The Daily

For decades, Big Food has been marketing products to people who can’t seem to stop eating, and now, suddenly, they can. The active ingredient in new drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound mimics a natural hormone that slows digestion and signals fullness to the brain.Around seven million Americans take these drugs, but estimates from Morgan Stanley suggest that number could increase to 24 million within the next decade. More than 100 million American adults are obese, and the drugs may eventually be rolled out to people who don’t have diabetes or obesity, as they seem to tame addictions beyond food — appearing to make cocaine, alcohol and cigarettes more resistible. Research is at an early stage, but the drugs may also cut the risk of stroke, heart and kidney disease, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.Major food companies are scrambling to research the impact of the drugs on their brands — and figure out how to adjust. But for Mattson, which has invented products for the nation’s biggest food conglomerates for nearly 50 years, the Ozempic threat could be a boon. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

By the time Sam Apple pulled up with his goldendoodle, Steve, to their resting place, he was tired from the long drive and already second-guessing his plan. He felt a little better when they stepped inside the Dogwood Acres Pet Retreat. The lobby, with its elegant tiled entrance, might have passed for the lobby of any small countryside hotel, at least one that strongly favored dog-themed decor. But this illusion was broken when the receptionist reviewed their reservation — which, in addition to their luxury suite, included cuddle time, group play, a nature walk and a “belly rub tuck-in.”Venues like this one, on Kent Island in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, didn’t exist when Apple was growing up in the 1980s. If you needed a place to board your dog back then, you went to a kennel, where your dog spent virtually the entire day in a small — and probably not very clean — cage. There were no tuck-ins, no bedtime stories, no dog-bone-shaped swimming pools. There was certainly nothing like today’s most upscale canine resorts, where the dogs sleep on queen-size beds and the spa offerings include mud baths and blueberry facials; one pet-hotel franchise on the West Coast will even pick up your dog in a Lamborghini. Apple knew Dogwood Acres wouldn’t be quite as luxurious as that, but the accommodations still sounded pretty nice. So he decided to check his dog in, and to tag along for the journey. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

As 2024 comes to a close, critics, reporters and editors at The New York Times are reflecting on the year in arts and culture, including music.Today, The Times’s pop music critics Jon Pareles, Lindsay Zoladz and Jon Caramanica talk with Melissa Kirsch, the deputy editor of Culture and Lifestyle, about a new generation of women in pop, how the rapper Kendrick Lamar beat Drake in their feud, and why so many pop stars went country.Guest: Melissa Kirsch, the deputy editor of Culture and Lifestyle for The New York Times.Jon Pareles, the chief pop music critic for The New York Times.Jon Caramanica, a pop music critic and host of the “Popcast” podcast for The New York Times.Lindsay Zoladz, a pop music critic and writer of The Amplifier newsletter for The New York Times.Background reading: Best Albums of 2024Best Songs of 2024For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

As we approach the end of 2024, critics, reporters and editors at The New York Times are reflecting on the year in arts and culture, including television and film.The Times’s chief television critic James Poniewozik and chief film critic Manohla Dargis talk with Melissa Kirsch, the deputy editor of Culture and Lifestyle, about why recent entertainment offerings may feel a little “blah,” and also recommend shows and movies that stand out.Guest: Melissa Kirsch, the deputy editor of Culture and Lifestyle for The New York Times.James Poniewozik, the chief television critic for The New York Times.Manohla Dargis, the chief film critic for The New York Times.Background reading: Best TV Shows of 2024Best Movies of 2024For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

In 2022, seven years after surviving a brain aneurysm that left her unable to sing or even speak, Joni Mitchell appeared onstage at the Newport Folk Festival. Singing alongside her were her supportive — and emotional — musician friends, including Brandi Carlile, Marcus Mumford and Wynonna Judd.Our critic Wesley Morris had his doubts. What was really happening here? Did Joni Mitchell even want this? Or were her younger adoring musician fans propping her up for their own reasons? When he learned this fall that Joni would be appearing onstage again, at the Hollywood Bowl, he bought a ticket to see for himself.On today’s episode, Wesley talks with his editor Sasha Weiss about the concert, and what it’s like to experience an 80-year-old in full command of her meaning.Guest: Wesley Morris, a critic at large for The New York Times.Sasha Weiss, the deputy editor of the The New York Times Magazine.Background reading: 50 Reasons to Love Joni Mitchell’s “Blue”For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Hallmark Christmas movies are corny, predictable and just what our critic needed to embrace the holiday spirit.The story of how a big-city culture critic, Amanda Hess, found love where she least expected it — in the monotony of Hallmark’s Christmas movies.Guest: Amanda Hess, a critic at large for the Culture section of The New York TimesBackground reading: One December morning, a millennial critic awoke to discover that she had been begrudgingly charmed by an onslaught of Hallmark and Netflix holiday films.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

