Slow Burn
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Slow Burn
Slow Burn illuminates America’s most consequential moments, making sense of the past to better understand the present. Through archival tape and first-person interviews, the series uncovers the surprising events and little-known characters lurking within the biggest stories of our time.Join Slate Pl...
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340 episoder
Decoder Ring | The Fight Over Sunlight
The sun has always been a hot topic. For centuries, we’ve flip-flopped over whether our health depends on soaking up its rays—or shielding ourselves f...
Decoder Ring | Weapons of Map Destruction
Most of us use GPS—the Global Positioning System—on a daily basis: to find our location when we’re driving, running, shopping, dating, and so much mor...
Introducing First America: “Merciless Indian Savages”
Here at Slow Burn, we explore the events and people who shaped America as we know it today. As the country marks its 250th birthday this summer, we wa...
Decoder Ring | We Are Monumentally Bad at Statues
It seems like the only time you hear about new statues these days is when something goes horribly wrong. Unfortunate bronze renditions of Lucille Ball...
Decoder Ring | Tina Turner and the Dance That Conquered Australia
In Australia, no wedding or school dance is complete without the Nutbush, Australia’s unofficial national dance. The Nutbush – a simple line dance to...
Becoming Justice Gorsuch | 3. A Lunch Room for Life
In our final episode, it’s time to talk about Neil Gorsuch and the future of SCOTUS. Host Susan Matthews enlists Slate’s jurisprudence team—Amicus co-...
Becoming Justice Gorsuch | 2. The Stolen Seat
When Justice Antonin Scalia died in February of 2016, the Supreme Court appeared to be headed for a 5-4 liberal majority. Instead, a staggering blocka...
Becoming Justice Gorsuch | 1. Man With a Plan
Neil Gorsuch may not be the most well-known justice on the Supreme Court, but he might just be the key to understanding how and why the current court...
Season 11 Trailer: Becoming Justice Gorsuch
Coming May 13: Host Susan Matthews traces the rise of Neil Gorsuch, from his formative years as a young conservative through his nomination to a “stol...
Decoder Ring | Mailbag: Spooky Strings, Phone Menu Options, and Eye Rolls
We are lucky to get fantastic questions from our listeners here at Decoder Ring, and in this episode, we’re going to open up our mailbag to answer thr...
Decoder Ring | How to Make Dollars Make Sense
Money is everywhere. Money influences just about everything. We think about money all the time. But how much do we really know about it? In this episo...
Decoder Ring | Who Was Lonelygirl15?
In the summer of 2006, a teenage girl began posting video diaries to a then-new site called YouTube under the handle lonelygirl15. Within weeks she wa...
Decoder Ring | The Johnlock Conspiracy (Encore)
For over a century, fans of Sherlock Holmes have been analyzing, debating, and creating new texts with Arthur Conan Doyle’s characters. But when a fan...
Decoder Ring | Was "Eyes Wide Shut" a Warning?
When Eyes Wide Shut opened in the summer of 1999, it was widely considered a disappointment. This final film from legendary director Stanley Kubrick h...
Decoder Ring | A Prune by Any Other Name
The delicious, healthful prune has long had a cross to bear: It’s best known for making people poop. In the late 1990s, the California Prune Board set...
Decoder Ring | Making Coal Cute Again
Three weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum shared an unusual tweet: a cartoon image of himself with his arm draped around a giant, an...
Decoder Ring | Is Culture Stuck?
It’s a weird time for culture. There is more of it than ever before, it’s more accessible than ever before, but so little of it feels original. New mo...
Decoder Rings Back | Why the Mona Lisa?
We are really lucky to get lots of listener suggestions for the show, more good questions than we can possibly answer in a mailbag episode once or twi...
The Slate Culture Gift Guide
Hark, the holiday season is upon us—and with it the most solemn of festive traditions: a gift guide! In this video and podcast special, Slate hosts Da...
The Slate Culture Gift Guide
Hark, the holiday season is upon us—and with it the most solemn of festive traditions: a gift guide! In this video and podcast special, Slate hosts Da...
