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How AI impacts the environment (and your energy bill) Sep 29, 2025

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AI is the future, but how is its infrastructure impacting your air, water, and utilities bills today?
You asked, and Brittany delivered. Many of you wrote in asking about artificial intelligence’s environmental impact. Brittany and Evan Halper, a business and energy reporter for The Washington Post, answer your questions and so much more. Like, is AI causing your energy bills to go up? Are tech companies tricking communities into building data centers? And how do you ethically use AI when you know it impacts nature?
This is the final episode in our AI + U series. You can check out past episodes (Can you trust the information AI gives you? Or How AI slop is clogging you brain) further down in this feed.
(0:35) The AI arms race and its immense energy demands
(5:24) How much energy does AI need to run? Where does that energy come from?
(9:13) Water usage and water quality concerns
(10:30) How does AI impact your energy bills?
(15:09) Can communities stop tech companies from building data centers?
(17:30) Why tech companies may skirt prior climate commitments
(18:49) How much AI should you use knowing its environmental impact?
Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluse
For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
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The Rapture was a bust, but it still feels like doomsday. Sep 26, 2025

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The Christian rapture didn't happen as predicted, but a lot of you still feel like we're living in end times. Why is that?
Right now - from religion to climate change to doomsday prepping - there's a lot of talk about the end of the world. And, yeah, there was a lot of joking (and some believing) this week that the rapture would happen, but this all points to a broader feeling a lot of us have: that something has to change. But what?
In this episode, Brittany is joined by culture writer Joshua Rivera and national writer for Religion News Service Bob Smietana. They answer those questions and get into why the rapture is so appealing to Christians and non-Christians alike. And how Christian beliefs about the end of days are seeping into all of our minds.
(0:35) The story of how The Rapture went viral
(3:57) What even is The Rapture?
(6:32) Why The Rapture is so alluring to Americans
(11:45) Why 4 in 10 Americans believe we are in the end times
(13:32) How TikTok contributes to our anxiety about the apocalypse
(15:19) How Evangelical beliefs fuels MAGA policies
(17:15) Why all of us - regardless of faith - think the end is near
Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluse
For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
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The cancer quietly killing young people Sep 24, 2025

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If more and more young people are dying of colorectal cancer, why aren't we talking about it? Is it because we're too ashamed of our bodies?
Rates of colorectal cancer are rising, especially for people under 50. But it's hard to raise awareness for a cancer that a lot of us find hard to talk about. In a recent essay for The Cut, writer Laurie Abraham described her experience of colon cancer, which included a lot of embarrassment. Talking about your bowel movements is...not fun. Can you relate?
Today, Brittany is joined by Laurie and Dr. Kimmie Ng, Co-Director of the Colon and Rectal Cancer Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, to get into the cultural shame around how we talk about colon cancer - and how that extends to a lack of funding and research.
(0:00) Why colorectal cancer rates are rising in young people
(3:18) The environmental causes that lead to colon cancer
(7:08) How cultural shame about our bodies stops diagnoses
(10:30) What can listeners do to raise awareness?
(15:58) Racial disparities and ageism against young people
(20:48) Some exciting news!
Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluse
For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
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Can you trust AI search results? Sep 22, 2025

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After Grok's MechaHitler gaffe this summer, and President Trump's executive order to, "strip AI models of ‘ideological agendas," Brittany wondered, "how much influence does AI already have on our minds?"
This is AI + U. Each Monday this month, Brittany explores how we’re already seeing the impacts of AI. Artificial Intelligence has become a constant in ways we can and can't see… and for the next few weeks we're zeroing in on how AI affects our daily lives.
In this episode, The Argument's Kelsey Piper and NPR correspondent Bobby Allyn join Brittany to discuss what transparency looks like for artificial intelligence and what we actually want from this rapidly developing technology.
Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluse
For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
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Trump lost the battle. Will he win the "war?" Sep 19, 2025

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Why is Trump sending the National Guard to cities when crime is already falling?
Earlier this month, President Trump posted this: “I love the smell of deportations in the morning. Chicago about to find out why it's called the Department of WAR.” He seemed poised to send the National Guard to the city in an attempt to curb crime, after having deployed them in D.C. But this week, he turned his attention to Memphis, signing an order for deployment there and vowing to circle back to Chicago later. And these three cities aren’t the only ones on his radar: Baltimore, Portland, New Orleans, and St. Louis are also bracing for possible deployments. But why send the National Guard – a temporary military force – to these cities when crime has already fallen this year in every single city he’s mentioned? Brittany gets into it with Abdallah Fayyad, policy correspondent at Vox, and Alex V. Hernandez, neighborhood reporter for Block Club Chicago.
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The key to thriving later in life: menopause Sep 17, 2025

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There comes a time in every woman's life that we don't talk about enough: menopause. And reframing it may be the key to unlocking a more fulfilling life for women of all ages.
In this episode, Brittany teams up with WNYC's Radiolab to answer your questions about the ubiquitous and unknown. Brittany, Radiolab senior correspondent Molly Webster, and contributing editor Heather Radke answer your questions: why don't we talk about menopause? Why should you start talking about it early in life? And why is post-menopause potentially the greatest time in a woman's life? All these answers and more come from an unexpected place...our mammal relatives, orcas.
Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluse
For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
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AI can keep you alive forever. Should it? Sep 15, 2025

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The AI digital afterlife industry is here. But can legal and ethical frameworks keep us safe from it?
Companies are already popping up to create artificial life-like renderings of your loved ones. So-called "deadbots" can mimic speech patterns and unique facialo gestures, and they can purportedly help people cope with grief. But they are also ripe for commercialization. What's stopping companies from using these so-called AI deadbots from selling you products?
This is AI + U. Each Monday this month, Brittany is exploring how you are already seeing the impacts of AI in your daily life. In this episode Brittany is joined by NPR's culture correspondent Chloe Veltman to get into the rise of of the AI digital afterlife industry.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
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How do we talk about Charlie Kirk? Sep 12, 2025

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How did you respond to the assassination of Charlie Kirk? Many mourned or called for revenge. Others pointed to Kirk's extreme, bigoted statements as justification. But how do those reactions impact how the American public will metabolize another instance of gun violence?
Brittany is joined by Abené Clayton, a gun violence reporter for The Guardian, to get into how Kirk's assassination fits into the broader narrative of political violence and how Kirk's own statements about guns will shape the coming political discourse.
Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluse
For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
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Is he a good guy? Or is he manipulating you? Sep 10, 2025

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There's a new man in town: the "performative male." Is he trying to trick you into thinking he's open-minded, or does he really like reading books and drinking matcha? We're breaking down what's gender performance and what's gender manipulation.
In this episode, Brittany is joined by Manny Fidel, host of No Such Thing, and James Factora, staff writer for Them. They get into what makes a "performative male" and why criticism of them is a sign that some liberals are guilty of gender policing.
Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluse
For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
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How AI slop is clogging your brain Sep 08, 2025

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Bizarre videos, uncanny photos, and Luigi Mangoine's likeness on Shein...? AI slop is taking over the web. It's putting money in people's pockets, and driving them offline, too.
This is AI + U. Each Monday this month, Brittany is exploring how you are already seeing the impacts of AI. Artificial Intelligence has become a constant in ways we can and can't see...and for the next few weeks we're zeroing in on how AI affects our daily lives.
Brittany chats with Washington Post tech reporter Drew Harwell and freelance writer Emma Marris about the limits of AI creativity and what this 'slop' is doing to us on and offline.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
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