How President Biden could transform women’s rights and rescue his legacy with just a ring.Dozens of congressional Democrats have a simple pitch to President Biden: with a single phone call he can revolutionize women’s rights and salvage his damaged legacy. Annie Karni, a congressional correspondent at The New York Times, discusses whether that plan is possible and, if so, whether Mr. Biden would try. Guest: Annie Karni, a congressional correspondent at The New York Times.Background reading: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand presses Mr. Biden to amend the Constitution to enshrine sex equality.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

His wife was spiraling into insomnia, and his children were afraid to go to school, so Jaime Cachua sought out the person he trusted most in a crisis. He sat at his kitchen table in rural Georgia across from his father-in-law, Sky Atkins, the family patriarch. Jaime, 33, hadn’t seen his own father since he was 10 months old, when he left Mexico in a car seat bound for the United States.“We have to prepare for the worst-case scenario,” Jaime told him. “There’s a chance we could lose everything.”Jaime muted the football game on TV and began to explain his new reality as an undocumented immigrant after the election of Donald Trump, who had won the presidency in part by promising to deport more than 11 million people living in the country illegally.“I’m going to be straight with you,” Sky told Jaime. “I voted for Trump. I believe in a lot of what he says.”“I figured as much,” Jaime said. “You and just about everyone else around here.”“It’s about protecting our rights as a sovereign country,” Sky said. “We need to shut down the infiltration on the border. It’s not about you.”“It is about me,” Jaime said. “That’s the thing I don’t understand.” Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The star of “The Chosen” discusses his early struggles in Hollywood, fans who conflate him with his character and how his own faith informs his work.Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Weeks before his inauguration, President-elect Donald J. Trump is pushing the federal government toward a shutdown, corporate titans are flocking to Mar-a-Lago to gain his favor and a major media company has capitulated to Trump’s legal strategy of suing those who cross him.The Times journalists Michael Barbaro, Maggie Haberman, Catie Edmondson and Andrew Ross Sorkin try to make sense of it all.Guest: Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The New York Times.Catie Edmondson, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times.Andrew Ross Sorkin, a columnist and the founder and editor-at-large of DealBook.Background reading: The government is lurching toward a shutdown after the House tanked Trump’s spending plan.The billionaire rivals Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are said to have dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Since Donald J. Trump won the 2024 election, cryptocurrency has surged to its highest level ever. David Yaffe-Bellany, a technology reporter for The Times, explains how a small, renegade industry that began as a challenge to the financial system ended up on top of it.Guest: David Yaffe-Bellany, a technology reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: Earlier this month, Bitcoin hit a milestone: $100,000.Eric Trump has promised the “most pro-crypto president” in history.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of sexual violence.After months of testimony, verdicts are expected as soon as this week in a rape trial that has both horrified and captivated the people of France.Catherine Porter, who has covered the trial, discusses the woman at the center of the case and how, with a single decision, she has turned the power dynamics of the #MeToo era on their head.Guest: Catherine Porter, an international correspondent for The New York Times based in Paris.Background reading: France’s horrifying rape trial has a feminist hero.Dominique Pelicot says he invited men to rape his wife, whom he had drugged. The French media call them “Mr. Every Man” because they come from such ordinary backgrounds.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of torture and death. It also contains audio of death and grief.Under Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian government set up a vast network of prisons and torture chambers that swallowed up tens of thousands of people. For years, those perceived as enemies of the regime would disappear into the system, and their families would have no idea what happened to them.Christina Goldbaum, who has covered the events in Syria, takes us inside one of those prisons and tells the story of one man who survived to tell the tale.Guest: Christina Goldbaum, the Afghanistan and Pakistan bureau chief for The New York Times.Background reading: Families of the missing are hoping that they may be reunited with loved ones or at least learn what happened to them.Amid the celebrations after the ouster of Mr. al-Assad, Syria has also found itself in the opening chapter of a nationwide reckoning over the horrors that his government inflicted.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Warning: this episode contains strong language.Over the past few weeks, the resistance of a single Republican senator, Joni Ernst of Iowa, had threatened to derail Donald J. Trump’s choice of Pete Hegseth to run the Department of Defense.Karoun Demirjian, who covers Congress for The Times, and Jonathan Swan, who covers politics, discuss how Mr. Trump and his allies ensured that Ms. Ernst’s resistance went away.Guest: Karoun Demirjian, who covers Congress for The New York Times, with a focus on national security.Jonathan Swan, a Times reporter covering politics and Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign.Background reading: Mr. Trump became convinced that letting Mr. Hegseth fail would set off a feeding frenzy among senators.Ms. Ernst, who is facing re-election in 2026, appeared less skeptical about the pick after MAGA supporters threatened her with political retribution.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

