September 23, 2021

Kathryn Sherman has seen the story unfold in front of her eyes, working as a critical care nurse in Tennessee -- the state with the most COVID-19 cases per capita. In a piece for The Scientific American, Sherman wrote that “the patients don’t stop coming.” She speaks with Hari Sreenivasan about her experience caring for the sickest coronavirus patients.

Elephants trampling across crop fields, birds getting sucked into jet engines, a jaywalking moose – these are the subjects of author Mary Roach’s new popular science book "Fuzz" -- an examination of “when nature breaks the law.” Roach joins the show to discuss her unusual findings.

“Only socialism can save China.” These were the words of Chinese leader Xi Jinping when the country’s Communist Party celebrated its centennial this summer. It’s now becoming clear that this vision is accompanied by a crackdown on the private sector and an effort to redistribute wealth. Lingling Wei has covered all this for The Wall Street Journal and joins the show to explain what's happening.

President Biden’s multitrillion-dollar agenda is now in doubt as the progressive and moderate wings of the Democratic Party clash. At stake is a bipartisan infrastructure bill plus a spending package covering everything from climate to healthcare. Bianna speaks about this with former Democratic Rep. Donna Shalala and economist Betsey Stevenson.