Decoder Ring | Mailbag: Yo-Yos, Sandboxes, and Encores
Decoder Ring listeners write in with some excellent mysteries, and for our last episode of the year we’re solving three of them. Why do children play...
Decoder Ring | Mailbag: Yo-Yos, Sandboxes, and Encores
Decoder Ring listeners write in with some excellent mysteries, and for our last episode of the year we’re solving three of them. Why do children play...
Decoder Ring | How Protein Muscled Its Way to the Top
Americans are currently besotted with protein. It’s touted as being good for muscle growth, weight loss, skincare, mental acuity, longevity, and much...
Decoder Ring | How Protein Muscled Its Way to the Top
Americans are currently besotted with protein. It’s touted as being good for muscle growth, weight loss, skincare, mental acuity, longevity, and much...
Decoder Ring | Cozy Autumn Mysteries
Autumn may have more cozy signifiers than any other season—though we all have our own favorites. Maybe for you it’s sweater weather, football games, s...
Decoder Ring | Cozy Autumn Mysteries
Autumn may have more cozy signifiers than any other season—though we all have our own favorites. Maybe for you it’s sweater weather, football games, s...
When We All Get to Heaven | Setting the Table
In 1993, more than 10 years into the AIDS epidemic, the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco (MCC-SF) tries to remember all they’ve lost. We...
When We All Get to Heaven | Setting the Table
In 1993, more than 10 years into the AIDS epidemic, the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco (MCC-SF) tries to remember all they’ve lost. We...
Decoder Ring | What the Cuck?!
Earlier this year, a tweet went out from the official account of the Democratic Party, tagging the Trump advisor Stephen Miller. It was an image of wh...
Decoder Ring | What the Cuck?!
Earlier this year, a tweet went out from the official account of the Democratic Party, tagging the Trump advisor Stephen Miller. It was an image of wh...
Decoder Ring | Jane Fonda’s Workout, Part 2: Hanoi Jane’s VHS Revolution (Encore)
In part two of our special two-part episode, we return to the 1982 VHS tape that created the at-home video industry: Jane Fonda’s Workout. On this epi...
Decoder Ring | Jane Fonda’s Workout, Part 2: Hanoi Jane’s VHS Revolution (Encore)
In part two of our special two-part episode, we return to the 1982 VHS tape that created the at-home video industry: Jane Fonda’s Workout. On this epi...
Decoder Ring | Jane Fonda’s Workout, Part 1: Jane and Leni (Encore)
In 1982, the Jane Fonda Workout became the best-selling home video of all time. Over decades, it and its 22 follow ups would spawn a fitness empire, s...
Decoder Ring | Jane Fonda’s Workout, Part 1: Jane and Leni (Encore)
In 1982, the Jane Fonda Workout became the best-selling home video of all time. Over decades, it and its 22 follow ups would spawn a fitness empire, s...
Decoder Ring | How to Hunt a Mammoth, and Other Experiments in Archaeology
Experimental archeology is, simply put, archeology that involves running experiments. Where traditional archaeologists may study, research, analyze, a...
Decoder Ring | How to Hunt a Mammoth, and Other Experiments in Archaeology
Experimental archeology is, simply put, archeology that involves running experiments. Where traditional archaeologists may study, research, analyze, a...
Decoder Ring | Mailbag: Drug Names, Cow Abductions, and the “Ass-Intensifier”
In this episode we’re opening our mailbag to answer three fascinating questions from our listeners. How did “ass,” a word for donkeys and butts, becom...
Decoder Ring | Mailbag: Drug Names, Cow Abductions, and the “Ass-Intensifier”
In this episode we’re opening our mailbag to answer three fascinating questions from our listeners. How did “ass,” a word for donkeys and butts, becom...
Decoder Ring | The White Noise Boom
White noise has a very precise technical definition, but people use the term loosely, to describe all sorts of washes of sound—synthetic hums, or natu...
Decoder Ring | The White Noise Boom
White noise has a very precise technical definition, but people use the term loosely, to describe all sorts of washes of sound—synthetic hums, or natu...