in a crescent over Frazier’s right ear and tugged his scalp into position. Then he began opening a window into the musician’s brain. The task that da…

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Congress returns to Epstein drama, shutdown threats, 2026 plans 30:53

1M ago30:53

30:53

Congress has less than a month to figure out how to fund the government. But instead of that pressing business, calls for greater government transparency over allegations against convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein dominated Capitol Hill this week. On Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee released more than 33,000 documents related to the inves…

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RFK Jr.'s showdown with the Senate 20:13

1M ago20:13

20:13

The sparks flew in Thursday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing. Senators – Republicans and Democrats alike – grilled Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over his handling of vaccines and the shakeup at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Kennedy, for his part, doubled down on his ouster of CDC director Susan Monare…

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What happens when fake AI celebrities chat with teens 28:00

1M ago28:00

28:00

Character.AI became one of the world’s most popular artificial intelligence apps by letting tens of millions of users, many in their teens, text and talk to chatbot versions of celebrities and fictional characters. But conversation with these seemingly friendly chatbots can easily veer into topics unsafe for minors. Host Colby Itkowitz talks to tec…

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They were deported to El Salvador's megaprison. What happened inside? 36:01

1M ago36:01

36:01

In March, as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, the United States sent more than 250 migrants, the majority being Venezuelan nationals, to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, a megaprison often referred to by its Spanish acronym, CECOT. In July, four months later, the men from Venezuela were released to Venezuela as par…

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CyberCast: Federal Leaders Explore Geothermal Storage to Boost Data Center Resilience 8:54

1M ago8:54

8:54

The White House released a new executive order in July — Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure —calling on government to develop AI-ready data centers, streamline federal permitting and encourage private investment in critical infrastructure. Federal agencies are focusing on system resilience to withstand rising environmenta…

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Dr Emily Kahl on pretty much everything!

1M ago

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Amazing conversation with Dr Emily Kahl from Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre, on everything from the need for a humanities education in STEM, the application of Marxist and Feminist Lenses to Data Science, and a whole lot more. This was an absolute delight. Check it out! “I wanted to use the tools of maths and science… Continue reading Dr Emi…

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Labubus: China's plushy, soft power tool 20:41

1M ago20:41

20:41

Labubus — small plush toys that look like mischievous monsters — have taken the world by storm. Chinese toymaker and retailer Pop Mart has sold millions of dollars’ worth of Labubus. There’s even a booming resale market, on top of a thriving operation of counterfeits called Lafufus. Host Elahe Izadi speaks with reporter Kelly Kasulis Cho about how …

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Trump firings spark CDC chaos, Fed uncertainty 25:41

1M ago25:41

25:41

Susan Monarez says she refused to restrict access to vaccines as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It wasn’t long until Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. decided she needed to go. Monarez’s firing led to the resignations of some of the CDC’s top scientists. It comes on the heels of President Don…