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Prenuptial agreements are no longer just for the wealthy. They’re being pitched as smart financial planning for ordinary couples, and now more than 40% of married and engaged Millennials and Gen Z-ers say they’ve signed one. Younger generations are using prenups to negotiate everything from intellectual property rights, social media handles and who gets the sneaker collection. We’ll talk about what’s behind the shift and what it reveals about our modern anxieties about marriage and relationships.  Guests: Jennifer Wilson, staff writer, New Yorker. Her most recent piece is "Her recent article is "Why Millennials Love Prenups"" Juliana Yanez, law partner, Hanson Crawford Crum Family Law Group Kaiponanea Matsumura , law professor, Loyola Law School. Matsumura is an expert on the regulation of families. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The shortcomings and inequities of the American criminal justice system are painfully clear to those who have worked in it. Former public defender and legal activist Emily Galvin-Almanza will walk us through the many  points in our system where justice fails. We talk to her  about what reform should like and her new book, “The Price of Mercy: Unfair Trials, a Violent System, and a Public Defender’s Search for Justice in America.” Guests: Emily Galvin-Almanza, author of “The Price of Mercy: Unfair Trials, a Violent System, and a Public Defender’s Search for Justice in America. Co-founder and executive director of Partners for Justice, which aims to support and empower public defenders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chocolate is changing — and not just in flavor. As the planet warms, cacao is becoming harder to grow, reshaping how chocolate is made and who gets to make it. From commodity price volatility to farmers’ livelihoods to the price tag of your favorite bar, we’ll talk about what’s at stake for this decadent treat. We’ll speak with chocolate makers, sustainability experts and a cacao farmer about how they plan to adapt and innovate for years to come. Guests: Greg D'Alesandre, co-founder and cacao sourcer, Dandelion Chocolate Minni Forman, sustainability manager, Peet's Coffee; former cacao farmer John Kehoe, director of sustainability, Guittard Chocolate Company Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One week ahead of his much-anticipated Super Bowl performance, Bad Bunny made history when he won the first Grammy for album of the year for a Spanish-language record. He used his acceptance remarks to admonish cruel immigration enforcement, uplift immigrants and shout out his native Puerto Rico. As scholars Vanessa Díaz and Petra Rivera-Rideau, point out in their new book, “P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance,” the reggaetonero has never shied away from infusing politics into his musical career. Díaz and Rivera-Rideau, also creators of the “Bad Bunny Syllabus,” join us to break down Bad Bunny’s music and activism. Guests: Vanessa Díaz, associate professor of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies, Loyola Marymount University; co-founder, Bad Bunny Syllabus; co-author, "P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance" Petra Rivera-Rideau, associate professor and chair of the American Studies Department, Wellesley College; co-founder, Bad Bunny Syllabus; co-author, "P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Bob Wachter was one of the nation’s trusted voices, helping us better understand the disease that upended our world and healthcare system. Now he’s focused on what he sees as the next great disruption in medicine: Generative AI. Though we need to address its flaws and limitations, Dr. Wachter says AI is essential to a healthcare system buckling under the weight of clinician burnout, staff shortages and astronomical costs. We talk with Dr. Wachter about his new book, “A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future.” Guests: Dr. Robert "Bob" Wachter, professor and chair of the Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Against a backdrop of threats made by President Trump to attack Iran with “speed and violence,” talks between the two nations are set to resume this Friday. Since late December, Iran has been roiled by massive nationwide protests that have been met by a brutal response from the regime, resulting in the deaths of over 6,800 protestors with another 11,000 deaths under investigation  according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Will the U.S. use this moment to try to force regime change? We talk to a panel of experts. Guests: Jason Rezaian, director of Press Freedoms Initiatives, The Washington Post; author, "Prisoner: My 544 Days in an Iranian Prison – Solitary Confinement, a Sham Trial, High-Stakes Diplomacy, and the Extraordinary Efforts It Took to Get Me Out" Nate Swanson, director, Iran Strategy Project, Atlantic Council Sahar Razavi, associate professor, Department of Political Science and director of the Iranian and Middle Eastern Studies Center, California State University, Sacramento Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As protests against federal immigration agents’ use of deadly force in Minneapolis spread nationwide, privacy experts are raising alarms. Immigration agencies are using facial-recognition and other tools to identify immigrants – and to track American citizens who observe or protest ICE operations. The surveillance technology allows agents to scan people’s faces and link them to government databases. It’s a practice that those targeted say amounts to intimidation and retaliation. We talk about how the technologies work and what they mean for enforcement and civil liberties. Guests: Rachel Levinson-Waldman, director of Liberty and National Security Program, Brennan Center for Justice Sheera Frenkel, technology reporter, The New York Times; co-author, "An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the weekend, San Francisco’s public school teachers voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. The dispute is centered on pay, health benefits, and support for special education, all at a time when the district has been facing financial headwinds so dire that the state has contemplated stepping in to run the district. We get the