“You couldn’t have made this movie three years ago,” said Robert Zemeckis, the director of “Here.”The film stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, and is based on a 2014 graphic novel that takes place in a single spot in the world over several centuries. The story mostly takes place in a suburban New Jersey living room. It skips back and forth through time, but focuses on a baby-boomer couple — played by Hanks and Wright — at various stages of their lives, from age 18 into their 80s.Before A.I. software, Zemeckis could have had multiple actors play each character, but the audience might have gotten lost trying to keep track. Conventional makeup could have taken a decade off Hanks, who is now 68, but not half a century. The issue with C.G.I. is time and money. Persuading us that we’re watching Hanks and Wright in their 20s would have required hundreds of visual effects artists, tens of millions of dollars and months of postproduction work. A.I. software, though, changed all that accounting. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The guidebook writer and television personality reflects on his cancer diagnosis, social media’s corrosive effect on tourism and the transformative power of travel.Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

A new study has found that nearly three-quarters of American adults are now obese or overweight, and there’s growing concern — among politicians, scientists and consumers — about one potential culprit: ultraprocessed foods.Guest: Alice Callahan, a nutrition and health reporter for The New York Times, discusses how these foods came to be such a big part of what we eat, and why that’s so hard to change. Background reading: There’s not enough evidence to recommend avoiding ultraprocessed foods, a scientific advisory committee says. Some experts disagree.Name a common condition — heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, cancer, dementia, irritable bowel syndrome — and chances are good that a diet high in ultraprocessed foods has been linked to it. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

An alarming new hack by China has penetrated the nerve center of the United States: its telephone network.David E. Sanger, the White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times, discusses what the scope of the attack tells us about China’s growing power.Guest: David E. Sanger, the White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said hackers listened to phone calls and read texts by exploiting aging equipment and seams in the networks that connect systems.Emerging details of Chinese hack have left U.S. officials increasingly concerned.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

On Sunday, after a fire that many feared would destroy it, and a swift renovation that defied all predictions, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame reopened to the public.Michael Kimmelman, the chief architecture critic at The Times, tells the story of the miracle on the Seine.Guest: Michael Kimmelman, the architecture critic of The New York Times and the founder and editor-at-large of Headway.Background reading: Critic’s Notebook: Notre-Dame’s astonishing rebirth from the ashes.The rebuilding took about 250 companies, 2,000 workers, about $900 million, a tight deadline and a lot of national pride.See photos from the reopening.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Last week, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare was shot and killed in Manhattan. A five-day search for the gunman ensued.On Monday, a 26-year-old suspect, Luigi Mangione, was arrested in Pennsylvania after an employee at a McDonald’s recognized him and called the police.Dionne Searcey, who covers wealth and corporations, and Maria Cramer, a crime reporter in New York City, break down what we know about the suspect, and what the case has revealed about many Americans’ contempt for insurance companies.Guest: Dionne Searcey, a reporter for The New York Times writing about how the choices made by people and corporations affect the future of our planet.Maria Cramer, a reporter for The New York Times covering the New York Police Department and crime in the city and surrounding areas.Background reading: The suspect was an Ivy League tech graduate from a prominent Maryland family who in recent months had suffered physical and psychological pain.A visual timeline of the UnitedHealthcare C.E.O. shooting.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.