Unhappiness is on the rise in America, according to a recent survey. What can we do about it? A lot, says Arthur Brooks, who teaches a class on the science of happiness at Harvard Business School. He joins Shirley on Say More to talk about his own journey to become happier, his partnership with Oprah, and the special gift he received from the Dalai Lama. Email us at [email protected].

On this week’s episode, we turn the mic around and Shirley answers questions from co-workers, friends, and listeners. What guest changed Shirley’s perspective? Who are her podcast host inspirations? What advice does she have for her younger self? Plus, a special guest! Email us at [email protected].

While sports betting used to require a trip to Las Vegas, a 2018 Supreme Court decision lifted a ban, and now residents of more than 30 states are allowed to place wagers on a vast array of game statistics and outcomes. The largest share of the US online sports betting market belongs to the company Draftkings, based in Massachusetts. The young industry has grown rapidly, and already has its share of controversy. Shirley Leung talks to Jason Robins, CEO of Draftkings, about all those TV ads,...

The Globe’s Brian Bergstein will be joining Say More about once a month to host conversations about artificial intelligence, with the aim of asking big questions and getting past the hype. This week, Brian speaks to MIT professor Manolis Kellis about the ways AI is decoding DNA and transforming medical research. They discuss the exponential pace of technological progress, the true nature of intelligence, and why no one should fear AI taking their job. Email us at [email protected].

While many Nobel Prize winners specialize in abstract corners of science, this year’s winners of the medicine award innovated something we can all appreciate. Dr. Drew Weissman and Dr. Katalin Karikó developed the RNA science behind vaccines that saved countless lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Poorly funded and ignored for decades, their work is now spurring a revolution in medicine. Shirley Leung talks to Drew about his Nobel win, what he’s learned about vaccine hesitancy, and how his...

Author Ben Mezrich has made a career of writing books that become movies. He’s drawn to characters with big bank accounts and messy lives. His latest book, “Breaking Twitter: Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History,” was ripped right from the headlines. Ben talks to host Shirley Leung about Musk’s dramatic demise after buying Twitter, and how Musk’s behavior on the social media site undermined his otherwise revolutionary work. Email us at [email protected].

The holiday season is upon us, which means the social pressure to shop is relentless — especially for clothes. But this week’s guest on Say More says we should think before we buy, for the sake of the planet. Globe Opinion Columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr has published a new series on the unsustainability of the fashion industry and what consumers can do about it. Kimberly is a clothing designer herself, and sewing in her DNA. She talks to Shirley Leung about her personal journey with textiles...

The Big Dig took Boston apart and put it back together again. It buried a highway and redrew the map of downtown. The project was delayed for years and went billions of dollars over budget, making it a national laughingstock. But this week on Say More, guest Ian Coss tells host Shirley Leung that the Big Dig might not wholly deserve its reputation as a massive boondoggle. He says the Big Dig was also a revelation of city planning and should be an inspiration as the US modernizes its...

November is Hip-Hop History Month. Boston is not exactly famous for its contributions to Black music and culture. If anything, many people associate the city with rock — and racism. But music historian and writer Dart Adams says Boston has long had a flourishing Black music scene, producing icons like Donna Summer and game-changing groups like New Edition. This week on Say More, in honor of hip-hop’s 50th birthday, Dart shares the vibrant history of the Boston scene. Email us at...

The Globe’s Brian Bergstein will be joining Say More about once a month to host conversations about artificial intelligence, with the aim of asking big questions and getting past the hype. This week, Brian speaks to computer scientist Joy Buolamwini about her new book, “Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines.” Buolamwini says technology that has a harder time recognizing Black faces should not be used by our government, and that the solution to AI bias is not...

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has raged for decades, but this time it’s different. The brutal killing of more than 1,400 Israelis by Hamas has shocked the country, precipitating a relentless counterattack by the Israeli military, which has killed thousands and displaced a million people in Gaza. The US has always had a central role in the conflict, and many are asking how that role should evolve. To get past the daily headlines, Say More’s Shirley Leung speaks to two people with deep...

For generations, the car has been a powerful emblem of American freedom. Now, with self-driving cars, freedom means letting robots do the work. Relying on a web of sensors, radar, and artificial intelligence, driverless vehicles are currently navigating cities like San Francisco, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. But are they safe? Can they actually do a better job than us? Laura Major, chief technology officer of Motional, a Boston-based autonomous vehicle company, joins us to talk about the promise...

The messaging platform Slack has become an indelible part of the modern workplace. Since the start of the pandemic, the company’s rise feels intertwined with the seismic changes in how we work and communicate — so much so that Slack, like Google, is now widely understood as a verb. This week, Say More’s Shirley Leung speaks to Slack CEO Lidiane Jones about how technology is reshaping the workplace and what it means for the future of work. Lidiane also talks about her childhood growing up in...