latest on the labor negotiations and talk about what a potential strike, which could begin as early as February 9, means for teachers, the district, students and their families. Guests: Maria Su, superintendent, San Francisco Unified School District Cassondra Curiel, president, United Educators of San Francisco Jill Tucker, K-12 education reporter, San Francisco Chronicle Katie DeBenedetti, reporter, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York Times cooking writer and columnist Yewande Komolafe has long loved the solitary, meditative act of crafting intricate meals and comfort foods in the kitchen. But after multiple amputations profoundly altered her body, Komolafe had to learn to cook in a new way: with adaptive tools, learning “how to whisk a bowl of cream to milky soft peaks with prosthetic hands,” and with other chefs’ assistance. That collaboration helped Komolafe better understand the curative effects of a good meal, both “physiologically and psychologically.” We talk with Komolafe about the restorative powers of cooking a hot dish of fried calamari or shrimp scampi and her journey of self-rediscovery. Her new article for the Times is “How Losing My Limbs Turned Me Into a Different Kind of Cook.” Guests: Yewande Komolafe, cooking writer and columnist, The New York Times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

George Saunders is one of America’s most celebrated writers. His worlds and characters often live in a reality just beyond or behind our own, and his latest novel “Vigil,” is no exception. The novel opens with an angel falling to earth with the task of comforting an unrepentant oil tycoon in his final hours alive. What spills forth from this zany setup is a comic novel about climate change, personal responsibility, and the kind of honesty that matters most. Guests: George Saunders, author, "Vigil"; MacArthur Genius Grant Fellow; his previous books include "Lincoln in the Bardo," "Tenth of December" and "Liberation Day; English professor, Syracuse University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This February marks 100 years of celebrating Black History month, which began as just a week in 1926. Now, as political efforts to scrub Black history from American classrooms intensify, historian and California native Jarvis Givens joins us to talk about his new book, “I’ll Make Me a World: The 100-Year Journey of Black History Month.” Givens says the act of preserving Black stories has always been political, always been about power, and always been a tool for liberation. Has learning Black history shaped the way you see America? Guests: Jarvis Givens, professor of African and African American studies, Harvard University. His new book is "I’ll Make a World: The 100-Year Journey of Black History Month." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stigma. Discomfort. High pitched feedback. These are some reasons that people opt out of wearing hearing aids. Yet, hearing loss has been linked to dementia and social isolation, and one-third of Americans aged 70 and older suffer from the condition. Even young people are not immune: 20% of Gen Z suffers from noise-induced hearing problems. We talk about innovations in treating hearing loss. Have you resisted wearing a hearing aid? Guests: Nicholas S. Reed, adjunct associate professor, otolaryngology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Reed is an audiologist and epidemiologist who has studied the links between hearing loss and dementia Christopher Null, technology journalist, He covers hearing aids for WIRED Dr. Konstantina Stankovic, ear and skull base surgeon and auditory neuroscientist, Stanford Medical School. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Friction-maxxing,” a term coined by The Cut columnist Kathryn Jezer-Morton, is the art of adding more inconvenience to our lives —as technology pushes us to eliminate it. That might look like taking the bus to the grocery store instead of DoorDashing meals. Or asking a stranger for directions rather than checking Google Maps. It means putting ourselves in contact with the world, with all of the vulnerability and unpredictability that entails. We’ll talk with Jezer-Morton and tech journalists about how doing things the hard way can bring us more joy, serendipity and human connection. How do you friction-maxx? Guests: Morgan Sung, host, "Close All Tabs" podcast - available on KQED's "Political Breakdown" feed Stephen Council, tech reporter, SFGATE Kathryn Jezer-Morton, columnist, The Cut, New York Magazine; author, "The Story of Your Life: How Social Media Shapes the Way We Experience Everything" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For years, experts, educators and parents have sounded alarms about the dangers of kids spending too much time on screens and now, artificial intelligence could make some apps even more addicting. A trial started this week in a Los Angeles court on a lawsuit against Meta and YouTube that claims social media companies are responsible for the harmful effects of screen addiction on minors. Nearly a thousand similar cases are expected to go to trial this year nationwide. We’ll talk about the lawsuits, consequences of social media addiction in the age of AI and efforts to hold companies accountable. Guests: Cecilia Kang, tech reporter, The New York Times; author, "An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination" Catherine Price, health and science journalist; author, "How to Break Up With Your Phone" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2026 midterm elections may be in November, but they’re top of mind for California voters who will elect a new governor this year and who passed Proposition 50 last fall – redrawing congressional districts to favor Democrats in their bid to retake the House. We look at how redistricting is shaking out in races across the state. And we examine whether Democrats have gained an edge nationally as new polling shows voters souring on Trump’s immigration and economic agenda, but concerns about election interference mount. What races are you watching? Guests: Guy Marzorati, correspondent, KQED's California Politics and Government Desk Erin Covey, editor, U.S. House of Representatives coverage for The Cook Political Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices