Meet people in Everett, MA around something worth discussing
Begin with a current story, public event, campus article, book, podcast, or thoughtful question. Then continue the conversation online or meet at a nearby Roundtable.
From Common Quandary Today
Current stories with more than one reasonable way to see them.
Scientists have created robots the size of a pencil tip intended to travel through the body to deliver medicine to infections inside a beating heart. The bots, designed to replace risky open-heart surgery and ineffective IV-drug therapy to treat life-threatening heart infections, could also be used to less invasively and more precisely treat other hard-to-reach diseases, including cancer. “With just a little…
Consumers who buy Affordable Care Act health insurance are going to see changes both big and small as open enrollment for 2027 coverage kicks off. These include premium increases, possible additional identity checks, potential delays in working with a broker, and new limits on which immigrants can get subsidies. Shoppers need to plan accordingly. Open enrollment starts Nov. 1 in most states. Idaho, Connecticut, and…
Halloween excitement, not sugar, may be behind your child’s “sugar rush,” experts say. Your child eats a handful of Halloween candy and suddenly seems to be bouncing off the walls. It may be tempting to blame the sugar, but there could be a simpler explanation: Halloween is exciting. Kids are dressing up, running around the neighborhood, seeing friends, and coming home with a haul of treats they don’t usually have.…
OTM producer, Molly Rosen, has been on a mission to find out what technology her two-year-old kid will confront when he’s old enough to go to school. In a recent interview she did with a New Yorker staff writer, Jessica Winter, about how AI chatbots are infiltrating schools, Moll
What does it truly cost a human being to lead a nation through an existential war while the world watches from afar? President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reveals the psychological toll of continuous survival, the grim realities of geopolitical negotiation, and what keeps him still stand
My guest today is Bill Gates, co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft and chairman of the Gates Foundation. You may have noticed Bill in the news more lately — he’s been on something of a tour for the past few months talking about AI risk, and how crucial it is that we start takin
After a stupendously fast and disorienting pop-star ascent, Chappell Roan has been relatively quiet this year, or at least she was relatively quiet until last week. In the past seven days, Roan has been back on her pop-star bullshit. She appeared on the remix to her friend Olivia
In a few weeks, my former boss, the Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber, will publish his memoir Weird Era: How Pitchfork Changed Music Forever. I’ve already read the book, and a lot of it is Schreiber giving his hindsight-enhanced reflections on the big moments in Pitchfork’s histo
Everyone clicks through mandatory training without reading it. May you do the same?
Your employer requires an hour-long annual course whose answers have not changed in years. Coworkers run it in the background and share the quiz answers. Completing it carefully would make you late for actual work with a deadline.
One coffee, four hours, last table. Can the café ask you to leave?
A neighborhood café has become a popular remote workplace. Some guests buy one drink and occupy tables for hours, while families and friends regularly leave because they cannot sit together.