One of the main tenets of journalism is this: Don’t become the story. But that’s been difficult for Marty Baron, who, as editor of The Washington Post during the Trump years, often found himself at the center of the storm. Following his tenure at The Boston Globe, where he helped uncover rampant clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, Marty led the Post through a tumultuous time in American politics. While newspapers everywhere faced ever-tightening budgets, the Post was bought by...

For a minute there, it really felt like cryptocurrency was going mainstream. Exchanges were thriving and generating billions of dollars for investors. Now, the industry is facing dozens of lawsuits and bankruptcies, and billions of investor dollars have been lost. The industry is struggling to scrape back legitimacy, while government regulators scramble to catch up. On this week’s episode of Say More, Shirley talks to Molly White, an expert critic of the crypto industry and a fellow at...

The 2024 election season is in full swing in New Hampshire and other key primary states. While a Trump-Biden standoff may feel inevitable, recent history has shown us anything is possible in politics. A gaggle of GOP candidates are running to beat Trump, who is fighting legal battles on multiple fronts. President Biden is flagging in the polls and facing constant questions about his age. On today’s episode, Shirley talks to Boston Globe Opinion writers Kimberly Atkins Stohr, Joan Vennochi,...

When it comes to the crush of the American daily news cycle, Heather Cox Richardson has always taken the long view. The New England-based historian gained wide popularity writing casual, history-informed summaries of the news — a perspective millions of readers were hungry for. Her new book is called “Democracy Awakening.” Shirley sits down with Heather to talk about the evolution of the GOP, the uncertain health of our democracy, and why Americans need to know history to understand the...

Many scientific advances can be traced back to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The university has long been a leader in engineering and technology. But with great power comes great responsibility. What role should places like MIT play in determining how science is developed and used? Shirley sits down with the new president of MIT, Sally Kornbluth, to discuss the ethics of controversial AI research and what the university is doing in the fight against climate change. Email us at...

What do Richard Nixon, Thomas Paine, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have in common? All of them pushed for guaranteed income programs, where the government would just give people money on a regular basis. So that idea has been around for a long time. But it's now being tested and adopted in cities all over the country — with the prospect that AI-driven automation will force humans to find new ways to learn a living. Today's guest, Jill Shah, helped lead and fund what was, at the...

Kara Swisher knew the internet would be a big deal long before it was obvious to the rest of us. For more than two decades, Swisher has had a front row seat to the rise of the Silicon Valley tech titans – people she's covered in various columns and podcasts, always incisively. Her foresight about the rise of technology and her sharp insights have made her a leading voice among tech and media entrepreneurs. She joins Shirley to talk about her relationship with social media, government...

Before Drew Gilpin Faust was the first woman president of Harvard University, she was a historian of white supremacy and civil rights in the South. And before she studied it, she lived it. Faust was raised in a conservative family in segregated Virginia, where women and people of color were expected to know their place. She joins Shirley to discuss her new memoir, “Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury.” Faust shares how understanding the history of racism and oppression is essential to...

In the nearly 15 years she’s written the Love Letters advice column for The Boston Globe, Meredith Goldstein has fielded just about every question imaginable. Love, dating apps, marriage, divorce, long-distance relationships, sex, cheating, jealousy, unhinged in-laws — you name it, she’s been asked about it. Today Shirley has Meredith on the show to explore why the Love Letters column and podcast are so popular, and what Meredith’s community of readers, listeners, and letter-writers has...

It’s arguably the most important number in the US economy: the federal funds rate, better known simply as the Federal Reserve’s “interest rate.” The Fed picks a rate eight times a year, which dictates how easy it is for consumers and businesses to borrow money for entrepreneurship, home buying, credit cards, and more. But Susan Collins, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston — the first woman of color to lead any regional federal reserve bank — says the Fed’s job goes way beyond...

What if your doctor were a computer program? With recent quantum leaps in artificial intelligence, that’s now a possibility in our lifetime. The use of AI in medicine is expanding rapidly, bringing the potential for incredible innovations – such as unprecedented access to specialized medical knowledge for rural areas – as well as big risks, like unregulated bots entrusted with too much power. Today’s guests, Zak Kohane and Carey Goldberg, have just published a book together, called “The AI...

The US-China relationship seems to grow more contentious every day, with spying, hacking, economic warfare, and high-stakes military exercises in the Pacific. It almost feels like we’re sliding toward a Cold War with China — if we’re not in one already. Few know this story better than investigative reporter David Barboza, who spent 12 years in China for The New York Times, focusing on business. He witnessed China's astonishing economic expansion and growing sway in the world. Today, David is...